Barriers and Costs of Economic Development

Millennium Development Goals http://www.ibge.gov.br/paisesat/main.php

1. Eliminate extreme poverty and hunger.2. Achieve universal primary education.3. Promote gender equality and empower women.4. Reduce child mortality.5. Improve maternal health.6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.7. Ensure environmental sustainability.8. Develop a global partnership for development.

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml

Human Development Index, 2011

UNDP 2011More Reports and Statistics

Barriers to Development

• Social conditions• Foreign debt and structural adjustment loans• Political instability• Widespread disease (e.g., malaria)

Social Conditions

• Demographics: birth rates, life expectancy, infant/child mortality

• Infrastructure: sewage, clean water, health care• Education – access, gendered• Trafficking – “when adults and children fleeing poverty

or seeking better prospects are manipulated… into working conditions they would not choose”

• Majority = female• Most trafficked persons work as domestic servants,

some as prostitutes

Poor Infrastructure in Ghana

Many roads in Africa and other developing nations are not paved. This and other problems of infrastructure are obstacles to economic development.

Male & Female Literacy Rates

Fig. 9-16: Female literacy (bottom) is lower than male literacy (top) in many LDCs, with substantial gender gaps in parts of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.

Female-Male Income Differences

Fig. 9-14: Female income as a percent of male income, 2005. Women’s income is lower than men’s in all countries, but the gender gap is especially high in parts of the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America.

Graphic: A woman’s place in the world, ranked from first to last

Foreign Debt

• World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF)• Structural adjustment loans to periphery/semi-

periphery for development projects• Strings attached – econ/gov’t reforms, foreign

trade, reduced tariffs, foreign investment• Cost of paying debt can exceed revenues from

exports• Returns on projects lower than expected• Defaulting on loans problems attracting future

investment

Foreign Debt Obligations

Disease

• Vectored diseases (intermediate host) – common in tropical climates of periphery/semi-periphery

• Malaria – kills more than 1M annually, most are children < 5

• War vs. mosquito – DDT, nets, “engineered” mosquitos

Malaria Transmission Risk

Political Instability

• Factors affecting political stability = gap bt rich & poor, outside involvement

• Decolonization – left political/social hierarchies that reflected colonial period

• Need wealth for democracy? Periphery/Semi-Periphery = quasi-democratic/military govts

• Few solutions to corrupt gov’ts– Protest violence by gov’t– Cut off foreign aid poor suffer, not gov’t

Zimbabwe: 2008 CIBD Program

CIBD = Coercion, intimidation, beating, displacement

Currently – Robert Mugabe has power-sharing agreement w/ Morgan Tsvangirai (believed to have won election)

Costs of Economic Development

Industrialization• Air and surface water pollution• Export Processing Zones (EPZs) – Maquiladoras – by US border– Special economic zones (SEZs) – major ports

• Locations geared to export markets

Maquiladores in Mexico

APHG exam question 2004

Export Processing Zones

Costs of Development

Agriculture• Patterns of land ownership important• Production for export rather than local markets• Pesticides• DesertificationTourism• Host countries must make substantial investment• Pollution• Narrow benefits• Damage to local cultures

Areas Threatened by Desertification

How Do Political and Economic Institutions Influence Uneven Development Within States?

• Get involved in world markets• Price commodities• Affect whether core processes produce wealth• Shape laws to affect production• Enter international organizations that affect

trade• Focus foreign investment in certain places• Support large-scale projects

Foreign Direct Investment Flows

Fig. 9-23: Most transnational companies invest in the three core regions of North America, Western Europe, and Japan. Outside these core regions, the largest investment is in China.

Debt as Percent of Income, 2005

Fig. 9-24: Many developing countries have accumulated large debts relative to their GDPs. Much of their budgets now must be used to finance their debt.

Islands of Development

• Government islands: Capital cities• Corporate islands• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)–Private, usually non-profit organizations–Microcredit programs

Microfinance in Bangladesh

The Grameen Bank provides small loans to women (and men) in Bangladesh. Women in this village are repaying their loans.

Growth of World Cities(2000 – 2015)