Discussion Question #4

Maybe you are getting ready for a big Super Bowl party.  The Super Bowl also comes pretty much at the same time that we begin to schedule mid-term exams in the academic quarter system.  What fun, eh!  Not in this class, though--your essays came in a few days before, and the next essay is not due for a while.

So, there you are sitting in front of the television and wondering whether the electrifying Reggie Bush of the Saints is the reason that USC will have its national championship yanked.  Of course, Bush might have his Heisman Trophy taken away too.

And then it strikes you that the television set you are watching all these was manufactured in China :)  Which is when you begin to forget about the Super Bowl and, to the annoyance of the rest of those at the party, you start talking to them, very loudly, about international trade and transportation, the box, and China.  And then yo wonder why all of a sudden you are all alone!

But you don't care, because you have done the readings for this week.  You know that this week is a continuation of some of the ideas from last week.  As Levinson notes in Chapter 12, "government investment in ports had been crucial to the development of container shipping in the 1960s and 1970s."  in 1977, "container shipping reached a landmark" writes Levinson.  What was that landmark?  You tell me, because you, too, have done all the readings.

But, governments were equally worried about a reverse of the "build it and they will come" approach: what if nobody came, and the ports with all the expensive equipment lay idle?  So, what did they do? Many of them decided to turn over the day-to-day operations to the private sector.  You can then see how the Dubai-based corporation I referred to earlier becomes a part of the story.

So, a wonderful confluence of events.  In 1977 that major shipping landmark.  In 1979, China's Deng Xiaoping famously declared that "to get rich is glorious" and unleashes economic reforms.  Fast forward thirty years and the reading I have included for you that China dethrones Germany as the top exporter.   

Which is where you begin to yell, "stop, Dr. Khe, I have a few things to say."  Sounds good to me.
Your task, for this Discussion Question, is to demonstrate your understanding of the readings for this week, with the following caveats:

• All the comments cannot be based only on the China/Germany news item
• All your comments cannot be standalone comments--after the first few, we need rejoinders and critiques and discussions.

Get set. Ready. Go
Nope, that is not it.  In football language, "hut! hut! hike!" :)

ps: if you read until here, well, you might be interested in this Super Bowl prediction!
pps: the reality is that I have no plans to watch the game. ha ha ha.  I am just an information junkie.

On DQ #3, and more

Hey, first about your essays.  I have barely finished reading a third of the essays that came in.  You can imagine the reasons why; the primary one being that this is the time of the term when the first of the major assignments from other classes also come in.  I will try to get you the feedback at the earliest.

In the meanwhile, I have updated the grades page, where you can check your progress--if you had provided me with a four-digit code. If you have not, and want to keep track as well, make sure to email me (not the class) a preferred four digit code for you, and that number ought not to be the last four of your SSN or V#.
This is also a neat way for you to make sure I have not made any data entry error.
My hope is that deciphering the evaluation that I have provided is simple; email me if I need to clarify.

I am delighted with your responses to Discussion Question 3.  As much as international trade and transportation are market activities--largely governed by supply and demand--the reality is that there is extensive government involvement as well.  Some of those are well discussed in other courses too--such as the subsidies and tariffs that governments might use in order to influence how competitive their own "domestic" production can be in the global market.  But, I have opted to stay out of those aspects of trade and economic issues so that we can focus on the geographic aspects, particularly with the neat case of the "box."  In other words, I want to remind you that there is a lot more extensive government involvement than we could discuss in DQ 3. (My favorite complaint is discussed here.)

We can even take a step back in time and look at the interstate system that was built.  The trigger for that was Eisenhower's experience as a young army captain--In 1919 that Eisenhower participated in the army’s exercise to study the logistical issues in moving military vehicles and equipment from coast to coast, along the Lincoln Highway.  It was this, together with his war-time experiences in Europe, which led Eisenhower to call for a national system of highways when he was elected to the presidency.
So, yes, there is that government/military/transport connection in the interstate system, too.

The container revolution was similarly catalyzed by the logistical demands of the Vietnam War, as you found out from Levinson's presentation.  It is interesting, eh!  So, yes, this too is an example of market-state partnership of sorts, even though they did not start working as partners with a fixed goal of sorts.

By the same token, even though governments might own the ports, the day-to-day operation could be contracted out to the market.  This became a huge controversy recently here in the US. 

The efficiency gains from standardization of the "box" have been tremendous, as Levinson points out.  This standardization might have eventually happened; but the government getting into it perhaps catalyzed an acceleration of the standardization.  I mean, if you think about, pretty much most of the goods we use are standardized somehow, right?

We also notice that the takeoff stage of the diffusion process is highly related to the standardization time frame as well.  Which sounds logical even to an intuitive understanding.

Finally, it appears that this term I am completely lost on the popular media references you folks are making ...  First it was about a Bruce Willis movie, and then about "The Wire"... and now the Discovery Channel's program.  Hmmm.... I have a lot to catch up on, eh .... maybe I can if I didn't have to grade essays :)

As always, feel free to post your rejoinders, questions, ....

I will get the next DQ out in the next couple of days

ps: if you read until here, you deserve another "groaner" ....

A woman had twins, and gave them up for adoption at birth.
One of the twins went to a family in Egypt, and was named "Amal." The other twin went to a family in Spain, and they named him "Juan."
Years later, Juan sent a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she told her husband that she wished she also had a picture of Amal.
Her husband responded, "But they are twins. If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal." 

(read the italics aloud if you don't get the pun at first!!!)