The Price of Diamonds Is Too High
For centuries the diamond has fascinated man for its alluring sparkle and physical hardness. Formed about three billion years ago, the diamond may very well be the oldest and most precious item any person can own. The internationally accepted notion that this commodity is one of the most treasurable commodity of them all has led to the public being prepared to pay the prices that are set by a group of companies in an agreement known as a cartel. This essay will evaluate the diamond market on a microeconomic level and discuss how the diamond cartel came about, what has allowed it to operate for decades, as well as how it determines the price of diamonds. In addition, this essay will, by aid of diagrams and graphs, assess what the price of diamonds would be in the absence of cartels, and demonstrate why the price of diamonds is not too high.
Up until the 19th century, diamonds were considered to be one of the most prized possessions that could be found, hence they were reserved only for those who are the heads of royal families. However, this all changed when English-born businessman Cecil John Rhodes bought up diamond fields in South Africa as well as claims to the diamonds and began the company ‘De Beers’, named after two brothers who had found deposits of the commodity on their land, which made it possible for the general public to own a piece of this precious stone – at a high price.
The rough diamond that is beneath the surface must undergo several stages of production before being transformed into the diamond that is used in jewellery. These stages of production are costly and this was the shortfall of many of the diamond mining companies, and thus a merger was formed. The agreement b...
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...orms of society that have been set by the successful cartel De Beers and welcomed by the public, a diamond ring is indeed the only acceptable engagement ring – the ultimate symbol of love and romance.
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Goldschein, E. 2011. The Incredible Story Of How De Beers Created And Lost The Most Powerful Monopoly Ever. Available: http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-de-beers-2011-12?op=1
Kochevrin, I.B. 1979. Cartel Price. The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia. The Gale Group
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Spar, D.L. 2006. Markets: Continuity and Change in the International Diamond Market. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 20(3): 195-208
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As one of the greatest European empire builders of all time, Cecil Rhodes was a huge supporter of imperialism, sharply contrasting Hobson. He founded the De Beers Mining Company in South Africa and gained tremendous profits from his foreign enterprise. Ambitiously seeking to earn even more profits, Rhodes expanded his claims to various diamond mines around the world, eventually owning about 90% of the world’s production of diamonds. Even though he became one of the richest men in the world, Rhodes’ main ambition was not actually to obtain massive wealth; his true wish was “to render [him]self useful to [his] country” (Rhodes 4). His ambition to expand his diamond company by acquiring new mining territory and his wish to serve his country eventually ...
DeBeers founded in 1880’s became the world’s largest diamond mining and trading company in the world. When DeBeers was established it controlled around 45% of the world’s diamond production and sold over 80% of all diamonds produced. DeBeers used underhand tactics to remove smaller diamond mines and punished those who tried to break away from the DeBeers “empire”.
Engagement rings initially served a double purpose. In the days when brides were purchased, these rings were partial payment for the bride in addition to symbolizing the groom's intentions and woman's agreement. Diamonds were first found in Medieval Italy and due to their hardness symbolized enduring love.
Average price of every piece sold was more than twice of US or Europe as size and quality of diamonds is greater.
Diamonds can be created through both geologic forces and man-made processes. However they are made diamonds have many uses. In the first part of this essay we will look at the geologic forces involved in the making of a diamond. Next we will examine the man-made processes. In closing we will take a brief look at the many uses of diamonds.
The CFDC will continue to campaign and inform people on how to make sure that their purchase is conflict free and to gain support from the diamond trade in educating consumers. With the help of these organizations and many others, it will help save the lives of millions from violence or death. Works Cited The Conflict-Free Diamond Council. 2004.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
1.0 Introduction Historically, most of earliest diamonds were found in India where the first diamond mine in the world were developed (Edward and Hausel 2002). Today, diamond deposits are found in some locations as different situations. For instance, diamonds have been found and mined in southern Africa and the largest deposits are currently in Siberia (Yelisseyev et al., 2013). However, the largest diamond mine in the world is at Argyle in northern Western Australia that produces 25 million carats of diamonds a year and around 30% of the world's production (Andrew, 1998).
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
Santarossa, B. (2004, January 13). Diamonds: Adding lustre to the Canadian economy. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2004008-eng.htm
iii. India dominates the world’s cut and polished diamonds (CPD) market. In value terms, the country accounts for approximately 55 percent of global polished diamond market and nearly 9 percent of the jewellery market. According to GJEPC's provisional estimate, cut and polished diamonds registered 19.06 percent growth in exports at US$ 7.11 mn.
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond companies like De Beers2 to start a pre-emptive PR (public relationship) campaign, even before the movie was released to inform people that their diamonds are conflict-free.
To understand the various parts and faceting structure, let's take brilliant round cut diamond into consideration.
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.