Poverty and Economy
Kiyoshi is Japanese and has been homeless for six years. He and hundreds of others in Tokyo live on the street and earn less than 10 dollars per day. Due to the financial collapse that occurred in the 1990s, many people lost their jobs and live in parks or tents in the middle of the city. Japans situation is an important example of how financial crisis can destroy a country and how difficult it is to recover from it.
The loose lending that occurred in 1990 was followed by collapse of property and shared prices. The banks started to go bust and only the 400 dollars that were spend on a governmental bail-out helped the economy to stabilize in 2003. Although the economy started to recover, the situation in Japan had changed. The income inequality increased, the long term jobs were replaced by part time jobs and the street crime spread. In the year of 2003, 25,000 homeless were counted, and although the government tried to build temporary houses, this only caused more problems. Today, Japan is in a better economic situation, but Kyoshi is still homeless, and so are many others.
Melissa John
The legacy of depression
L-shaped poverty lines
Oct 16th 2008 TOKYO
From The Economist print edition
Pasted from <http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12437739>
10/21/08
10/19/08
One World?
One World?
Globalization hasn’t suddenly appeared in the past 10 years, it has reappeared. Even before WWI there were attempts of globalization, but with WWI and II and the Great Depression, it was only in the 1970s with the collapse of the Bretton Wood system, that determined that fixed exchange rates, that a rebirth of the capital market appeared. Two forces drove the increased flows of goods and money; the improvements in technology, where costs of communication and computing fell rapidly, and liberalization, which, also due to GATT, almost all countries are more open to foreign trade. Suddenly, there is a clear worldwide trend in globalization. As cross-borders flows of trade, national economies become more integrated, there’s an increase in investment and financial capital, and consumers buy more goods. This globalization buzz can be viewed from two sides. The positive view shows the boost in productivity and the rise in living standards. The division of labor between countries is better and firms can exploit bigger economies of scale. Critics argue however that jobs will be destroyed and wages will be pushed down due to the increases competition from developing low-wage countries that they predict for the future. They see a “race to the bottom” in the pressure of businesses to compete. In the end, there is no right or wrong, but there is the big question whether globalization can be reversed a second time.
http://moodle.zis.ch/mod/resource/view.php?id=15411
Globalization hasn’t suddenly appeared in the past 10 years, it has reappeared. Even before WWI there were attempts of globalization, but with WWI and II and the Great Depression, it was only in the 1970s with the collapse of the Bretton Wood system, that determined that fixed exchange rates, that a rebirth of the capital market appeared. Two forces drove the increased flows of goods and money; the improvements in technology, where costs of communication and computing fell rapidly, and liberalization, which, also due to GATT, almost all countries are more open to foreign trade. Suddenly, there is a clear worldwide trend in globalization. As cross-borders flows of trade, national economies become more integrated, there’s an increase in investment and financial capital, and consumers buy more goods. This globalization buzz can be viewed from two sides. The positive view shows the boost in productivity and the rise in living standards. The division of labor between countries is better and firms can exploit bigger economies of scale. Critics argue however that jobs will be destroyed and wages will be pushed down due to the increases competition from developing low-wage countries that they predict for the future. They see a “race to the bottom” in the pressure of businesses to compete. In the end, there is no right or wrong, but there is the big question whether globalization can be reversed a second time.
http://moodle.zis.ch/mod/resource/view.php?id=15411
Globalization Definitions
Definitions of Globalization
Globalization: a movement in which our livelihoods, through businesses and economies, become interdependent. The increasing trade between nations, the growing market for the selling of products, and the cheapest manufacturing of products are all effects of globalization.
Economies of scale: theory that states that it is better to produce at large quantities and sell it all than to sell everything of a smaller quantity of goods. Production should be cheaper and the products should be sold to more customers.
Footprint: Refers to the different countries a company works/is located in to maximize the area and gain economic stability.
Multinational corporations: These are businesses and companies that originated in the 20th century and manufacture and sell in multiple foreign countries. They often develop the products in their native country and then manufacture them in other, mostly Third World, countries where production is cheaper. These corporations exert power over other businesses or even the government, and are viewed as employment opportunities and technology improvers by proponents, while critics see them as exploiters of developing countries and a reason for the losses of many jobs.
Conglomerate: corporations which merge with another corporation, their products however are largely unrelated, bringing the corporation growth and profit. This vertical integration emerged in the 1960s and back then was very common among investors whose stock prices then rose.
Merger: Merging is the coming together, fusing of two or more companies. The property is transferred to one corporation, who absorbed the others. There are three different types of mergers; vertical, horizontal and extensional. Vertical mergers combine different businesses, such as a car and a clothing company. Horizontal mergers integrate related businesses such as two beer companies. Extensional mergers bring together two businesses that then go into a new market. From this, a hostile takeover happens, where, against its will, one weaker business is swallows by a stronger one.
Competition: the rivalry between businesses in supply and demand, where businesses compete against one another to supply and gain an economic service. A major theme in competition is monopoly, since monopoly endangers the entire concept of competition.
Monopoly: when on the market one seller exerts power and controls the market by being the only seller of a certain commodity. Oligopoly is a situation in which a few sellers control the market, mostly two or three. This is not uncommon nowadays, whereas there are many attempts to avoid monopoly, since it eradicates a free market and market competition.
Cartel: cartels are national or international groups of sellers and manufacturers who come together to fix prices, divide markets or split profits in order to become stronger and stand a chance against the greater, more powerful corporations on the market. Cartels are mainly forbidden, by the outset of WWII, Germany had many cartels, which were closely watched and controlled by the government. Opponents claim that cartels drive out competition, while supporters say that they are merely a protection for weaker firms.
http://moodle.zis.ch/mod/resource/view.php?id=15410
Globalization: a movement in which our livelihoods, through businesses and economies, become interdependent. The increasing trade between nations, the growing market for the selling of products, and the cheapest manufacturing of products are all effects of globalization.
Economies of scale: theory that states that it is better to produce at large quantities and sell it all than to sell everything of a smaller quantity of goods. Production should be cheaper and the products should be sold to more customers.
Footprint: Refers to the different countries a company works/is located in to maximize the area and gain economic stability.
Multinational corporations: These are businesses and companies that originated in the 20th century and manufacture and sell in multiple foreign countries. They often develop the products in their native country and then manufacture them in other, mostly Third World, countries where production is cheaper. These corporations exert power over other businesses or even the government, and are viewed as employment opportunities and technology improvers by proponents, while critics see them as exploiters of developing countries and a reason for the losses of many jobs.
Conglomerate: corporations which merge with another corporation, their products however are largely unrelated, bringing the corporation growth and profit. This vertical integration emerged in the 1960s and back then was very common among investors whose stock prices then rose.
Merger: Merging is the coming together, fusing of two or more companies. The property is transferred to one corporation, who absorbed the others. There are three different types of mergers; vertical, horizontal and extensional. Vertical mergers combine different businesses, such as a car and a clothing company. Horizontal mergers integrate related businesses such as two beer companies. Extensional mergers bring together two businesses that then go into a new market. From this, a hostile takeover happens, where, against its will, one weaker business is swallows by a stronger one.
Competition: the rivalry between businesses in supply and demand, where businesses compete against one another to supply and gain an economic service. A major theme in competition is monopoly, since monopoly endangers the entire concept of competition.
Monopoly: when on the market one seller exerts power and controls the market by being the only seller of a certain commodity. Oligopoly is a situation in which a few sellers control the market, mostly two or three. This is not uncommon nowadays, whereas there are many attempts to avoid monopoly, since it eradicates a free market and market competition.
Cartel: cartels are national or international groups of sellers and manufacturers who come together to fix prices, divide markets or split profits in order to become stronger and stand a chance against the greater, more powerful corporations on the market. Cartels are mainly forbidden, by the outset of WWII, Germany had many cartels, which were closely watched and controlled by the government. Opponents claim that cartels drive out competition, while supporters say that they are merely a protection for weaker firms.
http://moodle.zis.ch/mod/resource/view.php?id=15410
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