Egyptian Food Shortage

The poor of Egypt are facing rising food prices. This is a slight departure from my usual subjects - financial trends and economic news. In this case, we are looking t a case of regression. Since the uprising that ended the last regime, citizens have had a marked increase in food prices, in particular vegetables. The uprising was quiet a disrupting event. 

Now, Egypt imports 70% of all its food. The rest is grown on small family farms along the Nile. These small farms have seen an increase in the price of fertilizer and seeds. They aren't able to grow amounts they would've just a few years ago. Logistics is an issue as well, being that half of all food spoils before reaching market.

The farmers along the Nile have never been able to embrace modern farming methods. The Ministry of Agriculture, which creates farming policies within the country, has poorly managed Egyptian farms. That isn't to say they should adopt the fertilizer intensive and water intensive methods we utilize. Though, they could increase their yield by modernizing their methods. The new Minister of Agriculture plans to revolutionize Egypt’s agriculture by 2030. This is all well and good, but won't help people today. Only time can tell if the new government will be able to alleviate the poor's troubles. In reality, they have no choice; a food shortage was a factor contributing to the recent uprising.

Banking Women in India

Women’s rights are an important issue within our country society. It has become a hot-button issue in developing nations also. Our topics of today are the vast nation of India and the ways in which the government is addressing gender inequality, in regards to finance. To preface this, women’s’ rights and the protections afforded to them have been a major issue in India in recent months. This comes in the wake of a brutal gang-rape of a 23 year old female student in Delhi. The injuries from which resulted in her death. This has spurred protests throughout the country. Apparently, the populace feels that women are vulnerable and that the government has done little to protect them.

The government is attempting to make a step forward. In India, only around 26% of women have accounts with financial institutions. Around 48% of the male population has such accounts. The government has tried to remedy the situation by funding banks for women by women. It is an interest concept – create a government funded banking branches for women by women.  Currently there are around 100 of these types of banks in India. The number is to double by the end of next fiscal year. These banks are fully staffed by women and aim to increase the level of access women have to finance. This will put women on more level footing with men financially, but women will remain vulnerable to sexual and physical abuse until the government increases and enforce punishments against offenders.

A developing nation taking such steps is rather inspiring. It can be easily argued that financial independence would lead to greater equity for women. We could then see an increase in female owned businesses in the country. The women of India would develop alongside their country. Women having economic freedom has been linked to a greater number of positive effects other than shear economic growth, such as lower crime rates, higher education scores, and a general increase of human well-being.

Changing Trade Routes and The Effects

The changes produced from the financial crises of 2008 are still being felt today. We still see new and emerging trends no one quite expected. Sure, we’re very familiar with the changes in our own country. We are aware to a much lesser extent to the changes that have occurred globally, except for the EU; this follows since we’re not very concerned with the happenings of the global community. What we would call “developing” nations has seen drastic changes in their respective internal economies and their global trade relations.   

In this case, we are focused on the overall Asian market and recent trade trends. The recent trend has seen an increase in trade between nations in the Asia region. As tracked the world largest shipping container line, Moller-Maersk, in 2012, the volume of trade between counties in this region increased 19%, while trade volume between the Asia region and the European Union grew only 3%. Those are stark differences in growth, right? We are seeing this trend in other regions around the globe.

Regional neighbors increasing trade between one another has both pros and cons. On the one hand, a country may miss out on the lower costs for imported goods and higher profits on exported goods, theoretically. Globalization can potentially provide great benefits to the consumer, manufacturers, and service sector; of course, there will be those who see no benefit or are worse off. The benefits of trade between nations and comparative advantage are still possible. It does open more opportunities for localized merchants to sell more products in the absence of more global competition. I hope this will revitalize and/or develop local economies to the benefit of local people, people who globalization may not have benefitted.

Blog 2: Changing Trends in the Republic of teh Philippines

We are familiar with the trend of workers as an exported good in the Republic of the Philippines; we didn't consider a crucial element of this policy. Young Filipinos leave their homeland to work abroad. They work abroad in order to send money back home to their families. We've talked about this in terms of economics and worker exploitation - often a Filipino must pay for a job which is often equal to a year's wages, Brokers that illegally charge the worker higher rates, and the chance of losing the job and being stranded. Despite the risks, many take this chance. According to some estimates, there are near 12 million Filipinos. They saw it as a great opportunity in a nation that had high unemployment. For the sake of comparison, the population of the Republic of the Philippines was estimated at 94,852,030 as of 2011; we see that the number of Filipinos working abroad stands at roughly %12.6. Something we seem to have missed in our discussion is the children of all these migrant workers.

Easily, one could imagine the family of a migrant worker consisting of not only their brothers, sisters, cousin, aunts, uncle, and elderly family members but also their own children, who may grow up their entire lives not meeting their parents. At later ages they will understand and appreciate their parents sacrifice, one would hope. Though, the absence of parents could lead to a lonely childhood. If you grew up in this situation, would you be open to making the same decision yourself? The vast majority still leave. I wouldn’t be surprised if their family ties were stronger than ours, countrywide; being that it is a Latin culture. The draw of upwards of three times the wages they could expect at home is hard to resist. A small group of young people are deciding to stay home, feeling that they couldn’t leave their families behind and optimistic about their prospects.

Many young people, the very same who didn’t know their parents, are deciding to stay in the Philippines. They could still make more money abroad, but are making the decision based on their experiencing growing up. Saying they could make more money abroad may be an incorrect statement; they have more opportunities at home than their parents had. The Philippines are very attractive to US and European companies for call-centers and technical support. Not only this, but many electronic and hardware manufacturers locate their factories in the Philippines. Relative to many of these companies’ countries of origin that outsource to the Philippines the peso is very cheap; this means that outsourcing to the Philippines allows for them to cut costs. This developing country is starting to show signs of how a moving from Agriculture and industrialization can improve the quality of life for so many. There is sure to be those who didn’t reap the benefits. Personally, I’m very interested in how the trend of migration will change in the coming 20 years.    

Emerging Markets: The Telecom Case

One example of traditional economics meeting out capitalist practices is this, the penetration of telecom companies into emerging markets. Unlike the environment we are used to, these markets have, comparatively, lax regulations and business practices. Well, it might be a western bias to say these emerging markets have lax regulations. In all honestly, regulations and are fewer; therefore, the markets are more susceptible to corruption.

This has been the case in Uzbekistan. To preface this, Uzbekistan is a relative newcomer in terms of telecommunications; though, in an ever globalized world, actions in less recognized regions can have far reaching effects on the populace’s perception, and confidence, in another. This case involves the CEO of TeliaSonera – Lars Nyberg. He resigned despite being cleared of charges, which involved corruption and abuse of human rights. The corruption charges involved the daughter of a government official and a shell corporation, which acted as a buyer.

If you take anything from this, let it be this – within any market unethical actions will have far reaching consequences. This is, in my opinion, one of the greater benefits of globalization. I don’t mean to assume that everyone is made equal, but that individuals are held accountable, more so. This is only when the international community recognizes the wrongdoing. This is often when the international community has a stake in the individual’s actions. In essence, this is people putting their well-being ahead of other; I hope this will have a positive effect on the developing world. Only the future will tell.

Trade/ Economy

My main reason for choosing this topic is that I find it very interesting. I hope to touch on economies outside of the us, to inlude Europe, Asia, Southern Pacific, and others. By examing the types of trade that dominates these regions and the people's overall weath, I hope to find a correlation between those trade conditions and said wealth. I think this would be useful knowledge.