“10 million children die each year from preventable, poverty-related diseases; there are 1.4 billion people in the world surviving on less than $1.25 a day; and more than 70 million primary school-age children are out of school”. The Millennium Development Goals were targets set by the developed world to try to improve this situation by 2015. However, although world leaders met in September 2008 to renew their commitments to meeting these goals, the financial crisis has drawn attention away from these issues and focused most governments on narrower, domestic goals.
Women are key to fighting poverty BBC News Online (23/9/08)
A stagnant promise Guardian (24/9/08)
Questions
- Summarise the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the progress that has been achieved towards meeting them.
- Assess the policies that have been adopted by developed countries to try to achieve the MDGs. Are they the most appropriate way to achieve these ends?
- Discuss whether the financial crisis has made it more difficult to achieve the targets set out by the MDGs.
A significant illegal trade in ‘e-waste’ has developed with thousands of discarded computers arriving every day in the ports of West Africa. Once there, children are often used to dismantle them and extract metals . However, this has resulted in huge toxic dumps and serious health problems for resident in the surrounding area.
Breeding toxins from dead PCs Guardian (6/5/08)
Questions
| 1. |
Identify the principal external costs resulting from this illegal trade in e-waste. |
| 2. |
Using diagrams as appropriate, show the impact of this market failure on the market for new computers. |
| 3. |
Evaluate two policies that the international community could adopt to reduce this illegal trade in e-waste. |
In the article below, Irwin Stelzer argues that Congress has adopted a more protectionist stance towards trade policy. Not all would, however, agree. Why not have a look at the comments after the article to see some of the discussion that has taken place about the article?
The end of free trade as we know it Times Online (20/5/07)
Questions |
| 1. |
Assess the extent to which the new trade agreements under discussion are likely to improve the position of workers globally. |
| 2. |
Analyse two policies that the US administration could put in place to reduce the level or protectionism. |
| 3. |
Discuss the extent to which the new trade agreements referred to in the article will represent a more protectionist approach to trade. |
The article linked to below is an extract (printed in the Guardian) from a new book by Dan Atkinson and Larry Elliott (economics editor for the Guardian). The introduction to the article summarises its theme quite effectively:
“We don’t manufacture anything any more. Most of the world won’t buy our records or watch our films. Only our gift of the gab is keeping Britain’s economy ticking over. But how long can the hot air last, ask Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson “
Talk is cheap Guardian (18/5/07)
Questions |
| 1. |
Explain the underlying trade performance of the UK in recent years for (a) trade in goods and (b) trade in services. |
| 2. |
“Labour believes Britain is at the cutting edge of the knowledge economy and that Britain’s well-educated (sic), highly skilled (sic) and entrepreneurial (sic) workers are ready to kick German, American, Japanese and Chinese butt all round the global village.” Discuss the extent to which this is true. |
| 3. |
Assess the extent to which the theory of comparative advantage can help explain the differences in trade performance outlined in the article. |
Many new regional trade agreements (RTAs) and bilateral trade agreements have been signed in recent years. In a report – Signing away the future – Oxfam has argued that these trade agreements may often significantly disadvantage the poorer developing countries. The links below give access to the briefing paper and some FAQs about these agreements.
Oxfam slams bilateral trade deals BBC News Online(20/3/07)
The state of world trade – Oxfam Oxfam website
Signing away the future – Oxfam Briefing Paper Oxfam website
Signing away the future – Q&A Oxfam website
Questions
| 1. |
Explain the difference between a regional trade agreement and a bilateral trade agreement. |
| 2. |
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for developing countries of signing (a) bilateral trade agreements and (b) regional trade agreements. |
| 3. |
Choose a specific recent regional trade agreement and assess the impact it has had on the member countries. |