KEY POINTS:
• Individuals benefit from trade through employment
• Individuals benefit from trade through increased choices
• Businesses benefit from trade through increased market
opportunities
• Countries benefit from trade through economic growth
• Trade can result in dislocation of uncompetitive businesses
or producers
ACTIVITY:
Analyze the benefits of a consumer or agricultural product
(grades 7-12, adjust expectations to grade level)
Students,
as individuals or as small groups select a common product
that they enjoy (could be a consumer or agricultural product),
and illustrate how each of these points might apply to the
item they have chosen.
Students
prepare their analysis and present it to the class. Students
debate the advantages and disadvantages of each instance.
Is the impact of trade a good thing or a bad thing in each
individual case? Discuss who benefits and who does not with
regard to jobs, consumer choice and price, business opportunity
and economic growth
As
an example, an analysis of Washington State apples might look
like this:
| A. |
Individuals
benefit from trade through employment
Growers, pickers and processors in Washington State, plus
transportation workers and retailers in many countries
benefit from jobs related to the production and sale of
apples and apple juice.
|
| B. |
Individuals
benefit from trade through increased choices
Consumers of apples enjoy a broad range of choices of
apple varieties, tastes and costs because of trade. Consumers
overseas can enjoy Washington State apples, and consumers
here can enjoy apples from other countries. While there
is increased competition from imported apples, production
is strong and exports continue to grow. |
| C. |
Businesses
benefit from trade through increased market opportunities
Nearly 30% of the Washington State apple crop is exported,
and so almost 1/3 of the economic benefits of the industry
would be lost without trade. If growers and processors
produced larger crops, they would need to continue to
seek new market opportunities to absorb the extra production.
|
| D.
|
Countries
benefit from trade through economic growth
While the impact on the overall U.S. economy of the
Washington State apple crop may not be as dramatic as
that of a huge manufacturer such as Boeing, there is
still an impact. With 30% of their income derived from
trade, those in the Washington State apple business
have income that originated in other countries to spend
in their local stores.
|
| E.
|
Trade
can result in dislocation of uncompetitive businesses
or producers
Increased competition in the production of apples in
other countries has had an impact on the quantity of
apples Washington that growers are able to export. In
addition, low priced imported apples compete for consumer
attention within the U.S. As a result some farmers have
decided to change from apples to other crops. Another
change has been the sale of apple orchards to Hispanic
immigrants who first came to the area as pickers, became
field managers and now are becoming owners.
|
Suggestion
for Assessment
Grade on depth of exploration, accuracy of information and
ability to defend conclusions during classroom discussions.Additional
Resource:
An
interesting general resource that offers a different slant
on international news, much of it trade-related, is http://www.oneworld.net/
This
site seeks to be an alternate news source to the recognized
major U.S. and European news networks, and thus has some interesting
points of view. There are also many links from the site.
From
their mission statement:
“OneWorld
is engaged in a process of exploring the editorial implications
that confront an organization in a new medium.”
- How
does one communicate the big picture of the world’s
harsh realities, not just the lop-sided story available
from the mainstream media?
- Can
one be “objective” and yet committed to change
for the better?
-
Should the journalistic standards and limitations that confront
web-communicators be the same as those facing conventional
journalists? For example, how far should the risks from
unclear Internet libel laws gag freedom of speech?
- To
whom should journalists be accountable? If to the public,
how are public service media to be funded?
|
