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Uneven distribution of wealth
Negative impact of colonialization on economic development
Poverty and living conditions
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Recommended: Uneven distribution of wealth
Not all humans are born equal – more than 800 million people across the globe are currently living in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.25 a day, and there are currently 48 countries listed as a least developed country (LDC) by the United Nations Office of the High Representative for The Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS): countries that have a gross national income (GNI) per capita less than $1,035, human asset index (HAI) less than 60, meaning high infant mortality rate and percentage of the population undernourished, and low secondary school enrollment ratio and adult literacy rate, together with an economic vulnerability index (EVI) higher than 36 ("United"; …show more content…
Acemoglu and Robinson uses three pairs of countries that are in close proximity to each other, but have a huge difference in development level: Mexico and the United States of America; North and South Korea; Zimbabwe and Botswana. In the first pair of examples, Mexico was colonized under a system of slavery and extraction, in which Spanish used the existing slavery systems in Mexico to extract valuable resources such as gold and silver back to Spain, left behind a government for the elites, an absence of political rights to the general public, and ultimately lead to political turmoil and several dictatorships in Mexico, thus underdevelopment. To the north of Mexico’s boarder, North America was settled by the English with a system emphasizing on incentives – land in return for work – which eventually lead to a democratic constitution and political stability for hundreds of years, and opportunities for people to get rich. For North and South Korea, Acemoglu and Robinson argue that the ban on private property and markets in North Korea discouraged productivity and innovations, while a free market in South Korea led to investments and economic growth. In the case of Zimbabwe and Botswana, Zimbabwe’s institutions are extractive. The authors use the national lottery of Zimbabwe in 2000 as an example, in which the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, won the lottery, to show the corruptness of the Zimbabwe institutes. In contrast, the Republic of Botswana, a landlocked African country that is neighbored to Zimbabwe, kept inclusive institutions that were in place pre-colonialism, and through nationalization of the diamond mining industry of the country, the government of Botswana build a developed
Every year, more and more money is donated to Africa to promote democracy in order to get rid of the powerful coups in many countries through out the continent. While the coups are declining and democratic governments are being established, the economic growth and development of Africa is not anywhere it should be considering the abundant natural resources and coastline that the continent possesses. Even though countries, like the United States of America, donate millions of dollars they are a large reason why Africa is underdeveloped economically. The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade is the most devastating event in the history of the world. Nearly 14,000,000 men, women, and children were displaced, sold into slavery, and killed by the trade routes.(
Poverty in Developing and Less Developed Countries The world includes less developed countries and developing countries. Less developed countries are countries considered to be poor and often contain many people who are in absolute poverty. Developing countries are countries like India, which are gaining in wealth. There are two types of poverty within the world.
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
...onditions in an inner-city or a rural community in the United States” (8). Most of the countries in Africa there are well over 50% of people below their poverty line. For an example, Lusted states, “In developing regions, extreme poverty is usually defined as earning less than $1.25 a day. In the United States, extreme poverty means earning less than half of the official poverty line” (10). But Africa isn’t the only country struggling with poor people. Poverty and Homelessness by Merino writes, “...3.7 percent in Denmark, 5 percent in Finland, 5.5 percent in Norway, 6.9 in Slovenia, 7 percent in Sweden, 7.2 percent [in] Hungary, 8.3 percent in Germany, 8.8 percent in the Czech Republic, 9.3 percent in France, 9.4 percent in Switzerland” (32). Poverty is a struggle all around the world and thousands of people die each day due to the lack of basic necessities to live.
When it comes to undeveloped countries, the discovery of valuable resources can easily lead to resource dependence (Wantchekon, 1999: Anderson, 1995, p. 33 *; Robinson, 2006). As a result, political repression and political laziness often run rampant. Under these circumstances the incumbent party is almost always re-elected because of the appeasive payoff...
Some of the prominent states that are consumed with poverty are Rwanda, Chad, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda is a landlocked, resource-poor country. The population is about 9.7 million, and 87 per cent of Rwandans live in rural areas. Population density in the country is the highest in Africa, with about 370 persons/km². The country is one of the poorest in Africa. Gross domestic product per capita was US$464 in 2008, and Rwanda ranked 167th out of 182 countries in the 2009 United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index. Chad is also one of the world's poorest countries. In 2003 over 54 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. For much of the population health and social conditions are inadequate. Chronic food shortages are widespread, and malnutrition levels among young children are high. These statistics are slightly higher in rural as oppose...
In 1990, Schwarz (1990) stated about one in five American families lived beneath the poverty line. According Lein (2013), it is estimated that as of the beginning of 2011, about 1.46 million U.S. households with about 2.8 million children were surviving on $2 or less in income per person per day in a given month. This constitutes almost 20 percent of all non-elderly households with children living in poverty. About 866,000 households appear to live in extreme poverty across a full calendar quarter. The prevalence of extreme poverty rose sharply between 1996 and 2011(Lein, 2013).
Why do nations fail? This is a topic of popular debate with many economists and a question many scholars have struggled to find an answer to. Global poverty is an issue that economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson investigate and provide an alternative insight for in their book: ‘Why Nations Fail’. Acemoglu and Robinson investigate inequalities that exist across countries and why nations are an epitome of success and others, failure. They come up with an alternative explanation for why standards of living differ across countries, and why a gap exists between the rich and poor. The book introduces an example of two cities that are separated by a border: Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. On the American side of the border, the income of the average household is $30,000, the population is relatively healthy, and the citizens live prosperously (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). On the opposite side of the border in Mexico, majority of the population do not own a high school degree, poor health conditions exist, poor infrastructure and unfortunately, high infant mortality rates (Acemoglu & Robinson 2012). How can situations on opposite borders be so different? The basis for Acemoglu and Robison’ s thesis for this phenomenon is that of institutions. They propose that that there is a strong correlation between economic and political institutions. That is, inclusive political institutions support inclusive economic institutions, and extractive political institutions support extractive economic institutions (Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012). Democratic institutions generally allow opportunities for the majority, leading to positive economic growth. Political institutions that look after a narrow elite is reinforced with stag...
Comparison Between MEDC and LEDC The comparisons between MEDC- More Economically Developed Country and LEDC-Less Economically Developed Country are many and varied but are mainly related to finance which gives the MEDC a higher standard of living for its occupants than those of the LEDC. Geographically most MEDC are situated in the northern hemisphere were as the LEDC are mostly in the southern hemisphere. Most MEDC are well advanced or have completed their development period for example the United Kingdom were as the LEDC are still in the early stages. Development of a country can be shown in a demographic transition model; this model consists of four stages.
Colonialism, which was a major cause of the north-south gap that occurred in the period following the Second World War, is the takeover by a nation of foreign territories; making them part of it to aid its own economic, social and political structures. The mother countries succeed in doing that by using the colony’s natural resources, money savings, and their lands, which leads the colony to rely on the mother country and therefore, leaving the country underdeveloped. Hence, the worldwide scramble for colonies, particularly in the late 19th – early 20th century, had a tremendous negative effect on the economic, social, and political structures of indigenous, non-industrialized peoples. Mother countries tend to take their colony’s natural resources, raw materials, and agricultural products, and then use them to manufacture their own products. This process causes the colony to depend on their mother country’s products rather than their own, which in turn leads to a tremendous deterioration of the colony’s local goods and products.
In this paper I ask, how did slavery begin in Ghana? What impact did it have on Ghana? How badly is Ghana underdeveloped due to this enslavement that took place? Lovejoy, Northrup, and Rodney argue that the transatlantic slave trade did in fact contribute to the underdevelopment of Africa. I support their arguments and believe the trade didn’t exactly “destroy” Ghana, but it did affect it by not letting the country improve faster, although eventually Ghana was able to depart from that “underdeveloped” category.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, was one of the most controversial books in the world at the time of its release. The book seeks to argue that European exploitation and involvement in Africa throughout history. This is the cause of current African underdevelopment, and the true path to the development is for Africa to completely sever her ties with the international capitalist economy. Rodney describes his goal in writing the book in the preface: “this book derives from a concern with the contemporary African situation. It delves into the past only because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the near future” (vii). Rodney writes from a distinctly Marxist perspective by arguing that the inequalities inherent in European capitalism and required exploitation of certain countries in order to sustain capitalism.
People at risk of poverty or social exclusion- measure people those living in conditions severely constrained by a lack of resources or a person whose household income per consumption unit is less than 60 per cent of the median income is considered living at of poverty (Stat 2013). However, there are couple problems with this measure. First, these measures do not identify some groups, for instance, people living in institutions, homeless people or migrants. Second, it is difficult to compare between countries on the basis of deprivation indicators, for instance, having a warm coat can be necessary in one country there is cold but not necessary where is warm weather (Eapn). Data is for 2011.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Extractive institutions are used throughout this book to explain that the upper class extracts resources and goods from the lower class. They don’t allow growth or competition, but rather they just exploit the rest of society into doing their labour. It’s used to please a few, rather than the majority, and can still be seen in most places in the world. Whereas, inclusive institutions are the ideal way nations should be run, allowing for fair economical systems, property ownership, educational facilities and allowing all citizens to participate in the growth of the economy. Acemoglu and Robinson argue that this is the main factor in distinguishing the rich countries from the poor and, moreover, how they treat their citizens. This system is relatively used in North America and Western Europe.