4.3: the industrial revolution and growth pole theory

the industrial revolution

hearth of the industrial revolution: England

• abundance of natural resources (coal → fuel)
• government promotion of industrialization
  • private property, laissez-faire policy, let businesses operate relatively freely
  • free speech → spread of ideas
• infrastructure
  • canals, toll roads, railroads
• massive urbanization movement
  • growth of cities = boom in factory jobs = boom in productivity
  • large unskilled workforce available for low wages

industrialization

• England → Europe → United States (interrupted by Civil War) → Japan (50 years later) → South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong (post-WWII) → China (1979 start)
• spread by imperialism, slowed by tariffs
• imperialism boomed
  • need for new markets + raw materials (eg. rubber for bicycles)
  • Africa has lots of natural resources
  • infrastructure built by Europeans but built to benefit Europe → poverty in Africa, all natural resource extraction benefits Europe (exploitation)
• industrialization = power
  • exceptions of this theory: India and Brazil (increase in population, decrease in manufacturing)

growth poles

• growth pole theory posits that economic growth takes place at clusters, or “poles,” rather than being equally dispersed across a region, grouped by key industries (eg. automotive, aeronautical, agribusiness, electronics, steel) in an area
• the key industry/core industry of an area obtains goods and services from suppliers (upstream linked industries) and providing goods and services to customers (downstream linked industries)
  • these are the direct effects; indirect effects include employee demand for key industries’ goods and services
• expansion of the core industry means expansion of output, employment, related investments, new technologies, and new industrial sectors
• regional development is unequal due to scale and agglomeration economies located near the growth pole
  • the relationship will be stronger and more likely to occur if the activity is more dependent on transportation; this can lead to the creation of secondary growth poles