Chapter 10 Map and Sentence

Trevor Jones 

3/8/16

Per. 3

Sources: 

Human Geography: People, Places, and Culture: Chapter 9 - Urban Geography

Gross National Happiness in Bhutan: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/01/bhutan-wealth-happiness-counts 

North American Free Trade Agreement: http://www.internationaldemocracywatch.org/index.php/north-american-free-trade-agreement 

After WW2, the United States and Canada’s economies were very much developed, with strong traditions of liberal political and economic policies, however Mexico had neither. Mexico wanted to create independence from American hegemony and encourage domestic industrialization through state and corporatist policies, but this backfired in the 80’s which resulted in inflation, backward industries, and massive amounts of debt, so the United States, Canada, and Mexico agreed (reluctantly in some cases) to the formation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in order to facilitate regional cooperation and movement of goods. Then, the countries could freely trade across their borders, therefore the cooperation of the country’s large industries and governments allowed for the limitation of anxiety. 

This is a map of Southwestern Asia. The reason that I chose to draw this map is because it contains the country Bhutan. Bhutan is unique in its ways of measuring development because they use an index called Gross National Happiness (GNH), rather than Gross National Product (GNP), Gross National Income (GNI), or Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which every other country in the world uses to measure development. Less than 40 years ago, Bhutan opened its borders to migrants, which has gained the country a status as a retreat from the pressures of modern civilization, largely for its pursuit of the most elusive of concepts – national happiness. This concept that wellbeing should take preference over material growth has remained a global oddity, however in a world of collapsing financial systems, this buddhist based index is growing popularity all over the world, making world leaders consider ways that Bhutan's GNH model can be replicated across the globe. 

Colorado Case Study on Costilla vs. Boulder County

Trevor Jones
3/8/16
Per. 3

Colorado Case Study on Costilla vs. Boulder County 

During our Colorado Case Study Development project, we looked at a number of statistics in 7 different counties in Colorado to determine which county would need community service the most. From our research, we determined that Costilla county needs help for a few reasons. Through looking at the graphs we compared Costilla county and Boulder county, we can observe that costilla county is the county that is in need of the most help out of all the counties in colorado that we looked at. One of the four main reasons why we say this is they have one of the highest rates of unemployment. The rate of unemployment in costilla county is 5.6%, whereas in Boulder County the rate of unemployment is 2.6% which is lower than any of the other counties. Another reason for choosing Costilla county was due to their low median household income at $33,594. They had almost the lowest out of the counties that we looked at being only $1,000 ahead of Otero county. This puts them well below Boulder county whose median household income is at $90,197. Another contributor to why we chose to look at Costilla County was because of the large percentage of people in the county who are on food stamps; 19.5%. In Boulder county only 4.7% of the population is on food stamps. Costilla also has a very low Per Capita income at $20,592, and Boulder counties is at $37,947. In Costilla the poverty rate is also higher than Boulders. In Costilla the poverty rate is at 25.0% and Boulder’s at 14.6%. The High School graduation rate also differs greatly in the two counties. In Costilla, only 75.5% of high school students graduate while in Boulder, 91% percent of High School students graduate. Looking at these statistics, it is clearly seen how Boulder is doing so much better off than Costilla County.

      In the opinion of our group, we believe that there is no singular factor that is most important in determining the which county should be developed. We believe this because no single factor can tell the whole story. For example, one would not be able to determine if a county would need to be developed with just the factor of Per Capita income, because there is still a possibility of a large discrepancy in income between social classes. Therefore it is necessary to combine multiple looks at multiple statistics when determining something like this. In Costilla County, the majority of the population works in the primary sector, mostly in farming and agriculture. Primary sector workers make up the majority of the population.

     If we were to volunteer in Costilla County, we would most likely volunteer at the food pantry of Costilla County. We decided on this, because there is such a high percentage of people below the poverty line, and of people on food stamps. From these statistics we have determined that volunteering or donating to the food pantry would greatly impact the community of Costilla county.

ALL DATA IN THIS POWERPOINT IS PROVIDED BY THE 2014 U.S. CENSUS

Rostow’s Modernization Model

Rostow’s Modernization Model

Stage 1: Traditional Society

Characterized by economic structure dominated by agriculture.
-minimal productivity
-few exchange transaction
-economic change/technological improvements are not sufficient to sustain any growth in per capita output, which is low

Stage 2: Transition for Society (Pre-conditions for takeoff) 

Characterized by increased productivity in agriculture, and modern manufacturing begins to emerge. modern manufacturing remains low as it it the norm.

Preconditions for Take-off:
-Society engages in secular education
-establishes banks and currency
-emerging entrepreneurial class
-concept of manufacturing emerges, with only a few factories developing at first.

Stage 3: Take-off 

Growth becomes the norm and improvements in production lead to the emergence of leading sectors. Income rises across the board, and a new class of established entrepreneurs emerges.

Stage 4: The Drive to Maturity

-Modern technology is fully adopted in all economic activity
-new leading sectors emerge
-economy demonstrates technological and entrepreneurial skills to produce anything it chooses to,
-economy looks beyond the country's border for development.

Stage 5: High Mass Consumption

-leading sectors shift toward durable goods
-surge occurs in per capita income and increased allocation to social welfare programs.
-the masses can afford goods beyond food, clothing, and shelter.