Thursday, March 3. Where we have been where we are going

Transcription

1 Thursday, March 3 Where we have been where we are going Plan for today - Fitting things together- Role of Geographers (like us) in helping the world adorn their Geography goggles! Global Inequality examined via: Core-Periphery; Economic Development; Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism Globalization

2 Complexities So far in the course we have looked at the importance of ideas, ideology, perceptions and attitudes in looking at problems Consumption has been our platform to look at interrelationships, problems, and solutions and how sustainability can help us Difficulties encountered when working with technocentric and ecocentric (dynamists/statsists) How do we move forward?

3 Three Arenas for Assessing Performance Key Concept: The Triple Bottom Line Growth Shareholder value Efficiency Innovation economic objectives Sustainability Simplified social objectives Empowerment & Equity Social mobility Social cohesion Cultural identity Institutional development Sustainable Growth environmental objectives Ecosystem integrity Climate integrity Carrying capacity Biodiversity Courtesy of Novo Nordisk A/S

4 Perspectives on Consumption Religious perspectives Ethics/justice So Far Consideration of different aspects of Consumption Life cycle assessment Footprint assessment Accurate pricing/perverse subsidies/externalities Attitudes and perceptons Obsolescence GPI vs. GDP Role of the United Nations and Agenda 21

5 Agenda 21 Agenda 21 explains that population, consumption and technology are the primary driving forces of environmental change. It lays out what needs to be done to reduce wasteful and inefficient consumption patterns in some parts of the world while encouraging increased but sustainable development in others. It offers policies and programmes to achieve a sustainable balance between consumption, population and the Earth s life-supporting capacity. It describes some of technologies and techniques that need to be developed to provide for human needs while carefully managing natural resources. Adopted at the Earth Summit, Rio 1992

6 Role of Geography What Can We Offer???

7 Geography gives vision to the patterns and processes we see across space and time it adds understanding so that we may see the processes behind exceptions Rich vs. Poor, North vs. South, LDC vs. DC Geographic and Economic Inequality Why does 1/3 of the world s population use over 2/3 of the world s resources (so-called 1/3 vs. 2/3 rule ) Why is there an increasing disparity between rich and poor at local, regional, national and global scales when globalization is supposed to create wealth and reduce disparity?

8 Focus: Economy and Economic Development Via Global Inequality, Disparity and Sustainable development Importance of: Historical contexts Development of economy recall that the economy is a semi-social institution developed by societies as a means to move goods and services Hidden economy, informal economy Socialism, communism, free-market capitalism Variations in definitions of disposable income

9 Current Survey of Inequality Three considerations 1. Inter-country comparisons via mean income (usually via GDP or PPP) 2. Mean income weighted by countries population (Gini Index) 3. Comparisons between individuals e.g. a rich person is one country is not rich by comparison in another!

10 What the UN thinks: Ignoring inequality in the pursuit of development is perilous. Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many; such an approach does not acknowledge the intergenerational transmission of poverty. A broader approach to poverty reduction includes social, economic and political dimensions, integrating improvements in health, education, economic development, and representation in legislative and judicial processes The Inequality Predicament 2005

11 Dimensions of Inequality make wages problem solving complex! liberalization in labour laws and institutions HIV/AIDS fertility rates health and mortality gender Special groups: indigenous, disabled or elderly democracy and rule of law - violence is more common where inequalities are greater

12

13 Inequality Predicament, 2005

14 Inequality Predicament, 2005

15

16 Are all Regions Equal? Regional Disparity: heartland/hinterland Region % Primary % Second y % Tertiary Atlantic % total Population Central Wester n

17 Regional cores of economic development are created cumulatively Geography of Economic Development Cumulative outcome of decisions Most important feature, geographically, is that it is unevent Successive technologies have rewritten the geography and shifted the balance of successes Geographical divisions of labour have evolved with the growth of the world system of trade and polticis

18 Gini Coefficient? Most commonly used measure of income inequality Extent to which distribution of income among individuals within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution Gini of 0 means perfect equality, 100 is perfect inequality Sweden 0.234, Canada 0.317, USA (Conference Board of Canada, 2011) In the USA, top 10% of wealthy population control 96% of the wealth (US Census Bureau, 2009)

19

20 Christaller s Central Place Theory

21

22 Weber s Model Theory of Location of Industries (1909) Eliminated labor mobility and varying wage rates Looked for pulls Least cost theory Categorized into three main costs Transportation-most important Labor-higher labor costs reduces profits Agglomeration-when a large number of firms cluster in the same area Can offer support if needed Deglomeration

23 Material inputs Labour Processing Market Government Industrial Location Behavioural considerations Agglomeration effects clustering of functionally related activities Agglomeration diseconomy (bad side of this) Ancilliary activities related to serving industries

24 Cumulative causation Source: (Knox Marshton & Nash, 2007)

25

26 Other models/ideas- Core-periphery (Friedmann) Heartland hinterland (Mackinder) Staples thesis (Innis Canada s development) Imperialism imposing new geographies Subaltern theory/post-colonialism outside the hegemonic power structure Commodity chains (cumulative causation, subaltern)

27 Economic Development Change involving nature and composition of the economy of a region Changes in the availability and use of technology Changes in the environment Gender equality, resource use, economic structure (levels of activity), division of labour

28 Growth and development is based on a core-periphery relationship initially this at a nation-based level, but with colonialism/mercantilism, the world got smaller and Thus increased the available land/resources in the periphery

29

30 Model Doesn t Always Work Colonialism & Subaltern ism Mercantilsm but, Colonialism ENDED some time ago? How does this matter today? TNCs Globalization

31 Colonialism Definition Mercantile system: 17 th and early 18 th century: raw materials, captive audience All trade with colonial master, prevented competition (i.e. India) Concession Companies: used to trade, act as government in remote areas of empire (eg. HBC, British East India Co.)

32 Impacts of Colonialism Land tenure systems Secondary economy Environment Foreign political systems Elite foreign groups Nation boundaries local language and culture inferior

33 Current Economic Colonialism Source of raw materials Cheap labour supply for manufactured products Market for manufactured goods Makes up for nations ecological defecits TNCs Globalization and persistent inequality

34 What is Globalization? no precise, widely-agreed upon definition cross-border economic activities extent of participation is hardly uniform significant asymmetry economic globalization is not a wholly new trend (rate of change is key) Trade and financial liberalization, economic reform Space-Time Compression! Homogenization, Disneyfication

35 What about Neo-Colonialism? Linking colonialism to the new world order Many DC s large ecological footprints are sustained by long-standing links to possessions Exploitation of the linkages in globalization The new mercantile corporation the TNC

36

37 TNCs or MNCs Defined LDCs welcome them as they bring opportunities (jobs, tech. experience, capitial investment) Foreign ownership, decision-making are remote Environmental laws are more lenient; working standards Cheap labour Economic power rivals many countries

38 2010 Fortune 500 Top Companies money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/

39 2008 Fortune 500 Top Companies ://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2008/full_list/

40 ://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2010/countries/can

41

42

43

44

45 How does all this fit together? Core-periphery Colonial Powers exploitation of the new world as a new periphery maintains and deepens inequality Transformation of nations and their economies to focus on export of chosen products, import of products from the colonial mother TNCs in the wheelbarrow path Infinite economic growth via expansion Ecological Deficit equalized via periphery