World Economic Geography

1. World Economic Geography • Instructor: Dr. Truong Thi Kim Chuyen Email: worldeconomicgeography@gmail.com Weblog: www.socialscience09.wordpress.com

2. World Economic Geography • Paul Knox (2008),The geography of the world economy, Routledge; 5th edition • Neil M.Coe, Phillip F Kelly, Henry W.C. Yeung (2007), Economic Geography, Blackwell Publishing • Readings: Fellmann – Getis - Getis (1998). Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities. Brown & Benchmark.

3. Course Description • Course Objectives • Grades • Attendance, Assignment, Seminar: 30 % • Mid-term Exam: 30 % • Final Exam: 40 % • You should read the materials assigned before the class, as it will facilitate your understanding. • Additional readings might be assigned throughout the quarter on special topics/issues. They will be distributed in class and/or via email.

4. Course Description • Course provides various dimensions of the world economy geography (WEG) in the age of globalization. • In a world, the trend of global trade is increasingly vital, WEG is an imperative for all who wish to know what is happening to their global economy. • Course gives the very basic concepts and terms in studying world economic geography. • In economic aspects, it concerns: • the varied ways of people earning, • the patterns of human activities to produce, • the distributed and consumed good and services, and • the geographic framework of world trade and business.

5. Course Description (cont.) • The lectures will have a emphasis on geographic changes in the world economy. • We will examine the geographic organization of economic activity around the world at different geographical scales (global, regional and local) as well as the relationship between geographic conditions and economic development in different states • Course requires critical thinking on current economic and social problems from a geographic perspective.

6. Expected outcome are able to: By the end of the course, students will be able to: • Identify, describe, and explain the roles of space,place, scale, and nature in the constitution, operation, and outcome of economic processes; • Analyze economic events, processes, and structures from a geographic point of view; • Broadly define the economy in a way that incorporates its social, political (power), cultural, and environmental dimensions; • Identify and distinguish between different analytical approaches in economic geography; • differentiate relationships of economic interdependence of the states, • Understand of the characteristics of transnational corporations (TNCs) and regional economic blocs.

7. Course Outline

8. 01/ Conceptual foundations Aims: To understand the assumptions used by economists in understanding the economy. To recognize the limitations of economic approaches to the economy To appreciate key concepts in economic geography

9. 03/Commodity chains – where does your breakfast come from? Aims: • To demonstrate how capitalism serves to conceal the conditions of commodity production • To introduce commodity chains and their basic components • To appreciate the differentiation of commodity chains in terms of their structure and geography • To recognize the possibilities for, and limitations of, more ethical ways of organizing commodity chains

10. 06/ The state – who controls the economy: firms or governments? Aims: • To understand how state and supra-national institutions shape economic process • To recognize the different kinds of states within the global economy • To appreciate the changing role of the state in an era of globalization • To demonstrate why geographical scales matter in the reconfiguration of the state.

11. 07/ The transnational corporation - how does the global firm keep it all together? Aims: • To question the claim that transnational corporations are really “global’ • To understand how firms organize complex global activities • To explore the variety of organizational forms used by transnational corporations • To appreciate the inherent limits to the global reach of firms

12. 08/ Labour power – can workers shape economic geographies? Aims: • To recognize the ways in which capital’s mobility gives it bargaining power over labour • To appreciate the rangr of mechanisms used by states and firms to control labour • To understand the different geographical strategies that workers may use to improve their position • To reflect on the possibilities for alternative or non-capitalist labour geographies

13. 09/ Consumption – who controls spaces of sales and consumption? Aims: • To recognize the position and importance of the consumption process within the capitalist system • To appreciate the changing geographies of consumption and in particular, retailing • To understand how consumption spaces are actively designed and used • To reflect on the ways in which consumption, place and identity are interrelated