Cuz Potter

River of Traffic: The Spatial Fragmentation of US Ports

Potter C. River of traffic: the spatial fragmentation of US ports, Regional Studies. Containerization has spatially fragmented the physical functions of US ports by reducing the friction of moving freight through ports to inland destinations. Previous studies of this shift have focused on case studies or selected municipalities. Employing descriptive statistics, regression analysis and geographical information system (GIS) mapping to explore shifts in longshoring, warehousing and trucking employment across the United States, this paper provides two major findings. First, employment in labour-intensive transportation activities, notably warehousing and trucking, is primarily driven by proximity to population concentrations rather than to port infrastructure. Second, a significant proportion of warehousing employment has migrated, forming a band approximately 200–300 kilometres inland.

Austerity in reverse: Korea, capabilities, and crisis

ABSTRACT Development is austerity in reverse. And austerity is development in reverse, a form of de-development. This paper argues that austerity is a neoliberal technology for returning countries to positive economic growth that reduces social spending and thereby reverses development. Drawing on Sen and Nussbaums human capabilities approach, an exploration of Koreas development since 1960 supports this and three additional claims. First, the expansion of capabilities in Korea is tied to democratization and exponential increases in social spending. Second, Koreas experience with financial crises and austerity programmes demonstrate that increased social spending is compatible with rapid recovery. Third, Koreas roll out of neoliberal technologies and economic transformation since the 1980s have undermined the capabilities developed during earlier industrialization. Fourth, the importance of housing as a vital tool for political legitimation, especially since democratization, has sustained political interest in providing better housing, suggesting that social movements are essential to protecting social spending.