Economic Development: What and Where?

AP Human Geography & Global Studies - Damon - March 2015

GDP per Capita1500 1900

1990 2015

What changes? Why? How?

What is Economic Development?

• Economic improvement, better health, nutrition, education and environment

• Countries can be categorized as:• Developed & Developing• Core, Periphery & Semi-Periphery • More Developed Countries (MDCs) &

Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

Developed and Developing

Regional Trends? Outliers? Outdated?

Core, Periphery and Semi-Periphery

Regional Trends? Outliers? Outdated?

Hans Rosling Says “Stop Calling Them

Developing Countries”

The term ”developing countries" might have made sense once. Today it's impossible to make a clear distinction between "developing" and

"developed" countries.

How Can We Measure Economic Development?

United Nations Human Development Index (HDI)

One statistic that reflects life expectancy, years of schooling & income

2014 U.N. HDI

Regional Trends? Outliers?

Top Ten and Bottom Ten

How Can We Measure The Value of Economic Production?

• Gross National Product (GNP): value of goods and services produced by a country in a year

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): value of goods and services produced in a country in a year

• Gross National Income (GNI): value of goods and services produced by a country in a year plus investment income

A Statistic That Is Expressed Per Capita Means?

Per Person

Shortcomings of GNP, GDP and GNI

• Only measure formal economy– Do not include subsistence, informal and

illegal (black market) activities

• Do not measure true costs of production (externalities)– Examples: environmental effects, health

effects, working conditions, etc.

Informal Economic Sector

Example: Illegal Activities That Are Not Calculated in GDP

Example: Externalities

Example: Externalities

As China develops economically, a wealthier population purchases more cigarettes, which helps the economy in the short run, but will result in increased health care costs in the future.

Additional Key Measure of Economic Development:

Labor Force Structure Percent Employed in Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sectors

Percent of Labor Force Engaged in Agriculture

Other Statistics We Can Use

and many more …

Scale Is Important!

GDP per capita 2013

Scale Is Important!

Scale Is Important!

Happy Planet Index

Happy Planet Index

http://www.happyplanetindex.org/data/