Regional Trading Blocs - 2360 Words

INTRODUCTION : A regional trading bloc is a group of countries within a geographical region that protect themselves from imports from non-members. Trading blocs are a form of economic integration, and increasingly shape the pattern of world trade. In general terms, regional trade blocks are associations of nations at a governmental level to promote trade within the block and defend its members against global competition. Defense against global competition is obtained through established tariffs on goods produced by member states, import quotas, government subsidies, onerous bureaucratic import processes, and technical and other non-tariff barriers. Since trade is not an isolated activity, member states within regional blocks†¦show more content†¦This can lead to trade disputes, such as those between the EU and NAFTA, including the recent Boeing (US)/Airbus (EU) dispute. The EU and US have a long history of trade disputes, including the dispute over US steel tariffs, which were declared illegal by the WTO in 2005. In addition, there are the so-called beef wars with the US applying  £60m tariffs on EU beef in response to the EU’s ban on US beef treated with hormones; and complaints to the WTO of each other’s generous agricultural support. During the 1970s many former UK colonies formed their own trading blocs in reaction to the UK joining the European common market. EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL TRADE BLOCS: In terms of their size and trade value, there are three major trade blocks and a larger number of blocks of regional importance. The three major regional trade blocks are, as follows: NAFTA: NAFTA is short for the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA covers Canada, the U.S. and Mexico making it the world’s largest free trade area. NAFTA was launched 20 years ago to reduce trading costs, increase business investment, and help North America be more competitive in the global marketplace. As of January 1, 2008, all tariffs between the three countries were eliminated. Between 1993-2009, trade tripled from $297 billion to $1.6 trillion. NAFTA was signed by President George H.W. Bush, Mexican President Salinas, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney inShow MoreRelatedImpacts Of The Regional Trading Blocs1192 Words   |  5 PagesWorld War II, the creation of regional economic blocs has become an essential political remedy that gathers countries and nations rather than divide. Essentially, the creation of the economic regional blocs aims to minimize the obstacles between nations that share the same geographic border and to facilitate the circulations of goods and services. In fact, the regional trading blocs differ in terms of political structure and economic objectives, but the rapidity of trading goods and services within theRead MoreThe Worlds Main Regional Trading Blocs1755 Words   |  8 Pages3. The World’s main regional trading blocs Middle East and North Africa (MENA): is a regional economic integration bloc that includes the Middle East and North Africa. The population of the MENA region is about 381 million people, about 6% of the total world population. Map 1: Middle East and North Africa geographical map North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA): is a regional economic integration bloc that includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. NAFTA represents 450 million people producingRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Regional Trading Blocs2228 Words   |  9 PagesBoth advantages and disadvantages can be found in regional trading blocs. I am going to discuss about it, taking into consideration as it has been suggested the context of the Europian Union, since it is an interesting example of regional trading block. Governments impose tariffs with the aim of protecting their economies and to control the prices. They intervene in trades for two main reasons: the first one is economic whereas the second one is political. As far as the economic explanation isRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Regional Trading Blocs Such As The Eu1446 Words   |  6 Pagesgeneral the advantages and disadvantages of regional trading blocs such as the EU. Discuss the benefits that UB may now enjoy after acquiring a stake in the Nigerian firm, AP. Regional trading blocs are when a group of countries that lie within a similar geographic area protect themselves, through a form of economic integration, from imports from non-members. To explain briefly, there are several stages of economic integration. A political union represents the potentially most advanced typeRead MoreRegional Trading Blocs : The Eu And Asean ( Association Of Southeast Asian Nations )2511 Words   |  11 Pagesthis report is to compare and contrast two regional trading blocs: the EU and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and also to discuss and analyse the implications for the marketing managers that operate in these blocs. Schott (1991) defines a trading block as a type of intergovernmental agreement that aims to reduce regional barriers to trade for the participating states. This report will look at the similarities and differences between the two blocs in the first part, with the second partRead MoreRegional Integration Is An Agreement Betwe en Countries With Other Countries Essay835 Words   |  4 PagesRegional Integration Regional integration is an agreement between countries enhancing cooperation to achieve political and economic goals. â€Å"In order to achieve integration, governments must be willing to enter agreements and create policy in favor of investment and trade with other countries. Regional integration may occur between nations because of common cultural backgrounds, geography, or historical links† (Background, 1995). Regional integration has also led to the existence of institutionsRead MoreAdvantages And Disadvantages Of The European Union1123 Words   |  5 Pagesand disadvantages of regional †¨ trading blocs such as the EU. Discuss the benefits that UB may now enjoy after acquiring a stake in the Nigerian firm, AP. United Biscuits (UB) manufactures its products in factories throughout England, Ireland, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The advantages and disadvantages of regional trading blocs such as the European Union (EU), since its creation with the Treaties of Rome in 1957, the European Union has shown great progress in regional integration, mainlyRead MoreU.s. Bilateral Trade Agreements1584 Words   |  7 PagesAs discussed before, the recent decades has seen proliferation of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs), of which bilateral and regional trade agreements are a part. Of the 162 member countries, Mongolia was the only WTO member without PFA by 2005 (WTO, 2016). There are several motivations behind bilateral trade negotiations, originating from the state of the economic and political situation of participating nations (McMahon, 2006). In the absence of broader trade agreements, bilateral trade agreementsRead MoreThe European Union ( Eu ) And North American Free Trade Agreement1086 Words   |  5 PagesAmerican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) both consists of twenty-seven countries that makes it the largest trading bloc in the world. Based on the 2008 figure, the value of the exports of goods/services from European Union to NAFTA was 639. One billion Canadian dollars while the import of goods/services to the European Union from the NAFTA was amounted to 513.9 billion Canadian dollars. Two trade blocs are also highly interdependent by the means of FDI. In 2007, the value of inflows of FDI NAFTA from EURead MorePreferential Trade Agreements Essay1454 Words   |  6 PagesInternational Trading Blocs Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) Preferential Trade Agreements or trading blocs are a form of economic integration in which countries agree to create a free trade area or some form of common market to facilitate trade. This agreement can be in different forms and depths, for instance there is Free Trade Area is a trading bloc that has no tariff, then Custom Union is where there is common level of trade barriers, in Economic unions such as European Union, the member

Education Is a Vital Tool for Development †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: How To the Education Is a Vital Tool for Development? Answer: Introduction Noteworthy, Education is a vital tool for development of most economies. Similarly, Australia has placed substantial emphasis on education and has incurred investment into bettering its education sector. However, the Australian education system is far from perfect due to the various shortcomings manifested in its education system. Notably, education inequity is considered rampant between most public schools unlike in private schooling facilties.Further, inadequate or discriminatory distribution of education resources in some schools has largely contributed to the performance disparities among Australian students. According to the Australian, quality education ought to be the focus of academic reforms in Australia. According to the Australian article, quality teacher education is central to excellent student performance.Further,the inability of teachers to focus on the individual student academic needs has largely contributed to poor student performance of students in Australia.Furthermore,tutor unpreparedness before lectures and total and partial absenteeism of tutors also contribute to poor student performance in most Australian learning institutions.Moreover,the outdated curriculum as a basis for learning has crippled education relevance and advancement for the students in Australian thus encouraging future work redundancies and poor workplace performance by students who form the future labor market for the Australian economy. Economic Concepts and Analysis Australian education performance has been among the world top performers .However, the education system is now declining .Moreover, the Australian government has mitigated measures to try and boost education performance in its states. The move to reshuffle schools has proved ineffective thus the need to implement workable solutions into the education sector. Notably, teacher quality determines success of student performance because an unqualified teacher is unlikely to impart quality education or knowledge to his or her students hence the crucial need to improve teacher quality before implementing other measures and education policies. Teacher quality can be improved through raising the standards of teaching courses and curriculum. Identification of the key education reforms is the starting point for education reforms in Australia. Further, a student centered approach to education ought to be adopted by Australian education policy makers. Primarily, a student based approach is likely to grow motivation levels in students and be more effective. Also, use of professional experts input can be incorporated to aid in the reform process(PWC,n.d.)In addition, plan formulation and implementation should follow. Subsequently, technological advancements and creative learning techniques must be incorporated into the education reform system. Inevitably, times are changing and innovative teaching ways are being developed for better student understanding and performance. Notably, the national Australian education curriculum is in the process of being reviewed(International Education News)Inevitably, times are changing hence the need to update national education curriculum to reflect and address the current economic and knowledge needs. Technological and innovate teaching techniques and practices ought to be implemented into the worldwide academic sphere to enable equal competitive footing for all global students in the future labor and education opportunities. Outdated curriculum is likely to inadequately prepare students for the future labor market and inhibit global competitiveness. Primarily, a uniform national curriculum promotes equity among all Australian student due to the equal standard and evaluation criteria thus providing equal competitive chances for all students in Australia. Significantly, teacher quality translates into student performance hence the importance of ensuring and improving teacher quality in all levels of education (Hamid et.al, 2012) Usually, qualified teachers have a likelihood of producing successful and exemplary student performance whereas unqualified teachers are likely to record poor student performance. Substantial investment should be made into training of quality teachers for quality student performance. Quality teachers imply adequate training in the tutoring area thus making the teacher an expert in area of teaching. Further, qualified teachers have the skills and attitude to create a friendly and comfortable learning environment for students thereby boosting student performance (Harmond, 2010) Also, the academic qualifications for training teachers must be high to attract brilliant and motivated minds into the teaching profession.Notably,the poor performance in mathematics in Australia has been linked to the lack of mathematical expertise by one third of the teachers offering mathematics lessons to Australian students between 7 and 10 years of age(Australian,2017) Consequently, teacher expertise contributes to teacher quality and performance.Subsequently,compromised teacher quality is evidenced by insufficient or lack of knowledge of the subject taught by the unqualified teacher(Hattie,2011)Further, shortage of teachers for different Australian subjects such as reading, mathematics and science is largely to blame for the poor student performance(Karp,2016)Primarily, teacher shortage in public schools is more rampant than in private schools hence the performance disparities . Raising the entry academic standards of teachers in training institutions plus the standards of learning teachers will go a long way in boosting teacher quality thus improved student performance. Noteworthy, the evaluation of teacher skills, numeracy and literacy may help raise the declining teacher education standards and quality. The teaching career ought to be made more attractive to help cover the teacher gap in Australian schools. Primarily, poor entry academic requirements for teaching courses will in turn produce not so baked teachers thus poor education quality.However,with brilliant students enrolling for teaching courses, the likely teacher quality standards will be high and therefore teaching In Australian will be considered an attractive . Notably, the Australian government has implemented measures to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession among its states. The motivation to become qualified teachers is being implemented to attract brilliant minds into the teaching profession (Australian Government) Substantially, education is the backbone to most sectors of the Australian economy. The future taskforce of Australia is comprised of the current students thus the need to provide quality education through quality teachers and other infrastructural and educational resources to prepare the students for the future labor market of Australia. Further, innovative and creative teaching techniques and practices must be implemented into the education system to boost understanding and student performance in Australia (Reforms, 2014) Further, Tutor unpreparedness must be eliminated in Australian education system through implementation of harsher penalties for unprepared tutors. Also, teacher absenteeism ought to be discouraged and eliminated in Australian schools to accord students adequate learning time in preparedness for examination and future labor market. In addition, qualified tutor shortages should be eliminated through making the teaching profession attractive by recruiting brilliant minds and offering financial incentives and motivation for current teachers in the Australian education system. Consequently, an increase in the number of trained teachers is likely to address the teacher shortage in most public Australian schools and also the number of expert teachers will increase teacher quality hence better student performance. In addition, teacher quality can be improved through better salary packages for teachers. Motivated and financially comfortable teachers are likely to perform better than poorly motivated teachers. Further, an increase in the financial budget for teaching resources, learning institution infrastructure is likely to create a conducive teaching and working environment for teachers and students respectively thus better overall school performance. Poorly equipped teachers and students is likely to reflect in poor performance by both tutors and students and the reverse is true. Unqualified teachers are unable to handle individual student needs thereby transforming into exemplary student performance. Equitable resource allocation in schools provides an equal competitive ground for all students of Australia to be able to compete with other global students.Notably,good performance has been linked to better student performance due to the conducive and learner environment that it provides.However,poor leaning environment has a high likelihood of producing equally poor student performance.Further,the government of Australia should invested more financially in equipping all rural and urban schools with sufficient resources and facilities to boost student performance nationally. In addition, quality teachers, adequate resources will go a long way in boosting the overall global academic performance of all Australian students. Also, curriculum reforms are central to good performance and future workplace performance. Inevitably, the current students are going to form part of the future labor force thus the need to update the learning curriculum for both tutor and students. Technological and general economic conditions are ever changing needing adaptability and preparedness on the part of the current and future labor force.Notably,an updated national education curriculum will equip students with the requisite skills required in the future labor market thus an investment into the future. Further, the involvement of technological methods in education will boost the understanding of students and make education effective and time saving. In my view, a good teacher has the rightful qualifications to handle his or her student individual needs which in turn translate to good student performance thus the emphasis on teacher quality. Quality teachers can be achieved through high standards of the academic requirements for the teaching profession. Further, regular updates on the teaching and learning curriculum will empower teachers to adequately handle the different student abilities and disabilities. Also, financial incentives must be availed to motivate teachers and to make teaching an attractive career for brilliant students. Conclusion Inevitably, education has an economic impact on all economies in the world thus the need for Australian education system to boost its current performance trend.Notably,Australian education performance is among the top in the world.However,theres need to implement teacher quality reforms, increase budgetary allocations, update student curriculum and implement creative and innovative teaching techniques.Majorly,teaching quality influences student performance.Further,learning courses for teachers standards and entry requirement ought to be raised to consequently improve teacher quality. Shortage of qualified teachers can be addressed through making the teaching career attractive and not as an option. References Curriculum reform in Australia. International Education News. [Online]Available from https://internationalednews.com/2014/12/04/curriculum-reform-in-australia/[Accessed 5 May 2017] Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness. Center for American Progress. [Online]Available at https://www.highered.nysed.gov/TELDH.pdf[Accessed 5 May 2017] Education improvement in Australia. PWC. [Online]Available at https://www.pwc.com.au/education/education-reform.html/ Hamid. A., Hassan, S., Ismail. H. (2012 Teaching Quality and Performance Among Experienced Teachers in Malaysia. [Online] Australian Journal of Teacher Education 3711), pp. 1-20. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ999392.pdf Hattie, J. (2011). Challenge of focusing education reform. The Australian.[Online] Available at: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/business/rethinking-education-the-challenge-of-focusing-reform/news-story/320a7a0664bad45f074f3d6eb320e059[Accessed 5May 2017] Karp, P. (2016). Pisa results: Australian students' science, Maths and reading in long-term decline. The Guardian. [Online]Available at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/06/pisa-results-australian-students-science-maths-and-reading-in-long-term-decline[Accessed 5 May 2017] Quality teaching must be the focus of school reform. (2017) The Australian. [Online]Available at www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/quality-teaching-must-be-the-focus-of-school-reform/news-story/b068e3d469cd0494304bdc2d80c0d97b.[Accessed 5 May 2017] Upholding Quality - Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching. Australian Government. [Online] Available at: https://www.education.gov.au/upholding-quality-quality-indicators-learning-and-teaching[Accessed 5 May 2015]