geog readings

Alfred Chandler, "The Emergence of Managerial Capitalism"

organizational innovation •"Traditional enterprise" -Ownership and management unified -Specialization but not within firm -No managerial hierarchies or divisions -Managerial needs fulfilled from within firm •Modern multidivisional corporation -Separation of ownership(stockholders) and management(CEO, etc.) -Functional specialization in corporate divisions -Managerial hierarchy and professional managers -Begins with railroads and continuous-process production "Scale is only a technological characteristic; the economies of scale, measured by throughput, are organizational. Such economies depend on knowledge, skills, and teamwork—onthe human organization essential to exploit the potentialof technological processes." Functional integration •"Backward" ("vertical") integration internalizes: -Raw materials suppliers -Processing plants for inputs -Purchasingboards for supplies •"Forward" (also "vertical") integration internalizes: -Distribution facilities -Marketing divisions -Sales offices -Service divisions •Horizontalintegration -Mergers, acquisitions, cartels, and partnerships -Many countries limit (e.g. 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act in US) The integrated industrial firm •Mass production -Capital-intensive production using continuous-process machinery -High economies of scale and minimum efficient scale •Volume distribution -Specialized storage and distribution networks -Specialized marketing and retailing requirements •Managerial hierarchy -Coordination of throughputfrom raw materials to final sales -Professionalized managementseparate from ownership -Institutional permanence -Overseas expansion through marketing and branch plants

Walter Isard, Location and Space Economy

regional science: •A complete theory of the location of economic activities in space•Context of postwar expansion of industry and regional change in the United States •Increasingly mathematical models of regional industrial development •Increasingly prescriptive!how regions should develop key advances: •"Monopolistic competition"-locational advantages are not immediately competed away •Technological change -technological change-> substitution for optimization of production -substitution can involve change in location

Costas Lapavitsas et al., Crisis in the Eurozone

•1992: Maastricht Treaty-Steps toward monetary union and insulation of economic governance from democratic politics •1998-99: Stability and Growth Pact -Monetary union approved -European Central Bank formed, focused on limiting inflation and technocratic management -SGP limits deficits (3% of GDP) & debt (60% of GDP) -Institutionalized austerity in favor of Germany •2002: Euro currency goes into effect -Unique in that not backed by a territorial nation-state -Designed to compete with US dollar as world reserve currency

Gary Gereffi and Joonkoo Lee, "Why the World Suddenly Cares About Global Supply Chains"

"Drivers" of commodity chains • Producer-driven - Administrative HQ of producing firm dictates production process and specifications - Organizes backward and forward linkages in production process - E.g., automobiles, aircraft, machinery • Buyer-driven-> increasingly dominant - Retailers and merchandisers play lead role in setting up production networks - Retailers take responsibility for branding - E.g., apparel, consumer products industries Key points • Production requirements entail broader changes in organization, distribution, and consumption - Vertically integrated corporation emerged in response to mass productive capacity - Vertically disintegrated global production chains emerged in response to crisis in previous model & need for more flexible production • No single model or direction in industrial organization

Kathe Newman, "Post-Industrial Widgets: Capital Flows and the Production of the Urban"

"In much the same way that Keynesianism guided state policy to address the underconsumptionproblemsof the 1930s, in the post-Keynesian neoliberal age the state has played an aggressive role in ensuring the expansion of the new economy by increasing demand for mortgage products, facilitating investment by de-linking property from place, creating and supporting the expansion of the secondary mortgage market, and changing tax laws to use housing to further commodity consumption." State responses •Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) (2008) -U.S. Treasury buys "troubled" or "toxic assets" to prevent collapse of large banks -Injection of liquidity to resuscitate lending •Especially bank-to-banklending of short-term commercial paper •Also resuscitates profits •American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (2009) -The "Obama stimulus" -Deficit spending to promote infrastructure investment •Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act (2010) -Some reforms of lending guidelines, leverage limits, etc. -Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection Key points •Era of financialization characterized by recurrent bubbles and crises •After each crisis, capital returns to safe assets->dollar-denominated assets (real estate and oil) and securities •Pool of money searching for investment opportunities grows out of proportion to actual investment opportunities !overaccumulation •Each crisis followed by struggles over who will accept devaluation of their asset claims

Brexit and Trump

- Brexit and Trump o Anti-immigration, pro business platform o Took advantage of deindustrialization of "heartland" o Against EuroZone evolution into quasi-fiscal union despite the fact that the UK is not part of EuroZone - Trump Election Victory o Strong repudiation of both wings of establishment o Anti-immigration, anti Wall Street, protectionist platform § Turns out to be very pro wall st o Took advantage of deindustrialization of "heartland" § But trump voters on balance high income than Clinton voter o Against federal overreach o But most policymaking has been done through federal channels - Key Points o The Great Recession triggered a broader crisis of financialization § Contagion of capital flight to safe assets § Distributional conflicts over who accepts devaluation of fictitious capital

Alice Amsden, "Third World Industrialization: 'Global Fordism' or a New Model?"

-"Global Fordist model" fails to explain industrialization in "Third World" (e.g. E. Asian economies); instead, the ability to be competitive despite being 'late' can be explained through framework of a developmental state (seeks to shape economic activity within territory towards exporting): 1)-Support and discipline from the developmental state Subsidies essential to overcoming "the penalties of lateness" (p16) Tariff protection, incentive to export, subsidies on inputs, government investment in promoting linkage, state support of "social-overhead" (e.g. education, health, etc.) Import substitute industrialization protects domestic production against foreign imports Education and training policies produced "skilled and disciplined" labor force -> channels these skills into profitable forms State's "centralized control over output" ensures productivity growth -Disciplining of big business "Visible hand" of the government regulates to ensure competitiveness of economy; e.g. through export targets, curbing of monopolies, regulation of banks, etc. -> "measure of public accountability" "Centralized control over output," when paired with subsidies based on performance, ensures productivity and performance 2) Conglomerate business model: "Lateness appears to encourage diversification": conglomerate of firms move to "bottom end of many markets" where technological advantage not as important, then coordinate across market (p17) 3) Shop-floor focus and industrial 'learning' or 'borrowing' Firms borrow, develop, expand on existing tech rather than developing new ones Shop-floor control through intense planning, automation, Taylorism but also participatory organization which condenses hierarchy -Other forms of developmentalism: State ownership of key firms and industries (e.g. Pemex in mexico, Renault in France), State guidance through import-substitute industrialization and industrial policies (e.g. targets, technological development and linkage, etc) -> state acting as the market, Capital and labor controls, repression or inclusion of unions into state -Context/history of developmentalism -> Bretton-Woods system sought to encourage international trade and orient Third World exports for First World consumption Post-colonial nations sought to escape colonial divisions of labor, nurture domestic infant industries, and improve output of industry and agriculture Summary: story of 'catching up' is diametrically opposed to traditional narrative of free-market capitalism (vis a vis "Washington consensus" of neoliberalism, etc.); instead necessitates visible hand of government to subsidize, regulated, and encourage economic development

Richard Florida, "The Creative Class and Economic Development"

-Florida discusses economic development and defines the term the "creative class", also explores critiques made against him contradicting his theory -- like lack of exploration in diversity, and his de-emphasis on higher education , -Florida essentially argues that creativity, which is an underlying construct or skill, has been thought to be separate from fields like science, engineering, and business, when in reality it is intertwined. -Creativity drives innovation and industry development. -The creative class, he argues, are "jobs in knowledge-intensive industries that involve production of new ideas and products, or that engage in creative problem solving" (pp. 197). -He argues that identifying one's talent, skill, or creativity, does not come from identifying a person's level of education, as Florida argues this is elitist and exclusionary. Many scholars believe that higher education exemplifies skill, and therefore drives economic development and productivity. But Florida says this is incorrect.: -Florida argues: that having a creative class (a group whose economic function is essentially to innovate and create across a variety of fields) brings economic benefits that go beyond those of going to college. -The creative class is important because their presence can help spur regional economic growth. -Florida suggests that the creative class and the "3Ts" drive economic development and regional growth. The 3Ts are Technology, Talent, and Tolerance. -Florida says that tolerant regions tend to be more attractive; Tolerance understands that talent is mobile so it describes how long a region can retain its creative or talented residents. So places with high tolerance attract talent, which attracts companies, and in turn increases economic development. -Florida then also explores what factors determine divergent levels of talent and skill across regions. He identified 3 factors: amenities, universities, and low barriers of entry for talent. (this is on page 200). Amenities, or territorial assets, attract those with talent or skills because it often increases their "quality of life". Universities act as talent magnets and aggregators, although Florida has found that while many cities have renowned universities, they still have a hard time retaining talented people. Low barriers of entry for talent -- he argues that the more talent in a place, the more likely it is to attract all types of creative people. -Florida also places a large emphasis on inclusion and diversity within regions this often increases the "tolerance" of a region to retain its creative class -If cities focus on the 3Ts and developing his three factors that drive the creative class' to a region, then he says economic growth will flourish. Example regions are like the Sunbelt cities: California's Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas.

Mark Granovetter, "Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness"

-Granovetter's work combines economic analysis with social analysis. -He explores how market behavior and institutions are constrained by ongoing social relations -These networks of personal relations are seen at top level firms and in all levels of where economic transactions occur (essentially he argues that social structures constantly influence all market behavior). -Granovetter takes this concept of "embeddedness" and puts it into perspective, explaining that once you take people's social relationships into account, you get a completely different picture of the economy. -Many exchanges in the economy happen through social relationships; economic activities are then carried out through these relationships -An important facet of embeddedness is in trust and malfeasance -- Trust is an important building block of social relationships and business: --Granovetter also explains that these relationships require certain amounts of trust in order to operate successfully in society --"in the business world, certain crimes, such as embezzling, are simply impossible for those who have not built up relationships of trust that permit the opportunity to manipulate accounts. The more complete trust, the greater the potential gain from malfeasance" --So trust is crucial, but it can also lead to destructive behaviors -He also studies the oversocialized perspective versus the undersocialized perspective: --Under socialized: examines the utilitarian economic pursuit of self-interest. --The oversocialized perspective: sees humans as overwhelmingly sensitive to the opinions of others, so they are then willingly obedient to the norms, values, rules, and regulations that have been set by embedded corporations or businesses In class lecture notes explanation: -The entrepreneur becomes part of the social structures -The "new economic sociology": --Economic relationships are embedded in social networks --Applies to individuals and firms --His key concepts are economic embeddedness and "the strength of weak ties" -Economic embeddedness: --Navigating between two opposite positions: Atomized rational subjects "undersocialized"; Socially-determined robots -- "oversocialized" Two examples of his approach: -Trust and malfeasances -Markets and hierarchies: First raise by Ronald Coase Why is the economy neither millions of tiny firms or one big firm? Under what conditions do firms vertically integrate

Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital

-Labor power is a fictitious commodity that is only feasible for exchange when workers are separated from the means of production. The worker sells his labor-power because he needs to work to live. Although it's theoretically infinite, labor power is constrained by the social and physical conditions of the worker. -The precedents for the management of labor power were the supervision of artisans starting in 14th C Italy and mercantilism. -The division of labor improves productivity by breaking a process into constituent tasks and assigning different workers to those tasks. Three types: --Social- societal roles --Detail- roles based on skillset, associated with Smith --Spatial- dividing functions of an industry based on strength, associated with Massey -Deskilling breaks up a process into its simplest elements which lessens the cost of labor, which facilitates the expansion of capital. This is accompanied by Taylorism. -Workers are divided into groups based on skillsets, and actively managed in a hierarchy -This allows companies to achieve economies of scale and scope. -The detailed and spatial division of labor arose from industrialisation

Xiang Biao, Global 'Body Shopping': The Indian Labor System in the Information Technology Industry

-MAIN TAKEAWAY: Body shops (mostly Indian) recruits IT workers and place them transnationally. Abstraction is not a natural occurrence shaped by economic laws-- abstraction is constructed through various institutions, unequal socioeconomic relations, and establishment of particular ideologies. -Global ethnography: not only documents how people behave transnationally, but also in clarifying how different regions of the world are related to each other institutional and structurally. -Process of abstraction (markets disembed from familial, religious, and communal relationships to become an autonomous and dominant social force) has fathered momentum since the 1970s -How do people develop social relations? -Process of abstraction is by no means an inevitable consequence of "economic laws," but is constructed and sustained through the rearrangement of various institutions, the interplay between unequal socioeconomic relations at different levels, and the establishment of particular ideologies. -Point: abstraction should not be seen merely as a process of embedding -Body shop: Indian practice. It's a consultancy (body shop) that recruits IT workers and pace them as project-based labor with clients: --Different from conventional recruitment agents who introduce employees to employers. Body shops manage workers on behalf of employers, so workers do not enter any direct relationships with their contract employers. --Its workers usually do low-paying, labor-intensive work, making up the body rather than the brain. --Body shopping led to ethnicization of IT labor force; perceived professional excellence instead of cultural distinctiveness; belief that market flexibility and uncertainty made personal merit the key for individual success (i.e., benched workers would see benching as a market 'mismatch' or lack of merit); individualization individualizes risks (disperses risk to individual workers to the benefit of body-shop operators) important condition for intertwining of ethnicization and individualization is the process of transnationalization: -why are indian professionals globally popular?: they embody high transnational surplus value, which can be measured as the disparity between the input for producing IT labor in India and the prevailing wages in the global market so... ethnicization of body shopping is fundamentally a reflection of an international division of labor where india specializes in producing IT labor. transnationalization of body-shopping operations enabled Indian IT workers to pursue individual success in the disembedding global market, but was itself situated within the established international economic order. transnationalization of body shopping is important because it embodied new strategies for wealth creation, new means of value transfer, and new forms of inequality. The process of abstraction, represented by the intensified transnational mobility of capital and labor in the present case, is toa great extent created by and sustains the global status quo. Virtual shortage: -maybe a skills shortage, but not necessarily labor shortage. -coexistence of a skills shortage and a significant level of professional unemployment can be a long-term feature of the New Economy it workers' global mobility facilitated by standards set by big global corporations -frictions between state regulation and the fast-changing requirements of technology and maximizing capital investment created the special niche for placement agents in body shops on particular

William Cronon, Nature's Metropolis

-Prior to the rise of the grain trade, wheat was the dominant crop in the Great Plains. Crop rotation and animal husbandry maintained the metabolism of the soil. At the turn of the 19th century, the parcelling of land and its cheap exchange value incentivized farmers to produce crops at large economies of scale. As time progressed, cities grew in the Midwest, including Chicago- a hub for immigrant communities. -Prior to 1850, farmers often sold their grain directly to storekeepers, and merchants risked bankruptcy by trading crops at the same time as other merchants and farmers. Trade was conducted on the Mississippi river. Under this system, each farmer's grain was stored in his own sacks, and no mixing occured. -The rise of the railroad facilitated the movement of millions of sacks.Railroad managers were incentivized to decrease the time it took to empty grain cars to increase profit. The grain elevator was developed to suit this purpose, but adopting it meant that grain had to be sackless. The Chicago Board of Trade (privately regulated) developed a grading system to distinguish between different types of grain. -This system led some farmers to mix their grain with low quality products such as sawdust in order to maximize profit. -The grain elevator, the Board of Trade, and the grading system facilitated the development of futures through abstraction and appropriation. Futures were contracts by seller and buyer negotiated via telegraph to buy a certain quantity of grain for price x at a future date, and done to avoid the risk or uncertainty of price fluctuation. -"The futures contract extended the abstraction by liberating the grain trade from...physical grain." Futures surpassed cash trading, and speculators would corner the market by buying up a ton of futures contracts to force others to deliver physical grain. -The increased profits from this speculation and abstraction came at the reduced profits for farmers, and farmers began to resent these practices. Farmers were also unfairly charged for storing grain in elevators Eventually, the state government stepped in to regulate these practices.

Scott Prudham, Knock on Wood

-Sustainable-yield forestry is contingent on the rationalization and abstraction of the forest: The drive to transform the "free gift[s] of Nature" (Marx, Capital vol. 3) into fictitious commodities produces second nature by turning the forest into a factory: forest is still "natural" but is carefully managed and remade through human intervention Forest growth becomes uniform, standardized, and simplified under capitalist logics of simplification to overcome "raw material heterogeneity" (Prudham 73) Industrial ecology seeks to: 1) Overcome limits of biophysical nature through new products and new processes: e.g. limitations of physical quality of tree, growth rate, etc. From using whole logs to using reconstituted wood products with chemical adhesives, plywood, particle-boards, fiberboards, etc. 2) Explore new frontiers of industry geography through shifting centers of industry e.g. resource exhaustion or legislative regulation in one region Movement of timber industry from Douglas-fir region in the Pacific Northwest to non-traditional regions such as Appalachian region and south-eastern U.S. -The two are linked because new processes and technological changes enable new locational capabilities (i.e.: extraction of trees not previously viable for wood production), reduction of turnover time, recombination of waste products into new ones i.e.: Opening window of locational opportunity (Storper & Walker) and intensification of appropriation (i.e. "industrialization and reconfiguration" of wood into variety of new commercially-viable, marketable products) Summary: The economies of scale present in the lumber industry is made possible by standardization and abstraction of wood products. Technological development and the opening of new locational opportunities liberates capital from its constraints by providing new resource frontiers. However, these transformations entail new human health hazards and the spread of environmental degradation into new geographies. 58-68: The dynamics of industrial forestry revolves around the "struggle by capital" to surmount ecological and geographic constraints by "using a variety of new products and processes." Industrial appropriation thus reflects the ways in which capital seeks to reduce or transform "the constraints of a limited and heterogenous timber supply through manufacture of increasingly reconstituted wood products." In turn, this produces "new commodity lines, each with their own industrial ecology."

Mariana Mazzucato, The Entrepreneurial State

-The state has two interactions with firms: --'Fixing' the economy when firm growth stalls- the conventional sense of state involvement in capitalism ---Directly investing in innovation (Harvey's 3rd circuit), acting like entrepreneurs. This is known as state entrepreneurialism -Examples of state entrepreneurialism include DARPA, which led to ARPANET, the beta version of the internet -The "crowding out" hypothesis states that increased state spending reduces private business interest because state investment will increase interest rates for private firms and thereby decrease investments from venture capital and stifles long term innovation. Mazzucato deems this hypothesis misleading, instead affirming that the state "crowds in" (thus shaping the market) but also "dynamizes it in"- creating an innovation friendly environment -Venture capital often takes less risks than the state, and the state invests in riskier ideas long before venture capital does -Risk landscape = the conditions between organizations, firms, and the state that influence risky investments -State entrepreneurialism allows private actors to free-ride on their investments. There is a need for more collaboration between private and public sector to continually drive innovation

Gérard Duménil and Dominique Lévy, "The Neoliberal (Counter)Revolution"

Bretton Woods system: 1.US at center of engineering new financial system for the capitalist world The Bretton Woods system created the postwar order Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank, IMF) US dollar the world currency Backed by gold in US treasury 2.Macroeconomic stability Fixed currency exchange rates Capital controls limiting size and speed of financial flows Rapid industrialization of Germany, Japan, East Asia The dissolution of Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s is the key event that allowed the U.S. in the global capital market After the Bretton Woods: -1971: Nixon delinks dollar from gold --dollar free to "float," US free to continue running deficits -1973: Oil shocks: OPEC members flush with dollars, energy prices hurt core country industries -- Oil profits invested in dollar-denominated assets in London banks (petrodollars) -- Wave of low-interest lending to developing countries -1979: "Volcker shocks"raise US interest rates -- Third World debts in dollars more costly -- defaults-- dollars flow back to safety of dollar assets -- IMF structural adjustment policies -- Inward financial flows to core countries dollar rises in value industrial exports less competitive further deregulation -- Financial activity more profitable than production especially for "non-financial firms" in volatile conditions

Will Davies, "Thoughts on the Sociology of Brexit"

Brexit and Trump • The Brexit vote, June 2016 - Anti-immigration, pro-business platform - Took advantage of deindustrialization of "heartland" - Against Eurozone evolution into quasi-fiscal union despite fact that UK is not part of Eurozone • Trump election victory, November 2016 - Strong repudiation of both wings of "establishment" - Anti-immigration, anti-Wall Street, protectionist platform; Turns out to be very pro-Wall Street - Took advantage of deindustrialization of "heartland"; But Trump voters on balance higher-income than Clinton voters - Against "federal overreach"; But most "policymaking" has been done through federal channels The geography of Brexit "It is easy to focus on the recent history of Tory-led austerity when analysing [the Brexit victory], as if anger towards elites and immigrants was simply an effect of public spending cuts of the past 6 years or (more structurally) the collapse of Britain's pre-2007 debt- driven model of growth. But consider the longer history of these regions as well. They are well-recognised as Labour's historic heartlands, sitting on coalfields and/or around ship-building cities... Thatcherism gutted them with pit-closures and monetarism, but generated no private sector jobs to fill the space. The entrepreneurial investment that neoliberals always believe is just around the corner never materialised."

Alexis Madrigal & Jonathan Hirsch, Containers [podcast

Episode 1 - "Welcome to Global Capitalism": -The Port of Oakland was a significant factor in the Vietnam War. In Marc Levinson's book The Box, he says that cargo was piling up on the piers in Vietnam and not getting distributed to troops. A company was given a government contract to fix the problem. The company made container cranes in Oakland and in Vietnam, creating container shipping in the Pacific. Everything had to be standardized because it was used all over the world, this is called containerization. San Francisco was too congested to switch to containers and so Oakland thrived. Marc Levinson said it changed the economic geography of the world. Herbert Mills thinks that it ruined industrialization in the US because it outsourced it all, also made a lot of longshoremen unemployed. Container ports were built out on the edge of town because they need big trucks and roads for shipping (Oakland and Newark instead of SF and NYC). Jobs have not moved, they've been made obsolete with new technology. The Port of Oakland itself does not run any cargo, they are a "landlord port", they lease land and equipment to terminal operators. They built artificial land out into the bay. West Oakland has been polluted by diesel emissions. Episode 2 - "Meet the Sailors": -Most crew members on freighters are Filipino while the officers are either European or mainly Romanian. The interviewer wasn't able to say the Filipino crew member's name who he interviewed because he could be banned from other jobs. He talks about the beeping noise at checkout when you buy something as being symbolic of global trade. Each beep directs paths on the ocean and placement on the shelf. The beep tells the system that the product is now out of the system and that it needs more of that product and whether that product is popular or not. The sailors know that their jobs are expendable. Finally, ocean movement is slow and boats are about the same speed that they were in the 18th century. We just don't see that in the world of Amazon Prime. Episode 7 - "The Lost Docks": -This episode talked about the life of longshoremen in SF. The main point of it was that the work used be enjoyable with new problems to work on everyday, but then it got monotonous with containerization. Eventually the job didn't exist because machines took it over. They talk about poetry and writing that the longshoremen worked on, as well as a documentary created about the job. Episode 8 - "Robots, Piers Full of Robots": -Robots have taken over ports. Port of LA is fully automated. Automation isn't more productive and costs $500 million dollars. The benefit is that it prevents strikes at the port because ports are choke points in the economy. As the economy has grown, trucking has grown. There are so many other things that truckers do other than drive (such as loading and unloading for example) which makes it not possible to automate. The highway driving portion could be automated. Finally, there are now robots in warehouses to transport goods to the packing area.

Melissa Wright, Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism

In her third chapter, "Manufacturing Bodies" of her book, Disposable Women, Wright discusses the gender-based division of labor within the Maquiladora system. After the implementation of the Bracero Program in the mid-1900's, Maquiladoras were located along the border of U.S.-Mexico. As a result, the feminization of a labor force in these Maquiladora systems took place - the tasks in the factory were based on gender. Wright highlights how the politics of gender justify the labor segmentation of the labor force within the Maquiladoras. In the Maquiladoras, men are idealized as the brain or the head of the production process because they perform the managerial duties rather than the production itself. Women working in the maquiladoras were separated from this and instead were seen as the mechanical "body" and the "hands" of production. Wright makes the argument that the gendered labor market is a result of the oppressive "manufacturing" of female bodies in the labor process. The "manufacturing" of womens bodies is reproduced through discourse on behalf of the managers, like when they say that women are "unteachable" and therefore use this rhetoric to justify why women, for the most part, are the ones taking part in the actual production of products. By relegating women to the "unskilled labor", men are able to exert power and control over the labor pool. This "hold" that managerial body has over the women who work in the maquiladoras allow them to treat the women as disposable and therefore, allow their exploitation. All the credit for the labor however, is attributed to the supervisory male. -"Feminization of work": Available employment and labor options are mostly characterized by the increasing proportion of women occupying the jobs. -Flexible workers: Workers were forced to be flexible and adapt to the constantly changing dynamics of capitalist production - maximum efficiency within the factories. -Unskilled labor: Labor that does not require the workers to have special training or skills.

Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation

Karl Polanyi (end of nineteenth century): -Hungarian economist / historian / anthropologist -Fled Austria (1933) to escape Hitler -"The Great Transformation" (1944) à attempts to explain context for the rise of fascism -Substantivist school of political economy à concerned with more than just the rational part of economy Key concepts -Fictitious commodities (land, labor, capital) -The "double movement": Extension of market; "Protective counter-movement" -Economic embeddedness: --Social life is a web of relations, only some of which mediated by the market --Even in "advanced capitalism" many social relations are neither managed by monetary transaction nor governed by "profit maximization" --Reciprocity / redistribution remain common Fictitious commodities: -Land / labor / capital must be allocated by the market for market coordination to work -But they aren't produced for sale like real commodities: Labor: "Human activity that goes with life" Land: Nature, unproduced by human labor Money: issued by banks / monarchies as a means of payment How are fictitious commodities made? -Commodification of land → Traditional agriculture / craft production destroyed / displacement of people -Commodification of labor → Displaced people compelled to sell labor to buy necessities / continuous insecurity -Commodification of money → Speculation multiplies claims on same monetary / commodity base, inflation, debasement The "double movement": -Extension of markets in land / labor / capital provoke "protective counter-movement" (ie. child labor laws, workday regulations) -Laissez-faire historically planned, reaction is spontaneous -Examples: --Reactions to enclosures in 16th century England --Rise of fascism --Contemporary populism Breakup of Feudalism (1200's - 1500's): -Absolutist kings centralize power à growth of bureaucracy / appointments -Merchants use profits from trade to enter production -Feudal lords commercialize lands, enclosing commons / conversion to pastures -Peasants go to urban centers to become laborers Global commercialization (1500's - 1800's): -Genoese / Spanish conquest of the Americas increases money supply -Financial class grows / expanding networks of credit -Merchant class / urbanization -Shift from Southern Europe to Northern Europe (in terms of trade) -Rise of nation-state trade empires Modern enclosures: -Extensive: Enclosing previously common lands Privatization of state lands -Intensive: Enlarging workforce by legislation Privatization of publicly available resources Creation of new markets in previously untraded goods / services Predatory lending / indebtedness

The Economist, "Why Germany's current-account surplus is bad for the world economy"

Key elements of the crisis •Current account (financial) surpluses in Germany -Relatively high productivity and wage suppression -Trade means euros flow into Germany -German banks have excess capital to lend •Current account deficits of periphery (ie. Greece) -Trade means euros flow outof Greece -Greek government and banks borrowto cover deficit & support consumption •Euro monetary union -Prevents devaluation of Greek local currency to reduce debt load •Lack of fiscal union -Limits fiscal coordination between countries

Alex Blumberg & Adam Davidson, "Giant Pool of Money"

Key points •Era of financialization characterized by recurrent bubbles and crises •After each crisis, capital returns to safe assets->dollar-denominated assets (real estate and oil) and securities •Pool of money searching for investment opportunities grows out of proportion to actual investment opportunities->over accumulation •Each crisis followed by struggles over who will accept devaluation of their asset claims

David Harvey, The New Imperialism

Molecular Processes of Capital Accumulation: Definition: "On-the-ground" processes of capitalism (i.e., harvesting, distributing, manufacturing, etc.) Production of Space-Economy: -Exchanges of goods and the molecular process of capital accumulation create a physical geography of human interaction; There's friction between different processes, so in order to reduce that friction, clusters of economic activites are formed. (i.e., cities near ports) -Processes of capital accumulation has a disruptive tendency toward disequilibrium because they are always seeking advantages to accumulate more wealth (even when this means hurting labor & land). -Capitalists are always seeking locational advantages & gaining monopoly! (Monopoly offers security to businesses); Two modes to preserve monopoly: Massive centralization of capital (financial power) Avid protection of tech advantages Political/ Territorial vs. Capitalist Logics of Power: -Regionality (territorial logic of power) arises out of the molecular processes of capital accumulation in space & time. Interregional competition and specialization in & among these regional economics become fundamental feature of capitalism. -Regionality require fixed capital (physical infrastructures: plants, factories, etc.) Circuits of Capital: Overaccumulation= surplus of labor & capital that can't be disposed of. But it can be absorbed by: Temporal displacement (long-term investments); Spatial displacements (new markets, resources); Combination of i & ii The Spatio-Temporal Fix: -Spatio-temporal fix is basically capitalist remedy to overaccumulation. These are some methods: Production of space; Organization of wholly new territorial divisions of labor; Opening up new & cheaper resource complexes; Opening new regions as dynamic spaces of capital accumulation; Penetration of pre-existing social formations by capitalist social relations & institutional arrangements; The issue with spatio-temporal fix is if surpluses can't be absorbed internally, you look elsewhere for new terrain: -But more often than not, these new terrains don't have the means to offer payment for the surplus capital (i.e., Opium War); Fictitious capital is made. (Fictitious capital is like expected, future return investments... so like giving out loans); So this leads to territorial indebtedness. Poor countries= surplus sinks. Inner contradictions: -Internal mechanisms of redistribution can solve problem of social inequality and instability;But class struggles and state struggles feed into imperialist endeavors. States (political entity) are best able to orchestrate institutional arrangements & manipulate molecular forces of capital accumulation to preserve pattern of asymmetries that best serve dominant capital interests: -Oftentimes, states: Disburse and absorb surpluses down productive paths (i.e., long-term projects in poor areas); Use speculative power to rid the system of overaccumulation by crises of devaluation and destruction on vulnerable territories; Vulture capitalism: state powers + predatory aspects of finance capital

Michael Storper & Richard Walker, The Capitalist Imperative

Neoclassical Economics states: -Core economic activity is exchange -Purpose of exchange is to allocate scarce resources to beneficial uses -The economic system's natural state is in equilibrium Refuting neoclassical economics, Storper/Walker argue: -Core economic activity is production. Prices & profit rates are produced; They are not established in exchange prior to production. -Purpose of production is to make profit & surplus -The economic system is always in disequilibrium of non-linear growth. Economy is driven to grow & change by: Internal rules of surplus generation; Investment to expand capital; Strong competition; Technological change -Circulation, Investment, and Accumulation of Capital: Main means of generating profit is production, since production generates surplus; However, capital accumulation does NOT necessarily equal economic growth: --Because there are social considerations to growth & development. --And because capital accumulation is purely monetary. (growth has social implications) Investment & the future of production: Investment: -Initiates new rounds of production -Is the capitalist's form of consumption -Is the means by which productive capacity expands & new technologies are installed -Is the principal means by which individual capitalists compete & explore possibilities for growth: There is a speculative aspect to investment (operating at 'dusk') The rate of profit is a regulator of investment: -Which means investment is guided by the search for a high rate of profit -Therefore, profits do not pre-exist production since you can't make what hasn't been made; They are always generated by new rounds of production. Two faces of competition: -Weak (neoclassical); Make existing processes more efficient by looking for cheaper inputs, lowering prices relative to competitors or using cheaper labor in order to maximize profit -Strong (classical, Marx and Schumpeter); Revolutionize production by creating new products or new industries in order to profit How do industries produce regions? Storper and Walker argue that there is locational flexibility where industries produce space Example: Plant apple trees in a random location and this creates the applesauce industry

Nancy Fraser, "Contradictions of Capital and Care"

Social reproduction: -taken for granted -Emphasis on the structure and activities that relay social inequality between generation but also maintaining social bonds -Women are much more involved in domestic activities than men -Without it there would be no culture, no economy, no political organisation -No culture that undermined it lasts for long -Arent counted for doing much in the economy Social division of labor: -Separation of gender roles: Separate spheres Family wage Two-earner family Crisis of care: -Challenges of social capacity -Often only referred to time poverty, family work balance and social depletion -Comes from unpaid labor of social reproduction Background conditions: -Non-waged social reproductive activity serve as a precondition for a working capitalist economic system Free gifts of nature are essential to the functioning system: Free rider; Economy free rides on activities of social reproduction Nature seen as infinite reservoir

J.W. Mason, "Disgorge the Cash"

The "shareholder revolution" • Era of managerial dominance (e.g. Chandler) - Most investment financed internally from profits rather than issuing stock - Borrowing on capital markets heavily regulated - Managers in control of investment decisions - Shareholders act as passive income receivers • 1980s rise of shareholder activism - Greater returns to financial activity à push from shareholders to act more like financial firms - In 1980s: mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts - Today: stock buybacks to increase share prices Intra-class struggle "The problem finance solves is not how to allocate society's scarce savings between competing investment opportunities. The problem is how to separate the rents that come from control of a strategic social coordination problem from the social ties and obligations that go with it. True capitalists don't want to make steel or restaurant deals or jumbo jets or search engines. They want to make money."

Jenny Chan, Pun Ngai and Mark Selden, "The Politics of Global Production: Apple, Foxconn and China's New Working Class"

The article analyzed Apple's commercial success through outsourcing its production to Asia, and analyzed the tension between companies, manufacturers or contractors and related new working class. - The politics of global production: o different roles of retailers, merchandisers, manufacturers and contractors o "brand-name firms have focused more on product design/marketing and gaining much larger value compared to outsourced manufacturers" o working place bargaining power is the power that accrues to workers who are enmeshed in tightly integrated production process o In China's capital transformation: on one hand, there is big progress in employment situation and industrial development, on the other hand, it restricted worker's self organization capacity and citizenship rights. - New working class: o Japan, China, East Asia o US fostered Japan's export-oriented industrialization to Taiwan, South Korea o Several large companies shifted their labor-intensive production from US, Europe to East Asia o In late 1970s, China set up special economic zones to attract foreign capital and boost exports (e.g. Foxconn as China's leading exporter) - The Apple-Foxconn business relationship o The relationship between Apple, Foxconn and China's workers is highly unequal. o As Foxconn's operating margin declined through six years, Apple's operating margin peaked and increased Apple's ability to squeeze Foxconn's margin. o Distribution of value for the iPhone: 58.5% Apple's profit; 1.8% China labor - Conclusion o Production, distribution and consumption must continue in perpetuity if profits are to be made and capital accumulated o The development of the new working class should be paid attention. Key Terms: · Contract manufacturers · Workplace bargaining power

Saskia Sassen, "The Global City: Introducing a Concept"

The author of The Global City, Sassin talks about how the globalization of economic activity changed the roles of cities. She emphasizes the flow of information and capital. Main Points(7 Hypothesis): -As economic activities take place in different places all around the world as a result of globalization, there is an increased demand in its central functions such as management, finance, service, and coordination of firm's operation. -As a firm expands and becomes more and more complex, they replace some of its functions to other firms that specialize in some areas such as accounting, legal, public relations, programming, telecommunications. "... the headquarters of all large firms are buying more of such inputs rather than producing them in-house." -Because those specialized firms need to know the constantly-changing-markets, they agglomerate to get information quickly. "Being in a city becomes synonymous with being in an extremely intense and dense information loop." -The more headquarters outsource some of their functions, the more options they have to choose the location of the headquarters -Because of globalization, specialized service firms need to create a global network or partnership, ties among global cities have strengthened. -Spatial and socio-economic inequality increases as specialized service firms move to global cities. -The previous point creates many jobs, but the profit rate is not as high as those specialized service firms.

Doreen Massey, Spatial Divisions of Labor

The intra-firm division of labor • Basic divisions within the firm - Management & production • Intra-firm hierarchies - Control over production; Headquarters; Branch offices/plants - Control over labor process; Research and development; Craft/non-routine labor; Assembly The spatial division of labor • The geographic organization of these different functions in space à spatial and social differentiation • Relations of power/control within firms/production processes à relations of power between places • Intra-firm/production process power relations - Control over production; Headquarters cluster in "command and control nodes"; Branch offices in regional centers - Control over labor process; Non-routine R&D/craft labor conducted in clusters; Basic assembly conducted in dispersed branch plants

John Logan and Harvey Molotch, Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place

The political economy of the city • Land has use-value & exchange-value - Relationship between the use of space and its speculative value can be antagonistic • Exchange-value of land increases with demand and intensity of use - Landowners have fixed investments in space ! structural interest in promoting growth - Not passive sorting but active steering • The city as a growth machine - Growth is the business of the city - Territorial dependence on promoting growth - Power struggles over development shape urban politics The role of the property sector • Passively sorting uses - Low-demand land at edges - High-demand land at center - Differential rents • Landowners appropriate greater rents based on differentials in locational advantage • Actively steering through speculation - Directing investment towards own properties - Creating market scarcity to increase land prices - Both differential and monopoly rents • Differential: speculative investments can become poles of new development • Landowners as a class all benefit from general increase in land use intensity

Allen Scott, Regions and the World Economy

The steady globalization of economic activity over the last few decades has intensified the assertion of the region as a critical locus of economic order and as a potent foundation of competitive advantage. This book is a wide-ranging exploration of the economic logic and political meaning of such developments. It presents the economic geography of the modern world as an emerging global mosaic of regional systems of production and exchange. compelling case for the future growth of regional economies and explains the key role they are likely to play in shaping future global political and economic development. Though written in dense, academic language, the book makes its points clearly and supports them with research, theory and statistics. Scott's guidelines for 'regional directorates' reflect many experiments that are already under way around the world, and seeks to capture the best features of each. If his basic idea is correct, then a conscious effort to build regional institutions should speed economic development and reduce world economic stresses. This book is heavy reading, but it is concise and to the point. getAbstract recommends it to executives in multinational corporations, entrepreneurs thinking about where to locate, urban planners, civic leaders and government officials - in short, anyone who wants to promote or profit from regional economic development.

Allen Scott - A World in Emergence: Cities and Regions in the 21st Century (Dorothee)

Three Epochs of Capitalism: -Mercantilism and manufacture- 17th-19th century -Fordism and mass production- 1870s-1970s -Post-Fordism / Cognitive Cultural Capitalism / some also call it Neoliberalism- 1970s- present Key concepts: -Processes and places hang together for a time but eventually become obsolete: Broad geographic outlines of modern society are regulated in some fundamental way by capitalism -Economic space: Social relations unfold over space Space like society is a political construct: socio-spatial dialect -Agglomeration and clustering in cities -Regime of accumulation: Leading sector of economy, technological basis of production, dominant labor relations, modes of inter-firm competition, spatial structure -Production in search for profit: Logic of capitalism and its central motif of accumulation -Investment in physical assets and labor power to produce sellable goods -Competitive markets between producers -Reinvestment of profits in expanded production or indirectly through finance: In quest for more profit Securing future of production -Revolutions in processes through technology: Constant state of revolutionary change -Urbanization and separation of city and countryside: Comprehensive world-wide system of production, exchange and consumption