Globalisation - Indices Measuring Globalisation

What Is Development:
  • Development is how advanced a country is compared to others.
  • It reflects the wealth of a country, the standard of living, the technology it has and the level of consumption and globalisation
  • USA, UK, Japan, Europe, Australia, are MEDC (more economically developed countries)
  • Many African countries like Chad are poorer LEDCs (less economically developed countries).
  • China has some poor and some rich areas; therefore it is best to call it a ‘middle-income country’.
  • The terms MDCs and LDCs can also be used for the very richest and poorest countries (Most and Least Developed Countries). E.g. USA versus Chad. See the world map next.
  • The LDCs are at the ‘extremities’ of development: the poorest extreme position
  • GDP is a single indicator often used to show the development level of a country. It measures the average income of each person in that country (US dollars). GDP per capita is the country income as a whole (GDP) then divided by the population number to get the GDP per capita!
Key Terms:
  • Development gap: The (growing) difference in development between the richest and poorest countries
  • Disparity/Inequality: The unequal distribution of wealth, rights or living standards can be within or between countries
  • Development: The ways in which a country seeks to progress economically and to improve life for its habitants
  • Absolute Poverty: When a person’s income to too low for basic human needs to be met, potentially resulting in hunger and homelessness.
  • Relative Poverty: When a person’s income is too low to maintain the average standard of living in a particular society. There is asset growth for the very rich which leads to more being in relative poverty.
The Development Gap With Globalisation:
  • Globalisation helps countries develop. However, there is a large gap between the richest countries in the world and the poorest. Known as the development gap. It is getting wider, although more countries like China are crossing the gap and becoming middle-income countries or even MEDCs like South Korea now is.
Economic Growth – Korea And The USA:
  • USA is growing and increasing everyday
  • Korea was once together and whilst they were, they were not growing
  • Once the south separated in the 1970s, they grew whilst the North had a decrease in GDP
The Economic And Social Measures Of Development:
  • Economic measures look at money and income, or overall wealth
  • Social measures look at factors like education, health, gender issues and how the environment affects people’s living spaces
  • Single indices measure one thing e.g. GDP or GDP per capita
  • Composite indices combine several single measures onto one indices e.g. HDI measures 3 things: life expectancy (health), literacy (education), and income (GDP) combined
Types Of Scale:
  • Income per capita/GDP: Mean average income of a group of people.
  • Economic Sector Balance: 4 economic sectors whose relative importance changes as a country develops – used to share GDP calculation
  • Human Development Index: Ranks country according to GDP
  • Gender Equality Index: Measures gender equality based on reproduction health and empowerment of women (seats held in Parliament)
  • Environment Quality Index: Measures air pollution as air is poor in developing countries. Usually improves with transition from industrial to machines.
Human Development Index (HDI):
  • Composite indices measure of development
  • Combines life expectancy (health), literacy (education), and income (GDP)
  • Covers economic and social factors, so more reliable as a measure of development than just GDP per capita
  • Africa and parts of Asia are at the bottom of the list (lowest development)
  • ‘Western’ countries top the list e.g. Europe, USA, Australia. Norway often top!
Gender Inequality Index (GII):
  • A measure of social development
  • Measures several factors to test how the level of inequality (disparity) between men and women in the country
  • Looks at factors like access to education, employment opportunities, etc.
  • Chad has a very low score due to traditions banning women from many activities of opportunities. Africa and parts of Asia lowest scores
  • Highest scores in Europe, with Scandinavian countries scoring well. Generally speaking, more developed and richer countries are more gender-equal.
Gini Coefficient or Gini Index:
  • Evaluation: a limitation of GDP and HDI is that they do not show the inequality/disparity level within a country
  • Gini Coefficient measures how unequal a society is by income variation
  • High equality does not mean high development!
  • Poorest scoring countries have a smaller number of rich elites and large relatively poor populations e.g. all Latin America. Most unequal country in the world = South Africa
  • Europe scores well, i.e. inequality is relatively low. As with GII, Scandinavian countries have the highest scores (are the most equal).
Globalisation Winners And Losers:
Winners:
Losers:
Middle class
 Environment
TNCs
 Women
South Korea
 The poor
Elite/professionals
 Afghanistan
USA
 Car industry workers in Detroit.

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