AP Human Geography Unit 7 Notes: Development, Gender, Theories, and Sustainable Trade

Development (AP Human Geography)

The process of improving the material conditions of people’s lives and their overall well-being; not just increasing income or economic output.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total value of goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a given time period (usually a year).

GDP per capita

GDP divided by population; an average measure used to compare economic output per person, but it can hide inequality.

Limitations of GDP (as a development measure)

GDP does not show who benefits from growth or whether well-being improves; it can miss inequality, environmental damage, unpaid labor, and informal economic activity.

Gross National Income (GNI)

Total income earned by a country’s residents and businesses (including income earned abroad) minus income earned domestically by foreign entities.

GDP vs. GNI (key distinction)

GDP focuses on location of production (inside borders); GNI focuses on who earns the income (residents/owned businesses).

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

An adjustment that accounts for differences in cost of living so GDP/GNI comparisons better reflect what money can actually buy in different countries.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite index combining health (life expectancy), education (schooling indicators), and standard of living (income, commonly GNI per capita).

Limitations of HDI

HDI does not directly measure inequality within a country, political freedom/safety, or environmental quality; as a composite, it can hide tradeoffs among components.

Inequality (in development measurement)

Uneven distribution of income and benefits; can be hidden by per capita averages when a wealthy elite raises the mean while many remain poor.

Human capital

The skills and knowledge that increase productivity; often built through education and strongly linked to broader development outcomes.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM) connection to women’s status

As women gain education and access to healthcare (including reproductive care), fertility rates often decline as part of broader development change.

Fertility rate (development link)

Births per woman; often declines with greater women’s education, healthcare access, and shifting gender norms and economic opportunities.

Informal work (informal economy)

Unregulated and often untaxed work that typically lacks legal protections and benefits, leaving workers and households more economically vulnerable.

Export-oriented manufacturing (gender and development)

Industrial strategy focused on producing goods for export; can increase jobs and GDP, but may rely on low wages and weak labor protections (often affecting women).

Microfinance

Small loans (often aimed at low-income entrepreneurs, frequently women) that can help start/expand businesses but can also create debt burdens without supportive conditions.

Maternal mortality (development significance)

Deaths related to pregnancy/childbirth; high rates reflect weak healthcare access and can increase household vulnerability and reduce women’s participation in education/work.

Modernization theory (Rostow)

A development approach arguing countries progress through stages largely via internal changes like investment, industrialization, technology adoption, and institution building.

Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth

A five-stage modernization model: traditional society; preconditions for takeoff; takeoff; drive to maturity; age of high mass consumption.

World-Systems Theory (Wallerstein)

A theory explaining development through global economic structure and relationships linking core, semi-periphery, and periphery regions via trade and power.

Core (World-Systems)

Regions specializing in high-skilled, high-wage, high-profit production with strong institutions and economic dominance in global trade.

Periphery (World-Systems)

Regions specializing in lower-skilled, low-wage activities (often raw materials and cheap labor) with weaker bargaining power in global relationships.

Semi-periphery (World-Systems)

Intermediate regions that are industrializing and can move upward or downward in the system; often act as a buffer between core and periphery.

Sustainability (in development)

Meeting present needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs, considering environmental, economic, and social outcomes.

Pollution haven idea

The concept that pollution-intensive production may relocate to places with weaker environmental laws or enforcement, shifting environmental burdens to lower-income regions.