Ch. 7 Political Economy Flashcards
Which of the following is NOT true regarding commodities?
A commodity doesn’t have value
Purchasing products that are related to nature does what NEGATIVE thing to nature?
Commodifies nature
The _______ perspective is mostly concerned with identifying how power relationships and economic systems produce environmental and social conditions.
Political economy
Overaccumulation leads to what two things?
Overproduction and underconsumption
_______ describes how capitalism undermines itself by undermining the environmental conditions necessary for its own perpetuation.
The second contradiction of capitalism
Which of the following statements (in the memo written by Lawrence Summers) was NOT used to justify the export of polluting industries to poorer countries?
Poor countries have more land to redistribute the pollution
Marx’s concepts of all of the following things, EXCEPT what, explain how the economy produces environmental problems.
Nature
Which of the following is NOT a problem with the political economy perspective?
None of the other choices: These are all problems with the political economy perspective.
Which of the following is NOT a method for capitalists to maintain accumulation of wealth?
Invoke pay increases for laborers
Most environmental activists are men.
False
Environmental justice is primarily concerned with the uneven distribution of environmental “bads.”
True
The Enclosure Laws were an example of _______.
Primitive accumulation
Moving a factory from Mexico to Vietnam is an example of the spatial fix.
True
Hazardous materials are placed in minority and low-income neighborhoods because these groups often have less power to protest.
True
The enclosure and privatization of previously communal resources is known as:
Primitive accumulation
Marx would agree with which of the following statements about modern capitalism and environmental problems?
Environmental problems are already built into the economy that causes them
Which of the following would NOT be a response to underconsumption?
Federal regulations to encourage saving
According to Marx, problems such as overaccumulation, overproduction, and underconsumption are anomalies in capitalism and suggest that the system is not functioning properly.
False
According to Marx, when does a “contradiction” occur?
When capital becomes over-concentrated
In order to create _______ in a capitalist economy, workers and the environment must be undervalued.
Surplus value
Many historians and economists view the Enclosure Laws in England in the 1780s and 1820s as a significant step toward modern capitalism.
True
When people speak of the”Top 1%”, they are referring to a term in economics known as:
Overaccumulation
Development is always uneven.
True
According to social reproduction, unhealthy workers are more productive workers.
True
Which current policy promotes the global trade of pollution?
Cap and trade
When Marx writes about “accumulation”, what is he referring to?
Accumulation of capital
Raw materials, used to produce commodities, are called what?
Conditions of production
_______ are the raw materials needed to produce things, such as wood, iron, and oil.
The conditions of production
Why do we export millions of tons of hazardous waste to poorer countries each year?
Environmental regulations are more lax in poorer countries, disposal costs are less in poorer countries, and environmental regulations are often not enforced in poorer countries
Prior to capitalism, goods were sold at their exchange rate.
True
