by Andy Beharrell and John Sloman
The breakdown of the Doha trade talks
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has 149 members and its main purpose is the promotion of free trade. As part of this brief it aims to reduce protectionist measures such as tariffs, quotas and embargoes. It also acts as the global policeman and court for world trade issues relating to its agreements. The Doha round of negotiations (so called as it was in Doha in 2001 that the negotiations began) has been a difficult round and following a major meeting in Hong Kong in December 2005, negotiations have been continuing in Geneva.
Markets – the best way to allocate resources?
An ongoing debate in economics is the extent to which free markets are the best way to allocate resources. This is a debate that will crop in a range of situations from the Doha trade talks to discussion of climate change and global warming. The whole debate over the extent to which government should intervene in markets is one which revolves around the differing views of the efficiency of markets. In these short articles below, we consider a few of these issues.
Oil prices – can they make their mind up?
Oil prices hit over $78 per barrel in July 2006, but October has seen them fall right back again to below $60. So what is causing these fluctuations? Some experts are still predicting oil prices of over $100 in the next decade, so how can prices have fallen as low as $60 if this really is likely? Unfortunately things are rarely simple in the oil market and we need to consider a range of influences on demand and supply to try to answer these questions.
The rise and rise of prices in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is what could be described as an economic basket case. The country has been in economic decline since the President, Robert Mugabe, started seizing white farms in 2000. In eight years the country’s real GDP has fallen by over 40%, unemployment is thought to stand at around 80% of the workforce, agricultural production has fallen by 60%, factories are thought to be running at around 20% of their capacity and there have been shortages of staple goods like bread and other foods and even fuel. One of the main problems has been the massive rise in inflation which now stands at over 1200%. The impact of this hyperinflation is difficult to imagine for those who have never had to live with it.
Copyright © Pearson Education Limited 2006. All rights reserved. Legal Statement
