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=Effects of geography on economic development section [prior to truncation]=

The impact that geography and nature have on economic growth and development was studied by notable scholars including Paul Krugman, Jared Diamond, and Jeffrey Sachs. By using principles of environmental determinism and measures of population densities, they account for trends in worldwide economic development on local, regional and global scales. To do so, they measure economic growth with GDP per capita adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP). Likewise, the variables used to measure environmental determinism are: climate, location and land composition, latitude and temperature, and the presence of infectious disease. Finally, because economies need labour to be productive and increase development, population density must also be considered when measuring economic growth.

Climate
Climate is correlated to agricultural production. Without ideal weather conditions, agriculture will not produce the surplus supply needed to build and maintain economies. Locations with hot tropical climates lead to underdevelopment through the following mechanisms: Low fertility of soils, excessive plant respiration and lower rate of net photosynthesis, ecological conditions favoring infectious diseases, and high evaporation and unreliable supply of water. After controlling variables such as labour, machinery, soil treatment, and irrigation, agriculture in the Tropics suffers a 30% to 50% decrease in productivity relative to temperate- zone agriculture productions.

Additionally, interior locations tend to have both lower population densities and labour-productivity levels. However, densities seem to be higher in inland areas with suitable conditions for agriculture settlements, including fertile soil, rivers close by, and climatic and ecological systems promoting of rice or wheat cultivation. Thus, agricultural conditions based on climate such as good soil and water supply can give way to dense inland populations.

Latitude and temperature
As latitude increases north or south from the equator, levels of real GDP per capita increase.

The average GDP per capita in 1995, for tropical (low latitude) countries was $3,326 and for non-tropical (mid-high latitude) countries it was $9,027. It holds true that places in higher latitudes especially in the northern hemisphere experience higher standards of living, reap climatic advantages and better opportunities to input resources.

This fact is termed the 'equatorial paradox' (though it is not strictly speaking a paradox, merely a puzzle). Philip M. Parker in his book Physioeconomics attributes this to temperature, which explains two-thirds of the variation in GDP per capita. His explanation for this fact is that humans originated as tropical mammals, so those located in cold climates feel under pressure to restore their physiological homeostasis, for example by agriculture and wealth-creation to produce more food, better housing, heating, warm clothes, etc. Conversely, those in warmer climates are more physiologically comfortable simply due to temperature, and so have less incentive to work to increase their comfort levels. This suggests that GDP per capita is a poor measure of well-being, and that simply incorporating temperature would be a substantial improvement.

Location and land composition
Coastal regions are common areas for providing capital goods in global trade, are points of financial centers, and are essential to lower transportation costs. Living on the coast has proven to be advantageous for centuries with people’s livelihood depending on the coastline for trade, irrigation, and fish resources. It has only been in the last few generations that railroads, cars, air transit, and telecommunications have decreased human’s dependence of coast location for economic edge. However population densities still seem to concentrate on coastlines and provide many economic and social benefits for human wellbeing, including higher incomes compared to those in landlocked countries.

Landlocked countries
Landlocked countries are surrounded by borders on all sides, with no direct access to the ocean of their own. The exception to stagnated economies for land locked countries are Austria and Switzerland whose proximity to European markets make them un-moldable to typical geographic explanations for underdevelopment. Cross border migration of labor is considered more difficult than internal migration; coastal countries typically have military or economic motives which lead them to impose taxes on land locked countries when crossing their borders for job opportunities or resource trafficking. These countries with neither coastlines nor ocean navigable rivers often have less urbanization and less growth due to the slow movement of information, therefore they are slower in technology advances and communication. They also lack access to regional and international markets.

Infectious diseases
Malaria is one an example of an infectious disease. Malaria is necessarily an issue of inequality in which poorer countries suffer from a lack of implemented solutions to infectious diseases; rather, disease-transmitting parasites have demonstrated increasing resistance to insecticide, while the effectiveness of treatment is simultaneously decreasing. Almost all of the 200-500 million per year malaria attacks occur in the tropics where the climate is hot, moist and in near the equator. The disease has not flourished in mid-high latitudes because parasites and vectors rely on an ecology that thrives in hot climates, thus lower latitudes with warmer climates geographically encloses malaria and other similar diseases.

African Example
Africa offers examples of the correlation between variables of environmental determinism and poor economic development. Africa’s per capita income has been steadily decreasing for the past 40 years, with Sub-saharan Africa becoming one of the least wealthy areas within the continent. It has a large majority of land mass in the tropics, the population is concentrated in the interior with more than one-fourth residing in landlocked countries, and it has a low population density in the coastal regions. Table 1 and map 1 from Geography and Economic Development outlines the geographic factors associated with development. For example, decent agricultural land is patchy, climate conditions bring low rainfall and risks of drought, high disease rates with malaria are prevalent, and Africa contains many small countries landlocked by borders which brings high transportation costs, and little cohesiveness amongst policies and governing.

There are many theories that incorporate factors of the environment into the consideration of why certain places develop faster than others, but environmental determinism in economic terms puts nature and geography at the focus when understanding the distribution of growth and development.

=Climatic determinism [prior to truncation]= Climatic determinism, otherwise referred to as the equatorial paradox, is an aspect of economic geography. According to this theory, about 70% of a country's economic development can be predicted from the distance between that country and the equator. In other words, the further from the equator a country is located, the more developed it tends to be. The paradox applies equally well both north and south of the equator. Australia, for example, has a higher level of economic development than Indonesia. The paradox also applies within countries — the northern U.S. states are more developed than the southern U.S. states.

By using the ideologies of environmental and climatic determinism, geographers were also able to predict and rationalize the history and human distribution of a nation, as well as explain existing or perceived social and cultural divides. Political geographers Painter and Jeffrey for instance argue that one of the first attempts geographers used to define the development of human geography across the globe was to relate a country's climate to human development. With this ideology, geographers were able "to explain and predict the progress of human societies", based upon their findings in comparison to western societies.

Singapore is a notable counter-example: it is located at 1.22° N and is one of the world's most prosperous countries. This prosperity is based on its position as a port. Other exceptions to the paradox tend to have large natural resources. (Although Singapore's strict and no-nonsense government system matches the "strict and authoritarian" system that Montesquieu cited as being necessary for a country in warmer areas to succeed by counteracting the environmental complacency of the tropics with human-induced strictures. Saudi Arabia is a good example.)

One popular theory to explain this phenomenon is that development is less necessary in tropical regions - "you can lie in a hammock and pick bananas," as opposed to the need to invent agriculture and economy in order to prosper and survive. These environments "were seen as producing less civilized, more degenerate peoples, in need of salvation by western colonial powers." With this philosophy, geographers were stating that nations outside of the western realm were not capable of developing on their own, and therefore, needed to be 'saved', and taught how to conform to the western way of life. This explanation, while convenient, may not be sufficiently complex to truly explain the equatorial paradox.

Another theory is that tropical countries tend to be plagued by more diseases (such as Malaria, whose transmission depends on a warm climate). Since the tropical country's workers tend to be sicker and die sooner, they will be less productive, and over many centuries the cooler and more disease-free economies will tend to have faster economic growth.

The equatorial paradox only emerged from the Modern Era onwards, with more highly developed cultures and economies previously being present in the tropical and subtropical regions than outside it. In the context of a statistical analysis, the paradox is probably more a consequence of subjugation and colonization. Colonization all but arrested economical and infrastructural development, except as needed to fulfill the colonial power's aims.

Ellsworth Huntington's work was a key proponent in regard to Environmental Determinism and climate. He travelled continental Europe in hopes of better understanding the connection between climate and population. His findings were published in The Pulse of Asia, and further elaborated in Civilization and Climate. He proposed that the Fall of the Western Roman Empire from 400–500 CE had to do with a regional drought which decreased the fertility of the land and agriculture output. He relayed ideas about a correlation between climate and civilization that favoured the climate and people of North-western Europe, going so far as to draw up maps that suggested areas where civilization may establish itself. A key pillar of his work was the belief that the climate of North-western Europe was the ideal, with areas further north being too cold, and areas further south being too hot, resulting in a lazy, laid-back population. These ideas were powerful in the way they tied back to patterns of colonialism, playing a role in the creation of the 'other' and creating a knowledge that was to be used as fact, to help express power over regions by implied inferiority.

=“Climate and Economic Development” [prior to truncation] = Examines correlations between climate (ecozones), water navigability, and economic development and GDP per capita.

The impact that geography and nature have on economic growth and development was studied by notable scholars including Paul Krugman, Jared Diamond, and Jeffrey Sachs. By using variables to measure environmental determinism such as: climate, land composition, latitude, and the presence of infectious disease, they account for trends in worldwide economic development on local, regional and global scales. To do so, they measure economic growth with GDP per capita adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP), while also taking into consideration population density and labor productivity.

Economic historians have found societies in the northern hemisphere experience higher standards of living, better opportunities to input resources, and that as latitude increases north or south from the equator, levels of real GDP per capita increases. Climate is closely correlated with agricultural production since without ideal weather conditions, agriculture will not produce the surplus supply needed to build and maintain economies. Locations with hot tropical climates suffer underdevelopment due to low fertility of soils, excessive plant respiration, ecological conditions favoring infectious diseases, and unreliable water supply which can lead to tropics suffering a 30% to 50% decrease in productivity relative to temperate climate zones. Tropical infectious disease that thrive in hot and moist equatorial climates causes thousands of deaths and are an economic drain on society due to extreme medical costs, and the unwillingness of foreign capital to invest in a sickly state. Because infectious diseases like malaria often need a warm ecology for growth, states in the Mid-High latitudes are naturally protected from the devastating effects.

Historians have also noted population densities seem to concentrate on coastlines and that states with large coasts benefit from higher average incomes compared to those in landlocked countries. Coastal living has proven to be advantageous for centuries as people became dependent on the coastline and waterways for trade, irrigation, and as a food source. Conversely, countries with without coastlines or navigable waterways are often less urbanized and have less growth potential due to the slow movement of knowledge capital, technological advances and people. They also have to rely on costly and time consuming over land trade which usually results in lack of access to regional and international markets, further hindering growth. Additionally, interior locations tend to have both lower population densities and labour-productivity levels. However, factors including fertile soil, nearby rivers, and ecological systems promoting of rice or wheat cultivation can give way to dense inland populations.

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