Chapter36W
Chapter36W
3/24/04
1:46 PM
Page 1
CHAPTER 36W
Challenges Facing the
Developing Countries
L LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Describe the extent of world income inequality.
2 Explain some of the main challenges facing developing countries.
3 Define the view of development known as the “Washington Consensus.”
4 Outline the current debates about development policies.
In the comfortable urban life of today’s developed countries, most people have lost sight of the fact that a short time ago—very short in terms of the life span of the earth—people were nomadic food gatherers, garnering an existence as best they could from what nature threw their way. It has been only about 10 000 years since the Neolithic
Agricultural Revolution, when people changed from food gatherers to food producers.
Throughout most of subsequent human history, civilizations have been based on a comfortable life for a privileged minority and unremitting toil for the vast majority. Only within the past two centuries have ordinary people become able to expect leisure and high consumption standards, and then only in the world’s economically developed countries.
In this web-based chapter we review some of the challenges faced by the world’s developing countries—those countries that have not yet been fortunate enough to achieve the living standards that we, in Canada, all too often take for granted.
36W.1 The Uneven Pattern of
Development
Over 6 billion people are alive today, but the wealthy parts of the world contain no more than 20 percent of the world’s population. Many of the rest struggle for subsistence.
Many exist on a level at or below that endured by peasants in ancient Egypt or Babylon.
The richest countries with the highest per capita incomes are referred to by the
United Nations as developed countries. These include the United States, Canada, most of the countries of Western Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and a few others. The poorer states are referred to by the UN as the
3/24/04
1:46 PM
Page 1
CHAPTER 36W
Challenges Facing the
Developing Countries
L LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Describe the extent of world income inequality.
2 Explain some of the main challenges facing developing countries.
3 Define the view of development known as the “Washington Consensus.”
4 Outline the current debates about development policies.
In the comfortable urban life of today’s developed countries, most people have lost sight of the fact that a short time ago—very short in terms of the life span of the earth—people were nomadic food gatherers, garnering an existence as best they could from what nature threw their way. It has been only about 10 000 years since the Neolithic
Agricultural Revolution, when people changed from food gatherers to food producers.
Throughout most of subsequent human history, civilizations have been based on a comfortable life for a privileged minority and unremitting toil for the vast majority. Only within the past two centuries have ordinary people become able to expect leisure and high consumption standards, and then only in the world’s economically developed countries.
In this web-based chapter we review some of the challenges faced by the world’s developing countries—those countries that have not yet been fortunate enough to achieve the living standards that we, in Canada, all too often take for granted.
36W.1 The Uneven Pattern of
Development
Over 6 billion people are alive today, but the wealthy parts of the world contain no more than 20 percent of the world’s population. Many of the rest struggle for subsistence.
Many exist on a level at or below that endured by peasants in ancient Egypt or Babylon.
The richest countries with the highest per capita incomes are referred to by the
United Nations as developed countries. These include the United States, Canada, most of the countries of Western Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and a few others. The poorer states are referred to by the UN as the