Y11 The Development Gap

The Development Gap

Development means change for the better or progression. When the term is applied to countries, it is generally linked closely with economic wealth. However, wealth alone is not the only measure of development as such things as equality, happiness, security must also be considered.

AQA Course Outline (click the table to enlarge)

Lesson 1:Title: What are ways of dividing up the world by Development?

Aim: To recognise methods of dividing the world and to  
           appreciate the inadequacies of such methods.

1. First, Second and Third worlds

• Based on a Western perspective in which Europeans viewed themselves as the FIRST WORLD.
• Wealthier regions that had been colonised by Europeans (North America and Australia for example) were referreed to as the SECOND WORLD.
• Poor countries were then grouped together as the THIRD WORLD.
• The very poorest countries that were economically static or in decline were termed the FOURTH WORLD.

This method had no place for the Communist countries of the world that had not been colonised, but were relatively wealthy. Eventually these were included in the SECOND WORLD group... but do not sit well there. 

Q. Why do communist countries not fit well in the "Second World"?

2. North - South Divide

•         In 1971, the Brandt Report divided the world into two by contrasting economically wealthier and industrialised countries with poorer, less mature and largely agricultural ones. 
•          A line called the North/South Divide was drawn on a map of the World to make this difference clear
•          The development indicator used was GNP per capita (which is a measure of a country’s wealth. 
•          Today it is regarded as too simple as economies have become more varied.

         Task: 

         Name four countries in the Rich North and Four from the Poor South (select from different continents).

3. Stages of Development

• Another two-fold division involves the terms Less and More Developed Countries (LDC and MDC). 
• This was quickly modified to include the word “Economic” to focus on wealth factors and avoid the complications related to cultural or social development. It was negative to suggest, for example, that culture might not be well developed just because a country was economically poor. 
• Thus the acronyms were modified to LEDC and MEDC.
• Since the late C20th, the world order has changed tremendously. Globalisation means that there are more contacts and trade between countries than ever before. Some LEDCs are growing more rapidly than most developed economies. 
• A new category had to be invented to cover those developing fastest. They became known as NICs or Newly Industrialising Countries.

4. Five-fold division based on wealth

Most recently suggested division of the World...

1. Rich industrializing countries

2. Oil-exporting countries

3. Newly industrializing countries

4. Former centrally planned economies (previous communist 

    political systems)

5. Heavily indebted poor economies

Evaluation of the Five-Fold System:

• Makes a clear division between poor countries that are doing well and those that are not (3 and 5). Some countries find it difficult to move their economies forward due to debt. Having borrowed large sums of money they now have problems repaying the debt and interest. This is taking funds that should be used for development projects. The division is similar to LEDCs and NICs.

• Former Centrally Planned Economies (group 4) covers a range of countries. Russia still has considerable communist influence. Its old allies like Poland and the Czech Republic, are more like Western European countries and are members of the EU. China still has  a Communist government, but is one of the World’s fastest growing economies. Much variety in this group.

• Oil- exporting economies (group 2) earn huge amounts of money from exporting oil and this is used to invest around the world. Middle Eastern billionaires have bought UK football clubs; some have bought into struggling British banks. Even-so, most people in oil-exporting countries such as Venezuela and the UAE remain poor (wealth is concentrated in few hands). Some profit is used for development projects, so gradually everyone may benefit.

• The UK falls into the Rich Industrializing group (Group 1). Although manufacturing industry is declining, we are still a wealthy country.

•   So, although even this classification does not always fit well, it is an improvement. No classification will be perfect, but the division needs to continue to be reviewed and adapted to make it as useful as possible... 

Q. How do you think it might be improved/modified in the near future?

Prep. for lesson on 30th January 2013.

During this lesson, we will be hosting visitors from Beijing, China. This is a great opportunity to get some perspective on some areas of the GCSE course that pertain to China e.g. Population management, Development and industrialization, Globalisation and trade.

Consider the course (use your text book) and write down at least two questions that you could ask the delegation. 

Remember that some of the issues might be contentious, so be considerate in the phrasing of your questions. Try out your questions on your parents... if they think that they are politely phrased, you are probably good :)

Note: your second question could be a follow-up to the first.

Zondle: Dividing up the world

Lesson 2:Title: How can we measure development?

Aim:    To know a range of methods that are used to measure 
             development, to be able to interpret what these tell us and 
             understand how and why they may correlate.

Activity:
Study the cartoon right...

What does it mean?... explain your interpretation.

If we view this cartoon in the context of Development, does our interpretation change? Explain your answer.

What correlation/s is/are implied in the cartoon?

Investigating the correlation between different indicators of development

When two (or more variables) are associated, they are said to be correlated. For example, there is a correlation between age and height of Secondary School students... as they become older, they tend to get taller. This would be a positive correlation because as age increases, so too does height.

Q. Can you think of an example of a negative correlation?
Q. How would both a positive and a negative correlation appear if they were plotted on a scatter graph?

In development terms, we would expect that a measure of development that tells us about wealth, poverty or economic status would correlate with other similar measures... for example:


GDP per Capita (Gross Domestic Product - GDP - is the market value of all officially recognised goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time).

A low level of GDP per capita suggests less wealth and development so it should be correlated with, for example, many people on low levels of income and a high proportion of the population employed in agriculture.

Lets compare GDP with the proportion of the labour force employed in agriculture...

Does it work...

Q. Is there a correlation between GDP and % agricultural workforce? 

Q. What kind of correlation?  

Q. Is it what we should expect between these variables?


Some demographic characteristics, e.g.Birth Rate are closely correlated with development. 
The more developed a country, the lower the birth rate.
The demographic transition model (right) gives us evidence that births decrease as countries become more developed (See also map A pp 254 of the core text where high BR is evident in many of the world's poorest countries).

Gapminder graph below also shows... 

On this graph, the vertical axis shows the number of children born, on average, per woman (total fertility rate) for each country compared to the countries wealth as measured by GDP per capita. This negative correlation reveals that the richer the country is, the lower the total fertility rate is... and viceversa.

Q. What do you notice about the global distribution indicated by this graph? (the countries location is colour coded and matches the inset map).

Activity:
See below... complete the two tasks.

Definitions:

GNP per capita (Gross National Product per capita)

GNI per capita (Gross National Income per capita)

HDI (Human Development Index)

Activity:
Look up the definitions of each of the basic terms... "per capita" simply means that the statistic is divided by the countries population to give an average per person in the population.


A country at a higher stage of development is likely to have a high human development index (HDI) and a low infant mortality and wide access to clean drinking water. There are likely to be many doctors for the number of people and literacy rates will be high because government has sufficient funds to spend on health and education. Poorer governments do not have the funds to provide high-level services. Often even the basics like clean water and a living wage are not possible (see table). 

Clearly, then, there is often good correlation between different measures of development. This is advantageous as such correlation allows judgments to be made that are based on multiple data, rather than just one and the resultant judgments are thus likely to be more reliable and representative.

You should be aware that certain data or indexes provide better indications of development. For example, BR is affected by a range of other economic and social factors and, as such, provides quite a reliable indication of development...

Q. What factors influence Birth Rates? (Be specific e.g. Wealth is key because it often means that more money is available for education and so people are able to learn about the benefits and methods of managing their family size... give some further examples and explain them).

HDI (Human Development Index) is also a good indicator as it combines a range of variable, both social and economic. This means that it is actually employing multiple indicators (not just one) and that it is not just relying on basic measures of wealth, but including factors linked to quality of life.

Q. Why is it a bad idea to rely on single indicators of development when assessing a country?

       Death Rate (Number of deaths per thousand per year) is a poor measure of development. Most countries today have relatively low DRs, but the more economically developed tend to have higher rates. This is because lower BRs lead to fewer young people and improved health care allows more people to live longer. Consequently the DR is proportionately higher because there are so many elderly people. The higher BR in LEDCs means that proportionately DR is low because there are so many young people.

         Some measures of development can give a narrow or confusing picture. GNP (Gross National Product) or GNI (Gross National Income) per capita are economic measures of development and thus provide no clear information about living standards of individuals. They do not tell what people earn or what that buys. Nor do they touch directly on how educated people are and the cultural quality of their lives.

         It is potentially misleading to use just one measure of development. All indicators of development are averages across a country.  Within society there are extremes of wealth and opportunity, which are hidden by a single figure. Relying on a single indicator simply increases this problem. Instead we should use a number of indicators  together, giving a much broader view of the economic and social development as well as living standards.

Zondle: Measuring Development

CW                              20th April 2017

Lesson 3: 

What factors make global development inequalities worse?

Aims:

To understand the different factors that contribute to development inequalities.

BUT FIRST...

"Quality of Life" and "Standard of Living"...
What do you think these terms actually mean?

Possible Work Sheet - HERE

Standard of Living

     Refers to the economic level of a person’s daily life. Are they comfortably off or not? Do they fall below an income of $1:00 a day – the global measure of absolute poverty.

Physical Quality of Life Index

    PQLI uses only social measures of well-being.

    It uses the average of three social indicators:

–Literacy rate

–Life expectancy

–Infant mortality

Activity: 
Explain how it might be possible to have a Low Standard of Living but a High Quality of Life.



Global Inequalities.

Global Inequalities are made worse by four sets of factors:

• Physical Factors
• Economic Factors
• Environmental Factors 
• Social Factors

Physical Factors - 

The physical geography of some countries does not favour development...

• Africa has more landlocked countries than any other continent and this makes trade less easy.
• Tropical Africa, Asia and South America tend to experience a greater number of climate related diseases than cooler parts of the world... These regions are the poorest globally.
• Many people in the Tropics suffer from Malaria (link below) and other diseases. HIV/Aids is a recent health problem which afflicts Sub-Saharan Africa especially. People cannot improve their standard of living when they are so ill (Cycle of poverty), and many children are orphaned reducing their life chances.

HW: 
Activity:
Read through the link below and answer the following questions...
1. Explain how "malaria drains the wealth of nations and households".
2. Why was Malaria successfully eradicated in places like the USA and Southern Europe, but so far has not been in Sub-Saharan Africa?
3. Why/how is Malaria becoming medically harder to fight?
4. How can Malaria be prevented and treated in LEDCs?

http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?reportid=57920&indepthid=10

Economic Factors -

Poverty causes poverty...

• Low life expectancy and low standard of living make an almost impossible base from which to develop and expand.

• The poorest countries are those in, or just emerging from, civil wars: Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia and Sierra Leone for example. Ethiopia had a successful history yet today is one of the world’s poorest nations due to war and famine.
• Global trade policies have not favoured the poorest countries. Sometimes tarrifs are placed on goods by the purchasing country.
•  Africa as the least industrialised continent has very cheap labour yet processing is usually done in the purchasing country.
• Most African exports are primary products.

• There are several reasons why companies do not invest there:

          Banks financing industry want political stability.
          Good infrastructure to move raw materials, finished goods   
          and labour needs to be in place.
          A reliable electricity supply must be available.
          An educated workforce is necessary.

These factors are rare in Africa, whereas Asia has supplied these and industry has been attracted pushing forward its development.
A country’s income is primarily measured by its GDP per capita and the welfare of its people by the Human Development Index (HDI). In general, when income is low, so is the level of welfare (see table centre).

Environmental Factors -

People abuse the land, but there are sometimes understandable reasons for doing so...

• Farmers facing starvation are unlikely to be concerned about the  rainforest they are cutting down to try to feed their families.
• Throughout the Sahel region, deforestation and overgrazing have increased desertification.
• Wildlife have been sacrificed to poachers when they could have been the basis of a successful tourist industry.
•  Poor governments  have little spare to protect and develop environmental resources.

Social Factors - 

• Water Quality – Poor water quality causes diseases, which debilitates people and prevents economic development. Many tropical countries suffer from endemic malaria, yellow fever, bilharzia (Link Here) and river blindness (See below). Diseases are carried in water and water quality is unreliable.
• Reliability of water supply – Inadequate water supply limits crop yield and therefore food supply. There is not enough water for irrigation to allow for yields to be increased.
• Education – A poor country finds it difficult to fund education for all children to a good level. Investors are put off by an absence of educated workers.
• Health – Poor health impacts on productivity. When Sierra Leone got its independence in 1963 it had a Health System in place. However, as a poor country it has been unable to maintain it. It is difficult for sick people to work hard, so Sierra Leone’s economy has spiralled downward. It is today, one of the world’s most distressed countries, with an HDI of 0.048.

Zondle: What factors make global development worse

CW .                            21st April 2017

Lesson 4: 

How do Physical and Human Factors Increase Global Inequalities?

Aim: To understand how environmental hazards, trade,   water and government limit economic   development.

Physical Factors:

• Being "Landlocked" - Makes trade and thus the development of wealth more difficult. Africa is the continent with the greatest proportion of landlocked countries.
• Being Tropical - Tropical Africa, S. America and Asia are the poorest regions globally. They suffer more climate-related diseases than cooler places e.g. Malaria, River blindness, Bilharzia. When people are ill, they find it very difficult to improve their standard of living.
• Climatic hazards - Drought is a common problem for many African countries e.g. Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Such problems limit future development and may destroy what has already been achieved.

Economic Factors:
Just being poor is an almost impossible base from which to develop. Hence the saying "poverty causes poverty". Poverty is related to low life expectancy and low standard of living... short lives and a lack of money mean that there is little time and few financial resources to put into developing.

Conflict can cause serious economic problems as resources are diverted into fighting and developments may be destroyed. Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Sierra Leone have all suffered due to conflict.

Patterns and balance of global trade have also inhibited development of the world's poor countries. Tarrifs (taxes) may be placed on goods by importing countries (e.g. EU), lack of industrialisation and the export of mainly primary goods mean that LEDCs often get less for their exports and the prices tend, over time, to fall.

World trade is controlled by the richer countries (who are the biggest market places). They tend to pay as little as possible for the goods they buy. This is made easier because many poor countries produce the same goods as their neighbours. As a result there may be over-supply, which reduces the market value of the goods, and/or competition between the selling countries... again this means the value of the product is reduced as, in order to sell your goods, you have to reduce its price (otherwise the purchasing country will look elsewhere).

There is little investment in poor African countries from outside... despite the lower cost of wages. The reasons include:

• Lack of political stability
• Poor infrastructure to move raw materials, finished goods and labour

MAP - HERE

• Power supplies (electricity) may be unreliable or unavailable
• The workforce tends to be poorly educated

As a result, many poor countries depend on the export of primary produce rather than more valuable secondary (manufactured) goods.

In Asia, in contrast to Africa, many of these problems have been resolved to some extent. This has led to industries being attracted and development moving forward. 

* China is currently investing in Africa to gain political and economic influence, to acquire resources and to expand its own markets (by increasing the wealth and thus buying-power of African countries). This may result in increasing levels of development in this continent.

Environmental Factors:

If the environment is over-used or abused, its productivity will decline. Deforestation for firewood is a big problem in many places and results in deforestation and increased levels of soil erosion. Keeping too many cattle on grassland means the grass cannot grow and desertification may result. Hunting of wildlife for food or for the illegal trade in body parts, meat or exotic pets destroys the basis for a potentially profitable tourist industry.

In circumstances where people are desperately trying to feed their families, it is easy to understand that they will be less concerned with protecting their rainforest or the wildlife in their locality.

Social Factors:

There are four key social factors to consider...

Water Quality - poor water causes disease which debilitates people making them less productive and thus reduces development. Diseases such as Yellow Fever, Malaria, Bilhaerzia are common in many tropical countries.

Water availability

A lack of water means that food/crop yields cannot be increased by irrigation.

Education

Poor countries cannot invest in universal schools and education. This puts prospective investors off.

Health

Poor countries cannot develop effective health services. Consequently they find it difficult to prevent or treat diseases. 

Even countries that inherited good health services on independence have not had the earnings to maintain them 

e.g. Sierra Leone became independent in 1963. However, it was left without an industrial base and thus lacked the tax revenues necessary to support the health service and it collapsed.

Political Factors:

The governments and politicians in many poor countries are corrupt and use the limited income of their countries to enrich themselves. They do this by diverting tax revenue or loans and aid into private accounts or for investment in their own businesses. As a result, a lot of money is no longer available for investing in the development of their country.

Corrupt governments may use money to hold on to power e.g. in Zimbabwe, the government has taken over large and productive farms that were owned by white farmers. The farms have failed to remain prosperous and the countries economy has declined markedly... inflation at one period exceeded 1000%

Where there are high levels of corruption there is also instability... foreign investors and aid organisations are unwilling to put funds into such places as they cannot be sure that these will reach their intended targets.

Case Study: Impact of a Natural Hazard on Development.

Ref. Pages 259 - 260
Hurricane Ivan hit the Caribbean in 2004 causing severe disruption in several countries including the USA. The physical effects of the hurricane combined with human factors to set back development in many of the Islands that it touched.

In this case study:    

                                   Be clear as to the differences

          between “Physical”, “Economic”, “Social” and

         “Political” factors in relation to global inequalities

                 and be able to give at least one

                  example of each.

Activity:
1. Read the case study on page 259 of the text. 
2. Make brief notes on the key facts of the Hurricane. Include when     it happened, where it affected, the damage it caused, its 
    immediate and longer term impacts. 

3. GCSE style Q:

Using a case study, explain how natural hazards can impede development                                                                (6 marks)


HW 
Research and report (briefly) on another natural hazard that has increased development inequality globally. If you research a tectonic hazard, it will also serve to support Restless Earth Unit :)

Lesson 5: 

How can international efforts reduce Global Inequalities?

Aim: To know what is meant by loans and aid, how debt arises and its effects on countries, what is Fair Trade and how it provides advantage and disadvantage to producers and consumers.

Countries in a state of lower development naturally lack the financial resources for internal investment to increase their development. 

However, there are things that can be done to support their progress from outside. 

Provision of external support is not always straight forward and actions that are intended to support and initiate or speed development can sometimes have unexpected and unintended outcomes... 

Historically, approaches have involved providing funding, skills and/or materials to LEDCs to help them develop. Such help falls into two main categories... Loans and Aid...

Definitions:

Loan - Money that is given on condition that it will need to be repaid in the future plus interest. Interest is an additional amount of money... essentially a fee for the use of the loan payed by the recipient.

Aid - Gifts of money, goods or services that aim to raise standards of living . Although true aid is not a loan, in the real world there is often some kind of payback required.

Many people in the richer parts of the world want to relieve the poorer world of its debt burden. There has been popular support for the G7 proposals linked to debt relief although this appears to have diminished with the onset of the global economic recession from 2008. There is a mismatch between stated desires to help and actual action to relieve poverty and debt.


The effect of loans.

A country that requires funds to implement development projects can obtain these by borrowing from other countries, world financial organisations (International Monetary Fund, World Bank) or from International Banks. 

Provided the project is successful, it should generate sufficient additional income so that the debt can be repaid. However, projects are not always successful... especially if the initial type of scheme was not appropriate... 

When the project is less successful than expected, borrowers are unable to repay the debt in time. This defaulting on debt means that the repayments have to be renegotiated and usually the repayments have to take place over a longer period of time... This increases the amount of interest as it is calculated over the period of the loan.

In effect, then, the people of the indebted country have to work hard to produce goods for export to fund the interest on the loan and to make repayments. The effect of this can be that standards of living and levels of development cannot improve and may fall... Productivity is now used to repay debt instead of support people or fund internal development.

Did you know:

Each year African countries send more money to Western bankers in interest payments on their debts than they receive in foreign aid from these countries. Relieving at least some of the debt burden would help these economies grow, provided they are well managed.

Conservation Swaps and Fair Trade

Activity: 1. Print out the table below and complete to outline the features of each intervention to reduce inequality (refer to page 262 of the course text).

Activity 2: What type of aid/intervention is the above an example of?
In addition to the cancellation of some of Guatemala's debt, how else will Guatemala benefit economically by this process?



Follow this link to Wikipedia to find out a bit more about "Debt for Nature Swaps"

Follow this link to find out about Guatemala's debt for nature swap


Kuapa Kokoo Fair Trade link

Activity 3: In your own view, do you think that Conservation Swaps or Fair Trade is a better way to support the development of LEDCs?

Activity 4: Referring to page 262, give one benefit each of...
a) Short Term Aid and 
b) Long Term Aid.

Activity 5: From the same page... list at least four problems with Aid (that help to explain why it has been ineffective in some circumstances).

Activity 6: Copy or print the table below and match the terms with their meanings.

Global Recession.

The global recession has an impact on LEDCs due to the reduction in the amount of trade and aid between them and MEDCs. Richer countries that are "feeling the economic pinch" are less likely to donate as much money and there is likely to be less money available for loans too. The recession will also mean that countries will try to reduce their imports, individuals in MEDCs will reduce expecnditure (which will reduce demand for imported goods too). Falling demand and contracting markets will push prices down globally so LEDCs will receive less for their exports. This may mean that they will be unable to meet their debt repayments and will need longer to repay... this means that the total amount of interest they will pay will rise. Under these circumstances some LEDCs will fall deeper into debt.

So.. the bottom line is that there are advantages and disadvantages of aid for both donor and recipients... See table on page 264 for a summary.

Lesson 6: 

How successful are Development Projects?

Aim: To develop knowledge and understanding of specific examples of aid projects to support theoretical learning.

Cahorra Bassa Dam, Mozambique.

U tube link showing the Dam

Left - View of the Dam from the reservoir side looking down the Zambezi River valley..

Below, the Dam giving a view of the down-river side with just a couple of the turbine operating.

The map below shows the location of the Dam

Using the text book pp 265, produce a case study about the dam. Include the following:

Where and when built, how funded (type of aid) and by whom, aims/purpose of the dam.

Evaluate the success of the project taking into account its stated aims and its final outcomes.

Include a conclusion entitled: Should the Dam have been built?

Go to this link for Case Study Popplet - for examples of small and medium scale aid projects.

Development Gap Test - HERE


CW                           11X  4th May 2017

Title:
How can Internatioal Efforts Reduce Global Inequalities? (Continued)
Aims: 
To be able to describe and evaluate the contribution to reducing development inequalities played by small and medium sized aid programs and projects.


Using the text pp 261-266 to help you, complete the formatted activity sheet provided - HERE


European - HERE