Unit 9: Creating a Global Economy
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Globalization goes hand in hand with
the construction of the modern world
OBJECTIVES
• Demonstrate that globalization has had diverse impacts on
societies and places
• Discuss technological innovations that have collapsed some
the effects of distance and how they have reshaped
economic geographies
• Explain why the space-time convergence is accelerating
• Examine the three waves of globalization and the
unevenness of the space-time convergence
Space-Time Convergence:
the collapse of the time it takes to cover distance
• Technological advances, especially
communications and transportation, have
spurred the compression
• When transportation costs are high, only
high-end goods can be traded
• Early navigation led to a concentration of
economic activities in coastal regions
• Sea-going vessels, railways, and canals each
successively cut time and costs of transport
Space-time convergence between Boston
and New York, showing different modes of
transportation. (Fig 9.3)
Space-Time Convergence
• Each convergence destroys old geographies and
creates new ones
• Containers and the massive container ships have
boosted global trade
• Older ports and canals can’t handle the
largest of the container ships, so newer docks
are created further downstream
• Information is vital in mature economies, and
communications drive convergence
Before the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it
could take up to 20 days to travel between
New York City and Buffalo. After the canal
opened, it took less than 4 days. (Fig 9.2)
Space-time connections of London. (Fig 9.4)
Three Waves of Globalization
First Wave – 1492: The Columbian Encounter
• Regional empires became global
• Biotic transfer:
• Horses and wheat from Old World to New
• Turkey and tomatoes from New World to Old
• Disease decimated native populations
• Demographic holocaust led to imported labor
• Slavery united Africa, Europe, and Americas
Three Waves of Globalization
Second Wave—1865-1970
• Lower tariffs, international labor market, and
greater capital mobility increased connectivity
• Telegraph, railways, steamships, and canals
produced uneven development
• WWI, Great Depression, and WWII shocked the
system
• After WWII, regional alliances and
international organizations (IMF, UN) were
formed
Three Waves of Globalization
3rd Wave—1970 to today
• Global production chains and deregulated
financial system
• Containerization standardized the system and
eliminated break-of-bulk
• steep drop in transportation cost
• Spatial shift in manufacturing
The Panama Canal, completed in 1914,
reduced the distance between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans. (Fig 9.6)
A Flat World?
• Differences are being smoothed through globalization
(Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat)
• Cheap labor, exports, and manufacturing are not
enough to create developmental equality
• Dependable infrastructure, transportation links,
and political stability are prerequisites for long
term entrance to the global core
• Globalization creates both homogeneity AND spatial
difference
• The world’s topography is more varied than flat
CONCLUSION
• Globalization has had diverse impacts on societies and
places
• Technological innovations in transportation and
communication have collapsed some of the effects of
distance and have reshaped economic geographies
• Globalization is accelerating the space-time convergence
• The three waves of globalization have created an
unevenness of the space-time convergence