Deck 3: Capitalism in Motion: Why Is Economic Growth so Uneven

Question 1

The unevenness of economic development is commonly seen as a ______________ state of affairs because of the uneven geographical distribution of the bounty of nature.

A) Natural
B) Inevitable
C) Normal
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 1

All of the above

Question 2

"Environmental determinism" refers to a line of thinking using:

A) Economic formula to explain environmental outcomes
B) Environmental factors to explain economic development outcomes
C) Principles of sustainability to explain contemporary environmental issues
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 2

Environmental factors to explain economic development outcomes

Question 3

A key argument of mainstream approaches to economic development over the last 50 years has been that:

A) Uneven economic growth will level out over time
B) All economies can develop if they adopt appropriate policies and strategies
C) Economic development will tend toward an equilibrium pattern
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

Conventional explanations of economic development seldom seek to explain how _____________ is created.

A) Wealth
B) Inequality
C) Poverty
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 5

Economic relationships involve the creation and __________________ of value.

A) Distribution
B) Withholding
C) Destruction
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 6

"Use value" is defined as:

A) The monetary worth of a good or service traded in the market economy
B) The benefit we get from having or consuming something
C) The practical applications and everyday household uses of a product
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 7

"Exchange value" is defined as:

A) The actual value of nonrenewable resources
B) The benefit we get from having or consuming something
C) The monetary worth of a good or service traded in the market economy
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 8

Ultimately, value is always created by:

A) People
B) Nature
C) Firms
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 9

The "labor process" includes:

A) Making new products
B) Transforming a product-i.e., physical good
C) Transforming a product-i.e., intangible service
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 10

Which of the following represents an alternative approach to structuring the economic relationships of value creation:

A) A peasant economy
B) A feudal economy
C) A cooperative economy
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 11

The owners of the "means of production" are:

A) The modern industrial workforce
B) Factory workers during the Industrial Revolution
C) Farm laborers during the Industrial Revolution
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 12

Growth in value rests on the exploitation of ______________ in the production process.

A) Labor
B) Machinery
C) Consumers
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 13

To maintain _______________, it is necessary for capitalism as a system to grow continually.

A) Profit
B) Use value
C) Real value
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 14

A capitalist can create profit by extracting ____________________ from an employee.

A) Indispensable value
B) Enthusiasm
C) Union fees
D) Surplus value
E) Wages

Question 15

At its core, capitalism is about a structural relationship between:

A) Different social classes
B) Retailers and consumers
C) Public and private sectors
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 16

The possibilities for accumulating more and more profit mean that system-wide incentives exist for firms to create:

A) New products
B) New markets
C) New ways of organizing the production process
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 17

A term describing the capitalist process of generating new growth through the destruction of old products, processes, and markets and the creation of new ones:

A) "Creative interpretation"
B) "Destructive regeneration"
C) "Integrated regeneration"
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 18

While growth increases the price of labor, a drive for profit requires that labor costs be:

A) Maximized
B) Minimized
C) Standardized
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 19

A "technological fix" refers to:

A) A process whereby competing capitalist firms try to find technological ways of making their production more cost-efficient than their competitors
B) Investments made in machinery and other technological innovations in order to replace workers with machines
C) Investments made in labor-saving machinery that encourage the creation of a reserve army of labor
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 20

A term referring to a situation where capitalists have more products than they can sell, or idle machinery that cannot be used to full capacity because there is insufficient market demand for the product:

A) "Market turmoil"
B) "Crisis of insufficiency"
C) "Crisis of over-accumulation"
D) "Economic meltdown"
E) "Capacity limit"

Question 21

A term referring to how capitalism creates production facilities, infrastructure, and even whole landscapes that match its changing requirements:

A) "Territorial production complexes"
B) "Global production territories"
C) "Global production landscapes"
D) "Infrastructure complexes"
E) "Complexes of over-accumulation"

Question 22

A fundamental feature of capitalism is its constant search for a geographical solution for its crisis of over-accumulation--what has been called a:

A) "Geographical solution"
B) "Locational solution"
C) "Spatial shuffle"
D) "Geographical alignment"
E) "Spatial fix"

Question 23

However up-to-date and state-of-the-art a landscape of production might be when it is created, it is always destined to become ____________________ as the dynamic system moves forward.

A) Redundant
B) Outdated
C) Obsolete
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 24

A core geographical process in capitalism may take the form of a _________________ of uneven development, in which some places are sites of rapid investment and growth while others decline.

A) See-saw
B) Spatial spread
C) Destructive cycle
D) Growth zone
E) Growth axis

Question 25

The relocation of labor-intensive manufacturing activities from developed countries around the world to the rapidly industrializing economies in East and Southeast Asia in the 1970s came to be known as the:

A) "New international division of labor"
B) "New international labor regime"
C) "Global manufacturing renaissance"
D) "Global division of production"
E) "Asian migration"

Question 26

A process of urban regeneration whereby previously poor and depressed neighborhoods in a city may become revalued in a new era of post-industrial capitalism and the home of wealthy professionals:

A) Suburbanization
B) Urbanization
C) Devaluation
D) Zoning
E) Gentrification

Question 27

California is a good example to show how ___________________ have brought about continued growth and prosperity.

A) Political alliances
B) Internal connections
C) External connections
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 28

Which of the following represents a historical era of growth for California:

A) Its origin as an agricultural region
B) The gold rush of the 1800s
C) The contemporary growth of the high-technology sector
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 29

Regulation theorists often refer to historical periods of stability as:

A) Regimes of over-accumulation
B) Crises of over-accumulation
C) Regimes of accumulation
D) Growth eras
E) Booms

Question 30

A new mode of regulation in which market-based, rather than state-mediated, solutions are sought for problems of economic management:

A) Fordism
B) Gentrification
C) Marketization
D) Regularization
E) Neoliberalism

Question 31

Provide three examples of how is labor exploited in the production process.

Question 32

How has environmental determinism been employed as a justification for the extent of poverty in the developing world? Does this reasoning stand up to scrutiny?

Question 33

Discuss three potential outcomes of a "crisis of over-accumulation."