UNDERDEVELOPMENT

What is underdevelopment?

Under capitalism it is the capitalists who control where and how much money is invested. And they will only invest their money where they can make the highest profits. This is done in two ways. Firstly, by investing in highly productive industries in the rich areas of the country. The second way is by investing in the poor areas where the labour is cheap. Most of the money will be put into the highly productive industries in the rich areas. This is because a few individual capitalists and not the society control this investment, There is little left over for the poorer regions. The portion which is invested in the poor areas is put into industries which hire cheap labour. Because the wages are very low, it means that the workers remain poor and aren’t able to spend much money which would create even more industry.

More importantly, though, is the fact that most of the investment money is controlled by capitalists in the richer regions. This means that the big profits made from the cheap labour in the poorer areas are not re-invested in the underdeveloped region. They are returned to their owners in the richer regions. This leaves the underdeveloped area with little or no money to invest in their own economy. The rich regions have the profits made from the workers in their industries plus the profits they make in the poorer areas. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

This has always been the case of the Maritimes.