Free trade

The revolutionary theory of Mercantilism functions by offsetting trade between a mother country and a network of smaller subsidiary colonies. Mercantilism’s sole purpose is to benefit the mother country at the expense of its colonies. Because Britain created stringent mercantile policies for colonial trade, a catastrophic war for American independence erupted into conflict. In 1651, Britain enacted its first mercantile trade policy known as the Navigation Act. By implementing the Navigation…

Earlier in the class we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of free trade. We concluded that benefits of free trade outweigh its drawbacks and that our society would ultimately be better off with free trade. Yet most people are against this idea and believe that we should protect our domestic production by implementing trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas as well as canceling the existing regional trade agreements. In the article we see how presidential candidates use this matter as…

American exceptionalism can be a contributing factor leading them to want to excel even on trade. Nevertheless, trade is not about who is the winner in the game, trade is about who has a better comparative advantage. In the eyes of the world, America’s number one place is getting obscured by that of China to the point that Americans see it as a backlash. In reality China is changing so rapidly that I am afraid America will be able to keep up with China. But China’s rapid growth should not be an…

tariffs and other trade barriers across the world smothered world trade. Hopeful that they could reverse the trend of protectionism, the delegates at Havana incorporated the GATT’s aim “To promote on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis the reduction of tariffs and other barriers to trade” into the Havana Charter (Article 1.4). As a general rule, quantitative measures on import and exports were forbidden by the commercial section of the…

Very quickly after Singapore’s foundation by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819, she experienced rapid growth during her first century under British government. Various economic and political factors largely-free trade and capital flows, a common currency with neighboring British territories, free inflow of migrant labor, regional and international treaties-played a crucial part to accelerate her growth. I shall outline the economic and political factors separately and will explain how those factors…

be minimal. The United Kingdom staying in the European Union would include keeping treaties with other countries also in the EU, citizens of the EU would be able to have jobs they want from free movement, control may seem limited by staying but it really is not, trade between countries will remain easy and free, and labor shortages will hold back the economy. Many benefits would come with the United Kingdom staying in the European Union. One of them being that they could keep the same…

Adam Smith and mercantilists had very different views on the role of government in the economy. Adam Smith strongly believed that government intervention should be kept at a minimum and that for the majority of the time, it is unnecessary because the markets will balance out themselves due to his theory of the ‘invisible’ hand. This theory is that all goods have a ‘natural’ price and that the market price naturally gravitates towards this natural price. The market price of goods may at times be…

Humanizing Trade: Economic Growth and its implications on Poverty. Mahatma Gandhi once wrote, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Few would disagree. Rural poverty, low-wage jobs, poor labor rights and lopsided trade policies are fast killers of human capability and encourage extremist behavior. To reduce poverty, neoclassical economists & neoliberal politicians argue that trade liberalization contributes to overall growth, however, growth is simply not enough, trade should only be…

milestone, which detailed existing bilatera l free - trade ag reements (FTA’s) “The United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) signed the United States - Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) ” (Office of United States Trade, n.d.,para.5) . Included with in KORUS is the gradually remov al of trade barriers – tariffs . Earlier milestone f ocused on facilitation of trade. T his paper will explore the implications of trade barriers , defining winners and losers .…

Trade between countries is said to make all participating parties better off through an increase in productivity, that is, by allowing them to consume at a point outside the production possibilities frontier. The United States has been engaging in trade since its conception, and policies have grown and changed with the fluctuations of our economy over the past two centuries. One specific policy that has gained notoriety recently is The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade agreement over…