ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY 2
Introduction to Geographies of
Development
MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT
1.Process of becoming modern – progress in
standards of living from old pre-historic
traditional societies to global, diverse, complex
and technologically based new societies
2. Attaining the experiences and lifestyle of the
USA and Western European Societies and
economies
3. Encompassing industrialization, urbanization
and increased standards of living in relation
to health, education and housing
4. Sustained mobility or elevation of an individual or
a social group from conditions that are
unsatisfactory to conditions that are better off
5. Change (usually positive change) over time
DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY
• Is a branch of Geography that focuses on the
standards of living and the quality of life of earth’s
inhabitants.
• Geographers understand that at times, the
process of development brings undesirable
outcomes among earth’s inhabitants
For example: for the environment or often for poor people
• These geographers therefore try to understand
the causes and consequences of development
threats and provide better development options
• Geographers endeavour to ensure that the
process of development is not:
o At odds with global ecology objectives – promote
sustainable development
o Marginalising people - resulting in unfair trade or
unfair production conditions
o Widening the gap between the rich and the poor, but
rather narrow down the gap through redistribution
of wealth
GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS OF THE WORLD
• The rate of development among countries has
been different due to different contextual issues
prevalent within these countries
• Different terms are used to describe countries
depending on their levels of development. The
terms include:
i. Developed/Underdeveloped countries
ii. Developed/Undeveloped countries
– The use of the terms undeveloped and underdeveloped is
discouraged – ‘stigma issues’
iii.Developed/Developing countries
iv.More/Less Developed Countries
• There are different systems to divide the level of
development
• Most prosperous nations are in the Northern part
of the globe while the less prosperous nations are
in the south
The North-South Divide
The North-South Divide of the world
• But Australia and New Zealand belong to the MEDCs and are
part of the North even though geographically, they are in the
global South
The North-South Divide
• Distinction in LEDCs and MEDCs
• This is very imprecise
• the individual countries are not described
The three worlds
• The most prosperous nations correspond to the capitalist
industrial countries of the USA, Western Europe,
Australia, Japan and Canada
commonly known as the first world
• Most countries that were aligned to the former
communist USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) are
in transition to industrial capitalism (progressing towards
the status of more developed countries)
the second world
• The remaining countries of Africa, Asia and South
America are still developing
the third word
The Three Worlds
RECENT TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT
• Recent maps of the three worlds have depicted countries
such as South Africa and Brazil as belonging to the
second world because of the progress they have made so
far
for example: more industrialisation, more urbanisation
• There is an emerging group of countries known as the
Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs). These countries
have moved away from the developing status in that
they have achieved a considerable level of
industrialisation.
Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs)
Reasons for rapid development in NICs:
i. Encouraged the processing of primary products in
order to add value to their exports
ii. Heavily invested in manufacturing industry like
shipbuilding and steel industry
iii.Encouraged transnational firms to locate within their
boundaries through tax incentives
iv.Had a dedicated workforce which was initially
prepared to work for long hours for little pay
v. Developed a long-term industrial plan - a central plan
with observable and measurable goals
vi.Grouping together to promote trade relations and
economic growth e.g., ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
and BRICS
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS – according to Todaro
1. Low Standards of Living
• The majority of the population experiences low
standards of living.
• The main indicators of these low living standards
are high poverty levels (i.e very low incomes),
high levels of inequality, very poor housing, low
standards of health, high infant mortality rates,
high levels of malnutrition and a lack of
education.
2. Low Levels of Productivity (output per person)
The main causes are:
• low education standards within the countries,
• attitudes toward self-improvement,
• poor nutrition,
• the low level of health among workers,
• lack of investment in physical capital and
• lack of access to technology e.t.c.
• brain drain
3. High Rates of Population Growth &
Dependency Burdens
• Developing countries tend to have crude birth
rates that are on average more than double the
rates in developed countries.
• The crude birth rate is the annual number of live
births per 1,000 of the population.
• The world average crude birth rate in 2012 was
19.15, but in Niger it was at 51.26 births per
1,000 people while Malawi at 40 births per 1,000
people
• The high crude birth rates result into high
dependency ratios….. How?
• The high crude birth rate means that there are a
lot of young people under the age of 15 in
developing countries.
• Those of working age, usually assumed to be 15
to 64, have to support a much larger proportion
of these children under the age of 15 .
• Dependency Burden is usually expressed in terms
of Dependency Ratio
Dependency Ratio
• The dependency ratio is the percentage of those
who are non-productive, usually those who are
under 15 and over 64, expressed as a percentage
of those of working age, usually 15 to 64.
• The equation would be:
Dependency Ratio =
(% of population under 15) + (% of population over 64)
(% of population 15 to 64)
4. High & Rising Levels of Unemployment &
Underemployment
• Developing countries tend to have relatively high
levels of unemployment, typically between 9%
and 16% of the labour force.
• In addition, to the official unemployment
statistics, there are three more groups that need
to be considered:
(a) Hard Core: Those that have been unemployed
for so long that they have given up searching for
a job and no longer appear as unemployed.
(b). Hidden Unemployed : - those who work for a
few hours a day on the family farm or in a
family business or trade.
(c). Underemployed: Those who would like full-
time work but are only able to get part- time
employment, often on an informal basis
• It is when all the groups previously mentioned
are put together that the full extent of
unemployment in developing countries can be
really understood.
• It is impossible to be accurate, but it would be
fair to say that in many developing countries, the
true rate of unemployment is over 40%.
5. Substantial Dependence on Agricultural
Production & Primary Product Exports
• The majority of the population directly or
indirectly depends on agricultural sector – mainly
backward agriculture.
• Over 80% of Malawians
• Agriculture sector is back ward due to old and
traditional methods of cultivation, farmers
largely depend on credit facilities, existence of
unorganized agricultural markets etc.
• The primary and agricultural products are the
main exports of these countries.
6. Prevalence of Imperfect Markets & Limited
Information
• The trend in developing countries in the last 20
years has been towards a more market-oriented
approach to growth.
• This has sometimes been promoted or
encouraged by international bodies such as the
IMF and the World Bank.
• However, this is possibly problematic, since,
while market-based approaches may work well
in economies that are efficiently functioning ,
many developing countries face imperfect
markets and imperfect knowledge.
• Developing countries may lack many of the necessary
factors that enable markets to work efficiently.
• They may lack a functioning banking system, which
enables and encourages savings and then investment.
• They lack a developed legal system, which ensures
fairness in the market place.
• They lack adequate infrastructure – e.g., in terms of
transport to move raw materials, semi-finished
products and final goods efficiently and at low cost.
• They lack accurate information systems for both
producers and consumers, which often leads to
imperfect information, the misallocation of resources
and misinformed purchasing decisions.
7. Dominance, dependence & vulnerability in
International Relations
• In almost all cases, developing countries are
dominated by developed countries because of
the economic and political power of the
developed countries.
• In addition, they are dependent upon them for
many things, such as trade, access to technology,
aid and investment
• It is not really possible for economically small,
developing countries to isolate themselves from
world markets.
• Developing countries are vulnerable on the
international stage, and are dominated by, and
often harmed by the decisions of developed
countries over which they have no control.
• Some have argued that what is needed is for the
developing countries to act as a bloc, to gain
more power in trade negotiations – but they
don’t have resources to stand on their own
Other general characteristics
(a)Indebtedness
• To fund massive projects, poor countries borrow
from the rich (neocolonialism)
(b) Control of Government
• Wealthy persons, landlords and elite class not
only control the Government but also they have
full control over all the major sectors of the
economy. This rich class is not interested to solve
the problems of the poor for their welfare but
make government policies for their own
improvement.
(c) Social Aspects
• Under developed countries have some factors
such as joint family system, caste system, cultural
and religious views, beliefs and values that badly
affect their economic development.
(d) Political Instability
• Characterised by power struggles and civil wars
resulting into lack of investments due to security
fears, mass displacement of people, outbreak of
diseases
NOTE: Know diversities that exist among
developing nations
MEASUREMENT OF DEVELOPMENT
• Measured through three indicators:
MEASUREMENT OF DEVELOPMENT
A. Social indicators include:
I. Social justice
II.Health
III.Wellbeing
IV.Education
V.Freedom
VI.Political Democracy
VII.National Unity
Problem: scoring for some indicators is subjective
B. Demographic Indicators include:
• Existence of nuclear families
• Mortality Rates
• Birth Rates
• Fertility Rates
• Life Expectancy
• Structure of the Population
• Natural Increase
Problem: data used for calculation, especially
from developing countries is unreliable
C. Economic indicators include:
1. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita
2. GNP (Gross National Product) per capita [GNI]
3. Purchasing Power Parity per capita (PPP)
4. Energy Consumption
5. Workforce engaged in Agriculture /
Manufacturing / Service Sectors
6. Human Development Index (HDI)
7. International Human Suffering Index (HSI)
1. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita
• Value of goods and services produced within a country
within a given year, calculated per a certain population
• Calculated in US dollars to allow comparisons between
and among countries
• Limits are set to GDPpc Scores to separate countries
into
- Low
- lower-middle
- upper-middle
- high income countries
2. Gross National Product per capita [GNP pc]
• also known as the Gross National Income per capita
[GNIpc]
• Value of goods and services produced by citizens of a
country (whether at home or in a foreign country) within
a given year, calculated per a certain population
• Just as the GDPpc, GNPpc is also calculated in US dollars
to allow comparisons between and among countries
• Limits are set to GNPpc Scores to separate countries into
- Low
- lower-middle
- upper-middle
- high income countries
GDP and GNP
3. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
• Different countries have different price levels. The
same amount of money in a low-price country has
greater purchasing power than in a high-price
country.
• Therefore, PPP converts currencies by taking into
account price level differences.
• It makes buying power of all currencies equal to
the buying power of US $ 1.
3. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
4. Energy Consumption
• Is a common economic measure of development
that predicts the degree of industrialisation of a
country
• Industrialised countries use more (up to 10 times)
energy than non industrialised countries
• Measured in kilowatt hours of electricity per
capita
• Coal usage is also converted to give a true
measure of total energy consumption
5. Workforce engaged in Agriculture /
Manufacturing /Service Sectors
• The percentage of the population engaged in
each of the sectors of employment give an
indication of levels of development – after the
Clarke-Fisher model:
LDCs have a large percentage of people employed in
the primary sector, particularly farming
NICs have higher percentage of people employed in
the secondary or manufacturing sectors
MDC’s have higher percentage of people employed
in the service/tertiary sectors
5. Workforce engaged in Agriculture/ Manufacturing/
Service Sectors
The Clarke-Fisher model:
5. Workforce engaged in Agriculture/ Manufacturing/
Service Sectors
The Clarke-Fisher model:
• This model works well for westernised countries as well as
the south
• Some people believe that Globalisation speeds this process
up and can change the sequence
• Tourism growth could mean a by-pass of the industrial phase
• Whether it fulfils the destiny of every country remains to be
seen
• There is debate over whether some countries could develop
further
• The speed of development is by no means the same for
everyone
WEAKNESSES OF SOME ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Measure value of goods at market place only -
subsistence farming and barter activity ignored
• Fail to take into account contribution of
clandestine economic activities (like drug dealing
or black/informal economy)
• Fail to show the actual distribution of wealth
• Require use of singe currency for easy
comparisons – conversion to US$ or International
Dollar is problematic because currency fluctuates
• Indicators fail to measure changes in the quality
of life
• Data collected in many countries that is used for
calculation of the indicators is unreliable
• Non-paid work is not considered - charity work,
housework, etc. contribute to the development of
a country
6. Human Development Index
What does Human Development mean?
6. Human Development Index (HDI)
• Devised by the United Nations after realizing that income
growth/ economic measures were not good indicators of
development
• Tries to measure all the three dimensions of development:
demographic, social, and economic
A long and healthy life
as measured by LIFE EXPECTANCY at birth
(demographic factor)
Knowledge
as measured by the ADULT LITERACY RATE and the
combined primary, secondary, and tertiary GROSS
ENROLLMENT INDEX (social factor)
A decent standard of living
as measured by GNIpc at PURCHASING POWER PARITY
(PPP) (economic factor)
Human Development Index
• Each country receives an HDI value from 0 to 1
• Countries are ranked according to their HDI
values wherein the lower the HDI score implies
lower development level and vice versa
6. Human Development Index
6. Human Development Index
Africa:
6. Human Development Index 2014
The highest ranked country: Norway (1)
0.944 HDI
The lowest ranked country: Niger (187)
0.348 HDI
Malawi (174)
0.445 HDI
The HDI is published every year by the United
Nations Development Programme.
7. International Human Suffering Index (HSI)
• Scores from 0 to 100 - the lower the score the better
o GNP per capita
o Rate of inflation
o Growth of labour force
o Urban population growth rate
o Infant Mortality Rate
o Daily calorie supply as a percentage of requirements
o Access to clean drinking water
o Energy consumption per capita
o Adult literacy rate
o Personal freedom
RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT
• We need to study this link because quite often,
development implies you have enough resources
• Resources are categorised as
natural
human (capital) resources
• Natural resources are the unchanged raw
materials obtained from the land, water, and air
• On the other hand ……
• human (capital) resources
knowledge, habits, social and personality
attributes
• used to exploit the natural resources to create
wealth
• There is a debate among geographers as to the
relationship between
occurrence of natural resources
and levels of development of a country
• Some argue that there is a poor association while
others argue that there is a positive association
• Those that support the poor association cite
Africa as an example:
Africa in general has large quantities
of untapped natural resources
but many of its countries are failing to develop
• On the other hand, poorly resourced countries of
Japan and Switzerland are amongst the world’s
most developed countries
• Proponents of the positive association argue that natural resources are very
significant especially in the early stages of development as they are a major
source of capital and foreign exchange
South Africa Zambia Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
Nigeria, Libya
gold, diamonds copper oil
• Only that, the potential of natural resources is limited by their geographical
location and nature
• Many developing countries have a steady supply
of human resources
• However, the quality of this human resource is
inferior in that it lacks the necessary wellbeing,
education and skills
• Some geographers have attributed the inferiority
in human resource to other external and internal
constraints or deficiencies in the production
processes
• The deficiencies in natural and human resources
have been linked to underdevelopment among
individuals and countries in general
• This linkage is normally demonstrated through
the vicious cycle of poverty
THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF POVERTY – INDIVIDUAL LEVEL
and is unable to be efficient As result, he will be unable
in his production (D) to earn much money (E)
weakness (C) In the end, he will be trapped
in a cycle of poverty
At an individual level, a person (A) cannot
pay for an adequate supply of food (B)
THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF POVERTY – ECONOMIC SYSTEM LEVEL
the level of an economic
system, such as a country
Result: there will be
which eventually leads to low
capital shortages (E)
savings and development (C)
which eventually prevent the
effective utilization of resources
low productivity (A) and blockage of productivity (F)
leads to low income (B)
This process will trap
an economic system in
a cycle of poverty.
Weaknesses of these models of cycle of poverty:
• They assume that the state is the sole cause of
continued poverty
• They wrongly imply that societies in LCDs are
static, they ignore the social conditions of these
countries
• They assume that all LCDs are at the same stage
of development. However, there are variation
among and within developing countries
