Lecture Issues in economics today - Chapter 16

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When you finish this chapter, you should: Define the key terms of economics and opportunity cost and understand how a production possibilities frontier exemplifies the trade-offs that exist in life, distinguish between increasing and constant opportunity cost and understand why each might happen in the real world, analyze an argument by thinking economically, while recognizing and avoiding logical traps.

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Nội dung Text: Lecture Issues in economics today - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 NAFTA, GATT, WTO: Are Trade Agreements Good For Us? McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Chapter Outline • THE BENEFITS OF FREE TRADE • WHY DO WE NEED TRADE AGREEMENTS • TRADE AGREEMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS • ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL IMPACTS OF TRADE • THE BOTTOM LINE McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
NAFTA, GATT, and the WTO • NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement – An agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico to have substantially free trade. (Some tariffs and quotas are permissible under certain circumstances.) • GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – A multi-nation agreement specifying conditions under which tariffs, quotas and non-tariff barriers are permissible. • WTO: World Trade Organization – An organization designed to settle trade disputes. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
The Benefits of Free Trade • Free trade makes each trading partner better off than it would have been without trade. • Countries export goods to other nations because the producing country can make the good at a lower opportunity cost than the importing country. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
A Simple Example Number of workers produces Amount of Output High Tech Low Tech High Low High Low Skill Skill Skill Skill US 1produces 1 2 produce 1 1 produces 4 1 produces 3 Mexico 3 produce1 4 produce 1 1 produces 3 1 produces1 US exports high-tech products to Mexico and Mexico exports low-tech products to the US and both are better off than if they produced the goods themselves. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Why Do We Need Trade Agreements? • It is logical to ask “if trade is so good why do we need an agreement to engage in it?” • The answer is that a country can make itself better off by engaging in Strategic Trade Policies designed to get more of the benefits from trade in a country than would exist under free trade. • Countries that do this increase the gains from trade to themselves but it is less than the losses to everyone else. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Example of Strategic Trade • Boeing vs. AIRBUS – Boeing had significant market power in the production of airliners prior to the existence of AIRBUS. – Britain and France gave AIRBUS protection against Boeing’s exports to European airlines. – In doing so they might have made themselves better off. Boeing was worse off by more than AIRBUS (and the European consumer and taxpayer) were made better off. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
What Trade Agreements Prevent (or discourage) • Tariffs – A tax on imports. • Quotas – A limit on imports. • Non-tariff barriers – A regulatory means of limiting imports. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Alphabet Soup: NAFTA • North American Free Trade Agreement • Creates a (relatively) free trade zone in North America. • Includes Canada, Mexico and the United States. • Passage – Envisioned by President Reagan in the 1980’s. – Negotiated by President Bush (G.H.W.) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. – Enacted by President Clinton. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Alphabet Soup: GATT • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade • Came into existence shortly after WWII – Uruguay Round set the latest rules • A world agreement between more than 100 nations. • NOT a free trade agreement – It sets conditions under which tariffs, quotas and non-tariff barriers are acceptable. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Alphabet Soup: WTO • World Trade Organization • Set up with GATT but had little power until the Uruguay Round of GATT. • Serves as a “court” where countries can argue who is in the right in a trade dispute. • Has no enforcement authority. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
The Battle in Seattle (and other similar protests) • December of 1999 riots broke out in the streets of Seattle with protestors voicing displeasure at – NAFTA – WTO – Globalization – The effect of trade on American jobs. – The effect of trade on the environment, worker safety and child labor standards. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Are Trade Agreements Working? • The effects of these agreements are often overstated because trade was increasing before they were enacted. • Trade agreements have (in isolation from the trend) increased trade somewhat, but have not had the – Dramatically positive impacts envisioned by free- trade advocates. – Dramatically negative impacts envisioned by detractors of globalization. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
The Politics of Free Trade • There are winners and losers from freer trade. – The winners have tended to be people who are educated and highly skilled. – The losers have tended to be people in manufacturing who have little education. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
More Politics of Free Trade • Free trade’s winners are harder to identify that its losers. – A person who loses a job when the plant they work for moves to a different country can easily identify themselves as a loser in free trade. – People who are hired because of an increase in exports may not see the reason. – People who are hired because of higher national incomes usually do not attribute their hiring to free trade policies. McGrawHill/Irwin © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
The Bottom Line • Trade increases the GDP of the trading countries. • Trade can hurt key constituencies with political power. • Because the gains to the winners of free trade more then offset the losses to the losers, economists generally view free trade agreements as good. • Economists suggest that the losers from free trade agreements (unemployed workers) can (and should) be compensated with retraining opportunities. The implementing legislation of NAFTA provides McGrawHill/Irwin for this. © 2002 The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.