Part II April 30

a. The history of the location of the textile industry illustrates that the global economy is ever changing and that success may only be temporary, and in the case of textile production, success is most likely temporary.  Success in the textile industry has been due to the exploitation of the “poor and powerless” in a “race to the bottom.”  The shift of British dominance to New England to the American South to Asia illustrates the competitiveness of the global economy that in this case depended on a supply of cheap eager labor.  

b. Rivoli does a great job to present both positive and negative consequences of industrialization and definitely changed my opinion.  Negative consequences were more obvious and included pollution and poor working conditions.  On pg 102, “Female cotton workers in prewar Japan were referred to as “birds in a cage,” given their grueling schedules- 12-hour days and two days off per month.”  On pg 89, “of the 20 cities in the world with the highest levels of air pollution, 16 are in China, and the majority of the water in the country’s largest river systems is unsuitable for human contact.”  On the other hand, industrialization has shown to be an improvement for laborers and also proves to lead to cleaner environmental conditions as richer economies are more willing to spend on cleaner air and water.  On pg 119, “The countries that have lost the race to the bottom are some of the most advanced economies in the world today, but they share a common heritage in the cotton mill and the sweatshop as the ignition switch for the urbanization, industrialization, and economic diversification that followed, as well as for the economic and social liberation of women from the farm.”  I now think that industrialization is a necessary and inevitable and in the long run will be beneficial.  I still think that improvements can be made to the “bottom”, but improvements have already been seen and I imagine that they will continue. 

c.  A passage that I found interesting was the analysis of the economic impact of a t-shirts production.  On one hand there is “pesticides, herbicides, water, bleach, energy, fuel, and chemical dyes” involved in the production of a t-shirt.  But a study revealed, “the impacts of the “consumer use” phase of the T-shirts life dwarfed the impacts of production and transportation.”  This was interesting to me because it is easy to push responsibility of environmental issues to others that seems to be larger contributors, like the textile industry, when in reality we play a large part as consumers.  Another interesting aspect was the environmental Kuznets curve, which suggests that industrialization is part of the environment solution rather than the problem.  This was a new idea to me, as I too had assumed that industry was the problem.  The relationship between environmental quality and industrialization, like so many other economic and ecological relationships, are much more complex then they seemed.  Now that I see that ecological quality needs industrialization in this developing world, it will be important to raise the bottom in the “race to the bottom” so as to keep environmental degradation in the process of making a country developed at a minimum.

The World is Spiky

a.)  The author does not agree that the world is becoming a flat place, but rather sees the world as an aggregated spiky place. Instead of the world becoming a flat, fair competitive market, Florida sees the world as divided between flat areas and spiky areas.  The spiky areas are successful, innovative areas that are more connected than spikes are connected to flat areas in their own countries.  Spikes, in Florida's spiky world, are highly populated, productive, and innovative areas. 
b.)  This relates to central place theory because it shows how societies clump together around huge urban areas.  It also relates to the idea in the central place theory that larger cities, or greater spikes, can provide services that lesser areas cannot.  Florida touches on this when he talks about how innovators will clump together because of productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers. 
c.) Istanbul has a population of 13 million, is an international hub for air travel, and lies on the border of Europe of Asia, qualifying the city as a National Metropolis.  Gebze Turkey is an industrial city of about 280 thousand people located about 30 miles away from Istanbul.  I would classify Gebze as a small city.  Dilovasi is an interesting town located near Gebze that is recognized for its harsh industrialization and pollution.  Dilovasi has a population of about 50,000.  Ankara is also in the category of a National metropolis but I would put it lower than Istanbul because of its lower population and located at the middle of the nation.  The area that my grandfather grew up on is a small farming community that could be considered a Hamlet.  I couldn't find the name of the town, which is testament to its size.

Turkey Transportation

1. Water Transportation
Turkey is a peninsula bordering the Mediterranean and Black seas, so many ports for water transportation line the coasts. According to Cerrahogullari there are about 25 ports in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas alone with more on the other side of the country.  I couldn't find specific data on the busiest ports in Turkey but a few sources reported port of Istanbul and Izmir to be the most busy.  According to World Port Source both of these ports have container liner service but I am unsure if this is the same thing as Post Panamax capable.

2. Land Transportation
Railroads in Turkey are owned by the government and are titled the State Railways of the Turkish Republic (TCDD).  As the 22nd largest railway system in the world, The TCDD reports carrying 17,105,353 tonnes of freight and 7,118,699 passenger-km in 2009.

3. Air
Turkey has about 19 international airports, with large airports in Istanbul and Ankara.  Turkey also have about equal numbers of domestic and Military airports.

The Box response

a.) I found it most interesting how drastically the shipping containers have shifted costs in transportation. "It is better to assume that moving goods is essentially costless than to assume that moving goods is an important component of the production process." Before the container, such a statement was unimaginable.  I think this is especially important because it is a huge shift from costly transportation to essentially costless transportation.  I am a little confused at to how some theories do not account shipping containers as very important.

<sup>b.) Levinson sees the development of the shipping container as a vital component to the expansion of the global economy.  He talks about how the development of the shipping container may not have immediately led to changes in the economy because it took some time for economies to get efficient at using the new technology (loading, unloading, computer use etc.).  Levinson thinks that the shipping containers led to the ability to trade globally without the costs of long distance transportation.  

c.)  The short impact of the shipping container may have had little impact on the national economy and may have had a detrimental impact on employment as less workers were needed for transportation.  In the long run, national income should increase as production and trade increases.  Employment should also increase from the increased production.</sup>

Rivoli Part 1 April 13

a.) The markets of cotton described by Rivoli are greatly different from idealized, pure market theory. The markets have been manipulated by culture, government subsidies, chemical engineering, and more.  One of the most interesting aspects of the cotton market to me is how the success of the cotton industry in the US is due to the avoidance and control of the labor market.  Cotton farmers of the American west have seen huge benefits from practices such as sharecropping, government regulations, and slavery that have allowed them to exploit cheap labor to their unpredictable needs.  Rivoli exposes that it is much more than just governmental subsidies that are responsible for the historical and continual dominace of the American cotton industry.
b.)  An example of culture interacting with economics is how the American culture has supported and encouraged innovation while the Chinese cotton farmers have to incentive to innovate.  This is one of the underlying causes besides subsidies that have contributed to the success of American cotton. 
c.)  As I previously knew nothing about the American cotton industry or any cotton industry, almost everything in this first section of the book surprised me.  What surprised me most was the stability that American cotton farmers experience.  They are receiving substantially more money per pound off cotton than foreign farmers but more importantly have insurance nets that save them not only from falling prices but also from falling yields.  It was striking to read about how an American cotton farmer can shrug off a weather disaster to their crop while farmers elsewhere may be destroyed financially and resort to suicide.  I think it is important, when examining the fairness of subsidies, to not just look at monetary value but also the value of safety provided to American cotton farmers.

Turkey ranks low in environmental index

1. In a recent 2012 environmental index, Turkey ranked lower than 92 percent of the countries involved.  The Environmental Performance Index is a method of quantifying and numerically benchmarking the environmental performance of a country’s policies.  The article stated that Turkey has a "rich natural environment" but unfortunately that environment is "being destroyed."
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-ranks-low-in-environmental-index.aspx?pageID=238&nID=13386&NewsCatID=340 
2. This issue will prove to be not only an environmental concern but also a long term economic concern if Turkey's poor environmental standards are not addressed.  An effective environmental policy is beneficial to an economy in the long run because protection of the environment leads to better long lasting resources.  Although aversion of environmental policies can lead to short run benefits because of more possible production, in the long run degraded natural resources will hurt the economy. 
3. I would suggest that Turkey improve their environmental policies as soon as practicably possible because of the long run benefits.  I would also suggest investing in technology that will increase the efficiency of natural resource use.  Policies that encourage efficient and clean use of resources will protect Turkey's resources while also promoting economic growth. 

Social Responsibility of Business

a.)Friedman elaborates on the ideas of social responsibility and those of a corporation.  Friedman seems to side with a socialist view that businesses are not capable of making responsible social decisions and that decisions of allocation, price, etc should be decided by governments.  He talks about a trade off for businesses that involves doing good but only at the expense of ones business.  Friedman explains why he thinks that the idea of social responsibility is used to cloak decisions that are detrimental.  The problem is, businesses have one true responsibility and that is to maximize profits. 
b.) The Core Cultural Values that I think are most important to Friedman are Collectivism, Equality, Monochromatic Time, Stability, and Directness.
c.) I think that there is definitely a conflict between business and social responsibility.  Unfortunately businesses do have a responsibility to make profits.  This is most apparent to me when looking at pollution.  It is a social responsibility to protect the environment but this comes at a cost to many businesses.  Fortunately, businesses to give in to social pressure, yet this may not be from their own decision or 'responsibility'.

Richard Shweder

a.) Richard Schweder outlined three prophecies of new world order and talked about the history and likelihood of each.  He introduced his lecture by talking about posing the questions: Are cultural practices that aren't "liberal" ok such as poligamy?  Could all of the worlds diversity actually live together in one nation?  How far should tolerance go?

The first prophecy is the Washington Consensus.  What I took away from this section of his talk was that after the Cold War it became popular to think that civilizations have and should have the tendency to move from savagery towards an ideal civilization and that the United States/ Western Civilization is the most successful civilization.  It was very interesting to hear that the popularity of this theory went out but now it is back.  This ideal is reflected in the opinion of Americans to expect other countries to be waiting for us to invade.  I think many Americans are guilty of thinking that other countries are eager for a American like democratic system.

The second prophecy is related to globalization and a world convergence.  Schweder stated that a 'narrowly conceived global economy' may fail again like it did leading up to WWI.  Instead a separate but equal mind set on a global scale may be more appropriate.  As we have seen, the spread of free trade and private property rights do not also spread ideals or customs etc.  So other societies do not have to become Americans to enjoy the benefits of technology etc.

The third prophecy was most interesting because it was Schweder credited as being the most likely outcome for the future.  He talked about how modern society has  been around for a relatively short period of time and that the majority of human history has been in empires.  Using the ottoman empire as an example of an inclusive, accepting empire with a weak center state, Schweder predicted that the world may tend to this sort of society in the future. 

b.) From this talk, I think that I can better predict the direction of global change.  If there are efforts to try and create a convergence of global economies I might look for collapse.  As in WWI, this sort of attempt may again lead to barriers to immigration and resilience to cultural convergence.  If I see a pattern of larger culturally inclusive societies then I would expect there to be a trend toward empire like societies.  So cultural acceptance and the degree to which there is effort to converge societies seem to be indicators of global change.

c.) Culture does seem to be important in the outcome of economies.  One example that we talked about is the culture that traded with each other by leaving goods at a designated location and picking up other goods that by agreement had been considered a fair trade.  This sustenance economy is much different than the success driven economy of the US. I think that the importance of culture in economic outcomes can be seen in the failure of a global economy where culture would at least in part be lost. 

April 2, Turkey Statistics

1. Resources
Turkey straddles the Europe Asia border and is slightly larger than Texas in area.  Turkey is peninsula like country that borders the Black, Aegean, and Mediterranean seas. The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape.  About 11% of the land is cultivated farm land.   The traditional agricultural sector still accounts for 25% of employment but the Turkish economy is increasingly driven by industry and service. Turkey's main crop is wheat and also has high deposits of boron salts (72% of world) and is a global leader in hazelnuts and tobacco. Turkey is a net importer of oil and gas.  The work force in Turkey is 27.43 million.

2. International Trade
Exports from Turkey measure at about 133 billion and include apparel, food, textiles, metal, and transport equipment. Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Iraq are among top importers of Turkish goods.  Automotive, construction, and electronic industries are rising in exports.
Imports measure at about $212.2 billion and include machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, and fuels.  Russia, Germany, China, The US, Italy and France are among the countries from whom Turkey imports most. 

Exchange Rate
Turkish liras per US dollar -1.668 3. National Income Accounts Ivestment spending in Turkey (2010) is 20.365 % of total GDP. Government spending in Turkey (2010) is 34.85 % of total GDP.