nation-states, cities, etc. Flashcards
what is the definition of a state?
a political apparatus that is:
- distinct from both ruler and ruled,
- with supreme jurisdiction over a demarcated territorial area,
- backed by a claim to a monopoly of coercive power,
- and enjoying legitimacy as a result of minimum level of support or loyalty from their citizens.
how has the number of recognised stated changed?
in 1945 there 51, in 2011 there were 193
what is the role of the state?
- Economic and social development
- Support (international and national) markets by reducing transaction costs
- Promote competition and innovation (protection and arbitration)
- Infrastructures and services
- Price and currency stability
- Social stability and equity (legitimacy)
why are activities not left to markets?
market failures
what are some of the market failures (class)?
- Public goods
- Non-rivalry
- Non-exclusion
- Externalities
- Cost or benefit without compensation caused by an agent’s activity
- Natural monopolies
- Decreasing marginal cost of production
- Incomplete markets
- Markets that are unable to ensure the provision of a good or service even when people are willing to pay more.
- Imperfect or asymmetric information
- Can’t differentiate between good and bad products or services; lemon market and lemon law
what is the area with the highest government expenditure?
europe & Central Asia and east asia & pacific
what are the areas with the least government expenditure apart from sub-saharan Africa?
central europe & the baltics and middle east & North Africa
true or false: government expenditure increased almost everywhere in the 80s
true
what is, and has been, the global power with the highest government expenditure?
European Union
historically, where were fdi inflows going?
from developed economies to developed economies
since 1985, what countries have been receiving more fdi flows?
emerging economies like brazil and china
according to kearney’s fdi confidence index 2024, what are the top emerging economies for foreign investment?
china
the uae
saudi arabia
india
Brazil
how has the trend of fdi inflows been since the 1990s?
While the fdi inflows in developing economies has been steadily increasing since the 1990s, the fdi inflows of developed economies has had its peaks and troughs. In 2000, 2007 and 2020 it decreased sharply. Only in 2020 did the fdi inflows in developing economies surpassed the fdi inflows of the developed economies.
in kearney’s 2024 fdi confidence index, what are the top 3 countries?
us
canada
china
what are the 2 areas with the lowest fdi inflows (2018-2022)?
africa and latin america and the Caribbean
in the last 3 years , what has been the area with the most fdi inflows?
asia
what is the only area that had negative fdi inflows in 2022?
europe
in 2024, what is the area with simultaneously the biggest fdi inward and outward stock?
europe
in 2024, what was the second and third areas with the highest fdi inflows and outflows stock?
second: asia
third: North America
what are some of the measures to determine how competitive a state is?
-global competitive index
-imd’s world competitiveness yearbook and ranking
-top 100 s$t clusters
what is the global competitive index?
the global competitiveness index measures 12 pillars organised into 4 categories: enabling environment, markets, human capital and innovation ecosystem
in 2019, what were the top 5 countries in the global competitive index?
singapore
us
hong kong
the netherlands
Switzerland
what is the imd’s world competitiveness yearbook and ranking?
it measures 20 aspects divided into 4 categories:economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
what are the top 5 countries in economic performance according to the imd?
the us, the uae, singapore, qatar and thailand.
what are the top 5 countries in government efficiency according to the imd?
switzerland, singapore, hong kong, uae and denmark
what are the top 5 countries in business efficiency according to the imd?
denmark, singapore, ireland, sweden and switzerland
what are the top 5 countries in infrastructure according to the imd?
switzerland, denmark, sweden, singapore and norway
in 2024, what are the top 10 countries in the imd world competitiveness ranking?
singapore, switzerland, denmark, ireland, hoong kong, sweden, uae, taiwan, the netherlands and norway
in 2024, what are the bottom 10 countries in the imd world competitiveness ranking?
venezuela, argentina, ghana, nigeria , brazil, mongolia, south africa, slovak republic, mexico and botswana.
in 2023, what were the top 5 clusters according to s&t?
tokyo-yokohama, shenzen-hong kong-guangzhou, seoul, beijing and shanghai-suzhou
true or false: global productivy per hour has been increasing at a decreasing rate since 2020
true
what is the area with steadily increasing growth of productivity per hour?
china
when comparing average working hours per worker and overall competitiveness, what groups can we observe that are the most competitive?
organisation focus: more working hours (use, china, Qatar, etc)
individual focus: less working hours (denmark, switzerland, Germany, etc)
are overall competitiveness and labor productivity correlated?
yes, but not that much
is capital more influential than before?
Yes, international mobility of capital reduces exit costs for firms and investors. This is facilitated by technology (transportation, communication and information technology), but also by the opening up of international trade, the elimination of capital controls, the growing harmonization of standards and procedures.
do states have a say in how capital is influential?
They decide on the degree of trade and financial openness.
They affect the competitiveness of MNEs
- National level
- Institutions
- Infrastructure
- Regulation
- Services (e.g., education, health, etc.)
- Tax credits and subsidies
- Political stability
- International level
- International trade
- Macroeconomic management
They provide stability and legitimacy through welfare benefits (ease the costs of globalization.
what is the radical post war view of governments regarding fdi?
inbound fdi is harmful (china, india, socialist african countries)
what is the pragmatic nationalism view of fdi?
fdi is allowed only if the benefits outweigh the costs (japan in the 80s)
what is the free market view on fdi?
fdi should be encouraged (britain, us, Chile hong kong)
what about cities?
It is these cities, and their associated local regions, which contain a nation’s economic activity, not some national statistical box. Within any individual country, there will almost certainly be considerable diversity between cities/local regions, not only in terms of their particular economic specialisations but also in terms of their growth rates. In most cases, this reflects their specific historical trajectory. In others, however, such differentials may be the outcome of very specific political decisions to develop one particular part of a country rather than another. In some countries, just one, or perhaps two, major cities dominate; in other countries there is a flatter urban hierarchy and a wider spread of activity among more evenly-sized cities.
Increasingly, however, it is necessary to think of cities as being involved in global networks that transcend national boundaries. “The city is embedded in a global economy…. All cities today are world cities” (King 1983, 7, 15). Cities differ in importance not only in terms of their population size but also—and more importantly—in terms of the functions they perform and the influence they exert. In particular, observers of world cities (Sassen 2001; Taylor 2004) emphasize the role of high-level service functions (financial and business services, in particular) and their uneven concentration in certain cities, creating a global hierarchical network. At this micro-scale, the world is not just flat; it is positively “spiky” (Florida 2005).
what measures can we use to measure cities?
global cities index and imd smart city index top
what are the top 5 cities in the global cities index top 2023?
new york, london, paris, tokyo and beijing
what are the top 5 cities in the imd smart city index top 2024?
zurich, oslo, canberra, geneva and singapore.
what are the key lessons of this class?
- Markets and states are complementary
- MNEs can be both good and bad (but the debate should be on how much power states have)
- States may be constrained by the international mobility of capital (however, states still have the power to impose controls on capital and trade (it is a question of choice and balance between the benefits and costs of globalization)
- Cities lack real political power. They are systematically excluded from international decision-making e.g. UN exclusion. They struggle to secure credit, loans and grants from international financial institutions e.g World Bank. But they are argued as “being central to progressive change” (Muggah and Abraham, 2018).
- Cities are only as good as their states to a certain extent, and a large part of this is driven by the kind of FDI attracted by these states and cities
