scholarly journals Onshoring Through Automation; Perpetuating Inequality?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Studley
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
Job Functions ◽  
Wage Share ◽  
Labour Costs ◽  
Standards Of Living

Many analyses of the ethical, legal and societal impacts of robotics are focussed on Europe and the United States. In this article I discuss the impacts of robotics on developing nations in a connected world, and make the case that international equity demands that we extend the scope of our discussions around these impacts. Offshoring has been instrumental in the economic development of a series of nations. As technology advances and wage share increases, less labour is required to achieve the same task, and more job functions move to new areas with lower labour costs. This cascade results in a ladder of economic betterment that is footed in a succession of countries, and has improved standards of living and human flourishing. The recent international crisis precipitated by COVID-19 has underlined the vulnerability of many industries to disruptions in global supply chains. As a response to this, “onshoring” of functions which had been moved to other nations decreases risk, but would increase labour costs if it were not for automation. Robotics, by facilitating onshoring, risks pulling up the ladder, and suppressing the drivers for economic development. The roots of the economic disparities that motivate these international shifts lie in many cases in colonialism and its effects on colonised societies. As we discuss the colonial legacy, and being mindful of the justifications and rationale for distributive justice, we should consider how robotics impacts international development.

Anne O. Krueger, Constantine Michalopoulos and Vernon W. Ruttan. Aid and Development. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1989. xiv + 386 pp.Price: U.S. $ 52.00

1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

Foreign aid has been the subject of much examination and research ever since it entered the economic armamentarium approximately 45 years ago. This was the time when the Second World War had successfully ended for the Allies in the defeat of Germany and Japan. However, a new enemy, the Soviet Union, had materialized at the end of the conflict. To counter the threat from the East, the United States undertook the implementation of the Marshal Plan, which was extremely successful in rebuilding and revitalizing a shattered Western Europe. Aid had made its impact. The book under review is by three well-known economists and is the outcome of a study sponsored by the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of assistance, i.e., aid, on economic development. This evaluation however, was to be based on the existing literature on the subject. The book has five major parts: Part One deals with development thought and development assistance; Part Two looks at the relationship between donors and recipients; Part Three evaluates the use of aid by sector; Part Four presents country case-studies; and Part Five synthesizes the lessons from development assistance. Part One of the book is very informative in that it summarises very concisely the theoretical underpinnings of the aid process. In the beginning, aid was thought to be the answer to underdevelopment which could be achieved by a transfer of capital from the rich to the poor. This approach, however, did not succeed as it was simplistic. Capital transfers were not sufficient in themselves to bring about development, as research in this area came to reveal. The development process is a complicated one, with inputs from all sectors of the economy. Thus, it came to be recognized that factors such as low literacy rates, poor health facilities, and lack of social infrastructure are also responsible for economic backwardness. Part One of the book, therefore, sums up appropriately the various trends in development thought. This is important because the book deals primarily with the issue of the effectiveness of aid as a catalyst to further economic development.

The Rise of Anchor Institutions and the Threat to Community Health: Protecting Community Wealth, Building Community Power

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence T. Brown ◽  
Ashley Bachelder ◽  
Marisela B. Gomez ◽  
Alicia Sherrell ◽  
Imani Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Anchor Institutions ◽  
Health Related Research ◽  
Research Parks ◽  
Wealth Building

Academic institutions are increasingly playing pivotal roles in economic development and community redevelopment in cities around the United States. Many are functioning in the role of anchor institutions and building technology, biotechnology, or research parks to facilitate biomedical research. In the process, universities often partner with local governments, implementing policies that displace entire communities and families, thereby inducing a type of trauma that researcher Mindy Thompson Fullilove has termed “root shock.” We argue that displacement is a threat to public health and explore the ethical implications of university-led displacement on public health research, especially the inclusion of vulnerable populations into health-related research. We further explicate how the legal system has sanctioned the exercise of eminent domain by private entities such as universities and developers.Strategies that communities have employed in order to counter such threats are highlighted and recommended for communities that may be under the threat of university-led displacement. We also offer a critical look at the three dominant assumptions underlying university-sponsored development: that research parks are engines of economic development, that deconcentrating poverty via displacement is effective, and that poverty is simply the lack of economic or financial means. Understanding these fallacies will help communities under the threat of university-sponsored displacement to protect community wealth, build power, and improve health.

Comparative analysis of the trade policy of Barack Obama and Donald Trump

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-71
Author(s):  
V. Iordanova ◽  
A. Ananev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
World Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Entire World

The authors of this scientific article conducted a comparative analysis of the trade policy of US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. The article states that the tightening of trade policy by the current President is counterproductive and has a serious impact not only on the economic development of the United States, but also on the entire world economy as a whole.

Response: The Use of Economic Anthropology in Economic Development

1995 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-323
Author(s):  
Rhoda H. Halperin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Analytical Methods ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Research ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Street Vending ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
History Of

The author comments on the use of anthropological methodologies in economic development research and practice in a developed economy such as the United States. The focus is the article by Morales, Balkin, and Persky on the closing of Chicago's Maxwell Street Market in August 1994. The article focuses on monetary losses for both buyers (consumers of market goods) and sellers (vendors of those goods) resulting from the closing of the market. Also included are a brief history of the market and a review of the literature on the informal economy. The authors measure “the value of street vending” by combining ethnographic and economic analytical methods.

Russia and the Iraq War: was Putin’s policy a failure?

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galia Golan
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Difficult Time ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
Russian President ◽  
Post War ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has been faced with numerous crises since coming to office in 2000, most importantly the war in Chechnya, the Iraq War was the first major international crisis with which his administration was confronted. As in the case of Kosovo for Yeltsin, and the Gulf War for Gorbachev, the Russian President had to deal with conflicting domestic pressures and apparently still more conflicting Russian national and international interests. Indeed, one result of such a situation was a post-war accusation that Putin actually had no policy or at least no consistent policy with regard to the Iraq crisis [Golan, G., 1992. Gorbachev’s difficult time in the Gulf. Political Science Quarterly 107 (2), 213–230]. One may remember similar accusations of Gorbachev’s ‘‘zigzaging’’ in the Gulf War and claims that the Yeltsin government failed to forge a Kasovo policy altogether [Levitin, O., 2000. Inside Moscow’s Kosovo muddle. Survival 42 (1), 130]. Yet, a certain pattern did appear to repeat itself in the Iraqi crisis, namely, pre-war efforts to prevent a military conflict from breaking out, then gradual escalation of rhetoric if not actual involvement, and finally gradual but relatively rapid retreat to conciliatory posture toward the United States (in all three crises). Moreover, Putin was indeed consistent throughout the pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis periods in his opposition to the Americans’ use of force against Iraq and in the need to remain within a United Nations framework. Actually, one might ask (and we shall below) why Putin did not abandon the first part of this policy, in order to maintain the second component, when it became certain that the U.S. was going to attack, with or without UN Security Council approval.

An Evaluation of ‘Process as Product’ in OTI Sri Lanka: A Typology of Community-Level Peacebuilding Activities and Programming Recommendation

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-34
Author(s):  
Lee R. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
International Development ◽  
Community Setting ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Project Impact ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
Programme Development ◽  
Definition Of

This paper presents a set of best practices and lessons learned from a set of 93 impact evaluations conducted on community-level, small grants activities implemented between March 2003 and September 2007 by the Sri Lanka country programme of the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It analyses the change theories that guided programme development and common trends in impact which emerged, and discusses ways in which programme staff can improve project impact. It provides a working definition of ‘process’, a key element of OTI's approach and a key concept used by facilitators to understand the work they do with groups and communities. It also delineates a general typology of peacebuilding projects likely to emerge in the community setting. Finally, it formulates a postulate for predicting and observing generic programme impact based upon the relative richness of process, which is considered useful for informing further research design.

Democratization, Nationalism and Regional Security in the Southern Caucasus

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Neil MacFarlane
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Independent States

FOR SOME YEARS NOW, WESTERN ACADEMICS AND POLICY-MAKERS HAVE embraced the cause of democratic reform in Central and Eastern Europe. To take but one well-known example, President Clinton in the 1994 State of the Union Address cited the absence of war among democracies as a reason for promotion of democracy around the world. Assistance to former Warsaw Pact and newly independent states has been made conditional to varying degrees on the acceptance of democratic change. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and associated non-governmental organizations have unleashed armies of promoters of democracy throughout the region to: observe elections; monitor human rights; draft new constitutions and laws defending civil and political rights; train judges and police personnel; and organize and assist political parties, media and non-governmental pressure groups. In short, they have sought to transplant the fabric of civil society and democratic institutions. These armies have landed on terrain often quite foreign to them and have often displayed little sensitivity to the social, economic and political context in which they are operating. This may have contributed to results other than those intended.

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