GEOG 240 Review for the Final Exam: Thursday, December 6th at 9 a.m. in Building 180, Room 134

Format of the Exam The exam will focus, for the most part, on everything we have covered since the mid-term. The format will be similar to last time, but with a stronger weighting on the short answers and essay questions. The exam will focus on Chapter 6 through to the Concluding chapter. To review, go back and look at the book and at the Power-Points from Day 11 on. The Glossary may be of some use as well. We will also go through key concepts today. But first we will be hearing from Reena and Jim.

Chapter 6 Chapter 7 MNCs – important agents of globalization Not only cheap labour, but desire for market access motivates MNCs often retain strong links to home country MNCs have to adapt to cultures and institutional practices of new host regions MNCs create both dependency and new opportunities for host regions, but some regions have more leverage than others Chapter 7 Jobs have become more flexible and less secure since the ‘70s, though this varies with geographical context The union movement has been on the decline, but is not ‘out’ Some new approaches and strategies are emerging

Chapter 8 In post-war Cold War era, the goal was to ‘assist’ developing countries through loans and aid. This often led to disastrous dependence and a reinforcement of colonial-style economic arrangements In the resultant debt-crisis of the ‘80s and ‘90s, SAPs came to play an important role Gradually, in the face of criticism the agenda of the World Bank and IMF (at least in rhetoric) shifted to ‘poverty reduction’ Free trade talks have largely stalled because of disputes between developed and developing countries There has also been a call for cancellation of at least some debts

Chapter 9 Money and finance have always been crucial to expansion of capitalism through the provision of credit for investment and development As with the rest of the capitalist system, financial markets have gone global, with potentially cataclysmic consequences The hyper-mobility of finance has been facilitated by deregulation and the adoption of neo-liberal policies The specialization of existing financial centres has not changed appreciably The financial crisis of 2007-08 had the effect of depriving businesses of access to credit as financial agencies pulled back

Chapter 10 Because of global commodity networks, individual commodities are ‘black boxes’ whereby the social and environmental conditions under which they were produced remains invisible. They are chosen based largely on price and appearance. Different approaches to looking at commodity chains: -global production network approach (looks at value, power, and embeddedness, but tends to overlook environment, labour process, and consumption, and also the unequal nature of relations between regions); -global commodity chain approach (looks at linear sequential chains of production, often within the control of one organization, with attendant institutional structures; overlooks role of the state, labour, and geography) The GPN captures the creativity of regions in exploiting their assets and partnering with MNCs, but underemphasizes the inequality of the relationship

Chapter 11 Spatial agglomeration of like and related industries (originally studied by Marshall); also urbanization agglomerations. Agglommerations are often also accompanied by ‘global pipelines’ Since updated by Porter’s cluster model in terms of competitive diamond of demand conditions, related and supporting industries, factor conditions, and firm strategy/ rivalry. Richard Florida has also talked about the ‘creative class’ developing in tandem with the knowledge sector of the economy; who does it consist of? What kinds of communities are knowledge workers attracted to? How has this influenced how cities and regions market themselves?

Chapter 12 Capitalist forms of economy have never completely dominated, even after the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the hybridization of the Chinese economy. Counter-globalization movements have emerged in the ‘90s and ‘00s, and some geographers have continued to emphasize the “alternative economic spaces,” the “social economy,” and the “iceberg” model. Some of these alternatives include co-ops, credit unions, LETS systems (and other actual and quasi-alternative currencies), fair trade, and much more. For Chapter 13, don’t forget the three major themes of the book: globalization, uneven development, and place.