According to Adam Smith , Jeffrey D. Sachs , Landes and other eminent social scientists’ studies, Geography play a significant role in development . There are three ways on the influencing process in general. First, geography determinates economic income level directly, as it is the key determinant of climate (for example, annual rainfall and density of sunlight), natural resource endowments, disease burden, transport and information diffusion costs, health of local people and agriculture productivity. That is, the geographic environment shapes economic development directly by influencing the inputs into the production function and the production function itself. For instance, compared to temperate climates, tropical environments tend to have poor crop yields, more debilitating diseases, and endowments that cannot effectively employ production technologies developed in more temperate zones. According to the World Health Organization, 300 million to 500 million new cases of Malaria occur every year, almost entirely concentrated in the tropics. The disease is so common in these areas that no one really knows how many people it kills annually-at least one million and perhaps as many as 2.3 million. Widespread illness and early deaths obviously hold back a nation’s economic performance by significantly reducing labor productivity. Second, geography determinates economics indirectly via trade factor which is another determinant to income growth. We can call this integration view because it gives participation in the larger global economy-and impediments to participation-a starring role in fostering economic convergence between rich and poor region of the world. As Adam Smith noted, coastal regions and those near navigable waterways are indeed far richer and more densely settled than interior regions, because sea trade is less costly than land-or air- based trade, economies near coastlines have a great advantage over hinterland economies. The per-kilometer costs.of overland trade within Africa, for example, are often an order of magnitude greater than the costs of sea trade to an African port. `The importance of access to sea trade is also evident in the world map of GNP per capita. Regions far from the sea, such as the landlocked countries of South America, Africa and Asia, tend to be considerably poorer than their coastal counterparts. The same situation occurs in China, either the amout of GDP or the people income in east area ,i.e. coastal regions, surpass those in west area significantly untill now . Third, geography also determinates economics indirectly via institution which is the only positive and fundamental determinant to income level. For example, environments where crops are most effectively produced using large plantations will quickly develop political and legal institutions that protect the few landholders from the many peasants. But, as I know traditional Tibetan people , who live in the large tibet grassland with average 4200 meter high altitude and atrocious weather, care more about share the pasture with others and corperation than private appropriation. But, in Chinese rich Yangtez River delta regin, there is a totally different culture tradition among people. Another powerful example come from the famous findings of Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson in beginning of this century , that is, European colonialists found different disease environments around the globe, in colonies with in hospitable germs and climates, the colonial powers established extractive institutions, so that a few colonialists could exploit natural resources, in colonies with hospitable climates and germs, colonial powers established settler institutions. According to this view, the institutional structures created by the colonialists in response to the environment endure even with the end of colonialism. Their study can concludes that the major impact of the geographic environment on economic development runs through its long-lasting impact on institutions. William Easterly and Ross Levine 2002 article further pointed out that, ‘ that tropics, germs, and crops affect development only through institutions. ’ . From above, we can draw some characteristics of the geography influence on economic develompent. It plays a important role in the growth of income level and is the only one of 3 determinants (geography, trade, institutions) that can be treated as exogenous; last but not least, it is not the only and fateful factor to explain the income level, just as Sachs noted, “We must stress, however, thar geographical factors are only part of the story. Social and conomic institutions are critical to long-tem economic performance. ” 2 `The main conclusion of our arguments lies in two sides, one is that policymakers should pay more attention to the developmental barriers associated with geography-specifically, poor health, low agricultural productivity and high transportation costs. Aid programs for developing countries and internal undeveloped region will have to be revamped to specifically address the problems imposed by geography. For example, tropical economies should strive to diversify production into manufacturing and service sectors that are not hindered by climate conditions. The successful countries of tropical Southeast Asia, most Malaysia, have achieved stunning advances in the past 30 years, in part by addressing public health problems an in part by moving their ir economies away from climate-dependent commodiry exports (rubber, palm oil and so on) to electronics, semiconductors and other industrial sectors. In China, a cogent example of is aiding-tibet project since 1994, considering the particularity of Tibet geography and history, the China government has directly invested a total of 4.86 billion yuan in 62 projects; 15 provinces and the various ministries and commissions under the State Council have also given aid gratis for the construction of 716 projects, contributing a total of 3.16 billion yuan. In some sense, this is just a Aid-led Big push. As a result, the production and people living conditions in Tibet have been greatly improved and its social and economic developments revved up. The other side of the conclusion in this essay is although geography is very important determinant to econimic growth, it is not the exclusive factor to prosperity. Institution , policy and other factors have played more and more important role in nowadays. In China, the area in tropic is more developped than temperate one on general mainly because of institution and policy difference. Dani Rodrik’s and other economists studies result show that the quality of insititutions is the only positive and significant determinant of income levels. Once insititutions are controled for, results robustly indicate that geography has only a best weak direct effects . Policies and institutions should be carefully reviewed and maked according to the different areas and its folk so as to relieve the geographical burden efficiently. Bibliography Adam Smith(1776), The Wealth of Nations Sachs, J., Mellinger, A. and Gallup, J (2001) The geography of poverty and wealth", Scientific American, March Landes, David. 1998. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. W.W. Norton (New York). LOREN BRANDT, THOMAS G. RAWSKI, 2008,China’s Great Economic Transformation Cambridge University Press Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development,” American Economic Review, 2001. Acemoglu, Daron, Simon Johnson, S., James Robinson, 2002. Reversal of fortunes: geography and institutions in the making of the modern world income distribution. Quarterly Journal of Economics 117 William Easterly and Ross Levine(2002) Tropics, Germs, and Crops: How Endowments Influence Economic Development Rodrik, D. and Subramanian, A. (2003) “The primacy of institutions", Finance and Development June 我最近的读书心得，不揣冒昧置于此，伏祈各位博雅君子大力匡谬正讹为幸。
地理：对这个世界的爱 "Never look for a good job from Geography Department. What you can get, and what you can only get, is the love to this planet and her people. It's not about how you benefit from them, make money on them, but how you understand them, express them, and work for them." 地理是在学习地球，亦是在学习生命。是在学习一门科学，亦是在学习一门哲学。 National Geographic One. Kanana Camp, Botswana. Pulling over by the side of the road to watch a grazing giraffe, we spotted an amber head lurking behind a small mound. A hungry lioness. Watching, waiting, camera to my eye, she eventually chose her moment and pounced just as the giraffe sensed danger. The lioness gave chase, but failed. Hungry, she lay down, invisible, in the grass not ten feet from us and waited again. A supercell thunderstorm rolls across the Montana prairie at sunset. (Photo and caption by Sean Heavey) Suradita Village, West Java, Indonesia. Children playing with their roosters. Actually it was not a real cockfight because the roosters didn't wear blades on their feet. Children like to play this game because they almost never have toys in their life. The Great Pyramids. The people of Ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the King was entombed underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife. (Photo and caption by Jesus Oranday) The Music Of Love. This picture was taken in Tenganan Village, Bali (2010). Tenganan is the most famous Bali Aga (original Balinese) village and is located close to Candi Dasa in East Bali. A man was playing bamboo music to entertain a disabled child which is not his son, but he loves this child likes he loves his own son. (Photo and caption by Ario Wibisono) Liquid Planet. Another picture from the Liquid Vision Series, which shows a different point of view of waves. An angle that people are not used to seeing. (Photo and caption by Freddy Cerdeira) Brown bear, Buskin River, Kodiak Alaska. This bear had been fishing in the river on this morning. It climbed onto the bank and laid down in the grass. This photo was taken about an hour after sunrise just as the sun was starting to clear the trees. The temperature was near the dew point and steam was rising off its body. It didn’t seem at all concerned by the fishermen in the river or the photographer on the bank. Praying Mantis - Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii. This beautiful whalbergii evolved through two of its nymph-stages on the Barberton Daisy at left, surviving because of its bright color which blended so well with the flower. Towards the end of its growth into an adult, it became a little more adventurous (but not much more) as pictured here. Once it had shed the layer in this picture, it became a fully-fledged adult, and departed after about two weeks. Total stay in this tiny ecosystem was approximately six weeks. (Photo and caption by Fred Turck) A Wrinkle in Time. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (Photo and caption by Nikki Krecicki) Alone. I was up in the air in an helicopter, taking images for the community and suddenly I saw one tree surrounded by thousands of spruces and I got only one shot in this perfect light. (Photo and caption by Mats Almlf) The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil is considered a wildlife sanctuary, but today, even in this isolated archipelago dolphins are victims of the bad habits of consumption. (Photo and caption by Joo Vianna) Cosmic. Mother nature doing what she does best. (Photo and caption by Patrick John O'Doherty The child in us. Traveling from Zhangmu (Nepal-Tibet border) to the Tibetan capital - Lhasa you can see road workers all along the Friendship Highway. The Chinese industrialization has affected Tibet a great deal. But despite the Chinese government's attempts to settle Chinese population across the Tibetan Plateau, the Roof of the World still remains a place where only the Tibetans can survive its harsh climate conditions. A Tibetan boy holding the hand of his father who works on the road construction, Tibet. (Photo and caption by Sergi Barisashvili) Unsafe Journey. A woman is riding between the railway carriages of a local train heading north from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Her luggage is tucked under the carriage in front of her. It is the month of Ramadan, a fast which culminates in Eid-ul-Fitr, a three-day celebration. Tens of thousands of people leave the city to go to their home village and celebrate with their families. Trains are packed and many who fail to get tickets before they sell out or can't afford buying them at the black market ride on the roof of the train or, like this woman, finds a quiet spot between the carriages. Lightning Strike NY Harbor. This shot was captured during a major electrical storm. There was little wind and no rain which allowed me to stay safely inside and shoot from an open window. This was the 82nd exposure out of 150 made that night. The camera was mounted on a tripod, exposures made with a cable release for 5 seconds at f10. Except for a some minor level adjustments and a square crop this was what came out of the camera. (Photo and caption by Jay Fine) Boise Sunrise. With the fog and morning light this looks like a place I'd love to be. If you look very closely, you can see a deer in a clearing in the center left area of the picture (small dot, head poking above bushes, seedetail). (Photo and caption by Glen Hush) Yes it's spring. Fishing on the end of the bridge. (Photo and caption by Stan Bouman) The Look. There are only 400 of these birds in existence. Against the windstorm on Mont Blanc. My friend Laszlo Varkonyi is leading a group on Mont Blanc, he died on Everest this April in a fatal accident: a big serac fell down. Pure Elements. I drove my 4x4 over rivers to get a view of the Volcano eruption at "Fimmvorduhals" in Iceland. It was a full moon and strong winds gave me problems standing still outside the truck. I had my camera with me and zoom lens but no tripod, suddenly there was a magical moment, I was experiencing a display of nature rarely seen by man. I found my camera with the zoom lens, rushed out of the truck, trying to fight the strong wind. I pushed the camera on to the hood of the truck trying to stand still, holding my breath, I shot 30 frames, and only one shot was good. The Serra da Leba Road near Lubango (Huíla, Angola). This is Serra da Leba, a landmark in Angola. A road built in the 70's, it's been in the country's postcard images for decades, but all shots were taken by day. I wanted something different and tried a night shot. But it seemed impossible: pitch dark, foggy, altitude of 1,800m (5,000ft). I wanted no more than 60sec of exposure, max, to avoid digital noise. But a car takes a few minutes to climb or descend this section of the road. The fog was dense and blocking the view! Suddenly the fog cleared, a few cars went down, others went up, they met in the middle in under 60sec... Painting done! (Photo and caption by Kostadin Luchansky) A Llama stands at the crest of a hill as the sun sets behind it at Chavín de Huántar, Peru. Giraffes at Savannah. Unusual perspective shot depicting two giraffes and a tree in Masai Mara, Kenya. 地理：对这个世界的爱
Geography consists of at least two different sub-fields of knowledge with similar methodology: Physical geography and human geography . The following table also helps to make the differences between these two types of geography more apparent. This table describes some of the phenomena or elements studied by each of these sub-fields of knowledge. Knowing what kinds of things are studied by geographers provides us with a better understanding of the differences between physical and human geography. 地理学由自然地理学和人文地理学两个知识领域组成 , 二者采用的研究方法相似。表 1 可以帮助大家更清楚地了解这两种地理学之间的区别。此表描述了自然地理学和人文地理学两个领域的一些现象或者研究要素。明白地理学家所要研究的对象，会让我们更好地了解自然地理学和人文地理学两者之间的差异。 Table 1 : Some of the phenomena studied in physical and human geography. 表 1 ：自然地理学和人文地理学研究的一些现象 Physical Geography 自然地理学 Human Geography 人文地理学 Rocks and Minerals 岩石和矿物质 Population 人口 Landforms 地貌 Settlements 聚落 Soils 土壤 Economic Activities 经济活动 Animals 动物 Transportation 运输 Plants 植物 Recreational Activities 娱乐活动 Water 水 Religion 宗教 Atmosphere 大气 Political Systems 政治体制 Rivers and Other Water Bodies 河流和其它水体 Social Traditions 社会传统 Environment 环境 Human Migration 人类迁徙 Climate and Weather 气候和天气 Agricultural Systems 农业系统 Oceans 海洋 Urban Systems 城市系统 Geography is also a discipline that integrates a wide variety of subject matter. Almost any area of human knowledge can be examined from a spatial perspective. Figure 1 describes some of the main subdisciplines within human and physical geography. Physical geography's primary subdisplines study the Earth's atmosphere ( meteorology and climatology ), animal and plant life ( biogeography ), physical landscape ( geomorphology ), soils ( pedology ), and waters ( hydrology ). Some of the dominant areas of study in human geography include: human society and culture ( social and cultural geography ), behavior ( behavioral geography ), economics ( economic geography ), politics ( political geography ), and urban systems ( urban geography ). 地理学是一门融合了一系列广泛主题的学科。人类的所有知识领域几乎都可以从空间层面加以剖析。图 1 描述了自然地理学和人文地理学的一些主要分支学科。自然地理学的主要分支学科分别研究地球的大气（气象学和气候学）、土壤（土壤学）、水体（水文学）。人文地理学的一些主要领域包括：人类社会和文化（社会文化地理学）、行为（行为地理学）、经济学（经济地理学）、政治（政治地理学）以及城市系统（城市地理学）。 The graphic model in Figure 1 indicates that the study of geography can also involve a holistic synthesis. Holistic synthesis connects knowledge from a variety of academic fields in both human and physical geography. For example, the study of the enhancement of the Earth's greenhouse effect and the resulting global warming requires a multidisciplinary approach for complete understanding. The fields of climatology and meteorology are required to understand the physical effects of adding addition greenhouse gases to the atmosphere's radiation balance. The field of economic geography provides information on how various forms of human economic activity contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases through fossil fuel burning and land-use change. Combining the knowledge of both of these academic areas gives us a more comprehensive understanding of why this serious environmental problem occurs. 图 1 表明，地理学研究还涉及整体的合成，即将人文地理学和自然地理学中各学术领域的知识相互串联起来。例如，研究地球温室效应的增强和温室效应所导致的全球变暖时，需要通过多学科的方法进行全面的了解。通过气候学和气象学，我们了解到温室气体的额外增加对大气辐照平衡的物理效应；经济地理学提供了各种形式的人类经济活动在燃烧化石燃料和土地利用变化方面对温室气体排放的贡献信息。将这些学术领域的知识相结合，我们能够更全面地了解为什么会出现这样严重的环境问题。 The holistic nature of geography is both a strength and a weakness. Geography's strength comes from its ability to connect functional interrelationships that are not normally noticed in narrowly defined fields of knowledge. The most obvious weakness associated with the geographical approach is related to the fact that holistic understanding is often too simple and misses important details of cause and effect. 地理学的这种整体性既是其优势，也是其劣势。其优势是能够将在某一狭窄的知识领域中难以被发现的功能之间的相互关系串联起来，而采用地理学方法最为明显的劣势是这种整体的了解往往太过简单，常常会遗漏原因与结果之间的重要细节。
标签: geography
