Editing Environmental determinism (section)

== Direct effects of geography on economic development ==

=== Effects of terrain on trade and productivity ===
Historians have also noted population densities seem to concentrate on coastlines and that states with large coasts benefit from higher average incomes compared to those in landlocked countries. Coastal living has proven advantageous for centuries as civilizations relied on the coastline and waterways for trade, irrigation, and as a food source.<ref name="Geography and Economic Development" /> Conversely, countries without coastlines or navigable waterways are often less urbanized and have less growth potential due to the slow movement of knowledge capital, technological advances, and people. They also have to rely on costly and time-consuming over-land trade, which usually results in lack of access to regional and international markets, further hindering growth. Additionally, interior locations tend to have both lower population densities and labor-productivity levels. However, factors including fertile soil, nearby rivers, and ecological systems suited for rice or wheat cultivation can give way to dense inland populations.<ref name="Geography and Economic Development" />

[[Nathan Nunn]] and Diego Puga note that though rugged terrain usually makes farming difficult, prevents travel, and limits societal growth, early African states used harsh terrain to their advantage.<ref name="Nunn 20–36">{{cite journal | last1=Nunn | first1=Nathan | last2=Puga | first2=Diego | date=February 2012 | title=Ruggedness: The blessing of bad geography in Africa | url=http://dpuga.economics.utoronto.ca/research/rugged.pdf | journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics | volume=94 | pages=20–36 | doi=10.1162/rest_a_00161 | s2cid=16512034}}</ref> The authors used a terrain ruggedness index to quantify topographic heterogeneity across several regions of Africa, while simultaneously controlling for variables such as diamond availability and soil fertility. The results suggest that historically, ruggedness is strongly correlated with decreased income levels across the globe and has negatively impacted state growth over time. They note that harsh terrain limited the flow of trade goods and decreased crop availability, while isolating communities from developing knowledge capital. However, the study also demonstrated that the terrain had positive effects on some African communities by protecting them from the slave trade. Communities that were located in areas with rugged features could successfully hide from slave traders and protect their homes from being destroyed. The study found that in these areas rugged topography produced long-term economic benefits and aided post-colonial state formation.<ref name="Nunn 20–36" />

=== Effects of climate on productivity ===
The impact that climate and water navigability have on economic growth and GDP per capita was studied by notable scholars including [[Paul Krugman]], [[Jared Diamond]], and [[Jeffrey Sachs]].<ref>{{Citation | mode=cs1 | last1=Mellinger | first1=Andrew D. | last2=Sachs | first2=Jeffrey D. | last3=Gallup | first3=John L. | date=1999 | title=Climate, water navigability, and economic development | type=Working paper | publisher=Harvard Institute for International Development}}</ref> By using variables to measure environmental determinism, such as climate, land composition, latitude, and the presence of infectious disease, they account for trends in worldwide economic development on local, regional and global scales. To do so, they measure economic growth with GDP per capita adjusted to purchasing power parity (PPP), while also taking into consideration population density and labor productivity.<ref name="Geography and Economic Development" />

Economic historians have found that societies in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] experience higher standards of living, and that as latitude increases north or south from the equator, levels of real GDP per capita also increases. Climate is closely correlated with agricultural production since without ideal weather conditions, agriculture alone will not produce the surplus supply needed to build and maintain economies. Locations with hot tropical climates often suffer underdevelopment due to low fertility of soils, excessive plant transpiration, ecological conditions favoring infectious diseases, and unreliable water supply. These factors can cause tropical zones to suffer a 30% to 50% decrease in productivity relative to temperate climate zones.<ref name="Geography and Economic Development" /><ref name="Easterly Levine 2003" /> Tropical infectious diseases that thrive in hot and moist equatorial climates cause thousands of deaths each year. They are also an economic drain on society due to high medical costs, and the unwillingness of foreign capital to invest in a sickly state. Because infectious diseases like malaria often need a warm ecology for growth, states in the mid to high latitudes are naturally protected from the devastating effects of those diseases.<ref name="Geography and Economic Development" />

=== Climatic determinism and colonization ===
Climatic determinism, otherwise referred to as the ''equatorial paradox,'' is an aspect of [[economic geography]]. According to this theory, about 70% of a country's [[economic development]] can be predicted by the distance between that country and the [[equator]], and that the further from the equator a country is located, the more developed it tends to be. The theory is the central argument of [[Philip M. Parker]]'s ''[[Physioeconomics]]: The Basis for Long-Run Economic Growth'', in which he argues that since humans originated as tropical mammals, those who relocated to colder climates attempt to restore their physiological homeostasis through wealth-creation. This act includes producing more food, better housing, heating, warm clothes, etc. Conversely, humans that remained in warmer climates are more physiologically comfortable simply due to temperature, and so have less incentive to work to increase their comfort levels. Therefore, according to Parker [[GDP]] is a direct product of the natural compensation of humans to their climate.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Parker | first1=Phillip | title=Physioeconomics: The basis for long-run economic growth | publisher=The MIT Press | date=September 2000 | pages=1–327}}</ref>

Political geographers have used climatic determinism ideology to attempt to predict and rationalize the history of civilization, as well as to explain existing or perceived social and cultural divides between peoples. Some argue that one of the first attempts geographers made to define the development of human geography across the globe was to relate a country's climate to human development. Using this ideology, many geographers believed they were able "to explain and predict the progress of human societies".<ref name="Painter 2009, pg.177" /> This led to warmer climate zones being "seen as producing less civilized, more degenerate peoples, in need of salvation by western colonial powers."{{sfn|Gilmartin|2009|p=117}}

[[Ellsworth Huntington]] also travelled continental Europe in hopes of better understanding the connection between climate and state success, publishing his findings in ''The Pulse of Asia'', and further elaborating in ''Civilization and Climate''.<ref name="sharp2008">{{cite book | last1=Sharp | first1=Jo | title=Geographies of postcolonialism | date=2008 | publisher=Sage | pages=34–35}}</ref> Like the political geographers, a crucial component of his work was the belief that the climate of North-western Europe was ideal, with areas further north being too cold, and areas further south being too hot, resulting in lazy, laid-back populations.<ref name="sharp2008" /> These ideas were powerful connections to [[colonialism]], and may have played a role in the creation of the '[[Other (philosophy)#Imperialism and colonialism|other]]' and the literature that many used to justify taking advantage of less advanced nations.<ref name="sharp2008" /> Huntington also argued that climate can lead to the demise of even advanced civilizations through drought, food insecurity, and damages to economic production.<ref name="Matthews 2012" />