The Political and Economic consequences of geography

Question 1

What does a comparison of Indonesia’s and Nigeria’s economic growth show? (Gunning and Collier)

Answer 1

leading up to 1970 Nigeria had broadly superior economic performance to Indonesia, but over next quarter century they diverged

Question 2

What does Sachs attribute slow growth to? (Gunning and Collier)

Answer 2

“the curse of the tropics”, Africa’s adverse climate causes poor health and so reduced life expectacny also leads to leached soils and reliable rainfall

Question 3

Why can much of Africa being tropical handicap economy?(Gunning and Collier)

Answer 3

• Due to diseases such as malaria and hostile conditions for livestock and agriculture
• soil quality poor and much of the continent is semi-arid, with rainfall subject to long cycle and unpredictable failure
• soil lacks micronutrients
• low population density due in part to semi-arid conditions

Question 4

Why is the colonial legacy a problem? (Gunning and Collier)

Answer 4

-population half the size of India in sub-Saharan Africa divided into 48 states, small national economies

Question 5

What became the arena in which ethnic groups struggled for resources? (Gunning and Collier)

Answer 5

-the large ill paid public service, in Ghana locally dominant ethnic group recieved a wage premium of 25% over other groups

Question 6

how can poor public service delivery handicap households?(Gunning and Collier)

Answer 6

• through inefficient education, health and extension services
• of the non wage money released by Ugandan ministry of finance for schools, less than 30% actually reached schools

Question 7

What does Sachs claim about geography?

Answer 7

-almost fully accounts for slow growth, it rests on the lack of a demographic transition to lower fertility rate in Africa, however could regard high fertility rates as a consequence of slow growth rather than cause

Question 8

example of being landlocked not necessarily being an economic disadvantage? (Gunning and Collier)

Answer 8

-Switzerland

Question 9

How has the global gap between rich and poor widened? (Hausmann)

Answer 9

• 1820 Western Europe was 2.9 times richer than Africa

- by 1992, this had been risen to 13.2 times

Question 10

1995 average income of tropical countries compared to temperate-zone countries? (Hausmann)

Answer 10

-1995 tropical countires had an average income equivalent to roughly one third of the income of temperate-zone countries

Question 11

Comparison of life expectancy in temperate and tropical countries? (Hausmann)

Answer 11

-life expectancy in tropical regions is seven years lower than in temperate zones

Question 12

“a country whose population is farther than 100 km from the sea…” (Hausmann)

Answer 12

-grow 0.6% slower than nations in which entire population is within 100km of coast

Question 13

what do economists consider to be the main engines of growth? (Hausmann)

Answer 13

• access to markets

- technological progress

Question 14

How are transportation costs often determined? (Hausmann)

Answer 14

• by a country’s geography

- shipping goods over 1 additional KM of land costs as much as shipping them over 7 km of sea

Question 15

What does the median landlocked country pay in terms of transportation costs compared to median coastal nation? (Hausmann)

Answer 15

-median landlocked country pays up to 50% more in transportation costs than the median coastal nation

Question 16

example of geography impacting transportation costs? (Hausmann)

Answer 16

shipping a container from Baltimore to the Ivory coast costs about $3000, whilst to the CAR it costs $13,000

Question 17

What is the divergence in agricultural productivity rooted in? (Hausmann)

Answer 17

-different R&D capabilities

Question 18

Why is R&D geared towards rich temperate-zone agriculture of little use in tropical areas? (Hausmann)

Answer 18

-plant varieties need to be adapted

Question 19

why are diseases like malaria, hookworm, schistosmoiasis, river blindness and yellow fever hard to control in tropical regions? (Hausmann)

Answer 19

-lack of seasons makes the reproduction of mosquitoes and other disease transmitters rather constant throughout the year

Question 20

Why do tropical diseases not get the same level of R&D investments? (Hausmann)

Answer 20

-the affected countries tend to be poor, dont attract same level of investments that a cure for baldness or erectile dysfunction can attract in western markets

Question 21

how can diseases effect trade flows? (Hausmann)

Answer 21

-by affecting everything from trade flows to migration patterns, the 1991 cholera outbreak in Peru cost the country’s fishing sector nearly $800 million because of a temporary ban on seafood exports

Question 22

“if a region is poor because its geography undermined agricultural productivity, impedes market access and facilitates endemic disease…” (Hausmann)

Answer 22

-then good domestic policies will hardly suffice to foster growth

Question 23

how many of the high income economies are part of the tropical zone? (Gallup)

Answer 23

-of the 28, only Hong Kong, Singapore and part of Taiwan are in the tropical zone

Question 24

What are the three major ways in which geography affects economic development? (Gallup)

Answer 24

• economies differ in their ease of transporting goods, people and ideas, because sea trade is less costly than land or air based trade, economies near coastline have advantage
• geography affects the prevalence of diseases, many kinds of diseases are endemic to the tropical and subtropical zones. Country’s with high level of child moratlity tend to have high levels of fertility, with so many children poor families cannot invest much in each child’s education
• geography affects agricultural productivity