Preview

Case Study

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2618 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Case Study
CASE STUDY 4

PREPARED BY:

GOPI A/L KALAIRASAN

CASE STUDY 4

1) There are some 200 economic integration agreements in effect around the world already, far more than even a few years ago. Virtually every country is now party to one or more free trade agreements. Supporters argue that free trade is good for nations.

a) What is the basis for their support? That is, what are the specific benefits that countries seek by joining an economic bloc?

Free trade is a policy by which a government does not discriminate against imports or interfere with exports by applying tariffs (to imports) or subsidies (to exports) or quotas. According to the law of comparative advantage, the policy permits trading partners’ mutual gains from trade of goods and services.

The specific benefits of countries joining under the free trade agreements (“FTA”) are likely because of FTA that promotes innovation and competition. This is because it makes the economic sense to buy a product more another who specializes in such production or who can make it more easily or for less cost. Indeed, access to a greater variety of goods and services is the purpose of trade. Imports, then, are not a sacrifice, a necessary evil for the good of exporting. One exports so that one may acquire goods and services in return. This logic is evident on a personal level as well.

Free trade is the only type of truly fair trade because it offers consumers the most choices and the best opportunities to improve their standard of living. It fosters competition, spurring companies to innovate and develop better products and to bring more of their goods and services to market, keeping prices low and quality high in order to retain or increase their market share.

Free trade also promotes innovation, along with goods and services, the flow if trade circulates new idea. Since companies must compete with their overseas counterparts, American firms for example

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Mkt 310 Exam 2 Study Guide

    • 2196 Words
    • 9 Pages

    * Free Trade – The absence of government barriers to the free flow of goods and services between countries.…

    • 2196 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fins2622 Notes

    • 6821 Words
    • 6 Pages

     Free Trade: David Ricardo (support free trade) o Theory of comparative advantage: For two nations without input factor mobility, specialisation and trade could result in increased total output and lower costs than if each nation tried to produce in isolation.  Both nations can benefit from trade if each specialises in good that they have the lowest opportunity cost, even if one economy is more efficient in making everything.  However, Comparative advantage in not static, and changes over time in reality.  Also, comparative advantage assumes that factors of production can’t move between countries  therefore comparative advantage is set to be outdated  production and employment usually moves to the lowest cost economies  Reality: Countries encourage exports, but limit imports o Due to mecantalism  i.e. total world wealth is limited and trade is a 0‐sum game if one country benefits, the other loses in order to win, you encourage exports  HOW? Through colanising  therefore legislated that the country could only trade with colonised country.  Who gains from free trade?  Some say that comparative advantage is just a way for developed economies to gain  Because before, developed economies were very protected (in order to establish their industries), and now they want everyone to do free trade (to benefit themselves). Since developed economies developed their industries a long time ago, they usually have a comparative advantage in high technology products (which lead to greater growth compared to agricultural products), whilst the developing countries specialise in the lower growth agricultural products.  Creation of international institutions: GATT, WTO  Creation of trade blocs…

    • 6821 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harvey N M2 A2

    • 621 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Peter Hann describes free trade as, “generally considered by economists to be beneficial to international trade by encouraging competition, innovation, efficient production and consumer choice” (Hann, 2011 para. 1). Free trade allows freedom of international exchanges; with this there are advantages as well as disadvantages. Some advantages consist of cost advantages, factor earnings, cheaper imports, and an enlarged market (Chand, 2015). Cost advantage allows free trade to warrant a portion of possessions and resources. This in turn leads free trade into the most efficient conduct of economic affairs. Factor earnings and cheaper imports allow production factors to increase while import rates decrease. Enlarging the market is an advantage of free trade because it increases the market allowing labor to be possible. The disadvantages of free trade consist of all countries being in conjunction and working together. Meaning it will only work and be productive if all countries participate, if there is one country that decides not to partake in free trade, it will not work. It is also unfair to and creates a disadvantage to countries for those countries that are unable to compete with larger, advanced countries (Chand, 2015).…

    • 621 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One of the most significant arguments in favor of free trade is its ability to improve economic efficiency. If free trade opens up a market to imports, the consumer benefits from the low priced imports. If free trade opens up a market for imports, then producers benefit from the new place to sell. Supporters of free trade state that free trade in an economy improves welfare for society…

    • 69 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Print ECN 340

    • 586 Words
    • 1 Page

    Free trade agreements to promote international investment to optimize the industrial structure and resource allocation. The free trade agreement to promote economic cooperation relationship between member countries.…

    • 586 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    I believe that free trade is beneficial to the United States, Europe, and countries of the Far East. Many say that the free trade has been a blessing in that it has catapulted many individuals out of poverty. Free trade has also created the so called “global middle class. The benefits of it all are quite uneven, due to…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free trade, interchange of commodities across political frontiers without restrictions such as tariffs, quotas, or foreign exchange controls. This economic policy contrasts with protectionist policies that use such restrictions to protect or stimulate domestic industries. In this article I will discuss the positive and negative effects of free trade. Trade can lead to an improvement in overall economic welfare if countries specialize in the products in which they have a production advantage. Trade allows businesses to exploit economies of scale by operating in international markets. International competition stimulates higher efficiency and reduces monopoly power. Trade enhances consumer choice and international competition between suppliers helps to keep prices down. Trade in ideas stimulates product and process innovations that generates better products for consumers and…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A helpful way to understand the whole concept of International free trade is that it is primarily based on the idea of comparative advantage. A country has the comparative advantage of the production of a good when the opportunity cost of producing that good is lower relative to the other country. According to the Ricardian Model in an economy with two goods each country will produce both of those goods at some point along their production possibilities frontier in autarky. (Engardio) The labor in each country is divided into the production of each good and the marginal product of labor is determined by the level of technology. Levels of technology differ across countries thus no-trade prices differ as well. These differences in prices create an incentive for countries to trade.…

    • 2540 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Two benefits of free trade are how growing employment options and wages can help reduce social problems such as unemployment and poverty. Another benefit of free trade is how it helps secure a market for domestic producers and provides a cushion against other countries’ trade barriers. Two costs of free trade are factories and workers will go to countries will go to countries where it is cheaper and will cause unemployment to rise. The lower prices that usually are caused by free trade can make it very difficult for newer businesses to compete or to encourage new businesses in a certain…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free trade has its downsides like hurting small businesses and having negative effects on employees such as lower wages and bad benefits. When working with other countries in free trade, it could seem one sided if those country are less technically inclined as we are. However, free trade can also have a positive impact. New jobs can be created, there will be lower prices for consumers, and countries that contribute to free trade can benefit from competitive advantage. Even though some countries may not be able to provide technologically advanced products, they can still contribute with other goods such as clothing, food, and other non-electronic merchandise that other countries may not be able to produce as well. Free trade may have its downsides, but it is a very important part of economic…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free trade is an non restrictive way of doing business between countries. Countries begin interacting with each other and sharing goods or ideas. Although some governments may decide to create policies to protect local jobs or to sell more goods being made from the country. Countries can also create free trade agreements with other countries like NAFTA. Which is the North American free trade agreement. NAFTA was put in place to take away trade barriers that used to be between The United States, Canada and, Mexico.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proponents of free trade emphasize comparative advantage, economies of scale, and product differentiation. These three components facilitate free trade, improving the overall welfare of a country. To have a comparative advantage for a particular good, a country must have a lower opportunity cost, the cost of the next highest-valued alternative that was foregone, relative to another country for that good. The country should export this good that it has a comparative advantage for and import other goods that would be relatively more costly to produce on its own (Global Economics - Global Exchange: Free Trade & Protection). In operating according to economies of scale, a firm employs its greatest scale of production. This makes production more efficient and lowers the cost of production. Product differentiation results in products produced in the same industry appearing more attractive to consumers. Free trade supporters claim that without free trade, the variety of goods available to the domestic consumer is greatly diminished. In addition, when the scale of production is lower, cost of production, and therefore the cost of the final good, rises (Global Economics - Global Exchange: Free Trade & Protection).…

    • 767 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Trade In Australia

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many countries in the world are apart of free trade areas that have free trade agreements with other countries. What a free trade area? According to the World Book definition, a free trade area is, “an area in a country where goods can be imported without paying custom duties (import taxes). Foreign traders may store, exhibit, assemble, or process products in these zones before shipping them elsewhere for sale or use” (“World Book” 500). These free trade areas can differ from an entire city or territory where no customs duties are collected. Free trade areas are created to encourage the act of foreign trade by allowing countries to trade their goods in a more cheaply way than making the good in their home nation. Free trade can have positive…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Trade

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The policy of the free trade states that free trade is an element of capitalism that essentially means that there are no restrictions from the government about trading. The government also says that there no restrictions of importing/exporting with other countries. Free trade is also a policy were the government accepts imports and exports by applying tariffs. Tariffs are a tax imposed on imports in and out of a country. World Trade Organization, an international organization intended to reduce trade barriers, formed in 1995. WTO members (which include China since 2001) charge minimal import tariffs on each other. I think tariffs could benefit and harm free trade. Some reasons tariffs are used is to protect consumers, national security and retaliation. When protecting the consumers a government has the right to levy a tariff on products that they feel can harm its population. For example, Japan could place…

    • 1303 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Philippine Sugar Industry

    • 3263 Words
    • 14 Pages

    The idea behind free trade is that it will lower prices for goods and services by promoting competition. Domestic producers will not longer be able to rely on government subsidies and other forms of assistance, including quotas which essentially force citizens to buy from domestic producers, while foreign companies can make inroads on new markets when barriers to trade are lifted. In addition to reducing prices, free trade is also supposed to encourage innovation, since competition between companies sparks a need to come up with innovative products and solutions to capture market share. But in reality this has made trade even more imbalanced because Third world countries have no protection against competition from foreign products from other countries especially industrialized nations such as the US and European States.…

    • 3263 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays