Student: Travis Meng
Graduation date: May 2017
Type: Concentration (single major)
Date approved: November 2014
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Summary
When we take a look at the world today, there is a small, almost microscopic portion of the population that lives off high incomes with very comfortable standards of living. The rest of the people on the planet, specifically 80% as of 2010, live off less than $10 a day in developing nations and are victims to a widening income gap (Ravallion 2014). For my concentration, I want to look at the interrelationship between the utilization of natural resources and the presence of income inequality in the developing world. The connection between the extraction of natural resources to national income not only highlights the need for more economic equality but also points to the fact that those who control a nation’s raw resources, control the standard of living for its people (Goldberg and Pavcnik 2007). My overall goal for this concentration is to examine the specific ways in which the extraction of natural resources are a contributing factor to economic disparity as well as look at economic, technological and political solutions.
For the purpose of situating my concentration, I will use the current world-systems theory as a basis for determining developing countries. In this theory, the worlds nations are divided into core (developed), semi-periphery (developing) and periphery (undeveloped) categories. I want to direct my focus on the periphery countries of the world with an added focus on how these nations reach semi-periphery status. Due to a lack of reliable natural resource data, development planning is often faulty because those who manage their resources do not have adequate information (Odingo 1981). In the developing world, resources like access to water link production and consumption networks at local, regional and global levels. I want to use my concentration to understand how resources are accessed in low-income regions and the ways in which they are controlled by governments and organizations. As a consequence, the poorest of the poor in these nations suffer from a lower standard of living due to their deprivation of entitlements and because of issues in national supply systems (Smith 1998). These problems are not just an internal part of development, transnational corporations contribute to inequality by distorting development and prohibiting countries from having full sovereignty over their natural resources (Odingo 1981).
The consensus on economic inequality is clear, it has an influential impact on health, social cohesion, growth, education, crime and sustainability. Predictions show that, without narrowing the gap between the richest and poorest in our societies, other attempts to fight poverty and stabilize the environment could be fatally undermined (Fawaz et al. 2012). Reports show that there is actually less income inequality today between countries than there was 30 years ago, however the inequality between countries is slowly widening (Ravallion 2014). Either way, this issue needs to be addressed because high inequality threatens to stall future progress on growth and sustainability.
References
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Fawaz, Fadi, Masha Rahnamamoghadam, and Victor Valcarcel. 2012. “Fluctuations, Uncertainty and Income Inequality in Developing Countries.” Eastern Economic Journal 38 (4): 495–511.
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Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou, and Nina Pavcnik. 2007. “Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries.” Journal of Economic Literature 45 (1): 39–82.
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Li, Shi, and Terry Sicular. 2014. “The Distribution of Household Income in China: Inequality, Poverty and Policies.” The China Quarterly 217 (March): 1–41. doi:10.1017/S0305741014000290.
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Luo, Yunpeng, Huai Chen, Qiu’an Zhu, Changhui Peng, Gang Yang, Yanzheng Yang, and Yao Zhang. 2014. “Relationship between Air Pollutants and Economic Development of the Provincial Capital Cities in China during the Past Decade.” PLoS ONE 9 (8): 1–14. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104013.
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Odingo, R.S. 1981. “New Perspectives on Natural Resource Development in Developing Countries.” GeoJournal 5 (6): 521–30.
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Ravallion, Martin. 2014. “Income Inequality in the Developing World.” Science 344 (6186): 851–55. doi:10.1126/science.1251875.
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Smith, David W. 1998. “Urban Food Systems and the Poor in Developing Countries.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, 23 (2): 207–19.
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Yue, Wenze, Peilei Fan, Yehua Wei, and Jiaguo Qi. 2014. “Economic Development, Urban Expansion, and Sustainable Development in Shanghai.” Stochastic Environmental Research & Risk Assessment 28 (4): 783–99. doi:10.1007/s00477-012-0623-8.
Questions
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Descriptive: Who has access to natural resources with economic value? What are the driving forces behind how resources are harvested? To what extent does this inequality mold cultural identity and society? How can a situated resource (oil, water, fish, etc) represent or create hierarchies and social classes? How does resource scarcity relate to inequality?
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Explanatory: Why is there a large difference of income between those in developing nations? Why has there historically been large gaps in income during periods of growth? And why do a large abundance of natural resources require a large, poorly paid work force to extract it? To what extent do political structures play a role in forming income inequality?
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Evaluative: What social group do the presence of natural resources benefit most? What are the environmental and social consequences of a widening income gap? Are local authorities or national organizations better at managing natural resources?
- Instrumental: How can policies work to decrease inequity and gain equal utility from a resource? How can new and greener technologies affect demand for resources? Are solutions implemented by international organizations helpful, or are they forms of imperialism?
Concentration courses
- IA 238 (Political Economy/Development, 4 credits), spring 2015. Focus on how economic development affects politics in various countries.
- ECON 232 (Economic Development, 4 credits) Fall 2015. Exploring the processes and attributes of economic development.
- SOAN 365 (The Political Economy of Green Capitalism, 4 Credits) Exploration of the effectiveness of environmentally motivated technologies in mitigating global environmental problems when these technologies become materially organized as capitalist markets and commodities. Examines whether commodification of nature can remedy ecological crises.
- ENVS 350 (Environmental Theory, 4 credits) Spring 2016. Conceptualizing topics in Environmental Studies and looking at perceptions of nature, knowledge in the environment from a broader perspective.
- SOAN 347 (Borderlands, 4 credits) Spring 2017. Focus on ethnographies of non-state peoples, cross-border travel, marginalized lives, and international development and representation. Final project will be focused on urban planning and territorial annexation within Portland.
Arts and humanities courses
- HIST 261 (Global Environmental History, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- HIST 298 (Environmental History Modern West Africa, 4 credits) Spring 2015. Situated historical study on Western Africa with a focus on natural resources as well as social and political upheaval.