Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher : Devra Parker
Economic Freedom : Right Around the Corner
By Alex Croan
12 Grade
In some political views, trade is good. In my view, some trade is good for some countries while other countries are failing to emerge from it. If we don’t solve this, countries that could possible help others will not be able to rise from the dirt. The nations that I have chosen from the index are as concludes: Hong Kong, Barbados, The Ivory Coast, and Turkmenistan.
As you know Hong Kong is the most free in economic freedom. For some reason it is also a small island off the coast of China. Hong Kong bases their economic freedom by selling whole sale goods, some restaurants, hotels, and other ways to bring in most of the country’s money. Some of the exports are as concludes: clothing, textiles, footwear, toys, and precious stones. Hong Kong’s economic growth grew in the past because of its strong manufacturing part of the country. The major reasons of Hong Kong's trade are shipping, civil aviation, tourism, and various financial services. Hong Kong has one of the world's most sophisticated communications and information technology structures in the world. All of these things combined together make Hong Kong the most economicly free country in the world.
Barbados is a small island off the coast of Venezuela. Just like Hong Kong, it is also dependant on what its island has and not what it brings into the island. Sugar is the island’s wealthiest crop, and Barbados depends on the substance to keep the island going. In 1993, Barbados’s growth rate increased 3% - 5% with sugar increases. Barbados also exports clothing like Hong Kong. Some other exports are as concludes: sugar and molasses, rum, and electrical components. The main reasons responsible for the improvement in economic activity are an expansion in the number of tourist arrivals, an increase in manufacturing, and an increase in sugar production. Recently, offshore accounting and financial services also have become an important source of foreign exchange and economic growth.
The Ivory Coast is different from Hong Kong and Barbados. The Ivorian Nation is an agriculturaily-based economy. At least 70% of the country’s population is engaged in some kind of a agricultural activity. Unlike the other two countries that I have discussed, The Ivory Coast is less progressive. Since the colonial period, The Ivory Coast’s economy has been based on the production and export of tropical products. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries account for at least one-third of the countries GDP and two-thirds of its exports. The nation produces 40% of the world's cocoa crop and is a one of the major exporter’s of bananas, coffee, cotton, palm oil, pineapples, rubber, tropical wood products, and tuna. The nation’s reliance on cocoa and coffee exports, which account for 40% of total exports, exposes the economy to huge price swings on world markets for these commodities. Due to not exporting any other goods other than food and wood products, this nation is significatly not in the present time. This is why the Ivory Coast is in the mostly unfree category.
One of the most repressed countries is
Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan
is a
desert country
with nomadic
cattle
raising,
agricultural-irrigated
oases, and gas and oil resources. Over half of its land is in
cotton, making
it the world's tenth largest producer. It also has the world's fifth largest
reserves of natural gas and substantial oil resources in the world. Before 1993,
Turkmenistan experienced less economic disruption than other former Soviet Union
states because its economy went up for the prices of oil and gas causing an
increase money earnings. In 1994, Russia refused to export Turkmen gas to
markets and its major customers in the former USSR because gas deliveries
contributed to a downfall in industrial production and this caused the budget to
shift from a surplus to a slight deficit.
Trade is a essential in keeping a country going. Some countries like Turkmenistan, are not strong enough to keep their economic wealth where they want it to be. For Turkmenistan to survive, it needs to learn that without imports, more exports, and a economic equilibrium, the nation will not be able to survive. Hong Kong, the most free of all countries in the index, has been able to realize that trade with other countries, imports and exports are essential. The Ivory Coast and Barbados seem to be learning this quickly, but, with time, the nation will be able to see and regain the confidence to strive to be a greater nation. If the Nations of the World come together, than the world would be a better place to live in.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1- Be the Devil's Advocate and counter Benjamin Franklin's statement that "No nation was ever ruined by trade."
Benjamin Franklin may have been right about trade when he was still alive. Right now it’s our time, and our time is different. Some nations can benefit from trade, while some will diminish from it. For some countries trade is a must to survive. For those to survive it can backfire and kill them by buying to many goods and having little money. But if they slow down they can equal out the balance of goods and money.
Q2- Name five countries whose ranking surprised you.
These countries would have to be Estonia, Taiwan, Japan, Niger, and Hong Kong.
Q3- Write one sentence each to explain why you chose the countries you did in Q2.
Estonia maybe small but it’s a country trying to survive, and you would think it would be a little stressed on money, but its not.
Taiwan, a small country just south of the East China Sea is a small but wealthy country.
Japan you would think would be wealthier than Taiwan, but because we get more goods from Taiwan and not Japan, Japan has gone down in the GDP index.
Niger as a small country in Africa, is poor with only having a small amount of
uranium left since it was its last major export since the 1970’s.
Hong Kong being one of the most populatated areas of the world is not as rich as
most people take it to be.
Q4- The USA was not ranked first in any of the years exhibited online in the Annual Report nor in the 2005 Index. List the twelve countries that ranked higher on the Index and the countries that out ranked the USA in the eight Annual Reports.
1- Hong Kong
2- Singapore
3- Luxemburg
4- Estonia
5- Ireland
6- New Zealand
7- United Kingdome
8- Denmark
9- Iceland
10-Austrailia
11- Chile
12- Switzerland
Q5- The Index uses 50 variables in 10 categories. The Report shows 21 variables in 5 categories and lists 24 sub-variables in its online charts.
As a class, we searched for the answer of this question. My teacher and my student peers looked threw all of the categories of the index. However, we could not gather enough information to answer this question.