Why Are Some Countries Underdeveloped

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Why Are Some Countries Underdeveloped?
What are the causes of underdevelopment?
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• THIS QUESTION CANNOT BE ANSWERED ONLY BY
  ECONOMICS
• WE HAVE TO LOOK AT NON-ECONOMIC FACTORS THAT
  EXPLAIN UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND THE REASONS WHY SOME
  COUNTRIES REMAIN UNDERDEVELOPED RELATIVE TO OTHERS

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Factors that Cause Development Problems
DEVELOPMENT Problems
External Factors
Environmental Factors
Internal Factors
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• Internal and external causes of underdevelopment
  can be categorized as
• Historical
• Political
• Economic
• Socio-cultural

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Environmental Factors

• Adverse natural environment and natural disasters
• Lack of natural resources
• Geographical location

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Climate

• Temperature
• Most LDCs lie within 200C
• Increase in biodegradation
• Increase in life forms
• Increase in the production of vegetable matter
• Increase in diseases

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Climate

• Rainfall
• Too much rain in most places
• Too little rain in others
• For instance, in Nigeria,90 of all rains fall in
  storms of more than 20 mm per hour. This is half
  the average monthly rainfall of Londons Kew
  Gardens
• In Ghana you could get 200 mm per hour
• Annual cycle of drought alternating with flood

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External Factors

• Historical Factors
• The negative consequences of the TRIPLE HERITAGE
• Slavery and the slave trade
• Colonialism--Political and economic exploitation
  of colonialism
• Imperialism
• International capitalism
• Lack of genuine international support

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Internal Factors

• History of rulership, war, and instability
• Political factors
• Political instability
• Lack of democracy and lack of government support
  for development
• Lack of political leadership, inadequate policies
  and corruption

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Internal Factors

• Socio-cultural factors
• Cultural constraints and lack of adequate
  education
• Religion
• Beliefs and social values as obstacles to
  development
• Tradition
• Lack of motivation for development

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Why do people hold the beliefs they do?

• Thats the most difficult question.
• Economic growth depends on attitudes to work, to
  wealth, to thrift, to having children, to
  invention, to strangers, to adventure, etc.
  These are deeply entrenched attitudes.

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• They are unexplainable at least for the time
  being and we should focus ones attention on how
  to work with them rather than how to do away with
  them.
• Historical experience shows that economic
  progress tends to greatly modify some of these
  deeply held values.

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Internal Factors

• Economic Factors
• Lack of physical resources
• Lack of human resources--labor and
  entrepreneurship
• Small size of viable markets
• Low technological advancement
• Income inequality and demand for luxury goods

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Conclusion

• While we cannot easily draw a clear line
  between internal and external factors or between
  cause and effect, the economic dimension seems to
  be a manifestation of of all the other factors
  combined. Evidently, the causes of
  underdevelopment are heavily embedded in the SAD
  HISTORY of many of the countries of the world

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Note

• There is no single set of explanations that
  applies to all countries. Instead, there are a
  wide variety of reasons for the continued poverty
  of many nations some of which apply in certain
  cases but not in others.

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Note

• Even though the internal causes of
  underdevelopment result from historical
  conditions generated mainly externally,
  successful development will depend largely on
  internal solutions