ECON 313 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Malaria, Crony Capitalism, Protestantism
15 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
The areas within the tropics are less hospitable because of tropic disease and the intense heat. Tropical diseases have tended to increase mortality and have negatively impacted the general health of the population. Significant volatility in rain fall is prevalent in tropical areas and that makes it difficult to allow stable agricultural production. Easy access to coastal areas facilitates trade as ships can carry large amounts of goods between international ports. Geography is an exogenous factor to the economic system. There are reasons to question whether geography is the main cause of differences in development across the world today. If geography played a major role in development, then the countries that were disadvantaged by climate and geography should have always been poorer than the countries located in more fortunate places, but this is not the case. There is a positive correlation between latitude and gdp.
