Asia
By: Manouchka
Shaq
Courtney
Noelia
Addy
International Futures Chapter 6
• What has led to the global increase in GDP per
capita?
International Futures Chapter 6
• In 2012 $10,000 was the average global GDP per person (7,122,887,650)
•
$5,000 in 2005
•
Mostly due to emerging economies such as China + Brazil
•
~2/3 of the globe lives under $1,000
•
Increase in universal primary education attendance (human capital)
•
Increase in capital investments (technology, infrastructure…)
•
Increase in global trade
•
Literacy rate well-above 50%
•
Increase in life expectancy, esp. in industrialized economies
•
Spread of democracy
International Futures Chapter 6
• How does governments intervene in effort to
increase household savings and investment?
International Futures Chapter 6
How does governments intervene in effort to increase household savings and
investment?
1.
Governments can invest in human capital using tax collected
•
More universal primary public schools
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More public certification programs
•
Universal healthcare and more community hospitals
2.
Investment in physical/public capital
•
Better roads and highways
•
Efficient information infrastructures and research and development (e.g.,
ACA website is not efficient)
•
Improved/sustained ecological system
3.
Investment in firms/industries
•
Agricultural subsidies
•
Technological subsidies
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Enforce patency policies
•
more export (creates jobs) than import
International Futures Chapter 6
• Why is there a backlash towards globalization?
International Futures Chapter 6
Why is there a backlash towards globalization?
• Traditionally, two people benefit from trading (hence they trade knowing of the
benefits not due to obligatory)
• Comparative advantages lead to specialization
• Economies of scale lead to more jobs and more production
• Opposition to globalization comes from workers who lose jobs because of free
trade and governments that are disadvantaged in the trading system and whose
policies have been evaded
• With free trade large industries move capital to where unskilled labor is
abundant and cheap
• Capital owners benefit, but all workers lose out on higher wages
• WTO does not enforce protection of intellectual property to prevent software
and patent piracy
• Some currencies, esp. Chinese currency, are intentionally undervalued giving
the country trading advantage – versus the pound that has greater value
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• The World Today: (look at page 234 for a nice
comparison)
• A little more than half of the world is
urbanized. Asia and Africa will follow suit in a
decade
• Megacities:
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
•
•
•
•
Tokyo: is a fast growing and expensive city despite growing rising wages. It is
second only to New York in terms of the amount of major banks and corporate
headquarters. It has very efficient and popular subway systems. In most areas from
automobile to be fashion trends the world tends to look on Japan, and Tokyo
specifically for inspiration. The trade off of all this productivity is a much polluted
environment. People can produce air if they are feeling overwhelmed by this fact.
New York : The “city” is predominantly Manhattan, but the book talks about the
other boroughs as well. New York was the largest city in the world for many years
and will remain within the top ten for the foreseeable future. It brags about
manufacturing and ship building in Brooklyn, Wall Street in Manhattan, the Harlem
Renaissance as well as Urban decay in Harlem. Due to Ellis Island, it has served as
the new home for many but individuals increasingly look elsewhere to settle
down.
Mexico City: is a mega city that should not have been a city. It is one of the few
mega cities to not near a major body of water. It geographically does not support
many of the infrastructures typical of major cities like skyscrapers and trains.
*Trains are a sign of gentrification and urbanization
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• What is an urban bias?
– Give examples of where this has been the case
and where it hasn’t?
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• What is an urban bias?
– A term coined by Micheal Lipton, it explains why
the city life is generally more appealing than a
rural life. “Governments drain resources from
rural areas into cities, where the prestige and
power are more likely to be”. This is especially true
if the city in question is a capital city.
• Give examples of where this has been the case
and where it hasn’t?
– Bridgeport vs Fairfield
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• In regards to types of urbanizations, what is
the difference between a primate city
structure and a dispersed urban pattern? In
what ways do these methods effect the overall
development of a nation?
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• In regards to types of urbanizations, what is the difference between a
primate city structure and a dispersed urban pattern? In what ways do
these methods effect the overall development of a nation?
– Primate cities: monopolize the nation’s contribution to society from multiple
sectors so that this city dominates the social, political and economic aspects of
the country. In addition, this city is disproportionately (in relation to its size to
the nation) responsible for the majority of the nation’s GDP per capita,
population, and industrial and commercial development. The disadvantage of
such cities is that they determine the rest of the nation’s reality. When these
cities are in trouble or decline economically, so does the nation.
– Dispersed urban pattern: Within a nation, certain cities are known for largely
controlling different factors that influence prosperity and growth. In this way
city A specializes in politics, city B in commerce, and city C in culture. The book
highlights that the U.S follows a dispersed urban pattern because New York is
known for commerce while Washington D.C. is known for politics. In such
areas, the jobs come first and the migration follows.
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
• Name three characteristics that often make up
or can be found in urbanized, megacities?
Global Problems 9 (1st half)
•
Name three characteristics that often make up or can be found in urbanized,
megacities?
– Industrialized-turned-trade giants: Industrialization and urbanization used to be closely related
because the former played a huge part in the latter’s formation. However, as these industries
have moved out, they have been replaced by trade and investments. In many major cities, a
substantial amount of their wealth is tied up in stock and trade assets that they manage.
Stockyards and mills are replaced by skyscrapers.
– Presence of Desperation: This acknowledges that despite other advancements, some large
cities face challenges such as civil war, political corruption, economic collapse/instability, and
poor infrastructure. These challenges threaten the advancement of large cities and the
respective nations. Some examples of this are Karachi, Pakistan and Kinshasa, Democratic
Republic of Congo. Still, the city is “safer” than the rural parts so the cities continue to expand
in terms of population
•
*On a smaller scale most major cities (including the U.S though we like to forget) host the best the
world has to offer in terms of amenities and general quality of life and, yet, have such an
overwhelming amount of poverty. Though there are means to combat a substantial amount of this
suffering, there lacks motivation and addressing this is not an immediate political necessity. This is the
height of abject depravity.
– Culture capitals: Some cities, in addition to the typical trade markets are prominent for
dominating the cultural market such as music, fashion, and general entertainment. Some
examples are Los Angeles for the film industry, and Paris for the fashion world.
Global Problems Ch. 9 (2nd half)
• Theories of Urban Structure:
– Robert Park encouraged students at the University
of Chicago to travel around the city and human
ecology.
• What are the 5 steps Park uses to explain an
urban neighborhoods development?
• ***page 243
Global Problems Ch. 9 (2nd half)
• Postmodernism:
– Dubai
– Las Vegas
– Mall of America is Minnesota=more popular than
Grand
– Canyon + Graceland
Global Problems Ch. 9 (2nd half)
• Why do you think places like these are so
increasingly appealing to us?
• “…places are popular because they help
people to escape their fears of crime and
disorder in real cities and allows to mingle in
spaces that pretend to be cities” (245)
Global Problems Ch. 9 (2nd half)
• Autosprawl
• People are moving to suburbs and ‘living large’
and no longer in center cities
• Major cities sprawled out with the expansion of
the automobile industry, people not looking for
high rises and cramped spaces, looking for green
and space.
• What is an explanation for why people in the
early 20th century flocked to center cities and
now they are spreading out?
Global Problems Ch. 9 (2nd half)
• Early cities needed to be compact, so people
could access everything on foot
• Now, we rely on cars and highways… parking
in cities=miserable
• Now for most suburban dwellers, there is no
need to go to the city for anything
Developing World, Article # 6
• How did the recent financial crisis affect
attitudes about capital mobility?
Developing World, Article # 6
• First consequence
– The end of the foreign finance fetish
• The countries that pursued it the most enthusiastically, such as Iceland,
Ireland, and those in eastern Europe, were the hardest hit and face the
toughest recoveries.
• Second consequence
– A new respect among developing countries for the political and social
benefits of a sensible social policy
• Before the crisis, policymakers tended to downplay social insurance and safety
net programs in favor of strategies that emphasized economic efficiency.
• Third consequence
– The rise of a new round of discussions about industrial policy—a
country’s strategy to develop specific industrial sectors, traditionally
through such support as cheap credit or outright subsidies or through
state management of development banks
Developing World, Article # 6
• Why has so little progress been made in
improving developing countries’ private
sector?
Developing World, Article # 6
Why has so little progress been made in improving developing
countries’ private sector?
• The first problem is that their bureaucracies often serve
governments that are rent-seeking coalitions acting according to
self-interest, instead of an ideal of impersonal public service.
Outside donors typically do not have the leverage to force them to
change, with the partial exception of mechanisms such as the
European union’s accession process.
• Second, effective institutions have to evolve indigenously, reflecting
a country’s own political, social, and cultural realities. The
development of impersonal bureaucracies in the West was the
product of a long and painful process, with factors exogenous to the
economy playing a large part in creating strong state institutions,
Developing World, Article #7
• What is the “Balance Sheet Transformation”?
Developing World, Article #7
What is the balance sheet transformation?
• The international investment position (IIP) is essentially a
country’s balance sheet in relation to the rest of the world.
• One side of the balance sheet contains a country’s total
foreign assets, the other its external liabilities.
• The types of assets and liabilities are broken down on each
side of the balance sheet. An analysis of changes in the IIP’s
major economies reveals large shifts in the structure of
global finance.
• The external liabilities of emerging economies once were
mainly debt; now foreign direct investment and portfolio
equity accounted for more than half of the total liabilities
emerging economies.
Developing World, Article #7
• What are some contrast between advanced
and emerging market economies is even
sharper in terms of their contributions to the
growth in world debt and world GDP?
Developing World, Article #7
What are some contrast between advanced and emerging
market economies is even sharper in terms of their
contributions to the growth in world debt and world GDP?
• Emerging markets account for 9% of the increase in global
debt levels from 2007 to 2011 and are expected to account
for 13% of the increase from 2011 to 2016. Their
contributions to increases in global GDP over these two
periods are 66% and 56%
• The major advanced economies will make a far greater
contribution to the rise in global debt than to the rise in
global GDP. The United States will account for 37% of the
increase in global debt from 2007 to 2011 and 40% from
2011-2016. Its contributions to the increases in global GDP
over those two periods will be 8% and 18%.