Have you Ever been Swept Off Your Feet?

In both cases – whether the bubble was inflated with positive or negative energy – the participants in the bubble are being swept away further and further away from actual physical reality and start to see everything either ‘extremely negatively’ or ‘extremely positively’ – neither experience is grounded in reality – because the physical is neither positive or negative – it just is what it is.

And Then You Crash – Meconomics

In this little series, we’ve been investigating the phenomenon of inflation, how we in our daily lives participate in ‘inflating our reality’ and so, how we are on a personal level participating in the same principles/dynamics that we see playing out on a bigger scale when it comes to inflation, speculative bubbles and financial market crashes.

Welcoming New Life with Living Income Guaranteed

Comfort, security and nurturing are all things we wish are present when a baby comes into this world. Yet, these conditions are not a reality for many babies, as parents themselves like these things in their lives. In Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa, 3 to 5 babies are…

Humanity Washed Ashore

This was an excerpt of just one of the stories about the boy. Over the last few days, dozens have been written and published on various major news sites. What is more striking than the content of the posts, is the comments that are left on these articles. What is humanity’s response to such images, to such news?

Voting Fun – What does it Feel Like to Have a Say?

Now – before such increased direct political participation is a reality – let’s do a little test to see what it feels like. So – here are some mock-questions where you’re asked to give your input. Imagine that this relates to your direct reality (eg. your town) – and your answer has a weight that influences the outcome of the decision. Of course, in reality…

Showing posts with label exchange controls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exchange controls. Show all posts

08 September 2012

Day 91: International Trade Policy

11:12 PM  , , , , , , , , , , , ,  No comments

To protect domestic industries from foreign competition, governments have an arsenal of tools they can apply.

1. Import tariffs

Import tariffs are taxes that have to be paid on imported products. Import tariffs are used to raise government revenue (in that case we speak of revenue tariffs) or to protect domestic firms against competition from foreign firms (in that case we speak of preotective tariffs).

Import tariffs are actually a way of making the price of foreign goods more expensive than they actually are. If the price becomes more expensive, the demand for the foreign products will go down.

2. Import quotas

A more direct approach towards managing imports is the use of import quotas. Import quotas are stipulations of how many of a good can be imported. One of the differences is that governments create an additional revenue through import tariffs, but not through import quotas.

3. Subsidies

Instead of placing import tariffs on foreign goods, governments can also subsidise local firms. The logic here is that, due to the additional funds from the subsidies, the costs of production are not as heavy and thus, firms can afford to lower their price to be able to compete with foreign firms.

4. Exchange controls

If the US government wishes to limit the amount of imports from Europe, it can limit the amount of euros its citizens can acquire to purchase European goods.

Read More
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)