Lec 17&18

Question 1

What are Kondratiev waves and how long are they?

Answer 1

40-60 year long cycles of periods of boom and contraction

Question 2

What are Kuznets cycles?

Answer 2

15-20 year long periods of growth and contraction tied to infrastructure investments

Question 3

What does regulation theory attempt to do? what are its 2 key concepts? When does it emerge?

Answer 3

explain historical changes in macro structures of capitalist economies

the regime of accumulation and the mode of social regulation

emerges in 70s

Question 4

when do fordism and post-fordism occur?

Answer 4

1920-70
1970-onwards

Question 5

define the regime of accumulation
What does transition from one ROA to another create?

Answer 5

a common and temporality coherent way of PRODUCING, DISTRIBUTING, AND EXCHANGING commodities

industrial divides

Question 6

What are the 6 ways in which a ROA can be characterized?

Answer 6

1. the type of production techniques
2. the key industrial sectors
3. how labor is organized
4. the predominant form of competition (is it international, national?)
5. the distributional mechanisms of profits
6. the spatial forms of expression

Question 7

define the mode of social regulation
what does it do to the ROA?

Answer 7

set of norms, institutions and
conventions that support the ROA

It governs the ROA by providing a regulatory and coordinative framework

Question 8

What are the 2 functions of the MOSR?

Answer 8

○ Reproduces social relations
○ Provides stability in terms of the ROA

Question 9

What are the benefits of the ROA and the MOSR?

Answer 9

they allow us to investigate the varieties of capitalism, such as fordism and post fordism

Question 10

in 1913, the first assembly line, Highland Park, incorporates who’s ideas? what are they?

Answer 10

taylor’s

taylorism:
- the division of labour
- vertical integration
- mass production
- economies of scale

Question 11

ford realized that for mass production you need…
to do this he…

Answer 11

mass consumption
payed his employees more (5$ per day program)

Question 12

What are the 6 key developments that enabled the growth of fordism?

Answer 12

1. Rise of Keynesian economic planning
   - Keynes advocates for strong role of government for economic growth. Gov will stimulate growth by investing, purchasing, regulating
   
   2. Suburbanization
      –> mass consumption possibilities
   3. WW2 improved manufacturing processes
   4. Key industries: cars, heavy equipment, steel, etc
   5. New R&D in particular sectors
      
      • Aerospace sector taking off
      • 1st microwave
   6. Competition (at the national level)
      
      • Lots of competition between few big corporations (oligopolistic)

Question 13

What is the MOSR for fordism

Answer 13

the keynesian welfare state

• a social contract that benefits white males
• through state intervention, capital and labor float Fordist mass production

Question 14

How does the geography of fordism manifest itself on the regional scale and on the global scale?

Answer 14

regional: mass production developped in frost belt

global:
- expansion of world trade
- international investment

Question 15

what does the expansion of world trade allow for?

Answer 15

US surplus commodities to be absorbed overseas
new sources of cheap raw materials for fordist production

Question 16

What are the 3 points agreed upon by the bretton woods agreement?

Answer 16

• US$ is world’s reserve currency
• there are fixed exchange rates between currencies
• regulated flows of capital across borders

Question 17

What did bretton woods do?

Answer 17

• created a stable financial sphere so world trade could proceed
• allow the KWS to work

Question 18

why is the era of fordism referred to as the golden age of capitalism

Answer 18

because GDP growth was much more stable during fordism. following fordism, there was much more volatility in gdp growth

Question 19

What are the domestic and international roots of the undoing of fordism? What does this undoing signify?

Answer 19

domestic
- stagflation: inflation yet economy is declining (stagnating output)

international
- the repeal of bretton woods
- 1973 oil crisis

it signifies the emergence of a new ROA with a new MOSR

Question 20

what are the late 1960s/early 1970s characterized by?

Answer 20

○ A less flexible system
○ Mass production introduces rigidity in system
○ Strikes as a result of companies attempting to adjust. Increases production costs
○ Growing pressure on keynesian welfare state entitlement programs
○ Inflation

Question 21

What are the 10 defining characteristics of post-fordism?

Answer 21

• Move away from mass production technologies
  
  • Moving away from economies of scale towards economies of scope
  • Surge in service-based activities and FIRE (finance, insurance, real-estate)
  • Increased use of telecommunication technologies
• increased role of science and high tech knowledge
  
  • Flexibilization of work
  • Key industries: telecoms, semi-conductors, computers, biotech, medical devices, cultural industries (Hollywood, books, music), media industry
  • Highly competitive conditions
    ○ Much more at international scale rather than at domestic scale/no longer oligopolistic
  • The growth of peripheral fordism
    ○ EPZs = export processing zones. Areas where government will provide tax advantages or benefits to companies who manufacture there
  • Move from “just-in-case” to “just-in-time” inventory
    ○ No large inventories
    ○ More efficient from a cost perspective

Question 22

What are the consequences of post fordism as a ROA?

Answer 22

• Just in time: need coordination, timing precision, and flexibility
• vertical integration –> vertical disintegration
• geographical decentralization happening at the same time as centralization
• industrial clustering increasingly important

Question 23

What are the consequences of post fordism as a MOSR

Answer 23

KWS –> Workfar state
state regulation –> de-regulation
greater individualization

shift in societal values
standardized consumption –> yuppie culture

Question 24

What are the negative consequences of post-fordism?

Answer 24

○ More job turn-over
○ Higher levels of inequality
* Fordism: inequality decreased, income increased
○ More competition between individuals and regions
* “race to the bottom”