Instructor: Goetz Wolff
Office Hours: Tues 9—Noon; 5-6:00
Office: PPB 5367
(310) 206-4285
gwolff@ucla.edu

Teaching Assistant: Alexis Moreno
alexism@ucla.edu

Day & Time:  Tuesdays, 2:00 – 3:50
Classroom: PPB 2270

The Southern California economy would rank as the world's 12th largest economy if it stood alone as a nation. This course deals with the economic, social, historical, institutional, and geographical forces that are (re-) shaping the region. We will examine the following components of the regional economy:

- industrial restructuring (e.g., the transformation of the manufacturing base, the expansion of the "new economy" and the growth of the "informal" sector)

- increasing globalization resulting from trade, migration and capital mobility

- the growth of the immigrant labor force

- sharpening economic and social polarization at work and in communities

- labor, community, ethnic, and gender-based struggles for economic justice

- the confusion of government jurisdictions with multiple and overlapping roles

We will explore these issues that are shaping the regional economy through the prism of economic sectors, the geographic location of those sectors, and the labor force that works in those sectors.

A variety of scenarios are in circulation which project the future of the region in reaction to these political-economic crises and transformations. These scenarios range from the apocalyptic "Bladerunner" conceptions to optimistic images that suggest we are at the beginning of "The Next Act" in the continuing Hollywood-like success story of the region.

The goal of this course is to provide you with the conceptual tools that will lead to a clearer understanding of the complexity of the regional economy and how it bears on issues of planning and economic development.

The guiding question for the course will be: who benefits and who loses? In particular, we will seek to answer whether--and how--it is possible to harness the dynamics associated with new forms of industrialization, intensified global competition, and an increasingly complex set of interrelationships among capital, labor, and the state.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Class participation. The class will operate in a lecture/discussion context. Consequently, I want to encourage a collegial atmosphere of participation. We will relate the readings and topics of the course to current news reports about the regional economy. Sharing news reports and useful web sites about the regional economy will be rewarded. Promptness and regular attendance will be essential in order to ensure the beneficial sharing and exchanges that are part of the course.

Field Trips/Site Visits. Given the proximity to our primary subject, the course will include two all-class field trips. You should plan to set aside some extra time for these trips—they’ll be on Fridays: April 30 and June 4. In anticipation of the field trips, students will prepare a briefing paper on some aspect of the tour for their classmates. (Site visits might be needed in preparation for some of the individual student reports.)

Guest Speakers. We will have a number of experts on Los Angeles make presentations to the class, thus providing the opportunity for additional perspectives on the regional economy.

Independent work. Students will be expected to go beyond the required readings and keep up with current reports about the regional economy. In addition you will be navigating your way through libraries, databases and the internet while pursuing original sources through phone calls, site visits and interviews.

Products. Students will be responsible for two short briefing reports prepared for the bus tours on an aspect of the Los Angeles economy. These written reports will be presented orally as part of the bus tour. A longer, final in-depth paper presenting your own analysis of an aspect of the regional economy will be due at the end of the course. A more detailed assignment guide will be distributed to the class.

Readings. The reader for the course will be available at Course Reader Material in Westwood Village (next to Rite Aid), at 1141 Westwood Blvd. (310) 443-3303. To encourage reading of the materials, there will be nine short quizzes held at the beginning of class.

E-mail. Because the course seeks to include current economic events, you can expect to receive occasional e-mails from me with references to articles or copies of news stories that will be part of your supplementary reading assignments. Consequently, you should regularly check your e-mails.

Class Structure. In general, the first part of each class session will involve a brief reading quiz. That will be followed by a guest speaker. Following a break, the second half of the class will be devoted to reviewing and discussing the readings for the week and reflecting upon the presentations by the guest speak. The intent of this structure is to develop a dynamic of inquiry that will link published findings and analyses to presentations by experts—and thus encourage you to develop your own analyses.

Grading: Your contributions and learning will be assessed in a variety of forms:

Classroom participation – 10%

Bus tour briefings (two) – 30%

Reading quizzes (nine) - 30%

Final paper - 30%

(In lieu of a missed bus tour, a ten page paper which reviews the briefing papers will be required.)

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COURSE OUTLINE AND ACTIVITIES

WEEK 1 –Preliminary Overview of the Regional Economy

Tuesday, April 6

Introduction to the Course

WEEK 2 – History, Changes and Transformations in the Regional Economy

Tuesday, April 13

Speaker: Anthony Thigpenn, AGENDA and Metro Alliance

Laslett, John H. M. (1996). "Historical Perspectives: Immigration and the Rise of a Distinctive Urban Region, 1900-1970." Ethnic Los Angeles. R. Waldinger and M. Bozorgmehr. New York, Russell Sage Foundation: 39-75.

John R. Logan, and Harvey L. Molotch. 1987. "The City as Growth Machine." Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Pp 50-98.

Fulton, William (1997). "The Collapse of the Growth Machine." The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles. Point Arena, CA, Solano Press Books: 1-20.

WEEK 3 – Components of Economic Restructuring

Tuesday, April 20

Speaker: Bruce Devine, Chief Economist, Southern California Association of Governments

Soja, Edward, Rebecca Morales, and Goetz Wolff. 1983. "Urban Restructuring: An Analysis of Social and Spatial Change in Los Angeles." Economic Geography 59: 195-220.

Wednesday, April 21 – Noon – 1:30

Edna Bonacich, "Behind the Label: Inequality in the LA Apparel Industry" 5391-PPB

WEEK 4 - A World City?—and It’s Infrastructure Responses

Tuesday, April 27 -

Speaker: Gordon Palmer, Manager, Master Planning, Port of Long Beach

Speaker: Steve Erie, Prof. of Political Science, UCSD

Friedmann, John and Goetz Wolff. 1982. "World City Formation: An Agenda for Research and Action." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 6: 309-344.

Erie, Steven P. and Edward Rodriguez (1998). "Facing the Challenge of Expanding Southern California's Global Gateway." (Draft paper for the Pacific Council on International Policy)

Friday, April 30

BUS TOUR # 1 - The South Bay, The Ports and the Old Industrial Corridor - Dreamworks, El Segundo, the High Tech Corridor, Long Beach, San Pedro, north on the Alameda Corridor (Late Lunch in Huntington Park), cities of Vernon and Commerce, Downtown Los Angeles

Speaker: Benjamin Mark Cole, Senior Reporter, Los Angeles Business Journal

Office of Technology Assessment. 1995. "Technology and Location of Freight Transportation, Distribution, and Manufacturing Jobs," ch. 6 of The Technological Reshaping of Metropolitan America. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

Scott, Allen J. 1996. "The Manufacturing Economy: Ethnic and Gender Divisions of Labor." Pp. 215-244 in Roger Waldinger and Mehdi Bozorgmehr, (eds.) Ethnic Los Angeles.

WEEK 6 - The Recomposition of the Labor Force and Worker Responses

Tuesday, May 11

Speakers: Mizue Aizeki, HERE; Susan Conrad, SEIU; Eddie Iny, SEIU; William Kramer, ILWU; Quynh Nguyen, UFCW

Loucky, James, Maria Soldatenko, et al. (1994). Immigrant Enterprise and Labor in the Los Angeles Garment Industry. Global Production: The Apparel Industry in the Pacific Rim. L. C. Edna Bonacich, Norma Chinchilla, Nora Hamilton, and Paul Ong. Philadelphia, Temple University Press: 345-361.

Allen, James P. and Eugene Turner. 1997. "Ethnic Niches at Work." The Ethnic Quilt: Population Diversity in Southern California. Northridge: Center for Geographical Studies - California State University, Northridge, pp. 201-229.

Walker, R. A. (1995). "Putting Capital in its Place: Prospects for Labor Organizing in California," LAMAP.

WEEK 7 - Southern California's "New Economy" – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Tuesday, May 18

Speaker: Mark Dowling, The La Jolla Institute

Light, Ivan, and Elizabeth Roach. 1996. "Self-Employment: Mobility Ladder or Economic Lifeboat." Pp. 193-213 in Ethnic Los Angeles.

Kotkin, Joel, 1994. "The Next Act: Southern California's New Economy"

Cassidy, John.1998. "The Comeback." The New Yorker (February 23): 122-127.

WEEK 8 – High Technology/Entertainment/Multimedia

Tuesday, May 25

Speaker: Jack Kyser, Chief Economist, L.A. Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC)

Scott, Allen J. (1993). "The Southern Californian Technopolis in Context." Technopolis: High Technology Industry and Regional Development in Southern California. Berkeley, University of California Press., pp 3-16.

Collaborative Economics (1995) "The Entertainment Industry Cluster in the Southern California Region." California Economic Strategies Panel, Southern California Regional Forum.

WEEK 9 - The Service Economy - Tourism, Health Care, Banking, Producer Services

Tuesday, June 1

Speaker: Madeline Janis-Aparicio, Director, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)

Symski, G. A. and J. M. Veitch (1996). "Financing the Future in Los Angeles: From Depression to 21st Century." Pp. 35-55 in Rethinking Los Angeles. M. J. Dear, H. E. Shockman and G. Hise. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Beyers, William B. 1992. "Producer Services and Metropolitan Growth and Development." Pp. 125-146 in Sources of Metropolitan Growth, edited by Edwin S. Mills and John F. McDonald. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University.

Nord, Stephen and Robert G. Sheets (1992). "Service Industries and the Working Poor in Major Metropolitan Areas in the United States" pp. 255-278 in . Sources of Metropolitan Growth. Edited by E. S. Mills and J. F. McDonald. New Brunswick, NJ, Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers University.

Friday, June 4

BUS TOUR # 2 – The Valleys – San Fernando Valley - Old industrial core off the 405, then to Chatsworth and new industries, east to City of San Fernando, old industrial corridor of San Fernando Road, past Burbank Airport to Burbank media industries east through Glendale down to Lincoln Heights and back up to San Gabriel Valley - Pasadena to Irwindale, south into City of Industry/El Monte (late lunch in City of San Gabriel) and return through Alhambra, Monterey Park via Downtown

WEEK 10 - The Governmental Context of the Regional Economy: Development, Planning, Taxes, Public Services—and as an Employer (and Issues of Privatization)

Tuesday, June 8

Speaker: Robert Swayze, Mgr., Special Projects, L.A. County Community Development Corporation

John R. Logan, and Harvey L. Molotch. 1987. "The Dependent Future." Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Pp. 248-296

Review of the course: Where have we been? Where will the region be going?

Wednesday, June 9 – Noon – 1:30 – Kent Wong, "The Los Angeles Labor Movement: New Challenges and New Opportunities" 5391 PPB

FINALS WEEK -

Final paper due: Thursday, June 17