Essay On International Trade

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1.1 Introduction: Economists have known that international trade is one of the most important ways in which societies can increase their standard of living, since the time of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, with their work on specialization and comparative advantage. There is a strong connection between international trade and economic growth which is known since long time ago. The Roman Empire is a good example; it got rich because it was able to trade over long distances. Another example is the spice trade which was between Europe and Asia; it was the first and a very good example of how trade between the two continents enriched both of them. The nineteenth century saw a very high rise in trade, big reduction in piracy, and huge improvements in the quality and speed of shipping. This was also the period in which modern economic growth first became established. However, during the wars, the international trade decreased which brought misery to millions of people. After the world war, the trade increased dramatically. International trade increased the standard of living for those in developed and developing countries. The modern world trades more than seven times as many goods as fifty years ago. If we take out the effects of inflation, the value of goods traded internationally has increased by more than 16-fold in the last half century. The fact that the value of international trade has been increasing more than the weight of goods traded means that the types of good being traded now have changed. Although bulk cargoes such as grain and oil remain important in volume terms, today high value added merchandize is critical. The increasing value of goods shipped means that the time matters. Trade is no longer concerned with low value... ... middle of paper ... ...eliability in exchange for lower costs. In contrast producers of relatively high-value goods, especially high-technology or other products with limited shelf life, will be more willing to pay higher prices for greater reliability. The last 25 years have seen a particular increase in the quantity of high-technology goods that are exported, often over very long distances. For that reason we concentrate particularly on the effects of logistics quality on trade. It is also worth noticing that it is transport and logistics cost, not tariffs that are the biggest barrier to trade. While reductions in tariffs would be extremely beneficial for particular products, reductions in transport costs are more important for trade as a whole. These reductions can be achieved both by governments reducing obstacles to trade, and by private sector logistics firms becoming more efficient.

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