World Regional Geography GEG 101 ONLINE! Assignment 2 - Economic Geography

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BACKGROUND

Economic geography is one of our four class themes:

1. physical geography
2. cultural geography
3. economic geography
4. historical geography

In this activity we will review the most commonly used "Measures of Economic Development". As you study these measures I want you to learn what the numbers mean. What is a high number? What is a low number? What does a high number mean (is the country MORE developed (MDC) or LESS developed (LDC)? The online lecture "Measures of Economic Development" (see link below) will get you started, but you will have to spend some time examining the data of various countries. the online lecture attempts to divide the world into the More Developed Countries (MDCs) and the Less Developed Countries (LDCs). This is admittedly simplistic. Figure G-12, pp. 24-25 ("States and Economies of the WORLD") in our textbook uses the United Nations categories:

1. High Income Economies
2. Upper Middle Income Economies
3. Lower Middle Income Economies, and
4. Low Income Economies

You should be able to tell if the data suggests that the country may be an MDC or an LDC.

For example:

• An infant mortality rate of 6 (U.S.) is low indicating an MDC and a rate of 79 (Kenya) is high indicating an LDC.
  
• An urbanization rate of 79 % (U.S.) is high indicating an MDC and a rate of 40 % (Kenya) is low indicating an LDC.

READ AND STUDY:

• Online lecture: Measures of Economic Development
• Introduction Review Exercise: Measures of Economic Development
• Textbook: PATTERNS OF DEVELOPMENT pp. 26-33
• Textbook: Table G-1, Area and Demographic Data for the World's States, pp. 38-45

  Here is my list of the most commonly used measures of economic development: GNP per capita Population Growth [wrpopgr] Occupational Structure of the Labor Force [wraglab] Urbanization [wrurban] Consumption per capita [wwenergy] [wwtv] Infrastructure [wwtrans] Social Conditions literacy rate [wwlitrt] life expectancy [wwlifexp] health care caloric intake infant mortality [wwinfmrt] others

INSTRUCTIONS

- Select a country from the list below:

• Mozambique
• India
• Chile
• China

- On our Blackboard site open the "Assignment 2 Worksheet"

- Use the following sources to list the data on the Assignment 2 Worksheet for (1) your country and (2) the United States. Also answer the questions on the worksheet.

- Sources of Information:

• Textbook: Table G-1, Area and Demographic Data for the World's States, pp. 38-45
• Nationmaster.com
• World Factbook
• Other sources ?

SUBMIT THE COMPLETED WORKSHEET VIA BLACKBOARD