Topic 3: EQ3 Flashcards
Is it true that with globalisation the ‘richer get richer and the poorer get poorer’?
Oscan calculated that the richest 1% have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44% in 2009 to 63% in 2023. The result of this is an ‘explosion in inequality’ at a time when 1billion people still live on less than US$1.25 per day. This indicates that development gap extremities have increased.
For the richer to have got richer through globalisation, do the poorest have to get poorer?
No, globalisation is not a ‘zero-sum’ game.
Overall, the global economy has grown enormously, far faster than its population. However, the already rich do take a disproportionately large share of each year’s new economic growth. They are in the best position to invest their capital in new opportunities, such as rising property prices in global hubs such as London. These tripled in value between 2005 and 2015. However, wealth and incomes have grown more gradually over time, so those without these assets benefit less.
Has globalisation pushed more people into absolute poverty?
No, instead global poverty has been halved since the introduction of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, with the greatest progress being made in Asia. It is true that the number of people living in relative poverty has risen in many societies, however. When the assets and earnings of the hyper-rich balloon in value, the average level of wealth rises. As a result, some poorer people - who’s earnings are static or have risen modestly are reclassified to below average despite not experiencing decline in wealth.
What is absolute poverty?
When a persons income is too low for basic human needs to be met, potentially resulting in hunger and homelessness. This was measured in 2016 as less than $1.25 a day.
What are the millennium development goals?
These are eight specific objectives for the global community created at the UN Millennium Summit in New York in 2000.
What is relative poverty?
This is when a persons income is too low to maintain the average standard of living in a particular society. Asset growth for very rich people can lead to more people being in relative poverty.
What is development?
Development generally means the ways in which a country seeks to progress economically and to improve the quality of life for its inhabitants. A country’s level of development is shown firstly by economic indicators of average national wealth and/or income, but encompasses social and political criteria also.
What questions are important to ask when investigating a country’s level of development?
In development studies, the concept of geographical scale is important. Important questions to ask when investigating a country’s level of development are:
-Do all local places within a country have the same level of development?
-Do all people within a country, including women and different ethnic groups, share the same economic and social opportunities?
What does the ‘development cable’ show?
It presents the development process as complex series of interlinked outcomes for people and places. In summary, it shows that in an economically developed society:
-Citizens enjoy health, long life, and an education that meets their capacity for learning.
-Citizenship and human rights are more likely to be established and protected.
What is the different between validity and reliability when choosing a measure for development?
-For a measure to be valid, there should be broad agreement that it has relevance.
-To be reliable, a measure must use trustworthy data.
What are some different measures of social and economic development?
-Income per capita and GDP
-Economic sector balance
-Human Development Index
-Gender inequality index
What is income per capita?
Income per capita is the mean average income of a group of people. It is calculated by taking an aggregate source of income for a country and dividing it by population size to give a crude average. This could however, give misleadingly high values if there is a large number of high earners.
What is GDP?
GDP is a widely used aggregate measure. It is the final value of the output of goods and services inside a nation’s borders. Each country’s annual calculation includes the value added by any foreign-owned businesses that have located operations there. The World Bank recently estimated in 2014 that global nominal GDP was around US$78 trillion.
Why is estimating GDP not easy?
This is because the earnings of every citizen and business need to be accounted for, including illegal or unregistered work in the informal sector. To make comparisons, each country’s GDP is converted into US dollars. However, some data may subsequently become unreliable because of changes in currency exchange rates. Each country’s GDP data is additionally manipulated to factor in the real cost of living, known as PPP. Put simply, in a low-cost economy, where goods and services are relatively affordable, the size of its GDP should be increased and vice versa.
What is economic sector balance?
A country or region’s economy can be crudely divided into four economic sectors whose relative importance changes as a country develops. A countries economic sector balance is also used as part of the annual GDP calculation. Every few years, each country devised a new formula that estimates the contribution that different economic sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing, make to total national income. For instance, Nigeria ‘re-based’ it’s economic sector calculation in 2013 by reducing the state of agriculture from 35% to 22% of its GDP. At the same time, ICT services were increased from 1% to 9% of GDP, while Nollywood film earnings were included in the calculation for the first time. As a result, Nigeria’s nominal GDP doubled overnight!
What is the informal sector?
This is the term which is given to unofficial forms of employment which are not easily made subject to government regulations and taxation.
What is the Human Development Index?
The HDI is a composite measure that ranks countries according to economic criteria (GDP per capita, adjusted for PPP), social criteria (life expectancy and literacy). It was devised by the United Nations Development programme and has been used in its current form since 2010. The three ‘ingredients’ are processed to produce a number between 0 and 1. In 2014, Norway was ranked in 1st place (0.944) and Niger was ranked last (0.337).
What 3 factors are used to determine HDI?
Life expectancy, income, education
What is life expectancy?
The number of years that a person can be expected to live from birth. Women generally live longest in any society
What is income in HDI?
The HDI uses a measure of wealth derived from gross national income (GNI) of a country.
What is education in HDI?
They use the average number of years of schooling for people in a country.
What is the Gender Inequality Index (GII)?
This is another composite index devised by the UNDP. It measures gender inequalities related to three aspects of social and economic development. These are:
-Reproductive health (measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates)
-Empowerment (measured by parliamentary seats occupied by females and the proportion of adult females and males aged 25 and over with some secondary education).
-Labour force participation rate of female and male populations aged 15 years and older.
What is environmental quality?
Air pollution data show that environmental quality is often poor in developing and emerging economies. It usually improves as economic and social development occurs and places make the transition from industrial to post industrial forms of economic activity. In 2014, the global environmental performance index used by Yale University ranked Ireland highly, with a score of 98.3. Bangladesh was last with a score of 9.
What is used to calculate the Environmental Performance Index?
The measurement takes into account the amount of pollution found outdoors and also the quality of air inside peoples homes. Many lower-income countries score poorly on this index on account of the use of wood-burning stoves indoors. This isn’t always the case though: several Caribbean Islands have very high air quality.
How has the spatial pattern of global wealth changed?
-Average incomes have rise in all continents since 1950, but only very slowly in the poorest parts of Africa.
-The greatest gains made by European and North American nations over the same time period has resulted in a widening of the average income gap between people living in the world’s wealthiest and poorest countries.
-Absolute poverty has fallen worldwide, but this statement hides the problem some countries still face.
-Many countries have advanced from low-income to middle income status since the 1970s, resulting in a ‘three-speed’ world of developed, emerging and developing economies.
Is the wealth divide within nations growing?
Yes. In China and Indonesia, the majority of people are better of than the previous generations when their income is measured in real terms. Yet they are economically worse off than before in relation to the richest members of their society. The Gini coefficient is a useful analytical tool that can help us to explore these patterns and trends of economic inequality further.
What are environmental winners and losers?
Major environmental issues are linked with globalisation, including climate change and biodiversity loss. Large-scale global flows of cheap food are good news for European and North American consumer nations. However, the transformation of 40% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface into productive agricultural land has led to habitat loss and biodiversity decline on a continental scale. The negative impacts of large agribusiness operations penetrate deeply into many of the worlds poorer regions such as east Africa and Southern Asia. Intensive cash-cropping, cattle-ranching and aquaculture bring damaging environmental effects ranging from groundwater depletion to the removal of mangrove forests.
How have average income per capita trends changed in Asia since 1970?
The average income per capita has leapt over the absolute poverty threshold. Asia’s 2010 figure of roughly US$7000 per capita is equivalent to about US$20 per day, well in excess of the absolute poverty threshold.
How have average income per capita trends changed in Africa since 1970?
Incomes in some African nations have remained closer to the poverty line than in Asia. It is, however, important to distinguish between different regions in Africa.
Large income gains have been made in Tunisia, Algeria and other parts of the Maghreb region. North Africa in general is far more ‘switched on’ to globalisation. Elsewhere, some of Africa’s coastal hubs, for example Lagos and Cape Town, are growth engines for a handful of important emerging economies. Economists predict a bright future for these places, provided political upheavals do not derail the economic development process. They expect strong African middle-class growth to rival Asia over coming decades.
What parts of Africa have remained in poverty since 1970?
Poverty remains entrenched in some Sub-Saharan countries, including Burundi and Central African Republic. In several places, a toxic cocktail of geographical isolation (e,g landlocked), poverty and political extremism has resulted in falling life expectancy due to conflict. Human rights abuses are widespread and progress towards gender equality has been set back decades by the spread of extremist political organ including the Lord’s resistance army in Uganda and militant Islamists in Mali.
How have the open borders of EU nations brought rapid cultural change?
In 2004, eight Eastern European nations joined the EU. An unprecedented volume and rate of post-accession in-migration followed for the UK and Ireland. The arrival of 1 million Eastern Europeans is a large reason to why the population grew from 59.4million to 64.5million between 2004 and 2015.
Do migrants often concentrate in particular areas and and enclaves?
Yes, for instance, new polish migrants have joined a long-established diaspora community in Balham, London. Many non-polish Balham residents have welcomed their arrival and their contribution to the local economy and society. Small shopkeepers have visibly courted Polish custom. However, some local people worry that young migrants have increased the crude birth rate beyond the capacity of the area’s primary schools.
Is there a British diaspora in other EU nations?
UK residents began relocating to the Mediterranean coastline (France, Italy, Spain) in 1993, when freedom of movement in the EU was first allowed. British enclaves can be identified through local ‘enthoscape’ features such as bars and cafes. However, poor behaviour of some younger ‘Brits’ has sometime strained cultural relations with indigenous communities.
What is post-accession migration?
The flow of economic migrants after a country has joined the EU.
What is a diaspora?
The dispersion or spread of a group of people form their original homeland.
What is the crude birth rate?
The number of live births per 1000 people per year.
Why are there tensions in London Surrounding foreign investment and migration?
The leaders of some of the UK’s biggest TNCs have argues that migration restrictions threaten their own competitiveness and, more broadly, the UK’s role as a global hub. Deregulation of the city of London in 1986 removed large amounts of ‘red tape’ for businesses. London’s financial and legal firms began to regularly rotate staff between their different international offices in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Other companies have recruited large numbers of skilled programmers. It isn’t just UK headquartered TNCs that are alarmed by restrictions on migration.
Why are foreign TNCs concerned over tightening migration policies in the UK?
Indian, Chinese and Brazilian TNCs wanted a European base may be less likely to choose London if it becomes harder to transfer staff to the UK.
