U7L6 A Global Economy Flashcards
Why did the United States face a recession in the late 2000s?
It was soon discovered that part of the reason for the recession was fraud in the stock market, faulty lending practices, and over-borrowing.
What did trade agreements with countries in the Americas and Asia do for the U.S. as a country?
It strengthened U.S. relations and opened trade in new areas.
What did trade agreements with countries in the Americas and Asia do for American businesses?
American businesses benefited from lower production costs and the opening of new markets for trade.
What did trade agreements with countries in the Americans and Asia do for American consumers?
Americans consumers benefited from lower prices for good services.
What is globalization?
The spread of a global economy
What problems did some American workers have due to globalization?
Some American workers suffered when companies moved work overseas.
What was the main problem with globalization?
When one country suffered an economic crisis, the entire global community was at risk.
In the 1990s, what caused the American economy to grow strongly?
The growth was partly due to the creation of new businesses and jobs in the technology industry.
What did many Internet start-up companies also known as?
1990s
Dot-coms
What risky businesses practices did many Internet start-up companies do?
They thought that if the number of customers increased, then the profits would increase too. This worked for some companies but not for all of them.
Because investors saw potential to make profits from dot-coms, what did they do?
They bought stock in the companies.
What did the high demand of stocks in the dot-coms industry, what was created?
A stock-market bubble
What is a bubble?
Ex: stock-market bubble
A bubble is an unstable condition of prices driven above the real value of an asset by buyers hoping that prices will rise further.
Why did the bubble burst around the dot-coms industry? What did this cause?
Many dot-coms failed to yield a profit, so the bubble burst and stock prices plunged.
After the bubble burst, how many investors wanted in?
No one, Investment in these companies dried up.
What happened to dot-com companies between 1999 and 2001?
Many had to close down.
What happened to some dot-com companies that didn’t close down?
Other companies, such as Google and Amazon, suffered losses but survived and eventually grew.
What did the bursted dot-com bubble do to the U.S. economy?
The American economy entered a recession in 2001, which was when most dot-com companies closed down.
What is a recession?
A recession occurs when the economy shrinks instead of growing.
How did the 911 attacks hurt the economy?
It hurt the stock market and the transfer of American manufacturing jobs to other countries deepened the recession.
How did the federal go government respond to the economic crisis?
By lowing taxes
What did the Federal Reserve System do to respond to the economic crisis?
They lowed interest rates to encourage people and businesses to borrow.
When did the economy start recovering?
In 2003 and 2004
When the stock market crashed in 2000, what did Americans realize contributed to the 1990s boom?
Fraud
What fraud happened in the 1990s?
Accounting firms and banks had increased stock prices by hiding the companies’ real financial situation.
How did Enron, a Houston energy company, exemplified the trend of fraud?
Enron bought and sold electricity instead of producing it on its own. The company falsely reported billions of dollars in profits. A Texas jury convicted Enron executives of fraud, but it was too late to help investors.
What as damaged when the fraud at Enron was exposed?
Fraud at Enron damaged Americans’ trust of corporations in general.
What was NAFTA and what did it do?
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), established in 1993, linked the United States, Canada, and Mexico in a free trade zone.
When did the United States join the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
1995
2 years after NAFTA
What does WTO do?
The WTO works to remove barriers to and encourage trade and investment among countries.
What did NAFTA and WTO encourage the United States to do?
Negotiate similar agreements in other areas of the world.
When was the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) formed?
2005
What did the CAFTA-DR do?
It created a free-trade zone between the United States and several Latin American countries.
When did the U.S. negotiate free-trade with South Korea?
2007
Why was the free-trade agreements controversial?
These agreements led some American businesses to move operations to other countries, where workers pay was lower and environmental regulations were weaker.
What is one of the world’s main trading and investment alliances?
The European Union (EU)