ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

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ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

• Spatial organization and distribution of
  economic activity
• Outcome of decisions
• Technology shifts advantages
• Highly uneven at all scales

Zoltan Grossman, The Evergreen State College,
Olympia WA (Thanks to Tim Bawden, University of
Wisconsin-Eau Claire)
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Place in Economic Geography

• Where goods, labor, services come from
• As economies expand
• they stitch together places
• they create global interdependency
• Principles of Location
• Raw materials, Labor supply and cost, Processing
  costs, Markets, Transport costs, Government
  policies, Human behavior

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Fixes to capital overaccumulation (David
Harvey)

• Temporal fix (shift over time)
• Debt, borrowing, investments, planning, etc.
• Spatial fix (shift over space)
• Some capital is immobile fear of high surplus
• Geographical expansion to enlarge/absorb capital,
  labor
• Fixes to crisis in capitalism
• Shell game destroys old,
• creates new socio-economic landscape

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Uneven locally(Poverty in Milwaukee, Chicago)
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Uneven regionally
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Uneven nationally
U.S. poverty (red dots)

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Uneven globally

• U.N. Human Development Index
• ( life expectancy, education,
  income)

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Uneven globally

• Per capita GNP (Gross National Product)
• ( Total value spread evenly in
  population)

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An interdependent system of countries linked by
economic and political competition
World-System
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World-systems processes(Immanuel Wallerstein)

• CORE
• Industrialized capitalist countries (US, EU,
  Japan, Aus.)
• Often former colonial powers centers of trade,
  tech, productivity
• Extract resources, labor from the Periphery
  Semi-Periphery
• PERIPHERY
• Poorer countries and regions (Africa, Latin
  America, S./S.E. Asia)
• Former colonies export resources and labor power
• Exploited by Core Semi-Periphery
• SEMI-PERIPHERY
• Countries with mixed processes (S. Afr., Brazil,
  Mexico, Four Tigers)
• Developing both exporters and importers of
  goods, labor
• Exploited by Core, but also exploits Periphery

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Results of World-System

• The growth and strength of the Core is made
  possible by the exploitation of the rest of the
  world.
• The poverty in the Periphery is
• made possible by the exploitation
• by the rest of the world
• (How Europe Underdeveloped
• Africa by Walter Rodney)
• Recent globalization has widened,
• not narrowed, the gap between
• Core and Periphery countries
• ( regions within).

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Globalization is nothing new(Flows of goods,
labor, capital, information)
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Elements of a map
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Industrial Revolution

• Early-1800s
• Britain (Hearth) --from slave cotton
• Textiles, steam power, iron, canals
• Mid-1800s
• Diffusion to Germany, France, Belgium
• Steel, railroads, steamships, telegraph
• Late-1800s/ early-1900s
• Spread to much of Europe, US, Japan
• Electricity, oil, engines, roads, radio

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DirectImperialism, 1914

• Britain
• France
• Spain
• Portugal
• Netherlands
• Germany
• Russia
• U.S.
• Japan
• Italy

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Geography Implicatedin Imperialism

• Ethnocentrism and racism
• Biological justification of colonialism
• Environmental determinism

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Imperialism Spheres of Influence

• Core dominated, but
• not controlled,
• trade and resources
• China, Iran, Thailand,
• Saudi Arabia, etc.

British opium war in China seizure of Hong Kong
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Anti-colonial revolts

• Colonial flags come down
• Asia, 1940s-1950s, Africa 1960s-1970s
• Neocolonialism continues
• Ex-colonial powers still dominate economies,
  resources, cultures

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Cold War, 1949-1989

• US-USSR hot wars fought in Periphery
• Periphery states competed for aid
• Arms race depleted global social resources

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Enlargement of Soviet bloc after World War II
Berlin Wall, 1961-89
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NATO and Warsaw Pact, 1945-89
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World divisions during Cold War

• First World - Industrialized capitalist
  countries of Western Europe, North America.
• Second World - Centrally-planned socialist
  countries such as Soviet Union.
• Third World - Ex-colonial nations such as
• India, Malaysia, Iran, Brazil, etc.
• Fourth World - Poorest nations (and indigenous
  communities)

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Changes in Europe, 1990-93
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Kosovo military zones since 1999
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European Union
euro
Began as European Economic Community (EEC),
1957. Stronger in 1994 Expansion to
east, 1990-2007
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Transnational corporations

• Investments, activities transcend borders
• Subsidiaries in many Periphery/S-P countries
• Core domination, centralization outside state
  structure

Cartoon on Standard Oil, 1904
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Shift to North/South divisions

• Poor countries tend to be located in Global
• South (though some have pockets of wealth)
• World Bank estimates more than 1.3 billion people
  (1/5 world population) live in acute poverty of lt
  1 (U.S.) per day.
• 70 women and children
• Self-sustaining poverty

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Regions of the World Village

• In a world village of 1,000
• 333 East Asians
• 274 South Asians
• 132 Africans
• 120 Europeans
• 86 Latin Americans
• 50 North Americans
• 5 from Oceania

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Household income

• Average annual income 4,890
• 600 poor
• 300 marginal
• 100 well-off

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Ownership/consumption

• 200 richest villagers own and consume
• 80 of goods
• Other villagers own and consume remaining 20

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Material World A Global Family Portrait
Iceland
Guatemala
Japan
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Pockets of poverty in Core

• Philadelphia
• Infant
• Mortality
• Red area high than
• at least 28 Third
• World countries,
• including
• Jamaica
• Cuba
• Costa Rica
• Malaysia
• Panama
• Sri Lanka
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Uruguay
• Argentina

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Threats to the State
Corporate globalization

The State
Ethnic nationalism
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Corporate globalization

• Governments elites
• Multinational corporations
• Global trade/finance agencies
• World Bank, IMF, WTO
• Communications revolution
• Internet aids globalization-from-below

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Rise of ethnic nationalism

• Soviet, Yugoslav breakups
• Minority ethnic groups ending majority
  oppression.
• Increased ability to survive as smaller country.
• Increased local/ethnic identity can be a reaction
  to impersonal globalization.
• Rise of religious fundamentalism

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Mental map of the world

• Cognitive maps show our perception of a place,
  
• from memory only.
• Dont worry about geographic knowledge or
  artistic skills! DONT put your name on the map,
  or show it to others.
• Be as accurate as you can about the size, shape,
  and location of world regions.
• Show as much as you possibly can use all the
  time available. Be detailed about features, place
  names, political borders, etc.
• If you finish early, write your observations on
  the back.

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Mental map interpretation

• Selection of information, details, labels
• Omission is as important as inclusion
• Proportions of sizes, scales, shapes
• Choice of physical or cultural features
• Relative placement of features
• Influence of personal experience
• Influence of media and world events
• Effect of core, periphery, semi-periphery