The development modes are the different systems applied so that the economy of a country develops, a concept that according to the social sciences is defined as the transformation of production conditions in order that living conditions improve.
There are several different modes depending on which activity predominates when it comes to improving productivity. The oldest is the agrarian development mode, which also includes livestock. Although new technologies have improved the ability to produce surpluses, this model is often associated with less economically developed societies.
The second mode of development, born in the 18th century and which has not stopped evolving, is industrial. In much of the world, the transition to this model from the agrarian one meant a great transformation that affected not only the economy, but all social spheres.
With the arrival of new information technologies, a new mode of development appeared: the informational one. This, closely linked to globalization, is based on the generation of knowledge and the processing of knowledge thanks to technical advances.
Agriculture and livestock are the activities that support this mode of development. Its characteristics, however, vary remarkably according to the economic level of each country..
The main element that differentiates its application is the use of technology, much higher in the richest countries. Thanks to machinery and other innovations, the production of surpluses in these countries is much higher, while in the less developed ones, what is obtained often does not provide for their own consumption..
In developed countries, advanced methods have achieved high productivity in agriculture, despite the fact that only 5% of the population is engaged in this activity.
This large production is dedicated to food or industry and its volume means that prices are low. Surpluses, meanwhile, are destined for export
In addition to the use of modern machinery and techniques such as seed selection, chemical fertilizers or the implementation of greenhouses, these countries have increased their production thanks to specializing crops or land ownership models that reduce costs and enhance results..
The lack of resources in developing and underdeveloped countries means that their peasants have to use traditional farming methods, with hardly any machinery or advanced technology..
On the other hand, it is also frequent that the way in which the possession of farmland is organized damages production.
Both factors mean that the crops are dedicated almost exclusively to self-consumption, although, on occasions, it is not even enough to support the farmer's own family..
An example of the transition from traditional to modern agriculture occurred in Spain after its entry into the European Union in 1986, especially in regions such as Andalusia..
At that time, 15% of the working population was engaged in agriculture, a figure that has fallen to the current 5%. However, the introduction of new techniques has led to a significant increase in productivity.
In the aforementioned Andalusia, the agrarian structure was made up of large estates, often very poorly managed. In addition, there were a large number of day laborers who had to travel to work in the different product collection campaigns, with very low salaries..
Today, although there are still some unsolved problems, greenhouses have been a huge increase in productivity. To exploit them, the arrival of immigrant labor has been necessary.
Chile is another example of an agrarian mode of production that has been evolving. At first, it was characterized by the division of the land into large estates (farmlands), which made up for the lack of modern means with the intensive use of its numerous hectares.
Over time, these farms were reducing their size and introducing modern machinery and technology..
The great transformation of the world economy began with the Industrial Revolution, in the second half of the 18th century. From that moment on, agriculture began to lose importance in many countries in favor of industry..
Industrialization had different rates according to the area of the world. In the so-called developed countries, this mode of development prevailed over the rest, while in the less developed areas the establishment of industries was much slower or even non-existent.
This mode of development is closely related to technology and its own origin was linked to the invention of the steam engine..
Today, the mode of industrial development is still linked to the rich countries. However, in recent years there has been a phenomenon of relocation of many industries to less developed countries in search of cutting production costs.
The aforementioned relocation of industries has been accompanied by the adoption of political measures by the governments of many developing countries to boost their industrialization..
In some areas of the world, such as Southeast Asia, industrialization can be considered a success and brought with it a considerable increase in the standard of living.
In others, like Mexico, there have been attempts to industrialize the country since colonial times. However, it was not until the Porfiriato when the weight of this economic sector began to be important for the Mexican economy, although at the cost of the low salaries charged by the workers..
Starting in the 1920s, the arrival of new American companies on Mexican soil prompted the development of the extractive industry. The Second World War meant the consolidation of industrialization in the country, although coexisting with large areas anchored in the agrarian development mode.
The informational development mode, linked to the knowledge society, is the next step to the one based on the industry. The importance of this model has led many authors to baptize the transit as the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The characteristics of this mode of development, whose first steps occurred in the 70s of the 20th century, are linked to the invention of information technologies, from the Internet to Big Data.
In this mode of development, productivity is supported by technologies that generate knowledge and allow it to be shared instantly. In the economic sphere, especially in the industrial sector, this translates into the automation of tasks, the use of data to develop products and the globalization of all information.
The best example of the informational development mode is found in the so-called Industry 4.0.
In some rich countries, especially Germany, whose government has launched a program to realize its full potential, Industry 4.0 aims to decouple production from human labor.
For this, it is necessary to complete the automation process of the industry and introduce advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things or cloud computing..
In theory, these technologies will allow the machinery of the factory to communicate with each other and make certain decisions based on the analysis of millions of different data, in so-called Big Data..
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