Measures and theories of development, globalisation and economic growth, and the challenges of inequality and sustainability.

What this dot point is asking

WJEC wants you to explain how development is measured and theorised, how globalisation drives economic growth, and the challenges of inequality and sustainability that growth creates, with located examples.

The answer

Measuring and theorising development

Single economic measures hide inequality and quality of life, so geographers use HDI and other social indicators such as life expectancy, literacy and the Gini coefficient of income inequality. Theories explain why development is uneven: Rostow's modernisation model sees five linear stages of growth from traditional society to high mass consumption; Frank's dependency theory sees the periphery underdeveloped by exploitation from a wealthy core; and the core-periphery model maps spatial inequality, with wealth and power concentrated in dominant cores while peripheries supply labour and raw materials.

Globalisation and economic growth

Globalisation has produced rapid growth and poverty reduction in many emerging economies: China alone lifted hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty as it industrialised, and global extreme poverty fell from around $36$ per cent of people in 1990 to under $10$ per cent by the late 2010s. Integrated supply chains link producers and consumers worldwide. The UK has shifted towards a service and knowledge economy concentrated in London and the south-east, while losing much manufacturing, reshaping regional economies and leaving former industrial areas behind.

Challenges of inequality and sustainability

Growth is uneven. A global development gap persists between rich and poor countries, and inequality widens within countries too. In the UK, regional disparities are stark: London's economic output per head is far above the national average, while former industrial regions such as the south Wales valleys have lower wages, higher economic inactivity and persistent deprivation. Rapid growth also strains the environment and resources, raising questions of sustainability and whether growth can continue without ecological harm, the tension captured in the idea of sustainable development meeting present needs without compromising future generations.

Examples in context

Example 1. The development gap within the UK. The UK is a high-income, high-HDI country, yet it contains some of the widest regional inequalities in Western Europe. Economic activity, finance and high-value services concentrate in London and the south-east, while the south Wales valleys, north-east England and other former industrial regions have lower wages, higher economic inactivity and deprivation following deindustrialisation. The contrast shows that a single national development figure conceals a core-periphery structure within one country, and underpins UK levelling-up and Welsh Government regeneration policy.

Example 2. Globalisation and newly industrialising economies. China and other emerging economies illustrate globalisation driving rapid growth. By offering large, lower-cost labour forces and welcoming foreign direct investment from transnational corporations, they captured much of the world's manufacturing, achieving sustained high growth and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. The same shift, however, deindustrialised parts of the developed world and raised concerns about labour conditions, environmental cost and dependence, demonstrating both the gains and the uneven, contested nature of globalisation that an evaluation must weigh.

Try this

Q1. State one economic and one social measure of development. [2 marks]

• Cue. Economic: GNI or GDP per capita. Social: the Human Development Index (or life expectancy, literacy).

Q2. Explain one reason why globalisation creates uneven development. [3 marks]

• Cue. Transnational corporations concentrate investment and high-value activity in some regions and countries (the core) while others remain peripheral, widening the development gap.