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The American semiperiphery: Latin America
dr. Jeney László
Senior lecturer
[email protected]
Economic Geography
I. International Business bachelor study programme (BA)
Spring term 2015/2016.
CUB Centre of Economic Geography and Futures Studies
Similarities and
differences between
the Semi-Peripheries
similarity
Geographical
extent
Ancient times
Contemporary
near centre
language
Religion
Key industries
Difference
Latin America
Islamic World
long shaped
N–S (Rio Grande– W–E (Atlantic
Patagonia)
Ocean–Central
Asia)
Developed
Red Indian
Egypt,
centres
Empires: Inca,
Mesopotamia,
Maya–Toltec,
Persia, Rome
Aztec
Very closely tied centre: N Am
centre: Eu
homogeneous
Spanish,
Portuguese
homogeneous
Catholics
Dominant product Agricultural
Arab, Turkish and
Iranian
Muslims
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Oil, natural gas
Division of America from the
viewpoint of Regional Geography
North America (English America)
Latin
America

Middle
America
South
America
Mexico
Central America
The Caribbean
Northern Andes
Brazil
Southern South Am.
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
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America)
Long-term economic history

3 stages:
– Pre-Columbian period
– Colonization (15th–19th century)
– Independent states

Early 19th century: political independence
– But 1823: Monroe Doctrine  increasing geopolitical
role of USA in the Western Hemisphere


Late 19th century: USA intervention in the affairs
of Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic
1990s:
– NAFTA: strengthening connection with USA
– Not unidirectional: growing Latin-based segment of
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the US immigrants  popular culture ( restaurants,
music)
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
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Most unequal region in the world

High inequality: deep historical roots
– Since colonial times: rooted in exclusionary institutions
– Survived different political and economic regimes
– Political systems: allow a differentiated access for the 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
– Reproduction and transmission through 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
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Recent economic liberalization

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
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(55.3), Brazil (55.0), and Panama (54.9)
– Lowest: Venezuela (43.4), Uruguay (46.4) and Costa Rica (47.2)
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:
1. Address the inter-generational transmission of poverty
2. 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
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Major trade blocs (or agreements)







Mercosur/Mercosul: Arg., Braz., Para., Uru. founding
members
Andean Community 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):
agreement with Dominican 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)
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– President-elect of Ecuador has manifested his intentions of
following the same path
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)
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Major tourist attractions: popular
places for international visitors

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 and Varadero

Cities:
– Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Mexico City, Quito, Bogotá, Buenos
Aires, Lima, Havana
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Mexico receives the largest
number of international tourists

Income from tourism:
key to the economy of
several Latin American
countries
2008: over 22 mn visitors
(1990: 17 mn)
– Millions more than anywhere
else in Latin America
– Mexican, Latin and North
American, European and Asian
visitors
– Cities: Gang violence + N Mex:
drug trafficking-related crime 
not slowed the influx of
international tourism


Major and growing source of
income
Regional leader in developing
a tourism industry
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– Separate ministry of tourism
with dedicated funds
Question of tropical rain forests
(TRFs)
Conserve TRFs
Use TRFs’ resources
Sink for carbon dioxide (burning
Incomplete data for CO2 data
vegetation  add CO2), source of (unreported surfaces). Ocean
O2 (where humans live)
exchanges more significant
Tremendous biodiversity in the plant No evidence: partial TRF clearing
life in TRF ecosystems
changes the biodiversity of the Earth
Medical treatments and cures from Treatments and cures from many
TRF products
sources + synthetically generated in
laboratories
Right to destroy domestic resources Right to use their natural resources
(but corrupt governments, wasting for their own best interest. Wealthier
other resources)
countries did the same
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Question of tropical rain forests
Use TRFs’ resources
Need to push the frontiers.
„Productive” members of society
have the right to use the land
Increasing tourism revenue potential Right to determine how they earn
revenue from their resources
Natural habitat for species found
Good source of income in a debt
only in this biome. Removing of TRF challenged country is more
 eliminate habitat and permanent important than the conservation of a
loss of species  alter ecological bird or a tree
balance
Conserve TRFs
Indigenous tribes local tribes:
displaced  bloody conflicts
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Mexico

By far the most economically developed of the countries
of Middle America
– More than 85 % of Middle America total GNI
– GNI per capita: one of the highest in Latin America and World
Bank upper-middle-income group

Diversified economy, significatnt sectors:
–
–
–
–
Commercial farming
Manufacturing (maquila)
Tourism and related services
Oil and gas industries
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