Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
and keeps a range of data about that particular cow. The
data include any medical attention the cow has needed,
how much milk the cow is producing, and when the cow
last calved. The farmer then feeds the cow a diet geared
toward improving or maintaining milk production. When
the cow ambles over to the trough to feed, a sensor reads
the cow's barcode and automatically mixes the correct bal-
ance of proteins, carbohydrates, and nutrients for the cow,
dispensing them into the trough for the cow to eat. If the
cow has already eaten that day, the computer dispenses
nothing into the trough, and the cow is left to amble away.
In parts of rural Appalachia, by contrast, hardscrab-
ble farming is the norm. Farmers have limited education,
and there is little mechanization. In short, life in some of
the poorest parts of rural Appalachia is a world apart from
life on a modern Wisconsin dairy farm. Some of those dif-
ferences can be attributed to geographic situation and eco-
nomic swings. But others are the product of government
policies that infl uence educational opportunities, provide
subsidies for particular agricultural pursuits, and promote
the development of particular technologies. Every policy
has a geographical expression, meaning that some regions
are favored whereas others are disadvantaged as a result
of the implementation of that policy. When policies come
together to favor some regions over others, uneven devel-
opment is the result. And uneven development can easily
be exacerbated over time as the wealthy grow wealthier.
Government policy can also help alleviate uneven
development. In the case of Appalachia, the U.S. Co
cheap labor at the global scale, earning about $100 per
month. Rivoli reports that over 40,000 garment factories
operate in China alone.
The T-shirts are then shipped to the United States
for sale. In an attempt to protect T-shirts produced in
America with higher labor costs from those produced
in China, the U.S. government has established quotas
on how many items from various clothing categories
can be imported into the United States from China
and other countries. An unintended consequence of
the quota system has been a “quota market” that allows
countries to buy and sell their U.S. quota numbers to
producers in other countries (an illegal but rampant
practice). Instead of trading in quotas, some production
facilities have moved to places where quotas and cheap
labor are available—places such as Sri Lanka, Poland,
and Lesotho. Rivoli describes how one producer of cot-
ton shirts has moved around the world:
The Esquel Corporation, today the world's largest pro-
ducer of cotton shirts, started in Hong Kong in the late
1970s, but, unable to obtain quota to sell to the United
States, shifted production to mainland China. When the
United States tightened Chinese shirt quotas in the early
1980s, Esquel moved production to Malaysia. When
Malaysian quota also became diffi cult to obtain, Esquel
moved yet again, this time to Sri Lanka. The globe hop-
ping continued, with the Chinese shirt producer setting
up operations in Mauritius and Maldives.
ngress
created an Appalachian Regional Commission in 1965
to address poverty in the region. The Commi
ssion has
orchestrated a program of government investment in
roads, schools, health-care facilities, and water and sewer
systems that has fostered development in parts of the
region. Signifi cant parts of App
The point is that quota laws, like other policies
made by governments, regional trade organizations, and
international political regimes (such as the World Trade
Organization and the International Labor Organization),
affect whether and how regions can produce and exchange
goods on the world market.
alachia have benefi ted from
these policies, although pockets of deep poverty remain.
Looking at commodity chains can also help us
understand the role of governments in uneven develop-
ment both within and between states. In her 2005 topic
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy
, economist
Pietra Rivoli described the signifi cant infl uences gov-
ernments have on the distribution of wealth between
and within states. Rivoli grabs a T-shirt out of a bin at a
Walgreens in Florida, buys it, and then traces its produc-
tion back through the commodity chain to see how it ends
up in her hands. The cotton for her T-shirt was grown
in West Texas, where the cotton lobby (the political arm
of America's cotton producers) has effectively politicked
for governmental labor programs and price supports that
help the lobby grow cotton and sell it at predictable prices.
From West Texas, the cotton bale reaches China by
ship. There it is spun into thread and woven into fabric.
Women from rural China work in state-owned factories
set up in regions that are slated for economic develop-
ment—cutting and sewing T-shirts and keeping the tex-
tile machines in good repair. The women are considered
Islands of Development
In both periphery and core, governments often priori-
tize the creation of wealth in the seat of governmental
authority: the capital city. In most states, the capital city
is the political nerve center of the country, its national
headquarters and seat of government. Capital cities
are home to government buildings and jobs; they often
house universities, museums, heritage centers, conven-
tion centers, and the headquarters of large corpora-
tions. After gaining independence, many former colonial
states spent lavishly on their capitals, not because such
spending was essential to political or economic success
but because the states wanted to showcase their inde-
pendence, their futures, and create a national treasure.
The European colonizers who focused their wealth
and treasures on their capital cities, such as Great
Britain's London, France's Paris, and the Netherlands'
