trading blocs + free trade Flashcards
what is the impact of growth of trading blocs and bilateral trading agreements?
With more trading blocs, trade has been created between members, but diverted from elsewhere
when does trade creation occur
Trade creation occurs when a country consumes more imports from a low cost producer, and fewer from a high cost producer
when does trade diversion occur?
country might stop importing from a cheaper producer outside a trading bloc to a more expensive one inside the trading bloc
protectionist barriers are often imposed on countries who are not members
so trade is diverted from producers outside the bloc to producers within the trading bloc.
what is the WTO and what is their aim?
regulates global trade
what does the WTO believe ideal trade should be?
- non discriminatory- countries arent to allowed to have very free trade with one country but very strict protectionism with another- all trade agreements should be done formally
- trade should be as free as possible
- trade should be predictable- so that countries can create an environment where there businesses can flourish, jobs can be created, investment
- promoting fair competition through protectionism and then taken away when this is achieved
- trade beneficial for developing countries through special provisions
what is the function of the WTO?
- set and enforce rules om international trade- if rules broken= fines
- resolve trade disputes to prevent retaliation e.g continual protectionism between two countries
- provide a forum for negotiating trade liberalisation for countries so that agreements can be organised quicker + quicker which is good for global free trade
- monitor trade liberalisation- to make sure trade is actually free
- to increase transparency or decision making process- countries can understand how a decision has been made and if countries believe a rule is unfair they can criticise
- to make sure there’s co operation with major economic institutions
what is free trade?
trade without barriers such as tariffs, quotas
what are the benefits of free trade?
- inc dynamic efficiency
- improvement of allocation of world resource- incentive to specialise when they have a cost advantage so that you can sell to world market
- access to goods that wouldnt be produced domestically
- lower prices for consumers- inc consumer surplus
- huge amount of international competition
- economies of scale as trade allows firms firms to increase scale of production exploiting EoS - decrease AC that can be passed onto consumers
- greater consumer choice + quality
- economies grow- can supply world market- exports inc which inc AD
why doesnt the world market need a rise in price to supply more
they have comparative advantage
how can you show the effects of free trade diagrammatically?
what is economic integration?
a process by which countries co ordinate to reduce trade barriers and to harmonise monetary and fiscal policy aka trade liberalisation
what is a trading bloc
a group of countries which come together and agree to increase trade between themselves
what is bilateral trade?
agreements to reduce tariffs and quotas between 2(bi)/ multiple (multi)countries
what are the different types of integration?
preferential trading area (PTA)
free trade area (FTA)
customs union
common market
monetary union
full economic integration
what is a free trade area?
countries come together to eliminate all trading barriers between them but they are free to trade however they want to countries outside the free trade area e.g NAFTA
what is a customs union?
is a free trade area but without the freedom of trade with countries outside the free trade area- common external barriers are imposed on non member countries e.g EU
what is a common market?
is a customs union but with deep integration e.g common policies ,theres also free movement of labour between member nations e.g EU
what is a monetary union?
is a common market but countries within this union adopt the same currency and central bank e.g eurozone
what is trade creation?
trade creation is a theory that comes from a countrys membership of a customs union
it is the movement from a high cost domestic producer to a low cost producer inside the customs union/ low cost trading partner
how would you show the effects of trade creation diagrammatically?
difference between Q1 to Q2 is the number of imports coming in from a non member country of a customs union