World Economy

Note: This is a first pass at creating a section on the World Economy

1)   Growth in world economy is based on increase in trade because:

a)   Fall in transportation costs

i)      Age of discovery to today

ii)  19th century US transportation costs fell by a factor of 10

b)   Advances in communications

i)         Rapid reaction by transnationals to changes in local markets

ii)    Paperless international trade

iii)  New type of global organization

c)    Growth of trade: Increased by more than a factor of 10 since WWII

2)   Role of government in world economy

a)   Historical perspective: More government up to 1980

i)        Great Britain and the industrial revolution

ii)    US

iii)   Japan

iv)    Soviet Union

b)   Since 1980 less government

i)        Maggie Thatcher and Great Britain

ii)    Communist world

iii)  Minor reversal because of world recession and reckless business policy towards risk.

c)    World Organizations

i)      United Nations

ii)  World Bank and International Monetary Fund

iii)            World Trade Organization

(1)  Move towards free trade, but individual countries frequently use neomercantilism when in their advantage

iv)             G8 to G20

3)   Common Markets and Big Countries

a)  NAFTA

b)   EU

c)    Other

d)   Brazil, China, India, Russia, US, and EU

4)   General Equilibrium

a)   Economic theory: Adjustment to changing prices

b)   Economic fact: Constant adjustment to advancing technology
i) Education

       i) Research universities

     ii) Finance of research
iii) Corporate R&D and stealing patents and trade secrets (industrial espionage)

iv)      Firm

(1)                         First firm to bring new product to market that is reliable at a reasonable cost tends to capture the world market

(a)            Industrial 'arms' race

(b)            Example: Integrated circuits

(2)                         Innovate in production to increase profits

v)  Government

(1)                         Voting with feet creates strong incentive to innovate in governmental procedures

(a)            The lower the level of government the greater the incentive

5)   Nature of world country competition: Up the food chain

a)   Less developed world

i)      As countries develop, their labor costs rise forcing them to move to more technologically advanced products

(1)      This requires better education and move towards research universities and corporate R&D.

ii)  Developing countries are generally focused on selling more goods and services abroad

b)   Developed world

i)         Must constantly create new industries to replace those lost to less developed world

ii)      Research and transfer of research to new industries

iii)   Developed world countries are more focused on consumption that trade

6)   Rich and transnationals

a)   Transfer of technology

b)   Managers are becoming international

c)    New type of international organization: IBM

d)   Interests of rich and national interests