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The American semi-periphery: Latin America

The American semi-periphery: Latin America. dr. Jeney László Senior lecturer jeney@caesar.elte.hu. Economic Geography I. International Business bachelor study programme (BA) Autumn term 201 5 /201 6 . CUB Department of Economic Geography and Futures Studies.

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The American semi-periphery: Latin America

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  1. The American semi-periphery: Latin America dr. Jeney László Senior lecturer jeney@caesar.elte.hu Economic Geography I. International Business bachelor study programme (BA) Autumn term 2015/2016. CUB Department of Economic Geography and Futures Studies

  2. Similarities and differences between the Semi-Peripheries 2 2

  3. Division of America from the viewpoint of Regional Geography • Inner dividing borderlines: • Human Geography: State border between USA and Mexico (border of North and Latin America) • Physical Geography: Isthmus of Tehuantepec (216 km) (border of North and Central America) 3

  4. Latin American subregions 3 stages: Precolombianperiod Colonization (15th–19thcentrury) Independent states Early 19thcentury: politicalindependence But 1823: Monroe Doctirne increasinggeopoliticalrole of USA inthe Western Hemisphere Late 19thcentrury: USA interventionintheaffairs of Cuba, Haiti, DominicanRebublic 1990s: NAFTA: strengtheningconnectionwith USA Notunidirectional: growingLatin-basedsegment of the US immigrants  popularculture ( restaurants, music) 4 4

  5. Long-termeconomichistory 3 stages: Precolombianperiod Colonization (15th–19thcentrury) Independent states Early 19thcentury: politicalindependence But 1823: Monroe Doctirne increasinggeopoliticalrole of USA inthe Western Hemisphere Late 19thcentrury: USA interventionintheaffairs of Cuba, Haiti, DominicanRebublic 1990s: NAFTA: strengtheningconnectionwith USA Notunidirectional: growingLatin-basedsegment of the US immigrants  popularculture ( restaurants, music) 5 5

  6. Poverty Continuously one of the region's main challenges Increasing poverty and reduced impact of economic development on poverty reduction  undermines: Region's economic potential Well-being of its population 40 million street children Often forced to seek work on the street Their families can no longer afford to support them  40 million street children 6 6

  7. Most unequal region in the world High inequality: deep historical roots Sincecolonial times:rootedin exclusionary institutions Surviveddifferent political and economic regimes Political systems:allow a differentiated access forthe social groups on the influence in the decision making process It responds in different ways to the least favoured groups that have less political representation and capacity of pressure Reproductionand transmissionthrough generations Today: Goldman Sachs' BRIC review: by 2050: two Latin American among the largest economies in the world: China, US, India, Brazil and Mexico Poorest countries: Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras 7 7

  8. Recenteconomicliberalization Recent economic liberalization Not everyone is equally capable of taking advantage of its benefits Differences in opportunities: based on race, ethnicity, rurality and gender Those differences have a strong impact on the distribution of income, capital and political standing. Share of the extreme groups of the income Richest 10% of the population of Latin America earn 48% of the total income (developed countries: 29%) Poorest 10% of the population earn only 1.6% of the income (developed countries: 2.5%) Highest and lowest inequalities in the region (as measured with the Gini index) Highest : Haiti (59.5), Colombia (58.5), Bolivia (58.2), Honduras (55.3), Brazil (55.0), and Panama (54.9) Lowest: Venezuela (43.4), Uruguay (46.4) and Costa Rica (47.2) 8 8

  9. Social assistance programs Provide money to poor families Used as an investment on their children's human capital (e.g. regular school attendance and basic preventive health care) Purpose: Address the inter-generational transmission of poverty Foster social inclusion by explicitly targeting the poor Focusing on children Delivering transfers to women Changing social accountability relationships between beneficiaries, service providers and governments Increased school enrolment and attendance and improvements in children's health conditions Around 110 million benefited people Relatively cheap, costing around 0.5% of their GDP 9 9

  10. Major trade blocs (or agreements) Mercosur/Mercosul: Arg, Braz, Para, Urufoundingmembers AndeanCommunity of Nations (CAN): Andes Union of South American Nations: composed of the integrated Mercosur and (CAN) G3 Free Trade Agreement Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA): agreementwithDominican Republic too(DR–CAFTA) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) But: major reconfigurations: along opposing approaches to integration and trade Venezuela officially withdrawn from both the CAN and G3 and it is formally admitted into the Mercosur (pending ratification from the Paraguayan legislature) President-elect of Ecuador has manifested his intentions of following the same path 10 10

  11. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA This bloc nominally opposes any FTA with the USA Uruguay: manifested its intention otherwise Chile Already signed an FTA with Canada Along with Peru, Colombia and Mexico are the only 4 Latin American nations that have an FTA with the USA the latter being a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 11 11

  12. Major touristattractions: popularplacesforinternationalvisitors Native American cultural heritage: Well preserved ruins of Mayan city-states (Cancún) Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Cartagena de Indias and Cuzco Natural heritage: Galápagos Islands, Salar de Uyuni, Iguazu Falls, Poás Volcano National Park and Patagonia Coastal resorts: Pacific: Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Acapulco Atlantic: Copacabana Caribbean: Yucatán Peninsula, Santo Domingo andVaradero Cities: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mexico City, Quito, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Havana 12 12

  13. Mexico receives the largest number of international tourists 2008: over 22 mn visitors (1990: 17 mn) Millions more thananywhereelsein Latin America Mexican, Latin and North American, European and Asian visitors Cities: Gang violence + N Mex: drugtrafficing-realtedcrime notslowedtheinflux of internationaltourism Major and growing source of income Regionalleaderindeveloping a tourismindustry Separateministry of tourismwithdedicatedfunds Income from tourism: key to the economy of several Latin American countries 13 13

  14. Question of tropicalrainforests (TRFs) 14 14

  15. Question of tropical rain forests 15 15

  16. Mexico By far the most economicallydeveloped of thecountriesofMiddleAmerica More than 85 % of MiddleAmericatotal GNI GNI per capita: one of thehighestin Latin Americaand WB upper-middle-incomegroup Diversifiedeconomy, significatntsectors: Commercial farming Manufacturing (maquila) Tourism and relatedservices Oil and gasindustrues 16 16

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