Summary:
World trade is inevitable. Barriers such as nationalism, protective barriers and political agendas impede the inevitable and harm individual and national growth.
Trade is the global transaction of goods. This transaction is by two factors, import and export. Import is when a country buys products or materials from another country and brings them into their own country. Export is when a country sells goods to another country and they are moved out of the country. There are three kinds of goods: primary (raw materials such as iron ore or sugar cane), secondary (manufactured goods such as steel or computers) and tertiary (services such as financial advice or house keeping). Development is the advance or improvement of a country; socially, economically or technologically. Countries around the world are at different stages of development. A MEDC (More Economically Developed Country) is a richer country then a LEDC (Less Economically Developed Country).
To find out which a country is, various measurements are taken by the UN (United Nations is a world organization set up to help solve global disputes and it provide help for countries in need). For example the Gross National Product (GNP) per person: which is the total value of all products and services produced by a country, divided by the number of people in it. The higher the GNP the more developed it is. Birth rates, fertility rates, agricultural workforce, human development, energy consumed, average annual population change, death rates, urban population and are all other measurements. Birth rate is measured by number of children born every year per one thousand people. Death rates are measured in the same way with only the number of deaths changing instead of number of births. Fertility rates are measured on average of how many children a woman gives birth to. Energy consumed is the number of energy consumed by one thousand people and human development is the social development or living standards, which is measured by population per doctor, sanitation, education and life expectancy. Average annual population change speaks for its self and urban population is measured by the number of people per thousand living in a suburban area.
LEDCs are stuck in a downwards spiral. They mostly trade in primary products and raw materials are cheap. High tariffs (tax that is added onto imported goods) and unfair import quotas (set amount of goods that can be imported into a country) make costs run extremely high.
The LEDC and its people get the lowest payment and the company that handles most of the financial business and shipping gets the lions share. Secondary goods and services are the most profitable but they are dominated by the MEDCs, not letting the LEDCs join in the profitable business, by adding difficult laws and funding local producers for exporting goods and making very good deals for them. LEDCs do not stand a chance with their technology and poor education. Without donations or loans most poor countries cannot build the schools, universities and factories to make a proper future. In the past large international banks and wealthy countries put incredible interest on loans. LEDCs could do nothing but accept and still often stuck decades with an enormous debt. To pay back these debts, they enforce Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP). SAP cuts down on education, medical supplies and public help (lowering the living standards of a country). Obviously this lowers is not a good idea in the short run but it is often the only solution.
Aid organizations exist to help relieve poverty. Donations are gathered but these often only relive a fraction of the total debt. Other items such as clothing or food are often sent to help improve living standards. Often the multitude of toys, clothing, or other items destroys the local economy; for it is not able to sell any of its products, when people could get it for free. Specialized aid programmes exist, such as Max Havelaar. These try and improve fair trade by initializing programmes, which give the producers what they specifically need, for example by cutting down on packaging and transport cost for independent banana producers in Ecuador, giving training, improved technology agricultural advice to Tanzanian farmers or giving extra livestock to an African village. Doctors without Borders or other medical and educational programs set up schools for a proper education and hospitals with good medical supplies and doctors are always set up as well.
To attempt to make trade fair I would lower insane tariffs, get ride of local export funding and make quotas more equal. Decrease of interest would be a major factor and big businesses should set up in LEDCs, to increase employment. These daring companies should educate locals with the technology and machinery. Instead of SAP, countries would need to cut as well on unnecessary items, or at lest pay more attention to the future or living standards of the people. Medical supplies and clean food and water are a major point in which they should also look into (perhaps even supplied by MEDCs). The UN and other Aid Programs are vital in the development of LEDCs.
This is the complete article, containing 824 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
