← Back to course website “The Global Economy – Environment, Development and Globalisation”

Here you can find the weekly readings that you need to prepare BEFORE we meet in class. Read and watch all the articles, book excerpts and videos that you can find under “Mandatory Reading/Watching” and keep the guiding questions for each week in mind. You should think about the questions on your own, as they serve as the basis for discussions in your discussion groups and in class. Under “Further Reading”, you can find other material that you can dig into, if you are interested in the topic.

PLEASE REPORT ANY BROKEN LINKS TO THE COURSE COORDINATORS

We are still awaiting some additional readings to be set by guest lecturers, so please revise this page in the week preceding the lecture

MODULE 1

The Birth of the Global Economy

Module Book:  Michael Goodwin, Economix: How Our Economy Works (and Doesn’t Work), in Words and Pictures (2012)

To be read in full by Literature Seminar 1, Wednesday October 3

Chapters to by read weekly according to Discussion Group Assignment instructions

• Week 1: Chapters 1 & 2
• Week 2: Chapters 3 & 4
• Week 3: Chapters 5 & 6
• Week 4: Chapters 7 & 8

Mon 03 Sep: Role-call & CEMUS Autumn Opening Lecture

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• All course information on the course homepage
• Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms (2010, 11min40)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Transcending Boundaries. How CEMUS is changing how we teach, meet and learn. Centre for sustainable development Uppsala.
  • For a background to CEMUS, it’s history and educational model

Wed 05 Sep: Course Introduction

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Loudres Beneria. On why economics is so resistant to change
• Rebellious Economics Students Have a Point – The New Yorker
• Welcome to the Anthropocene (2012, 3min38)

• Johan Rockström: Planetary Boundaries (2014, 4min02)

• The Impossible Hampster (2010, 1min09)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Boulding, Kenneth E. The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth 
• Schumpeter, Joseph. History of Economic Analysis. Intro & Plan
• Chang, Ha-Joon. Life, The Universe and Everything 

Mon 10 Sep: Neoclassical Economy 101

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Heinberg, Richard. The Great Balloon Race – Economic History in Ten Minutes
• Smith, Adam. Of the Division of Labour

Wed 12 Sep: Alternative Schools of Economic Thought

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History No. 33 (2012, 14min)

• Crash Course: Economic Schools of Thought (2015, 10min)

• Magnusson, L & Stråth, B (2016), “Chapter 1: The tale of Marx” in A Brief History of Political Economy Tales of Marx, Keynes and Hayek

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Milton Friedman: Socialism vs. Capitalism (1979, 2min29)

• Fear the boom and dust, a Hayek vs. Keynes rap anthem (2010, 7min) 

Mon 17 Sep: Economic Crises

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• The Economics Anti-Textbook – Postscript: a case study on the global financial meltdown
  • Ignore crossed out sections
• Major financial crises throughout history – overview: section 6
• Financial crises and political sentiments
• Trade wars and risk of recessions:
  • Video – mandatory, remainder of article – suggested
• Economic recessions and the environment
• David Harvey RSA: Crisis of Capitalism (2010, 11min)

• The 2008 Financial Crisis: Crash Course Economics (2015, 11min) 

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Major financial crises throughout history – overview: sections 1-5
• Financial stress and health
• Inside job – documentary on the US subprime crisis

Wed 19 Sep: A Short History of Globalisation

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• C.R. When Did Globalisation Start, The Economist
• Graeber, David. What Real Globalisation Would Mean
• Steger, Manfred B. Globalization – A Very Short Introduction
• Globalization (2011, 8min10)

• Globalization II – Good or Bad?: Crash Course World History (14min)

Mon 24 Sep: Ecological Economics

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Hahn, T (2014) Green Economy
• Spash, C. The Development of Environmental Thinking in Economics
• 300 years of fossil fuels in 300 seconds PCI (2010, 5min)

Wed 26 Sep: Systems Thinking

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Meadows, D. H. (2008), Thinking in Systems: A primer
  • Chapter 1 – The Basics
  • Chapter 6 – Leverage Points—Places to Intervene in a System
• Loops Consulting (2018) Chapter 1: An Introduction to Systems Modelling

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Meadows, D. H. (2008), Thinking in Systems: A primer
  • Remaining chapters

Mon 1 Oct: Defining Development

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Last minute addition but very important – Chapters 1, 2 & 7 (and missing page) of Gender, Development and Environmental Governance by Seema Arora-Jonsson
• Ziai, Aram (2007). “Chapter 1 Development discourse and its critics: An introduction to post-development” in Aram Ziai (ed) Exploring Post-development: Theory and Practice, Problems and Perspectives. Routledge
  • Only read pp. 3-10
• Hans Rosling’s 200 countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes – The Joy of Stats, BBC Four (2010, 4min47)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Arora-Jonsson, 2017, Blind spots in environmental policy-making: How beliefs about science and
  development may jeopardize environmental solutions.
• Arora-Jonsson et al, 2016, Carbon and Cash in Climate Assemblages
• Arora-Jonsson (2009) – Discordant Connections: Discourses on Gender and Grassroots Activism in Two Forest Communities in India and Sweden
  Esteva, Gustavo. Development, The Development Dictionary

Wed 3 Oct: Economix Literature Seminar & In-Class Quiz

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• For the Literature Seminar:
  • Review Economix, and discussion group submissions
  • Read Literature Seminar 1 Instructions and submit a discussion question to the padlet
• For the In-Class Quiz: Review past-readings and lecture material

MODULE 2

Understanding Economies

Module Book: Joseph Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work (2007)

To be read in full by Literature Seminar 2, Monday November 12

Mon 08 Oct: The Big Short Screening

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• If unable to attend, please watch The Big Short through your own means

Wed 10 Oct: International Trade Workshop

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Malik & Jan (2016) The role of outsourcing in driving global carbon emissions
• Najam, Runnals, & Halle (2010) Environment and Globalization Five Propositions

Mon 15 Oct: Tragedy of the Commons

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Battersby (2017) Can Humankind Escape the Tragedy of the Commons?
• Hardin, Garrett (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons
• Elinor Ostrom (2009) Sustainable development and the tragedy of commons (8min)

• What is the tragedy of the commons? (2017) (5min)

• Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Dell’Angelo, J (2017) The Tragedy of the Grabbed Commons: Coercion and Dispossession in the Global Land Rush
• Dietz et a (2003) The Struggle to Govern the Commons

Wed 17 Oct: Migration and Conflict

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• • Adger et al (2015) Focus on environmental risks and migration: causes and consequences
  • Sullivan, Kate (2016) Migration: new perspectives on an old story, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

‘Illegal’ Traveller : An Auto-Ethnography of Borders

Mon 22 Oct: Women in Labour: Gender (In)Equality

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• England, Paula (2005) Gender Inequality in Labor Markets: The Role of Motherhood and Segregation
• Wright, Melissa W. (2006). Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism. Routledge
  • Chapter 1

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Ridgeway, Cecilia L. (2011) The Persistence Of Inequality
• Wright, Melissa W. (2006). Disposable Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism. Routledge
  • Chapter 2

Wed 24 Oct: The Economics of War

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Karlén, Niklas (2016) Historical trends in external support in civil wars. SIPRI Yearbook 2016: Armaments, Disarmaments, and International Security, Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Hinnebusch, Raymond (2007) The US Invasion of Iraq: Explanations and Implications
• Geary, Will (2018) The United States of Arms, video

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Collier, Paul & Hoeffler, Anke (2004) Greed and grievance in civil war, Oxford economic papers 56(4)

Mon 29 Oct: Sun, Sea and Tax Avoidance: Corporations and Finance

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Zucman, et al. (2015). Ch 5: The Tax Avoidance of Multinational Corporations in The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens.
• Palan, Ronen, Richard Murphy, and Christian Chavagneux. Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works. Cornell University Press, 2009. Introduction Chapter, pages 1-13 
• The Guardian (2016). What are the Panama Papers? A guide to history’s biggest data leak
• Mining taxes: how Rio Tinto avoided $700 million in taxes (2018, 4min)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Galaz, V., Crona, B., Dauriach, A., Jouffray, J.-B., Österblom, H., & Fichtner, J. (2018). Tax havens and global environmental degradation. Nature Ecology & Evolution
• Inside Malaysia’s Shadow State (2013, 16min)

Wed 31 Oct: Alphabeti Spaghetti: An Introduction To International Institutions and Their Role in The Global Economy

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Vogler, John (2005). “The European Contribution to Global Environmental Governance”. International Affairs.  81(4):835-850
• Chasek, Pamela S. et al (2016). “Getting to 2030: Negotiating the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda” Review of European Comparative & International Environmental Law. Vol. 25 Issue 1, p5-14.
• Söderbaum Peter, (2014) The Role of Economics and Democracy in Institutional Change for Sustainability 

Mon 5 Nov: Revolving Doors: Investigating Conflicts of Interest in Global Climate Governance

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• The Greens, European Free Alliance (2018) Revolving Doors and the Fossil Fuel Industry: Time to tackle conflicts of interest in climate policy-making
• Conflicting Interests of Climate Negotiations
• Fossil fuel lobby could be forced to declare interests at UN talks

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Corporate Accountability, Polluting Paris!
• GLOBAL CORRUPTION REPORT: CLIMATE CHANGE
• Understanding the UNFCCC

Wed 7 Nov: The True Cost: Textile Industries and Modern-Day Slavery

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Anguelov, Nikolay (2016) The Dirty Side of the Garment Industry Fast Fashion and Its Negative Impact on Environment and Society
  • Chapter 8 Implications and Conclusions

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Afroza Begum, S.M. Solaiman, (2016) “Rana disaster: how far can we proceed with CSR?”, Journal
  of Financial Crime, Vol. 23 Issue: 4, pp.748-768
• Bebbington, J., Spijkers, J., and Österblom, H. Slavery in marine fisheries. THE AMERSFOORT DIALOGUE
  Background briefs.
• Anguelov, Nikolay (2016) The Dirty Side of the Garment Industry Fast Fashion and Its Negative Impact on Environment and Society
  • Chapter 1 From Fashion to Fast Fashion
  • Chapter 5 The Carbon Footprint of Textile Manufacturing for
    Fast Fashion
  • Chapter 6 The Direct and Social Costs of Low Prices
  • Chapter 7 The Economics, Demographics, and Ethics of the
    Low Price Quest
  • Other chapters according to interest

• The True Cost (2015) (1hr32min) [Available via Netflix]
• RiverBlue: Can Fashion Save the Planet? (2016) (1hr35min) (if you can find it)

Mon 12 Nov: Literature Seminar 2: Making Globalization Work + Debating Workshop

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Joseph Stiglitz, Making Globalization Work (2007)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Get a head start on readings for the debate to apply in the debating workshop

Wed 14 Nov: Debate

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Sonnreich, T (2010) Training Guide for University Debating Tips, Tactics and First Principles.
  • Chapter 4: Making Arguments from First Principles.
    Chapter 5: Rebuttal from First Principles
  • Chapter 9: Manner
  • Note that this applies to a different debating style, so overlook anything that does not seem applicable to our debating style
• Member Training Handbook (2010), Monash Association of Debaters 
  • Chapter 1: Introduction to Public Speaking
  • Chapter 12: Environmental Theory
  • Chapter 13: Economics
  • Note that this applies to a different debating style, so overlook anything that does not seem applicable to our debating style
• In-Class Debate Rules
• Debate Template

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• General review of course material
  • Don’t get bogged down on the details, rather review what the key ethical dilemmas and challenges are in the Global Economy.
• Sonnreich, T (2010) Training Guide for University Debating Tips, Tactics and First Principles.
  • Chapter 7: Classic Aff Mistakes and Opp Tactics.
  • Chapter 8: General Tactical Mistakes
  • other sections according to interest.

MODULE 3

Possible (R)evolution(s)

Module Book: Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist (2017)

To be read in full by Monday December 10 when we have our lecture with Kate Raworth

Mon 19 Nov: Destabilising the Establishment: An Introduction to Degrowth

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• • Demaria et al (2014) What is degrowth? From an activist slogan to a social movement?
  • Kallis et al (2018) Research on degrowth
  • Jason Hickel (2017) ‘Our addiction to economic growth is killing us’ (2 min) 

• • Sam Bliss (2015) Why growth and the environment can’t coexist (4 min)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• • Parrique, Timothée Memories of Life After Growth (8min)

Wed 21 Nov: Free Session: Preparation for Sustainability Festival

Mon 26 Nov: Reinventing the Wheel? An Introduction to the Circular Economy

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Korhonen, J et al (2018)  Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations
• Walter R. Stahel, (2016) Circular economy

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Geissdoerfer et al. (2017). The Circular Economy e A new sustainability paradigm?. Journal of Cleaner Production 143.

Wed 28 Nov: Pursuing Profit? An Introduction to Non-Profit Business Models

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Hinton, Jennifer and Maclurcan, Donnie (2017) A not-for-profit world beyond capitalism and economic growth?
• The YHA Brand Story (2016 4min40) 
  
  • Questions to ponder:
    • How does the video portray the mission of the company? How does it deal with money? How is it similar to most companies that you’re familiar with? How is it different? What kind of role does the YHA play in the economy? How might the economy be different if all businesses were more like the YHA?

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Hinton, Jennifer and Maclurcan, Donnie ( expected 2018) “First Chapter for Supporters” in How on Earth: Flourishing in a Not-for-Profit World by 2050

Mon 3 Dec: Finding Resilience in the Soil: An Introduction to Agricultural Reform

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Agricultural Transformation Review
  • Hoffman, Ulrich and Rundgren, Gunnar (2018) How to cope with largely dysfunctional market signals for soil stewardship? pp. 46-51
  • Rundgren, Gunnar (2018) The dream of food without dirt. pp. 37-46
• Rundgren, Gunnar (2015) Food: From Commodity to Commons

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• Patel, Raj and McMichael, Philip (2009) A Political Economy of the Food Riot

Wed 5 Dec: Making the Transition: An Introduction to the Transition Town Movement

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• • Connors, Phil and McDonald, Peter (2010) Transitioning communities: community, participation and the Transition Town movement
  • My Town in Transition: Rob Hopkins at TEDxExeter (18min)

Further Reading/Watching/Tasks:

• 21 Stories of Transition (skim read)

Mon 10 Dec: Finding the Sweet Spot: An Introduction to Doughnut Economics

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• • Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist (2017)
    • Entire book completed by this date
  • Kate Raworth: Introducing ‘The Doughnut’ of social and planetary boundaries for development (2012, 4min) 

Wed 12 Dec: Literature Seminar 3: Doughnut Economics + Prep. for Collab. Exam

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Review Doughnut Economics

Mon 17 Dec: Collaborative Exam

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Review all course material

Wed 19 Dec: Course Finale & Evaluation

Mandatory Reading/Watching:

• Complete course evaluation if unable to attend