CONN 284

This course examines global values chains, which are the full range of activities across multiple countries required to bring a product from conception to its end use and beyond. We trace the entire life-cycle of goods from their beginnings as raw materials to products sold to consumers to discarded or recycled things. We analyze the political, economic, and social processes that shape the products¿ flow from beginning to end in the world. The course will focus especially on how profits are produced and often inequitably distributed in the world, how global value chains affect workers and the environment, and how the economic development of countries is shaped by their changing positions in global production networks. The course will draw on scholarship from international political economy, economic geography, and sociology. Goods and commodities that will be studied in the course include cocoa, palm oil, gold, plastics, clothing, electric vehicles, wildlife, and waste.

Offered every year.

AUDT - NO (Cannot be audited.), CO24 - CONN (Connections 200-400 Level)