January-March

HOMEWORKS

The following homeworks must be delivered printed and will be received only in the specified dates.

February 7^th.

·         What is ‘informal employment’?

                  What is the amount (percentage) of informal employment in Mexico?

February 14^th

·         What is a ‘quality of life’ indicator? Give an example and explain.

February 28th

·         Which countries have the highest quality of life? (5 countries)

·         Which countries habe the lowest quality of life? (5 countries)

·         Explain why do you think these countries have the highest and lowest quality of life (opinión).

Project: Investigate the next things for MARCH 3rd. PROJECTS WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED ON THAT DATE. It will be delivered PRINTED inside a folder using ARIAL 12 font. A front page or cover must be included; in this front page or cover, you must include your name, your teacher’s name, name of the subject, and the title “ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN WELFARE”

1)      Main economic activities and sectors of our country

2)      Main farm products traded in Mexico

3)      Top 5 Countries with the highest gross domestic product (GDP)

4)      Answer: Why do you think these countries have the highest GDP?

5)      Which regions or states have the highest HDI in our country?

6)      Which regions or states have the lowest HDI in our country?

7)      What would you propose to have a more responsible and sustainable tourism?

Mexican economic sectors

The Mexican economy is primarily a service economy to the extent that 66 percent of GDP. Hospitality, personal, and professional services account for most of the services that are performed within the economy; restaurants, hospitals, tourism and schools are examples of this sector.

 The second sector represents up to 35% of Mexico’s GDP (building and manufacturing industries)

Mining makes up a small portion of the economic output of the country, accounting for only .5 percent of GDP.

Primary sector represents only 1.6% of its economy.

4.2 Changes over time and space.

Economic activities of countries are constantly changing over time. These changes are related to the development of a country: as the amount of persons employed in the primary sector decreases, the portion employed in the secondary and tertiary sectors increases. This process is known as INDUSTRIALISATION.

·         Pre-industrial phase: the most important sector is the PRIMARY sector (agriculture).

·         Industrial phase: Secondary and tertiary sectors importance increases. Primary sector declines in importance.

·         Post-industrial phase: The tertiary sector becomes the most important one.

As the quaternary sector appears, citizens need to invest in higher education, research and development and new technologies. There is also a rise in the standard of living and in the level of urbanisation.

Today, countries may be classified according to their development status.

·         A Low income country (LIC) has a primary sector as the most important one in its economy. Examples: Central Africa, South and Southeast Asia.

·         A Middle income country (MIC) began the transition from the primary sector to the secondary and tertiary sector. Examples: South America, North and South Africa.

·         A High income country (HIC) has a strong importance, although the tertiary sector is the strongest one. Examples: North America, Western Europe, Australasia.

INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT

We have already learnt about four different economic activities, but we may say there is a fifth sector not officially recognized. If well, it’s recognized by people and governments, it’s difficult to track down its numbers and the amount of money produced by this sector. However, informal employment may have some benefits, such as providing jobs, goods, and services that otherwise may be out of the reach of many people.

Characteristics

We may say that, as the governments do not these activities accurately, informal employment does not provide some essential benefits such as:

·         No social security nor health care

·         A high exposure to work related risks

·         No access to retirement

·         No taxes payment

This informal activity might involve selling things in informal markets, such as fruits, food, clothes, movies, etc.  Also, some types of informal employment include shoe-shinning, scavenging bottles and cans for recycling, and, a very important one, PARATRANSIT. The worst aspect of this type of employment is the involvement of children in economic activity. 

Rank of countries with highest GDP

Rank	Country/Region	GDP (Millions of $US)
	World	72,689,734
1	United States	700716244600000000016,244,600
2	China	70068358400000000008,358,400
3	Japan	70065960180000000005,960,180
4	Germany	70063425956000000003,425,956
5	France	70062611221000000002,611,221
6	United Kingdom	70062417600000000002,417,600
7	Brazil	70062254109000000002,254,109
8	Russia	70062029812000000002,029,812
9	Italy	70062013392000000002,013,392
10	India	70061875213000000001,875,213
11	Canada	70061821445000000001,821,445
12	Australia	70061564419000000001,564,419
13	Spain	70061322126000000001,322,126
14	Mexico	70061183655000000001,183,655
15	South Korea	70061129598000000001,129,598
16	Indonesia	7005878043000000000878,043
17	Turkey	7005788299000000000788,299
18	Netherlands	7005770067000000000770,067
19	Saudi Arabia	7005711050000000000711,050
20	Switzerland	7005631183000000000631,183