Unit 7: Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

7.1 The Industrial Revolution

Learning Objective

Explain how the Industrial Revolution facilitated the growth and diffusion of industrialization. 

Essential Knowledge

1. Industrialization began as a result of new technologies and was facilitated by the availability of natural resources.

2. As industrialization spread it caused food supplies to increase and populations to grow; it allowed workers to seek new industrial jobs in the cities and changed class structures. 

3. Investors in industry sought out more raw materials and new markets, a factor that contributed to the rise of colonialism and imperialism. 

7.2 Economic Sectors and Patterns

Learning Objective

Explain the spatial patterns of industrial production and development. 

Essential Questions 

1. The different economic sectors—including primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary—are characterized by distinct development patterns.

2. Labor, transportation (including shipping containers), the break-of-bulk point, least cost theory, markets, and resources influence the location of manufacturing such as core, semiperiphery, and periphery locations. 

7.3 Measures of Development

Learning Objective

Describe social and economic measures of development. 

Essential Knowledge

1. Measures of social and economic development include Gross Domestic Product (GDP); Gross National Product (GNP); and Gross National Income (GNI) per capita; sectoral structure of an economy, both formal and informal; income distribution; fertility rates; infant mortality rates; access to health care; use of fossil fuels and renewable energy; and literacy rates.

2. Measures of gender inequality, such as the Gender Inequality Index (GII), include reproductive health, indices of empowerment, and labor-market participation.

3. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure used to show spatial variation among states in levels of development. 

7.4 Women and Economic Development

Learning Objective

Explain how and to what extent changes in economic development have contributed to gender parity.

Essential Knowledge

1. The roles of women change as countries develop economically.

2. Although there are more women in the workforce, they do not have equity in wages or employment opportunities.

3. Microloans have provided opportunities for women to create small local businesses, which have improved standards of living. 

7.5 Theories of Development

Learning Objective

Explain different theories of economic and social development. 

Essential Knowledge

Different theories, such as Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth, Wallerstein’s World System Theory, dependency theory, and commodity dependence, help explain spatial variations in development. 

7.6 Trade and the World Economy

Learning Objective

Explain causes and geographic consequences of recent economic changes such as the increase in international trade, deindustrialization, and growing interdependence in the world economy 

Essential Knowledge

1. Complementarity and comparative advantage establish the basis for trade.

2. Neoliberal policies, including free trade agreements, have created new organizations, spatial connections, and trade relationships, such as the EU, World Trade Organization (WTO), Mercosur, and OPEC, that foster greater globalization.

3. Government initiatives at all scales may affect economic development, including tariffs. 

4. Global financial crises (e.g., debt crises), international lending agencies (e.g., the International Monetary Fund), and strategies of development (e.g., microlending) demonstrate how different economies have become more closely connected, even interdependent. 

7.7 Changes as a Result of the World Economy

Learning Objective

Explain causes and geographic consequences of recent economic changes such as the increase in international trade, deindustrialization, and growing interdependence in the world economy 

Essential Knowledge

1. Outsourcing and economic restructuring have led to a decline in jobs in core regions and an increase in jobs in newly industrialized countries.

2. In countries outside the core, the growth of industry has resulted in the creation of new manufacturing zones—including special economic zones, free-trade zones, and exportprocessing zones—and the emergence of an international division of labor in which developing countries have lower-paying jobs. 

3. The contemporary economic landscape has been transformed by post-Fordist methods of production, multiplier effects, economies of scale, agglomeration, just-in-time delivery, the emergence of service sectors, high technology industries, and growth poles. 

7.8 Sustainable Development

Learning Objective

Explain how sustainability principles relate to and impact industrialization and spatial development. 

Essential Knowledge

1. Sustainable development policies attempt to remedy problems stemming from naturalresource depletion, mass consumption, the effects of pollution, and the impact of climate change.

2. Ecotourism is tourism based in natural environments—often environments that are threatened by looming industrialization or development—that frequently helps to protect the environment in question while also providing jobs for the local population. 

3. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals help measure progress in development, such as small-scale finance and public transportation projects.