1. LATIN aMERICA eCONOMIC geOGRAPHY
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2. Tourism: Positive & Negative Impacts
Positives
Negatives
Spend $, create jobs
Pollution & Congestion
Hotels, restaurants, boutiques
Profits benefit owners more than natives
Cruise Ships anchor in ports
Local gov’t debt from loans to build tourist facilities
Resort Hotels need local tour guides – snorkeling, rafting
Conflict between natives & tourists, esp. over wealth

3. Economy of Mexico

4. 2 big challenges 2 economic challenges Huge wealth gap
Attempting to develop modern industrial economy
Mexico traditionally agricultural, switching to industrial

5. Oil & Manufacturing Economy based on oil reserves in Gulf of Mexico
Profits from oil have helped to pay for development of manufacturing
Maquiladoras: factories in Mexico that assemble imported materials into finished products
NAFTA: designed to create jobs, many say it has contributed to environmental damage & cost Mexican farmers their livelihoods

6. Education & Industrialization
High unemployment
Low education & training = young workers cannot find good jobs
School rates improving but less than 75% graduate

7. Central America & the cARIBBEAN

8. ECONOMY OF tHE cARIBBEAN & ceNTRAL amERICA
In general, people of region are poor
Early colonial economies benefitted colonizers not natives/African laborers
Sugar trade declined
Natural resources exported & not used locally weakens economy

9. Farming & trade Regions largest export = sugar
Bananas, citrus fruits, coffee, spices
Pay is poor on plantations
10% of world’s coffee & bananas produced in Central America

10. The Panama Canal
Cuts through land bridge and connects Atlantic & Pacific Oceans
Panama is crossroads of World Trade

11. Tourism & the Informal Economy
Rapid population growth = high unemployment
People flee to cities looking for jobs in tourism industry, lack skills/education
Informal economy = outside of official channels
Street vending, shining shoes, services with small amount of income

12. Spanish-Speaking South America

13. Economies of Agriculture
Primarily agriculture & mining/extraction of oil & minerals
Income gap due to lack of economic development after region’s independence

14. Economies of the region
Produces a wide variety of products
Unique combo of resources, landforms, climate & vegetation
Colombia & Venezuela – huge oil reserves
Economies range from fishing to oil to mining to food production

15. Chile’s Success story
Trade with world powers such such as Japan & North America
Copper is largest export
Mercosur: trade market in South America to promote trade in region
Trade agreements
98% literacy rate
Education is primary goal

16. Brazil

17. Economic Giant Awakens
Growing economic power
Vast area, abundance of natural resources & its people
8th largest economy in world

18. An industrial power
Natural resources have contributed to industrialization
More than one thousand rivers in country = hydroelectric energy
Large reserves of oil & natural gas
Largest steel plant in region

20. Migration to cities Vast wealth gap between rich and poor
People moving to cities for jobs in hope of eliminating wealth gap