A Level Edexcel Globalisation Enquiry Question 3

[3.7A] What is development?

The improvement of quality of life (level of happiness, wellbeing or contentment, resulting from a way of living) of a country's population. Quality of life includes social, economic, cultural, political, demographic and environmental aspects.

Usually considered as economic growth leading to improvement in the standard of living, but can be measured in other ways such as freedom, equality.

[3.7A] How do single and composite indices differ and which are generally better?

A single indicator measures one variable. Whereas, a composite indices combines more than one variable into a single measure such as the human development index and gender inequality index.

Comparison:

- Whilst single indicators are easy to use and understand, they may not give an accurate representation of development as it only takes into account one factor and does not consider other factors that could potentially influence the accuracy of the indicator.

[3.7A] What are the economic indices of development?

Single:

- Gross National Income.

- Gross Domestic Product.

- Income per capita.

Composite:

- Economic Sector Balance.

[3.7A] What are the economic indices of development explained?

Single:

Gross National Income:

- The values of goods and services by a country, which is similar to GDP, but takes into account overseas earnings also like remittances.

Gross Domestic Product:

- Measures the total value of goods and services produced in a country.

Income per capita:

- The mean income of a group of people.

- May be the best single indicator of development, as higher income will generally have better QOL.

Composite:

Economic Sector Balance:

- Considers all four main economic sectors. As a country develops, there will be an increase in secondary industries and then tertiary industries.

[3.7A] What are examples of social measures of development for a country?

Composite:

- Gender Inequality Index.

- Human Development Index.

[3.7A] What is the Gender Inequality Index?

Composite:

Gender Inequality Index:

- Measures the disparity between men and women.

- Considers mortality rates, females in education, reproductive health of women, empowerment and participation in workforce.

- Reproductive health looks at maternal mortality and adolescent fertility rates.

- Empowerment is measured by political representation in parliament and women's access to higher education.

- Measured on a scale from 0 to 1.

[3.7A] What is the Human Development Index?

Human Development Index:

- United Nations formed this.

- It includes economic measures such as GNI and social factors, such as life expectancy at birth, income, and years in education.

- Expressed on a scale between 0 and 1.

- A few rich people cannot distort the average life expectancy and mean years of schooling.

- Can depend on political decisions.

[3.7A] What are examples of environmental measures for a country?

- Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution.

- Ecological Footprint.

- Air Pollution Index.

[3.7A] What are examples of environmental measures for a country explained?

Environmental:

Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution:

- Compares pollution levels in 3000 cities with health limits, recognising links between air pollution and health risks.

Ecological Footprint:

- The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

Air Pollution Index:

- Measures sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and many other particulates. If it exceeds a certain value, there is a state of emergency.

[3.7B] What is absolute poverty vs. relative poverty?

Relative poverty is when you earn 50% below the median income, whereas absolute poverty is living on less than 1 dollar a day.

[3.7B] What is the Lorenz Curve?

This can be used to graphically represent the distribution of income.

- The percentage of householders is plotted on the x-axis.

- The percentage of income is plotted on the y-axis.

- The curve therefore represent income distribution.

- The line of equality shows what an equal distribution of wealth would look like, whereas the Lorenz curve, shows the actual distribution.

[3.7B] What is the Gini coefficient?

It measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of income or wealth, using a scale of 0-1.

- The coefficient for a society in which each member received exactly the same amount would be 0.

- A coefficient of 1 would mean that one member got everything and the rest got nothing.

- The higher the coefficient, the more unequal the distribution will be.

[3.7B] How has the widening income inequality created winners?

Winners:

- There were about 1800 billionaires worldwide in 2016; most have made their wealth through ownership of global TNCs

- Developed countries have proven very good at maintaining their wealth, despite the rise of emerging countries like China.

- The rising middle class of factory and call centre workers in Asia, whose incomes have risen as they have gained outsources and offshored jobs.

- People who work for TNCs in developed countries who have a high income and reasonable job security, although they lead high-stress lives.

[3.7B] How has the widening income inequality created losers?

Losers:

- Isolated, rural populations in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa where subsistence farming still dominates and global connections are thin.

- Workers (especially male ones) in old industrial cities in the developed world who have generally lost jobs.

- Workers in sweatshop factories in emerging countries; they suffer exploitation (but may still be better off than in the rural areas they migrated from)

- Slum dwellers in developing world cities like Lagos, as the reality of urban life is often much worse than they expected.

[3.7B] What happened with the Rana Plaza incident?

In 2013, a factory in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh collapsed and killed over 1000 people.

- The building was typical of many that had been built quickly to meet the rising demand.

- Prior to the disaster, extra floors had been added to the building and cracks started to appear.

- Building was close temporarily and then declared safe and workers reluctantly returned.

[3.7B] What effects did Coca-Cola have on Kerala, India?

- Coca Cola uses a large amount of water, which was argued to damage the local economy.

- They had to send water tanks around every morning to supply water.

- The factory used 500,000 litres of groundwater a day.

- The area was previously for farming.

- Agriculture such as vegetable crops have to be abandoned due to a lack of water.

- Thousands worked there before, but now 141 are employed.

- Coca Cola selling fertiliser with carcinogenic material in, such as Lead.

- 15 years later and the groundwater levels and quality have not recovered.

[3.7C] How are there contrasting economic development trends between developed and developing countries?

Developed:

- Developed nations after the second world war experienced increased economic wealth, whilst their former colonies and communist world did not.

- This is because they had more advanced, more productive workers and political policies that ensured relatively equal distribution of economic benefits.

Developing:

- The 1980s global recession slowed economic growth in developed countries the most. This allowed developing countries to catch up.

- 1980 China's Open Door Policy, and other emerging economies saw a faster rate of growth than developed.

Emerging:

- By 2000, the majority of emerging economies were going faster than developing economies, making the global inequality gap fall.

- Since 1980, globalisation, deregulation, technology advancements, and expansion of trade have narrowed the gaps between countries.

[3.7C] How does an emerging economy's ecological footprint differ to a developed?

China's has steadily risen to 3 hectares per person in 2021 compared to Sweden's which is less than half of China's.

[3.8C] How do the First Nations of Canada seek to retain their cultural identity?

It is the original population of Canada.

Cultural Identity:

- There is an assembly that promotes the rights and needs of the First Nations at a national level, representing 634 First Nation governments.

- National governments pass and enforce cultural rights, and tribal culture must be involved in the creation of laws.

- After decades of being taught to be 'Canadian' in boarding schools, modern First Nation schools teach native languages and traditions.

- The self-government pressures and negotiates with the federal government.

[3.8C] How do the First Nations of Canada seek to protect their physical resources?

Protecting Physical Resources:

- The First Nation has the ability to negotiate with the federal government and companies through its self-government, and it negotiated a 20km exclusion zone between its Moose and Reserve lands.

- They can also form alliances with pressure groups.

[3.8C] How do some groups embrace its economic advantages?

Tribes in Papua New Guinea such as Yonggom have resources located within its area, and they try to get a share of the wealth to improve serve for the indigenous peoples.

- They can also negate contracts with commercial companies to get worked linked to the extraction of the resources for some of the people, providing wages to support families and improve QOL.

[3.7C] How are there contrasting environmental management trends between developed and developing countries?

- Global warming has become a global issues.

- Developed countries are pushing for international actions, but developing countries are still developing their economic and resource bases.

- Before the 1980s, developed countries cared very little for managing the environment.

- World agreements and protocols have been led by the UN, but TNC operations and economic development in emerging economies have made global environmental management difficult.

What does inequality mean?

A state in which some people obtain all the economic, environmental and social wealth while the majority have little.

- There can be inequality of access to health care or education, reflected in their life expectancy and literacy rate.

- Inequality of opportunities, the more minority communities such as employment.

- Economic inequality in terms of income.

- Quality of environment inequality.