U.S. and Canada

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U.S. and Canada

• Wealthy region
• Natural resources
• Water
• Mississippi
• Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway, Gulf
  Intracoastal Waterway,
• Niagara Falls
• Fuel
• Oil
• Natural Gas
• Minerals
• Gold
• Copper
• Iron

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• Timber
• Fishing
• Gulf Coast
• Grand Banks

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• Urbanization
• Urban sprawl growth of suburb
• Loss of farmland
• Cheaper to develop than city properties
• Long commutes, emphasis on security and
  exclusivity
• Megalopolis cities over 10 million people

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• Economic Activities
• Primary farming, agriculture
• Secondary manufacturing
• Tertiary service industry banks, doctors,
  lawyers
• Quaternary research
• What has happened over the past 100 yrs?

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• Agriculture
• Only 1.7 of GDP
• Mechanized agriculture
• Employ less than 2 of pop
• Corporate farms
• Environmental effects
• Genetic engineering
• Manufacturing
• Interstate Highway System
• 1950-1990
• Less low-skill jobs, more high-tech jobs
• Change in 1960s and 1980s
• Rust Belt
• Retooling
• Employs less people, but still produce a lot of
  products

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• Service Industry
• 75 of GDP
• 70-80 of jobs
• High pay to low pay
• Often connected to international trade
• Research
• Knowledge economy
• IT industry
• Can be located anywhere major universities and
  research institutions
• Use computers/internet to process and transport
  information

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HDI Where Does North America Stand?

• United States Very High, 4
• Canada Very High, 6
• Why???
• Looks at a number of factors
• Demographic indicators
• Economic indicators
• Social indicators
• Political indicators

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Demographic indicators

• Life expectancy
• Birth rate
• Death rate
• Infant mortality rate

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Economic Indicators

• GDP
• GDP per capita
• GNP
• GNP per capita
• employment rate
• of automobiles per capita
• of computers per capita

• of telephones per capita
• of televisions per capita

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Social Indicators

• Literacy rates
• attending college
• of professionals
• Housing

• Water supply
• Sanitation
• Access to basic services

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Political Indicators

• Freedoms enjoyed
• Type of governance
• Voting rights
• Level of human rights
• impact of colonialism
• Degree of government oppression

• Level of tolerance for different points of view

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Physical Indicators

• climate
• access to water (landlocked)
• natural disasters
• availability of natural resources