SEVEN: INDUSTRIAL & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS & PROCESSES

7.1       The Industrial Revolution

  • Industrialization began as a result of new technologies and was facilitated by the availability of natural resources.
  • As industrialization spread it caused food supplies to increase and populations to grow; it allowed workers to seek new industrial jobs in cities and changed class structures.
  • Investors in industry sought out more raw materials and new markets, a factor that contributed to the rise of colonialism and imperialism.

7.2       Economic Sectors and Patterns

  • The different economic sectors- including primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary- are characterized by distinct development patterns.
  • Labor, transportation (including shipping containers), the break-of-bulk point, least cost theory, markets and resources influence the location of manufacturing such as core, semi-periphery, and periphery locations.

7.3       Measures of Development

  • Measures of social and economic development include Gross Domestic Product (GDP); Gross National Product (GNP); and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita; sectoral structure of the economy, both formal and informal; income distribution, fertility rates, infant mortality rates; access to healthcare; use of fossil fuels and renewable energy; and literacy rates.
  • Measures of gender inequality, such as the Gender Inequality Index (GII), include reproductive health, indices of empowerment, and labor-market participation.
  • The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure used to show spatial variation among states in levels of development.

7.4       Women and Economic Development

  • The roles of women change as countries develop economically.
  • Although there are more women in the workforce, they do not have equity in wages or employment opportunities.
  • Microloans have provided opportunities for women to create small local businesses, which have improved standards of living.

7.5       Theories of Development

  • Different theories, such as Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth, Wallerstein’s World System Theory, dependency theory, and commodity dependence, help explain spatial variations in development.

7.6       Trade and the World Economy

  • Complementarity and comparative advantage establish the basis for trade.
  • Neoliberal policies, including free trade agreements, have created new organizations, spatial connections, and trade relationships, such as the EU, World Trade Organization (WTO), Mercosur, and OPEC, that foster greater globalization.
  • Government initiatives at all scales may affect economic development, including tariffs.
  • Global financial crises, international lending agencies (International Monetary Fund), and strategies of development (microlending) demonstrate how different economies have become more closely connected, even interdependent.

7.7       Changes as a Result of the World Economy

  • Outsourcing and economic restructuring have led to a decline in jobs in core regions and an increase in jobs in newly industrialized countries.
  • In countries outside of the core, the growth of industry has resulted in the creation of new manufacturing zones- including special economic zones, free-trade zones, and export processing zones-and the emergence of an international division of labor in which developing countries have lower-paying jobs.
  • The contemporary economic landscape has been transformed by post-Fordist methods of production, multiplier effects, economies of scale, agglomeration, just-in-time delivery, the emergence of service sectors, high technology industries, and growth poles.

7.8       Sustainable Development

  • Sustainable development policies attempt to remedy problems stemming from natural-resource depletion, mass consumption, the effects of pollution, and the impact of climate change.
  • Ecotourism is tourism based in natural environments- often environments that are threatened by looming industrialization or development- that frequently helps to protect the environment in question while also providing jobs for the local population.
  • The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals help measure progress in development, such as small-scale finance and public transportation projects.

Favorite Specific Resources for this Unit (links in progress):

Advertisements