Geography 099
Global Cities
Professor Pablo Bose
What does the global city look like? How has it been produced and reproduced? In this course, we will explore the idea of the global city, not only in its contemporary form, but also through earlier historical periods. We look at various manifestations and mutations, at failed experiments, reinventions and renewals in both the Global South and Global North. From London, New York and Paris to Tokyo, Mumbai and Beijing, from Dubai, Bangalore and Singapore to Toronto, Dublin and Sydney and many more besides, these are the nodes in interconnected networks of capital, labor, resources, and culture. We explore such flows and patterns of interdependencies with particular attention to issues such as inequality, governance, informality, and social justice.
Economics 060
Capitalism & Human Welfare
Professor Stephanie Seguino
The operation of capitalist economies – how they succeed and how they fail in promoting human welfare – is one of the most fundamental questions in the social sciences. Capitalism began to emerge as an economic system in the 1300s, replacing feudalism in many countries. Its impact has been one of rapid technological change and increased output of material goods and services. In the process, it has changed traditional ways of living, expanded the reach of commerce, and transformed social interaction. During this same time period, standards of living have risen in many parts of the world and life expectancy has increased. But capitalism has also been responsible for potentially catastrophic climate change, the degradation of the quality of work for many people, and growing economic inequality, among other problems. As a result, the dynamics of the capitalist system have failed to deliver the same level of improvements in social and economic well-being by class and across countries. Further, the emergence and expansion of capitalism was intimately related to processes of racial identity formation and racial inequality. And, while capitalism has progressively incorporated women into the labor force, undermining old forms of patriarchal domination, some forms of gender inequality within the family and in the economy remain particularly resistant to change under capitalism. This course asks - How does capitalism generate material well-being, when it fails to do so, why, and what can be done to improve human welfare in capitalist economies?