Australia's Relations with Japan and other Pro-Whaling Nations
Australia's Relations with Japan and other Pro-Whaling Nations Introduction Commercial whaling is a very controversial issue. The question whether or not to whale is an issue with many factors. Commercial whaling is the focus of a debate between pro-whaling nations such as Japan and Norway and anti-whaling nations like Australia, United States and the UK. Both sides present justifiable arguments both for and against commercial whaling Arguments for whaling Countries such as Japan, Greenland, Iceland and Norway claim they are reliant on whaling for economic and cultural reasons.Whale meat provides a key source of protein in the diet and the sale of whale meat and products made from whales provides an economic foundation for these communities. These societies are centred on a cultural tradition of whaling. This small-scale coastal whaling is prohibited by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Some argue this is causing continuing social and economic hardship for people whose traditional customs and lifestyle directly relate to the whaling culture. Japan claims that small-scale exploitation of whales pose no threat to whale populations yet is critical to the survival of their society. Japan along with many nations have a long history and tradition of whaling and it is part of their culture. Anti-whaling countries such as Australia, the UK and the United States are
How the process of Globalisation might have affected the position of labour in industrialized and developing countries.
EO314 Issues in International Economics How the process of Globalisation might have affected the position of labour in industrialized and developing countries. Submitted to Frank Brouwer London Metropolitan University December 2nd, 2004 By Iolanta Lyebyedyeva ID: 02019931 This essay aims to explain the question how the process of globalisation might have affected the position of labour in industrialised and developing countries with the focus on effects of trade on skilled and low/unskilled workers, especially how on how trade affects employment and wages, in developed and developing countries. As a starting point, it might be useful to look at what is actually meant by Globalisation, because many people definitely know whether they are for or against it, without even considering what exactly it is. There are hundreds of definitions of globalisations. Following a British sociologist Martin Albrow (1990) "globalisation refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a single world society, global society".1 According to Robert Cox (1994) globalisation includes "the internationalizing of production, the new international division of labour, new migratory movements from South to North, the new competitive environment that generates these processes, and the internationalizing of the state...making states into agencies of the
The Causes of Global Inequality
The Causes of Global Inequality In an attempt to explain the existence of global inequality, poverty and possible change, it will be necessary to look back in history to the era of the British Empire and the subsequent collapse of colonialism, and as some would argue the exploitation and enslavement of both human and natural resources. Over the years academics have sought to explain and understand why global inequality still exists today, with millions of people worldwide living in absolute poverty despite Western governments attempts at alleviating the suffering in these 'Third World' countries despite the creation of powerful bodies such as the World Trade Organisation. During the 1960's politicians and social scientists especially in the USA and Europe were concerned with these issues, and realised the advantages to be gained if they could penetrate new markets and at the same time gain some control of these newly independent nations. The views of key theorists such as WW Rostow, Gunder Frank and their contemporaries will be discussed to explain poverty and inequality. More recently since 1970's/1980's there has been what sociological academia perceive as an 'Impasse' which has resulted in a crisis - the old paradigms of Dependency and Modernising Theories have reached a dead end. The general consensus being that until there are new theories, development will have
Outline the evidence presented in the data which suggests that the UK has lost international competitiveness in recent times.
The UK's International Competitiveness .) Outline the evidence presented in the data which suggests that the UK has lost international competitiveness in recent times (10 marks) As figure 97.11 shows, there was an overall decline in employment in tradable goods and services in all regions of the UK apart from the South West, South East and East Anglia. The tradable goods and services included agriculture, mining, manufacturing, external financial and business services and the armed forces. With the index being 100 in 1971, employment in tradable goods and services decreased to 85 by 1988. This then rose to 87 in 1992 but then fell again to 81 in 1998. So overall employment in tradable goods and services fell by about 19. However, there was also a decline in employment in non-tradable services. During 1971-1998 the graph shows fluctuations but the decline was not as dramatic as tradable goods and services as overall employment in non-tradable services only decreased by 3 from 100 to 97. Figure 97.12, the innovation index of 1996, shows that the UK came 13th out of 17 industrial nations in terms of its ability to derive commercial benefits from science and technology. The innovation index is based on factors such as number of patents granted, inventions and research and development. The low rank in 1996 is due to the UK having only 87 international patents per 1,000
Globalisation: The Unstoppable Trend.
Globalisation: The Unstoppable Trend. Word Count: 1863 words. Subject area: Business Studies : Management Globalisation is not a single phenomenon. It has become a catch-all concept to describe a range of trends and forces changing the social and economic structures of the world. Globalisation may be defined as 'becoming or making world-wide', but it has also been referred to as Westernisation. Globalisation as argued by Professor Ruud Lubbers, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, is considered to have a number of distinct elements to it, which include Economic, Technological, Political, Cultural and Environmental. Economically, greater world integration or globalisation has been greatly encouraged since the Second World War, with the introduction of free trade agreements such as GATT (General Agreement on Tariff's and Trade). Additionally, regional trade agreements have also been developed, which have included 'single markets' established by the European Community and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Technologically, the IT revolution has provided a massive improvements in our ability to store and manipulate data using ever more powerful computers. More important however, is the communication abilities of these computers. The Communications Revolution has resulted in the 'shrinking' of the world. Politically, it was not until the collapse of the
Privatisation in the UK
Privatisation in the UK It is the belief of some economists that free market is a superior method of allocating economic resources and that large scale involvement by Government in business activities would hinder economic progress. The UK Conservative Government under Mrs Margaret Thatcher therefore felt that the central control of many industries was no real benefit to the economy, it was therefore decided that it would be better to privatise the public sector as far as possible. Privatisation is the sale of nationalised industries to the private sector of the economy. This was a major element in the economic strategies of the Government. Other elements of the strategies included giving the right to buy to tenants of houses and flats owned by the local authorities, inviting tenders for the performance of a wide range of services which were within the public sector and contracting over these services to private firms. Privatisation therefore had two main aims, these were to promote efficiency, especially through competition and to widen share ownership. Competition ensures that goods and services desired by the customers are provided at the lowest economic cost, increased efficiency is achieved as a result of sustained pressures on companies coming from market forces. Organisations that were privatised were in the following industries; gas, electricity, water, transport
Macroeconomic Theory - "Chasing the Leader".
Justin Smith Macroeconomic Theory "Chasing the Leader" Assignment 3/19/03 This is an article comparing the living standards of the U.S. and Europe. The U.S uses GDP per capita and Europe uses GDP per head to measure their living standard. In examining the living standards between these two countries, the author looks at both productivity and GDP in his analysis. America has been the world's economic leader for over a century. Economic theory suggests that Western Europe is catching up. GDP per head is only three-quarters of that in the U.S., but European productivity, measures by output per hour worked, has in fact almost caught up with the U.S. Europe's productivity has been in a surge since 1950. This is largely expained by reconstruction after the war and belated exploitation of electricity and the mass production of cars. The puzzle, as stated by the article, is why Europe's GDP per head has lagged so far behind productivity. GDP per head rose sharply from the mid 19th century, but then flattened off in 1970. Germany's GDP per man-hour is 1% higher than in America, but its GDP per person is 25% lower. The main reason pointed out by the author is the average hours worked in Europe have fallen sharply. In part, this reflects a preference for shorter working weeks and longer holidays. The author looks at Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University. Mr. Gordon
Carbon Credit Trading
International Business MGCR 382, Section 071 Carbon Credit Trading Topic 36- Group Project Submitted to Mr. Jan Jorgensen & Mr. Nicholas Matziorinis By Aditya Swarup Claire Hackett Dayna Murray Lefei Xie Simon Turcotte McGill University November 18th, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii II. COVER LETTER iv III. THE ISSUES 1 A. The carbon market 1 B. History of carbon trade conflicts between industries and the environment 4 IV. THE ALTERNATIVES 5 A. Continue with Current Manufacturing Processes. 5 B. Centralize Manufacturing Facilities 7 C. Enter a Voluntary Carbon Reduction Scheme within the United States 8 V. CONCLUSION 11 VI. REFERENCES v VII. APPENDIXES viii VIII. BEST ARTICLES xiv Executive Summary H.J. Heinz Company, more commonly known as Heinz, significantly contributes to the global carbon dioxide emission due to its many manufacturing facilities worldwide. Carbon credit trading is a major growing sector of the international trading economy; this must be kept under consideration by all enterprises. Heinz's facilities in the EU are under the influence of the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS). For Heinz Company, this currently applies for their facilities in the EU, but not for those in the U.S. This resulted in the emergence of volunteer carbon credit markets to prepare
Asses the impact of trade liberalisation on Australia.
Asses the impact of trade liberalisation on Australia After the Second World War many countries were devastated both geographically and economically. A trend of protectionalism, first started by the USA was adopted by many nations in an attempt to protect their economies. This resulted in a halt in world trade as high tariffs and quotas were introduced to stop cheap imports invading the domestic market. Tariffs are taxes placed on specific imported goods, also known as import duties and quotas are physical limits on the level of imports in any one year for specific imported goods. This created huge barriers to trade and world trade was reduced to necessity goods that some countries were simply unable to produce. In recent decades Australia has changed its outlook on the rest of the world and has changed from a very inward looking protectionalist state to a liberalised economy with multiple trading partners. Economic theory shows us that a more open, outward looking economy can deliver higher living standards than highly protected, inward looking economies. Increased competition, more efficient uses of resources, new markets and opportunities, and new technologies and higher returns to innovation all increase welfare. Economic modelling confirms that unilateral trade liberalisation is good for Australia. It is estimated that gains form liberalisation to date are
Multinational Corporations in context
Multinational Corporations in context When we mention MNCs, we instantly concern ourselves with firms such as McDonalds, Coca-cola and Nike. However, there are plenty more of these firms in the international market, which are also known as TNCs. Some are often puzzled by the ultimate definition which is still facing small-scale controversy, 'enterprise operating in several countries via assets or production facilities where the firm has 25% or more of its output capacity located outside its country of origin'. It often occurs that several of these MNCs' budgets are so great that they exceed the GDP of several countries. The world's largest multinational in 2000, was Exxon Mobil which has a value greater than the GDP of Pakistan whilst the joint revenues of the four largest MNCs outweighed the combined gross national product of all African countries. The budgets raised by MNCs across the world are so great that they influence many newly industrialized and less economically developed countries. In a highly competitive world, companies seek to reduce their costs as much as possible and therefore the prospect of a foreign company setting up in a country where labour is cheap is attractive for both the company and the host country's government. These influences can be both good and bad but what are the specific motives for MNCs existing and are there any particular examples? The
