regional inequalities oib type essay

« Regional inequalities essay Geographical reasons are the principal factors that explain regional inequalities. Discuss. Regional inequalities exist and vary between areas and countries of the world.

They tend to be more important in some places than others but cannot be completely absent or total, they also vary from rich and poor areas.

When talking about inequality, there are certain factors to consider: socially, politically and economically.

Economic and wealth inequalities can be measured through the Gini index, which indicates inequality from 0 to a 100 (0 being completely equal and 100 inequal).

For the purpose of this essay, we will look at a more economical and social side of inequality and use China as a case study, who suffers of extreme inequalities.

Furthermore, geographical reasons will be considered as relating to the location (inland or coastal for example), as well as the natural features and population.

We will see how disparities between regions steepen because of the development of certain provinces and the impoverishment of others.

To do so, will be discussed the initial advantage of regions, Myrdal’s model of the spread and multiplier effect as well as the backwash effect. Firstly, initial advantage is very important to the development of a region. Its geographical position is key because landlocked and peripheral regions have harder time developing due to a lack of resources (e.g.

because of a desert) and generally proper transport (like in mountains).

On the contrary, a region with great connectivity and an access to the sea (coastal) allows the possibility to trade easily.

Good initial advantage can also be due to an agriculturally rich soil, a great number of resources like coal and minerals, or even cheap labor.

For example, Hua Long, a province of Sichuan in China, lacks running water, sewerage and a good transport system and we can see how poor it is.

Its economic activity is meager as the profit is little due to subsistence farming.

It can also be argued initial advantage is historical.

If we take China’s recent uprising and the factors to the development of SEZ’s, it is partly due to Deng Xiao Ping’s strong leadership who lead a clear and effective economic plan during his period in power.

He expanded capitalism, created new agricultural reforms and developed Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) which allowed China to develop its infrastructure and economy.

The development of Beijing as a capital and Shanghai as international port also played part in this economic rise.

Hence, historical and geographical initial advantage help give a start to these regions for development and potentially autonomy in sustaining wealth in these regions. However, even with initial advantage a region doesn’t spontaneously become rich, and inequalities don’t excavate by themselves.

In this context, Myrdal comes up with a theory and different schemes to explain the rapid development of some regions and the growth of inequalities in that same country.

His theory emphasizes that “success breeds success” and that with initial advantage a region has great chance of entering what he calls the multiplier effect.

Indeed, the creation of a new industry (an SEZ like Shenzhen for example) will generate more jobs and allow linkage to other industries. Shenzhen has backward linkages to resources like coal and forward linkages like ports to allow trade.

This increases the pool of trained labor causing more demand for services and migration.

The industry produces.... »