Economic development deals with the issue of international trade and how it impacts less developed countries. However, the global North and South do not play by the same rules. Globalization has pushed international trade upon countries, which has left immature developing industries in the South. As the main protectionist policy, farming cultivates one of the main cases to illustrate the discriminatory trade policies facing developing countries. Estimated around a $350 billion the U.S., EU, and Japan utilize farm subsidies to protect their domestic farmers. These policies have devastating effects on international trade in the developing world. Yet, international trade is not a straightforward process. Global trading deals have been bargained, traded, and negotiated for decades and can take a prolonged term to alter.
First, Todaro and Smith (2011) state that globalization has to power for good and evil, by both allowing knowledge transfers and extending the market; however, it can facilitate a poverty trap for the LDCs. For almost two years, the Netherland African Business Council (NABC) has been providing programs to foster knowledge transfer within African countries. The instructors train small-scale African farmers cutting-edge techniques that generate more revenue and decrease hassle. Globalization generates the capacities to spread knowledge across the planet. Yet, international trade also has a negative as the NABC’s program states its second goal to strengthen its agricultural ties in Africa. Trade is bargaining and the NABC is betting that knowledge transfers generate good will among Africans; thus allowing them to sell their products to a new market. Effectively, by extending their products into the African market, the ...
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...st the market driven fair traders. Mission driven commits to long-term producers and pay more than the price floor to offset rising production cost. Market driven firms limit their liability and offer the bottom floor of prices and term contracts with products. Quality driven fall somewhere in-between because they have good standing partnerships, but a focus on quality over principles. Reynolds claims market driven firms are in for the halo effect to enhance their corporate image with ethical consumers while skimming the line of fair trade. In sum, Reynolds says that the principles and market of fair trade are important, but need to be balanced. To focus on the market opportunities may lose sight of the key principles within fair trade. Thus, Reynolds reinforces Todaro and Smiths’ intentions: the principles of equality should take precedence over the market forces.
Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the production of this popular sweet benefits. Today, over 70 percent of the world’s chocolate is exported from Africa (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 10). While chocolate industry flourishes under international demand, the situation in Côte d’Ivoire in particular illustrates dependency theory and highlights the need for the promotion of Fair Trade. Chocolate has had a considerable impact on the country’s economic structure and labor practices.
Patel’s first two chapters focus on international trade agreements. He argues that free trade may not have any real benefits when weighed against the drawbacks it causes, specifically, the inescapable poverty and the sense of hopelessness it establishes for farmers. A large focus of Patel’s book is on the very high, and still ris...
The Statue of Liberty is an American icon because it symbolizes freedom, success, and the power of this nation. This image is what the U.S stands for to the outside world. Foreigners strive to move to America because of its wealth and acceptance towards all races and ethnicity. “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” recounts the story of how Carlos Garcia, Laura Garcia, and their four girls move from the Dominican Republic to the United States to escape a dictatorship, and establish a new life in flourishing New York City. Many unexpected culture shocks await them in their new country. Although the girls find it difficult to adapt at first, they soon begin to assimilate and Americanize. On the other hand, “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl” by Elizabeth Wong illustrates the life of an Asian American having to embrace two entirely different cultural identities. Both the Garcia family and Elizabeth Wong's family have to deal with two opposing cultures without losing too much of their heritage. The book and the essay are similar in that characters in each story lose much of their original tradition. However, they are different in that the families move to the states for distinctive reasons, and the cultural preference of “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl” is more evident than that of “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”.
Gonzalez, Carmen G. "Institutionalizing Inequility: The WTO Agreement on Agriculture, Food Security and Developing Countries." Columbia Journal of Enviromental Law (2002): 431-487.
In “God, Design, and Fine-Tuning”, Robin Collins argues for the Intelligent Design of the universe from the Fine-Tuning Argument. Collins’ argument is probabilistic in nature; however, it fails due to its misuse of probability theory. Aided by the work of both Bradley Monton and Mark Colyvan, I will show why Collins’ argument fails. It can be shown that this line of reasoning concludes that the existence of a life permitting universe is zero. Essentially, Collins’ argument does not prove what he claims it does and is too strong to account for the existence of a life permitting universe because it not only misuses probability, but is rendered useless due to the paradoxes inherent in probability theory.
Fair Trade will partner with corporations such as manufacturers, retailers and other companies who are associated with buying produce from producers in undeveloped c...
Globalization has changed the way that everyone conducts business. Throughout history, man has constantly increasing its scope from a local agrarian economy, to cottage industries, to domestic industry, to the newly globalized international framework of commerce that exists today. This progression is quite logical, as it ever increases the efficiency at which products are produced and services are rendered. However, when put in context, the theoretical maximization of efficiency may have dire consequences on independent nations. The over specialization of nations' industries, in the effort of globalization and efficiency, also has the effect of reducing internal commercial infrastructure. This paper examines economic protectionism, and highlights two situations in which its use is fully warranted.
The outcome and effects of the Uruguay Round very much influenced the conditions for the launch of the Doha Round. The Uruguay Round had extended considerably the realm of world trade rules with agreements on intellectual property and trade in services in ex- change for finally tackling agricultural protectionism on a broader scale and getting rid of the textile and clothing quotas. However, no substantial liberalization had been accomplished in either services or agriculture. For this reason, further liberalization negotiations at the beginning of the new millennium would start on these two issues, the “built-in agenda”. This Uruguay Round package has sometimes been characterized as the “North-South grand bargain”. However, the bargain turned out to be a “bum deal” in the eyes of some developing countries. These countries came to see the balance of the Uruguay Round’s outcome as tipped against their interests.
... due to growing sales figures, but equally importantly on a personal level: increasing the well-being of the most marginalized people, the Fair trade movement gives hope by improving trading conditions for farmers and workers in the developing world a little bit every day, hoping that one day, all ‘conventional’ trade will be Fair. Fair trade emerged as a social movement commitment to challenge global inequalities. This initiative’s engagement in the transnational terrain of alternative globalization carries great normative strength in theory. FT can gain prominence in the theorization of an alternative globalization and create a breakthrough in producer consumer relations, if the problems with ‘practice’ are understood and accommodated in ‘theory’ which is responsive to the needs of the local context, thereby kick-starting a revolutionary process of ‘development’.
It is very important that developing countries, share in the growth and expansion that international trade can bring to them. The W.T.O. agreement recognizes the importance of how international trade can boost the economics of third world countries. In the recent economic crisis that affected us on a global scale the decline of exports in developing was smaller than those of developed country. Not all countries do or are able to participate equally in international trade because they may suffer from political and/or economic uncertainties. Asia and the US are leaders among the import/export trade while Africa, Latin America and the Middle East are minor contributors in the world trade
Even in a world focused on the benefits free trade and aimed at achieving the goal of free trade, states are protectionist by nature. Unfortunately, the design of the international system allows for stronger nations to be more protectionist, leaving the weaker states even more vulnerable. A study that is more intensive than a critical commentary should be devoted to analyzing the impact of free trade on developing nations. I was limited to the readings and prior knowledge, and thus couldn’t provide a sufficient analysis on the fair treatment of developing nations. I was skeptical of the one reading that focused on fairness of international institutions because of the statistics that indicate these nations have not done well in recent decades. I would like to look into this more given more time and resources.
Globalisation has been one of the most significant developments of the last half century, and issues such as trade and international commerce have become increasingly important. In consequence, problems such as poverty, unfair wages and poor working conditions in third world countries have been drawn to the attention of consumers (Hayes and Moore, 2007). This is a growing global issue which cannot be ignored by anyone concerned about the problems in developing countries. Free trade and Fair Trade have both been offered as solutions to these issues.
Moreover, international trade can be more effective in reducing poverty than outright aid in which trade can help any country become self-sufficient, rather than relying on foreign assistance. However, there are, many disparities within the present global trade system that work against poor countries. That is regulated by a set of rules created by governments over the years. In general, poor countries don't have access to developed countries’ markets because of the barriers of trade and agricultural. It’s difficult for poor countries, because of trade barriers, to sell their products abroad and develop their living conditions. While free trade benefits everyone, governments sometimes aim to protect their goods and markets by providing subsidies to local rules and producers, or creating barriers like tariffs and quotas. This particular practice is known as Protectionism; which can be identified as the economic policies and procedures of controlling trade between states...
In normal international business operations, complications arise in decision-making. Laws help define the broader ethical and social responsibility each company has to the government and its people; however, these are only the minimum requirements and need additional morality tests. Behaviors may not be illegal, but does not mean their actions are considered morally acceptable. Thus, company practices should follow above the legal lines and practice at moral requirements. Thus, an applicable ethical response to both, class two and three corruptions would be severe, while class one corruption would lay in a grey area of concern.
...liberalisations have had adverse consequences for some – including the poorest people – but should we automatically condemn trade initiatives because it means that one person loses or is pushed into poverty? The identification of hardship arising from a generally desirable policy reform should stimulate the search for complementary policies to minimise the adverse consequences and reduce the hurt that they unintentionally cause (Winters, 2002). ‘No country has successfully developed its economy by turning its back on international trade and long-term foreign investment’; although trade alone may not offer a solution for poverty reduction, the OECD and DFID have recently published reports identifying that combining aid and trade initiatives and encouraging the integration of trade and aid could progressively and sustainably alleviate poverty (OEDC, 2009; DFID, 2005).