Development

1. Introduction to development

Global inequality can be caused by environmental, social, economic, and political factors. Environmental factors, such as available resources, climate conditions, frequency of natural disasters, diseases, and available food sources, influence global inequality.

Political instability, the status of women in society, and population trends and movements are social factors impacting on equality. Economic factors caused by globalisation have brought advantages, but are also drivers of inequality.

indicators used to measure global inequality

  • global patterns of inequality

  • global economic power structures, multinational companies, and corporate responsibility

  • government, non-government organisation (NGO), community, and corporate responses to global inequality.

  • access to health care, including access to hospitals and doctors

  • food security, including the globalisation of agriculture

  • access to education

Development in five easy steps

  1. Economic diversification and industrialisation - Countries that successfully develop typically move beyond reliance on raw materials or single industries. They build manufacturing capabilities, develop service sectors, and create value-added industries. IE South Korea

  2. Investment in human capital / education and healthcare - Comprehensive education systems and accessible healthcare enable populations to be more productive and innovative. IE Singapore

  3. Infrastructure development - Modern transportation networks, reliable power systems, and telecommunications infrastructure form the backbone of development. IE China

  4. Strong institutions and governance - Effective legal systems, reduced corruption, and stable political institutions create an environment where businesses can thrive and citizens can trust in public services. IE Botswana.

  5. International trade and investment integration - Opening to global markets while strategically protecting infant industries helps countries access capital, technology, and expertise. IE Vietnam

What does a lack of development look like?

Kibera is a slum in the city of Nairobi (Kenya) with approximately 170,000 - 250,000 people

Have a walk around.

Street survey questions:

  1. What are the main building materials?

  2. Do the residents have electricity?

  3. Describe the sanitation in Kibera

  4. What are the risks associated with this?

  5. How do people get water?

  6. Describe the commerce in this area of the slum.

Activity 1. Development introduction

Visualising global development in 3 indicators

1. Life Expectancy

  1.  Describe the global trend in life expectancy shown in the graph

  2. Identify 4 reasons for the trend you have identified.

    ‘Improved healthcare' isn’t satisfactory. Which elements of development have caused life expectancy to increase?

  3. Identify 4 reasons for the anomaly on the graph.

2. GDP per capita (Income)

  1. Describe the relationship between income and life expectancy.

  2. Use five development indicators to explain how income influences life expectancy?

IE: Rising incomes are linked to higher calorie intake and a resulting decline in infant mortality.

3. Literacy (Education)

According to UNESCO, In 2024 the global literacy rate, the ability to write and read a simple sentence stood at 87%.

90% for men and 82% for women

There are 750 million people in the world who are illiterate, with another 152 million children set to follow in their footsteps because they are not attending school.

Women account for two-thirds of the illiterate population, according to the latest data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

 Questions

  1. Describe the pattern of global literacy

  2. Account for the rapid increase in literacy globally since 1990 (4 causes).

  3. List 2 x economic and 2 x social reasons women account for two thirds of the world's illiterate population

Is inequality inevitable?

How can economic inequality be measured and how it is impacted by different governmental policy choices?

2. Measuring development

Activity 2. Measuring Development for Dummies

‘What gets measured gets managed’. Peter Drucker

Before you can begin to address disparities in wealth and development you need to measure them. There are a number of ways you can do this.

To do: Create an annotated development table, using the following indicators, to describe the current state of development in an LEDC. Use graphs to illustrate three (3) of the indicators.

Note: Copy the following list into perplexity ai with your countries name

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

Life expectancy at birth

Fertility rate

Child malnutrition %

MPI score

HDI score

Gender inequality index rank

Youth female literacy %

Corruption perceptions index rank

Foreign direct investment % of GDP

3. Barriers to development

Background briefing: Barriers to development

Why some countries are rich…..

  • Strong public institutions

  • A strong legal framework

  • Merit based government and semi government career paths

  • A positive cultural (religious) outlook

  • Geographical advantages

 and some are poor.

  • Weak public institutions

  • Weak legal framework (corruption & lack of property rights)

  • Clan based government and semi government hiring policies

  • A traditional /conservative cultural (religious) outlook

  • Geographical disadvantages

Activity 3: Barriers to development

To do: Guide to the importance of institutions

  1. Define public institutions.

    Use quotes and an example to answer each of the following questions.

  2. How do weak public institutions lead to underdevelopment?

  3. How does corruption lead to underdevelopment?

  4. How does a strong legal framework benefit development?

  5. List the negative impacts of clan based government hiring policies.

  6. Define a traditional cultural/religious outlook and describe the potential impact of this outlook on the people of rural Chad.

Background briefing: development indicator limitations

Development indicators are used by governments / NGO's to target investment and aid.

However, as Dirty Harry said, an indicator needs to know its limitations.

For example:

  1. Countrywide statistics disguise intra-country variations. As you can see in the demic map of China, the east of the country is a lot richer than the west, but if you looked only at China's GDP per capita (USD $12720) you would not know this.

  2. Indicators are always out of date. After information has been published, many things can change either positively or negatively.

  3. Development indicators can be manipulated, used or ignored to suit people's needs.

  4. One indicator may suggest an area is developed while another may suggest an area is undeveloped. Indicators (with the exception of composite indicators like the HDI) focus on only one aspect of development.

  5. Development can be inconsistent - disparities exist within countries. Most indicators use averages and tend to neglect or highlight the sectors of the population that are marginalised.

  6. In many countries data is inaccurate or incomplete. The UK famously overcounted its male population by 80 000 for years while China recently admitted that they had overestimated their population by up to 80 million.

  7. Some countries also refuse to release certain data.

  8. Well designed composite indicators aim to give a more complete picture of development status.

4. Improving development

Activity 4: How to improve development

Improving development in LEDCs faces challenges including poverty, weak infrastructure, and vulnerability to shocks. Key strategies include investing in infrastructure, diversifying economies, strengthening governance, and enhancing resilience. International support through aid, trade agreements, and debt relief is crucial, while countries must also focus on legal frameworks and basic services.

To do: In your groups you will examine one method for improving development and reducing inequality.

Report back and present to the class in the next lesson.

Increasing Trade & Market Access

  1. How do countries increase trade?

  2. Explain market access

  3. Describe the trend in global trade

  4. How does it reduce disparities?

  5. Outline the main advantages and disadvantages of free trade

  6. Who benefits most from the expansion of trade?

Foreign direct investment (FDI)

  1.  Define Foreign direct investment (FDI)

  2. Identify three LEDC's that receive the most FDI

  3. Identify the LEDC's for which FDI represent the highest proportion of their GDP

  4. What are the positive and negative impacts of FDI on the receiving country?

  5. How does FDI contribute to development?

 Education (Literacy, access?)

  1.  Define your terms

  2. Identify three countries that have used increased literacy/education as a strategy for development.

  3. What are the positive and negative impacts of increasing literacy?

  4. How does education contribute to development. 

Foreign Aid

  1.  Define the five main types of foreign aid

  2. Describe and explain the trend of foreign aid

  3. Explain top down development with examples

  4. Explain bottom up development with examples

  5. When is Aid effective?

  6. When is Aid ineffective?

Debt Relief

  1.  Define “HIPC relief”

  2. What was the Jubilee 2000 campaign?

  3. Explain the conditions that need to be met for HIPC relief

  4. Analyse the pros and cons of forgiving debts of poor countries to reduce inequality, using the example of the Democratic Rep. of Congo and/or Zambia

  5. Should the debt be cancelled?

Note:

Development (Foreign) aid is defined as monetary assistance in the form of direct grants, programs or training to support a developing country’s political, social or economic development.

In 2023 US$ 211 billion was spent globally on foreign aid.  (NGO's and foreign aid)