How China’s Deskilled Factories Will Lead to a Low Carbon World: Who Wins, Who Loses?
27 Pages Posted: 13 May 2011 Last revised: 26 May 2014
Date Written: May 11, 2011
Abstract
This paper addresses the following matters:
(1) how deskilled factory production came to China and why it will be relied on by the West to transition to a low carbon economy;
(2) the equity concerns of solving global warming through reliance on Chinese-produced carbon-abating technology;
(3) what other policy and political measures are being used by China to combat climate change; and
(4) Given that much of the profit emerging from China is channelled into foreign pockets, a form of economic colonialism can be argued to exist under which China suffers a “double whammy”: it is liable for mitigating GHGs of foreign investors and consumers and its workers continue to struggle through life with demeaningly low pay.
Keywords: Global Warming, Deskilling, China, Environment, Low Carbon Technology Industries
JEL Classification: N55, O13, Q20, Q28
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