The Impact Arising from the Current Forces of Global Environment on Rural Populations

Essay by jo_hillardUniversity, Master'sA-, August 2004

download word file, 8 pages 4.3

The Issue

Globalization has developed at an uneven pace, both inter and intra-border, but has this been at the expense of the rural areas both in the Western and developing worlds?

For the purposes of this policy document I will first consider the developments being driven by globalization on rural populations within the western world and the measures that are currently being taken to address some of the issues arising. I will then consider the impact that these measures are having on rural populations within developing countries before concluding with recommendations.

Globalization

Globalization been driven by three technological revolutions which have significantly reduced the costs of economic transactions and increased the scope for expanding the geographic scope of markets: transportation; communication; and IT.

Globalization has essentially impacted rural areas in three main ways:

1. Increased accessibility of markets where produce is available at lower costs have driven production to be concentrated in those areas...

the developed, expensive, West has become more service orientated with decline in agricultural and manufacturing sectors

2. An increasingly open market policy shifts the decision making centre and where globalization is running strongest, 'rural' policies are increasingly dictated at the regional, if not international, level by organisations such as the EU, NAFTA or the WTO

3. The flow of funds across borders into the developing world has to date had greatest impact on urban areas and as a result has prompted a population migration within developing countries from rural to urban areas, causing negative externalities at both ends...particularly given the often selective nature of such out-migration (tends to drain the cream of human capital first)

Impact within the Developing world

The theory of competitive advantage suggests that companies (and countries) should specialize in goods in which they have a comparative competitive advantage, as opposed to...