Configuring the World: A Critical Political Economy Approach

Peer Assignment – Project 1Fábio Castro – Sept 20th, 2014

Choice of Region: Eastern AfricaReason: Place where I worked for one year

Country Population 2012

(in thousands)GDP based on PPP

2011 in dollarsGDP in current Dollars

2012 (in millions )GDP Per Capita based

on PPP 2011GDP Per Capita in

current Dollars 2011

Human Development

Index (HDI) value 2012

Burundi 10.163 6.106,47 2.472,38 712,11 240,43 0,355

Comoros 735 459,75 595,90 609,80 357,69 0,429

Djibouti 873 2.184,12 n/a 2.411,89 1.275,74 0,445

Eritrea 6.333 n/a 3.091,84 n/a n/a 0,351

Ethiopia 94.101 102.878,83 41.717,84 1.214,13 353,43 0,396

Kenya 44.354 88.893,16 40.697,16 2.136,36 825,05 0,519

Madagascar 22.925 30.095,72 9.975,12 1.411,94 469,73 0,483

Malawi 16.363 14.960,07 4.263,79 972,64 476,15 0,418

Mauritius 1.244 20.259,75 10.486,04 15.505,78 8.610,64 0,737

Mayotte n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aMozambique 25.834 22.754,02 14.243,72 950,87 524,36 0,327

Reunion n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aRwanda 11.777 14.628,59 7.103,00 1.336,80 579,19 0,434

Seychelles 93 1.960,80 1.128,75 22.569,33 12.195,96 0,806

Somalia 10.496 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/aSouth Sudan 11.296 n/a 10.220,26 n/a n/a n/aTanzania (United Republic) 49.253 71.835,72 28.242,43 1.554,26 516,55 0,476

Uganda 37.579 55.119,17 20.032,24 1.597,23 527,74 0,456

Zambia 14.539 42.509,94 20.590,28 3.154,74 1.543,65 0,448

Zimbabwe 14.150 17.575,27 9.802,36 1.377,98 695,09 0,397

Comparison country: Brazil (South America)Reason: Where I live

Country Population 2012

(in thousands)GDP based on PPP

2011 in dollarsGDP in current Dollars

2012 (in millions )GDP Per Capita based

on PPP 2011GDP Per Capita in

current Dollars 2011

Human Development

Index (HDI) value 2012

Brazil 200.362 2.816.317,15 2.252.664,12 14.639,42 12.873,80 0,73

Dimension: Population

• Country populations (log), ordered per population ranking

Dimension: Population

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:As per the graph above, the country populations range from small populations until Ethiopi (13th), Tanzania (27th) and Kenya (31st). The total population is 371 million, which is roughly above 5% of total world population

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Brazil has the 5th largest population in the world, with over 200 million people

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:The populations vary between very small countries (Reunion, Seychelles) to large countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia (this last one the 13th largest population).

• Nature of data and possible explanations:These countries’ population rankings are similar to these countries’ area rankings.

Dimension: GDP (2012 dollars)

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:Though the population is evenly distributed when compared with the rest of the world, the countries’ GDP are mostly in the bottom half. The total GDP is 225 billion US$, which is just 0.3% of world GDP. The largest ones are Ethiopia and Kenya, both with around US$ 41 billion, placed on 83rd and 85th respectively.

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Brazil has the 7th highest GDP, with 2.3 trillion US$

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:The countries’ GDP are roughly proportional to their populations, except for Mauritius (which shows a GDP similar to South Sudan, though with a population 10x smaller). The combined GDP of Eastern Africa is just 10% of the reference country (Brazil), though with a population 2x higher.

• Nature of data and possible explanations:The value of the GDP of the countries in Eastern Africa is highly questionable, due to the difficulty of obtaining reliable data. Also, a large part of the population live as hunter-gatherers, thus outside of the formal economy.

Dimension: GDP (2012 dollars)

Dimension: GDP PPP (per Capita, 2011 PPP dollar)

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:Most of the countries (except Seychelles and Mauritius) are in the very bottom, with the lowest GDP per capita in the world. Comoros, Burundi, Mozambique, Malawi and Ethiopia are in the bottom 10, competing with Western Africa for positions in the bottom 20. The region average (US$ 1,322 per person) is around 10x lower than world average (US$ 13,000).

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Brazil is just above the first half (79th) in the ranking, with also just 10% above world average

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:Mauritius and Seychelles have GDP per capita just above Brazil. All other countries rank very far below.

• Nature of data and possible explanations:The region’s countries ranking, among the lowest in the world, reflect the poverty in the region. Should also be noted that the region displays the highest values in the world, reaching US$ 3,44 in Ethiopia.Seychelles and Mauritius will be the outliers in this study, due to their complete different nature: They are very small islands in the Indian Ocean, living mostly from tourism.

Dimension: GDP PPP (per Capita, 2011 PPP dollar)

Dimension: HDI

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:As well as the GDP per capita, the region’s countries are placed among the lowest HDI in the world. 11 of the countries are placed in the bottom 26.

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:As well as for the GDP per capita, Brazil is just above the first half (85th) in the ranking.

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:The HDI range from below 0,4 (Mozambique, Eritrea, Burundi, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe) to around 0,5 (Tanzania, Madagascar and Kenya), and exceptions such as Mauritius (0,74) and Seychelles (0,81).

• Nature of data and possible explanations:The rankings for this data are very similar to the GDP per capita data, as low income and low health and education are usually together.

Dimension: HDI

Dimension: Economic Globalization

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:The globalization indexes of the Eastern Africa countries are mostly in the bottom quarter. Exception is Mauritius, placed in 19th. Among the large countries in the region, only Zambia (81st) is in the first half.

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Though a large country, Brazil is also in the bottom quarter.

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:This is the first dimension so far in which the reference country (Brazil, 114th) is similar to the region. It is even similar to landlocked countries such as Zimbabwe (111th) and Uganda (122nd).

• Nature of data and possible explanations:The low globalization index of these country is mostly related to the poverty and low production, which isolates them from global market. In the case of Brazil, the low economic globalization index is still a reflex of the market protectionism (inherited from the 80s) and with the excess of regulations.

Dimension: Economic Globalization

Dimension: Trade

Dimension: Trade

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:The participation in the trade as % of GDP among these counties vary greatly, ranging from Rwanda and Burundi (36%) to Malawi and Zimbabwe (80-85%). In general, most of the countries are in the bottom half.

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Brazil ranks in 3rd position and the lowest % of trade, with just 21%. Should be noted that is comparable with the USA’s, which ranks as 5th lowest, with just 23%.

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:None of the countries in the region has a trade % as low as Brazil’s. The lowest in the region, Rwanda, still has a trade % (36%) more than 70% higher than Brazil’s.

• Nature of data and possible explanations:These countries show a lower-than-average participation of trade in their economy. This is possibly due to their distance from the external producing and consuming markets and to the limitation in the logistics infrastructure. This may also be related to the consumption pattern of poor countries, which favor local food consumption rather than food imports.

Dimension: FDI inward/outward

• Eastern Africa placement in comparison with other states:All the region countries show a negligible level of both inward and outward FDI flow.

• Brazil placement in comparison with other states:Brazil ranks first among the countries with highest “inward minus outward FDI” balance.

• Comparison among countries in the region and reference states:The country regions does not receive much external investment nor invest externally; on the other hand, though Brazil also does not invest externally, it receives a large flow of external investment.

• Nature of data and possible explanations:Brazil’s place as the single country with highest “inward minus outward FDI” balance This is due to the large inflow of FDI (indicating a strong investment of external economies into brazil, compatible with the size of its economy) combined with the negligible amount of outflow (indicating that local economy does not invest outside of the country, probably due to the lack of internal capital).

Dimension: FDI inward/outward