Barriers and Costs of
Economic Development
Millennium Development Goals
http://www.ibge.gov.br/paisesat/main.php
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Eliminate extreme poverty and hunger.
Achieve universal primary education.
Promote gender equality and empower women.
Reduce child mortality.
Improve maternal health.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
Ensure environmental sustainability.
Develop a global partnership for development.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml
Human Development Index, 2011
UNDP 2011
More Reports
and Statistics
Barriers to Development
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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/semiperiphery 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/SemiPeriphery = 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
• Desertification
Tourism
• 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?
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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)