1.5 The Netherlands: winners and losers

• Aardrijkskunde
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

What are we going to do today?

Little recap

Poor or rich?

Instruction 1.5 The Netherlands: winners and losers

Poverty line

When you want to make a statement regarding the potential wealth or poverty of a country then think of the internal and external causes for poverty.

When are people poor? Poverty line = less than 1.25 dollar a day

Let's see what we can find!

Make groups of four.

Pick a country: Netherlands, Austria, Marocco, Russia, China, Bolivia, Brazil.

• See what you can find regarding internal and external causes for poverty.
• Find a picture from within the country that depicts globalisation.

Use the atlas and internet (write down your sources!).

You have about 15 minutes.

data.worldbank.org

Differences in Europe

Which part of Europe is best developed?

• North-western Europe

What part is lagging behind in development?

• Southern and Eastern Europe

Ruhr region: from grey to green

The Ruhr region got into problems after 1965 because:

• mines closed
• blast furnaces were extinguished
• steel mills closed

These industries moved to low-wage countries.

This has led to de-industrialisation.

Ruhr region: from grey to green

What advantages have transformed the Ruhr region into a service region?

• large sales market
• easily accessible
• technically skilled workers

The main industry is now: high-tech

South Germany, more than Bavaria alone

South Germany has long been agricultural and poor. Now this is a leading region in the German and European economy.
Which industries can you find in South Germany?

• capital intensive industries

This industry is strongly focused on export.

The benefits companies experience by being located near each other are called: agglomeration advantages

BRICS: Export Processing Zones

 EPZs in China:

On one hand, being the center of industrial development, EPZs take full advantage of their scale effect and agglomeration effect in allocating market resources efficiently to achieve a healthy development of domestic market. On the other hand, being windows opening to the outside world, EPZs serve as major footholds for China to expand its international market share, extend its global production lines, as well as involve in worldwide economic competition.

Over the last three decades, the blossom of EPZs has made far-reaching contributions to the prosperity of China’s economic development.

Learning objectives

• You know which factors explain why the Eindhoven region has developed into a brainport.
• You understand why east Groningen is one of the least economically developed regions in the Netherlands and Eindhoven one of the most succesful.
• You can asses whether the Netherlands benefits from a more closed or more open world economy.

Learning objectives

• Which factors explain why the Eindhoven region has developed into a brainport?
• Why is east Groningen is one of the least economically developed regions in the Netherlands and Eindhoven one of the most succesful?
• Would the Netherlands benefit from a more closed or more open world economy?

Next week

Repeat the whole chapter