Reflection
6/5/14

a. Since my time at K, one year, this has been my favorite class so far because the material is so applicable to future endeavors.  The class was structured around a combination of hands on activities, lectures, and class discussion.  This was the first discussion based class I have felt comfortable expressing my ideas in.  I attribute that to Chuck as well as the course material.  I think that transportation costs and backhaul is the topic we covered that is most directly applicable to understanding how the world works.  It helps us understand a lot about the world economically and why some places are more developed than others.

b. I am interested in learning more about the evolution of globalization and transportation.  I enjoyed learning about transportation costs and backhaul, I think this is partly because it is a great way to understand how the world works.  I enjoy learning about why some places are developed while others can seem to escape poverty traps and are stuck in an underdeveloped state.  Learning more about how the transportation and distribution of goods works will help me to better understand underdevelopment.

c. Next year I will be staying on campus, with the possibility of study abroad in the spring.  Next year will be challenging partly because a lot of my friends and peers will be away on study abroad.  Another challenge will be deciding if I will go on study abroad in the spring.  Being a transfer student from the University of Colorado, I have already missed a full year of being on campus.  Honestly sometimes my time at Colorado feels like my own little "study abroad(away)".  It's going to be a difficult decision to decide if I want to travel abroad my junior spring and miss even more time on campus.  I look forward to coming back to K in the fall knowing what to expect and knowing people on campus.  I have yet to have the experience of coming back to a school I am already familiar with, so in terms of , next year should be a lot easier than my previous two years of school.

City Analysis Assignment
5/22/2014

1. Caracas is Venezuela's capital and largest city.  The city is the country's center for commerce, culture, economics, and the base for tourism.  It is listed as the 6th biggest city in South America.  As of 2011, the country has a population of about 2.1 million.  Being a capital city and the 6th largest in South America, Venezuela is a Regional Metropolis.  An attributing factor to this cities size is it's distance to the coast, about 25 miles.  This makes it an ideal city for tourism, shipping, and connectedness to the world.  The largest city in South America is Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Caracas is about 6,779 miles from Sao Paulo.  Sao Paulo is a national metropolis, it has the largest GDP in the southern hemisphere and a strong international influence. The country is the center of commerce in South America and has the second largest stock exchange market in the world, in market value.  La Guaira is port city in Venezuela and is located about 20 miles from Venezuela.  La Guaira is a small coastal city that has a focus on shipping and transporting goods from the ships to large cities like Caracas.

2. Being the 6th largest city in South America, Venezuela offers a lot and has many resources that make it an easy place to live in regards to smaller cities.  The Capital offers many different stores, internationally and locally based that you can't find in smaller cities in Venezuela because the demand and population needed to support the stores is not there.  However, Venezuela does not have some of the international influence that larger countries, such as Sao Paulo have.

New Summary #3: Airlines Grounded in Venezuelan Malaise
Author: Andres Schipani
Published: May 20, 2014

         This article continues to discuss Venezuela's never-ending economic misfortunes.  The country is in a dismal downward-spirling tunnel of economic hardships.  Schipani attributes high inflation, price controls and good shortages as the major sources of problems.  The article quotes Professor Steve Hanke of John Hopkins University when he says that Venezuela is easily the most miserable country in the world.  The article continues by saying that the economy is reeling as steel production, cement production, investment, spending on machinery & other capital goods, and oil production are all falling and shrinking.  One of the biggest problems, according to the article, is that tightening of fiscal and monetary policy us required to overcome economic distortions, however doing this will further damage the economy.  
          How can an economy survive when all of it's sources of GDP are shrinking?  In class we discussed the GDP equation, GDP = C + I + G + (Ex-Im).  When thinking about the Venezuelan economy in regards to this equation, it is hard not to be pessimistic about the situation.  As inflation increases, demand for US currency increases, and as a result there is a shortage of US currency.  Because of the currency shortage, the country is unable to import as many goods resulting in goods shortages.  Goods shortages leads to decreased consumption as consumers are unable to purchase their desired goods.  This weakens the economy and weakens future expectations leading to a decrease in investment, internally and externally.  Also leading to pessimism is that these are not small decreases in consumer spending and investment, they are large drastic decreases leading to large fluctuations in the economy and recessions, as GDP decreases.
       How can an economy escape this downward spiraling demise?  A major factor Venezuela needs to overcome is corruption in the government and an end to the political violence that results.  Another thing that would seem to help would be an increase in government spending that would combat the decreased consumer and investment spending.  However, the government has already tried to pump more money, bolivars, into the economy which has lead to further hurt with increased inflation.  Maybe the government should try investing in business and other sources of infrastructure to try and stimulate the economy and create jobs.  Somehow, someway, the government needs to try and greatly reduce inflation so that currency shortages and goods shortages are reversed.

Reading: Chapter 5 of "Junkyard Planet"

Author: Adam Minter 

1. While India and China are both rapidly industrializing counties with a large demand for resources, a large majority of US scrap metal goes to China.  This is because of the amount of exports that China sends to the west coast of the United States and the idea of backhaul.  Trade is extremely imbalanced between China and the United States, we hardly export goods to China but we import a lot from them.  Therefore manufactured goods flow heavily in one direction, from China to the US, and lightly going the opposite direction.  Shipping companies don't want to send empty ships back to China so in order to accomplish this they offer discounts to companies such as scraping companies that generate millions of pounds of product a year and has customers in China.  The US doesn't import nearly as much from India, therefore the trade imbalance is not there and shipping countries don't offer as high of discounts to scrapping companies trying to export their goods to India. 

2. A specific section of the reading says "All of this globalized scrap, every last hunk, moves according to who wants it most, and who can ship it most cheaply." While this is important in the creation of globalization, it can have negative aspects.  The imbalances in trade and trade markets can create a lot of inequalities in the world.  For example in Brass City, Jamnagar, brass manufacturers want to get scrapping material from the US but because shipping costs are so much higher in comparison to China, they can't tap into the market.  This leads to lower wages for employees which lowers the standard of living and furthers inequality.  

3. More generally speaking, modern transportation has been significantly influenced by history.  By relating this reading with Jared Diamond's themes in "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?"  Historically, settlers moved to areas on or near the ocean because ports provided good economic benefits.  Large ports were mainly created on the east side of the US because of the proximity to Europe and settlers first arrived on the east side.  However as the world developed, and China became a chief exporter, ports on the east side of our country were too far flung.  The Panama Canal was created to evolve with the changing world.  

Reading: Chapter one of "The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger"
Author: Marc Levinson

1. A section from this chapter I found particularly interesting was where Levinson talked about the just-in-time manufacturing technique.  Just-in-time manufacturing is when a supplier only makes the goods a customer wants as the customer needs them.  Only when the customer needs them is when the good is shipped and delivered on time.  Levinson explained that companies such as Toyota and Honda use this technique to reduce inventories which leads to immense savings because supply is constantly moving.  This made me think about how easy it is to ship things today.  It made me realize how much we rely on shipping and low transportation costs because of how much we buy things online and pre-order items that are then shipped to a later date.  Containers paved the way for the future by lowering transportation costs and proving that long distance transportation of goods is beneficial even with low cost goods.

2. Levinson sees the development of the shipping container to be a large contributing factor to the increase of globalization.  He says that shipping containers played a large role in connecting the global market because they allowed for cheap transportation of all goods, even inexpensive goods.  This greatly increased trade as producers could reach all parts of the world at a low transportation cost.  The competition that came with this increase in trade, held down the prices of goods creating relatively similar prices on goods throughout the world.

3. Overall, I see the entire global economy benefiting from the transformation of global transportation.  Producers were able to expand internationally and consumers benefited because of the emergence of trade.  Trade kept prices of goods low and allowed consumers to receive a larger variety of goods.  Small companies not looking to expand globally lost from this transformation of global transportation.  Their high prices could not compete with the low prices of goods coming into their community as a result of foreign trade.

News Summary #2: "Maduro: Universal Welfare Aim of Venezuela's Socio-Economic Model"
Article By: Ewan Robertson
Published: May 1st, 2014
Article Link: http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/10657

In this article, Robertson discusses President Maduro's plans to turn around the dismal economic situation in Venezuela.  Maduro illicit's that his policymaking is focused around guaranteeing universal welfare. Robertson defines Venezuela's main economic problems as "overvalued currency, shortages of some basic foodstuffs, and annual inflation of 57%."  He notes that Maduro's opponents blame the government for the black market saying that it is causing basic items such as food to have high  prices and shortages.  Robertson says "that insufficient dollars have been granted to companies through currency-exchange controls for imports and production."  One new initiative Maduro has put in place is called PDVAL Obrero.  This is a food store with regulated prices set for Caracas metro workers and their families.  The Maduro administration has also put in place policies to reform currency control, prevent contraband, and combat hoarding and price speculation.  Overall, the administration is hoping to turn around the economic situation by implementing policies to control the prices of basic and necessary items such as food.

While reading this article, my mind shifts back to a class period when we talked about arbitrage and international markets.  We said that arbitrage occurs when there is a price opportunity because of price differences in different areas or countries.  The impact of arbitrage is the law of one price which states that because of international trade, we will eliminate price inequality.  However, this law of one price doesn't work for everything and therefore doesn't completely eliminate price inequality which could be a major reason as to why Venezuela is seeing shortages and high prices in basic goods.  While it may seem obvious that Venezuela should trade for food items that are cheaper in other countries, it becomes obvious as to why they don't when we look at costs such as transportation costs, restrictions on imports/exports and subsidies.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason as to why basic goods in Venezuela are in shortages and have high pries.  One theory I have is the countries focus on their main source of GDP which is the oil industry.  Too much focus on one sector of the economy can not only lead to monopolies and unequal distribution of wealth but also to a lack of support and government help in other sectors such as manufacturing and food production.  To resolve the problem the government needs to continue to implement strategies to eliminate price inequalities and good shortages.

Venezuela Country Profile Part 5: Transportation 

Water Transportation

• A large portion of Venezuela is bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.  The coastline is about 2,800 km long.  Their extensive coastline provides many economic benefits as it helps with trade, transportation, and tourism. 
• A major port in Venezuela is Puerto Cabello.  Puerto Cabello is about 210 km west of Caracas, the capital city.  It is the largest and busiest port in the country and is an important component of the large oil industry.
• A country with many rivers, the Orinoco is the biggest and most important.  To get an idea for the size of this massive river, it is the third largest in South America falling behind the Paraná and the Amazon Rivers.    As well as providing transportation, oil is exploited from the Orinoco Delta.  Connects major industrial cities such as Ciudad Guayana to the Atlantic Ocean.  

Land Transportation 

• Railroad system 
•  The railway system in Venezuela is limited.  It has no rail connections to any outside cities in other countries.  
• The East-West Railroad connects eastern and western Venezuelan cities.  This railroad provides cargo transport as well as passenger transport.  
• Caracas has a metro system that is used for passenger transport.  
• Highway and Road network 
• Comparative to other South American countries, the Venezuelan road and highway systems are more extensive and in better conditions.  About 1/3 of the countries roads are paved and road travel is extremely popular and common because Venezuela has some of the cheapest gas prices in the world.   

Air Transportation 

• Venezuela's main connection to the world is through the air and Venezuela boasts a number of airports.  Over 60 airports in Venezuela.  
• International Airports 
• Some of the major international airports include: 
• Simon Bolivar International Airport of Maiquetia 
• Santiago Mariño Caribbean International Airport
• La Chinita International Airport 
• There are 2 military airports:
•  El Libertador Air Base  
• Generalissimo Fransisco de Miranda Air Base 

Sources 

• http://www.mongabay.com/reference/new_profiles/554.html
• http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-14559.html

Venezuela Country Profile Part 4: International

International Trade 

• Exports 
• Amount to 35% of Venezuela's GDP 
• Top  products exported by Venezuela 
• Crude Petroleum (77% of total exports) 
• Refined Petroleum (18% of total exports)
• Iron Ore (0.62% of total exports)
• Raw Aluminum (0.34% of total exports)
• Iron Reductions (0.33% of total exports)
• This representation makes it clear that oil is Venezuela's staple resource and is an enormous part of their economy 
• The largest amount of Venezuela exports goes to the United States (27% of total exports) and Egypt (20% of total exports)
• Imports 
• Amounts to 21% of Venezuela's GDP 
• Top products imported by Venezuela 
• Refined Petroleum (33% of total imports)
• Crude petroleum (2.2% of total imports) 
• Iron Ore (2% of total imports) 
• Other Sea Vessels (1.8% of total imports) 
• Soybean Meal (1.6% of total imports)
• The largest import origins of Venezuela are the United States (24% of total imports) and China (15% of total imports)

Exchange Rate 

• Currency in Venezuela is termed the Bolívar 
• The Bolívar is 0.16 of the US dollar, 1 US dollar is equal to 6.29 Bolívars 

Immigration/Emigration 

• In 2010 1,007,400 people immigrated to Venezuela.  Most of these people came from Columbia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, The Dominican Republic, The Syrian Arab Republic, and Cuba
• In 2010 521,200 people emigrated from the country.  The top destinations were The United States, Spain, Columbia, Portugal, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Canada, Italy, Chile, and the United Kingdom 

Relations with Other Countries 

• Historically, The United States and Venezuela have had close relations, however that changed after Hugo Chavez became president.  Chavez didn't like the way that The United States handled their economic and foreign policy.  Venezuela's friendship and positive trade relations with Cuba conflicted with the US's isolation of Cuba and after Chavez took office oil prices greatly increased for the United States.  
• Venezuela has some positive relations with countries in the Caribbean and South America.  Venezuela and Brazil share a boarder and 2001, opened a high-voltage power line from Venezuela to Brazil to help power Northern Brazil.  
• Recently, Venezuela has been going through political and economic turmoil and it will be interesting to see how it effects their relationship with other countries.  

Work Cited 

https://www.insidermedia.com/international-trade-global-destinations/south-america/venezuela/

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/profile/country/ven/

http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/6999

Prologue: A Fez of the Heart: Travels around Turkey in Search of a Hat 
By: Jeremy Seal

a. One particular passage from the reading I found particularly interesting was when Seal was comparing the differences between Halil's work tools and his father's work tools.  The passage states, "Halil is now a successful Pomegranate hotelier, but he has not forgotten his father.  The tools of the old man's trade - the wooden ploughs and the threshing sleds, horse-drawn sleds... have been tided up, varnished, and displayed around the hotel, along with photographs of an ancient face, to commemorate the man and his way of life."  The passage goes on to say "The tools of Halil's trade are fax machines, tour operators, a facility with profit margins and exchange rates, charm, and foreign languages.  No son will build such a memorial to Halil."  The extreme differences from one generation to the next really struck me.  The work goes from tangible, physical capital to intangible services.  This drastic difference puts into perspective how drastically a culture and economy can change in a short amount of time.  It is also interesting to me that the way the passage read, it seemed like his fathers trade and tools were deemed as more respectful than Halil's tools and trade.

b. Economics plays a large role in shaping a culture and vice versa.  This can be especially evident in a place where tourism is the staple in the economy.  In this reading, it seemed as if the more the economy moved from agriculture and manual labor to tourism, the less concerned and sure Pomegranate became with their culture.  The reading also demonstrated that culture can be used as an economic advantage in tourism.  For example, the reading discussed that food changed as tourism advanced.  Turkish food was replaced with European food and restaurants advertised authentic Turkish food as a selling point so that tourists could feel like they were getting the complete experience. Another example is the fez hats.  The hats were forbidden to wear but were allowed to be sold to tourists because the grand hats made great souvenirs.

c. The conflicts and connects of tourism and culture in this little Turkish town, can be seen on a bigger scale and in other countries. This passage made me think about different cultures I've visited and made me realize how much of a tourist I was on these vacations.  For example, I recently traveled to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.  My mom and I stayed in a really nice all-inclusive resort but one day we wanted to venture to town to get the "Mexican Experience."  In this extremely touristy town, there were hundreds of stores and restaurants all trying to provide an authentic experience to attract customers.  The shopkeepers and restauranteurs use the stereotypical Mexican culture to make money.  Now that I think about it, culture and tourism are extremely connected.  Tourists want to embrace and feel a part of the traditional culture of the place their visiting.

Venezuela Country Profile Part 3: Tourism

Importance of tourism

• Data released in 2012 by the Tourism Ministry tells us that:
• 782,686 foreign tourists visited Venezuela
• Of those tourists a majority, 428,211, were from South America most from Columbia and Brazil.   
• 198,922 visited from Europe and 76,663 visited from North America. 
• In 2012 tourism generated just over 1 billion dollars for Venezuela.  
• Although Venezuela is a beautiful country with many intriguing tourist destinations, the countries focus and profits from tourism far falls behind the countries wealth from oil production.  Tourism in Venezuela has also been discouraged recently because of the political instability and social unrest in the country.  

Major Tourist Attractions 

• There are many beautiful and well-known tourist destinations in Venezuela that include: 
• Angel Falls - Known as the largest waterfall in the world 
• La Isla Margarita - A beautiful island just off the coast in the Caribbean Ocean 
• Pico Bolivar - the highest mountain in Venezuela

National Parks, wildlife 

• Venezuela has 43 National parks making up about 20% of the countries territory 
• One well-known park is Parque Nacional Mochima, El Morro. The National Park consists of coastal marine areas and forest.  
• Tourists can expect to see an abundance of tropical wildlife including monkeys, tropical birds, snakes, tree frogs, and tropical fish and other marine life in the coastal waters. 

Important Museums 

• National Gallery of Art - located in the capital of Caracas.  Over 4 thousand pieces of artwork in this famous gallery.  Lots of historical pieces of work. 
• The Caracas Museum of Fine Arts - an "encyclopedic" art museum also located in the capital 

Venezuela Country Profile Part Two: Economics


GDP

• 381,286,237,848 USD 
• Upper Middle Income
• As of 2012 

GDP Per Capita

• 13,200 USD
• As of 2012 

Life Expectancy 

• 74 years 
• As of 2012 

Poverty Rate 

• 25.4%
• As of 2012

Literacy Rate 

• 95.5%
• As of 2012 

Unemployment Rate

• 7.2%
• As of 2014 

Inflation 

• 42.6% 
• As of 2012 

Natural Resources 

• Venezuela has a large amount of petroleum and natural gas.  This prized commodity accounts for about 1/5th of their GDP.  However, it only accounts for less than 1% of the workforce.  
• Venezuela's climate is hot and humid with average temperatures at about 74 degrees.
• Venezuela has about 2,800 km of coastline along the Caribbean Sea 

Labor 

• The number of employed persons in Venezuela is 13005919.00
• The number of unemployed persons in Venezuela is 1014676.00 
• The educational system in Venezuela is highly centralized.  Primary education is compulsory and free in public schools.  Primary education lasts for the first 9 years of schooling.  Secondary education follows.  Technical and vocational information is taught here and usually lasts for 3 years.  There are private and public sectors.  Higher education is then offered at Universities.

Capital 

• Venezuela's wealthiest industry is oil production.  Wealth in oil allowed the country to grow in other ways and in the 1960's the government made it a goal to diversify the economy.  Manufacturing grew immensely and now is about one-sixth of the GDP and workforce.  
• The countries transportation system is very well developed.  Road systems allow for domestic travel.  Coastal and inland waterways serve for bulk transportation.  There is also air transportation for long distance traveling.  

Work Cited 

http://databank.worldbank.org/data/views/reports/tableview.aspx

http://www.indexmundi.com/venezuela/demographics_profile.html
http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/venezuela/fahrenheit/caracas.htm
http://wenr.wes.org/2013/05/education-in-venezuela-reform-expansion-and-an-uncertain-future/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/625197/Venezuela/32724/Industry

News Summary: "Venezuela crippled by 56% inflation and social unrest, but filling a car with gas is still 'cheaper than a bus ticket'"
Article by: Tom Blackwell
Article Link: 
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/04/venezuela-crippled-by-56-inflation-but-filling-a-car-with-gas-still-cheaper-than-a-bus-ticket/


Venezuela is currently in a state of unrest.  The country has daily struggles with protests, riots and other acts of citizen rebellion.  In his article, Blackwell describes the country as going through sky-high inflation, having an abnormally high murder-rate, and a lack of basic items.  He claims that a large reason for the protests and upheaval is because citizens are unhappy with the government and their leader, they don't want to wait for the next election to make government changes.  He also makes it clear that analysts also see the unrest as due to the country's messy economy.  Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, their economy should be booming.  However the country is misusing their precious natural resource.  In the article, it explains that domestic subsidies result in making it cheaper for citizens to fill their tank than buying a bus ticket.  Because of this, billions of dollars are being kept from Venezuelan oil companies.  At the same time, Venezuela is underwriting oil costs sales to Caribbean countries.

In class we have been discussing markets.  As we have seen, government involvement in markets can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes be a bad thing.  The Venezuelan government is costing Venezuelan oil companies lots of money because of their subsidizing requirements.  I'm wondering what would happen if there would be less government involvement in this market.  Would it help Venezuela's struggling economy? Or would it create more unrest with rising gas prices?

Venezuela's situation is a difficult one.  The country is a mess right now with political unrest and economic instability.  It is hard to suggest a resolution because their is so much going on in the country. It is also tough to fully understand the situation because the government has put regulations on the media, not allowing any opposition to the government get any television airing time.  To me, it seems like obtaining new government officials is inevitable in order to restablish order in the country.

Country Profile Part 1: Venezuelan Culture

The country I have chosen to profile is Venezuela.  Venezuela is a country in South America.  I have chosen this country because I am interested in South American culture and hope to travel there some day.  Venezuela seemed like an interesting choice because recently they have had many political problems and have been featured in the news a lot lately.

Here is some information regarding the culture of Venezuela:

Popular Sports 

• The most prevalent sports in Venezuela are baseball, soccer, and basketball.  Baseball is the most popular sport.  Some Venezuelan sport icons include:
• Miguel Cabrera - Detroit Tigers MLB (triple crown winner, AL MVP 2012 & 2013)
• Pablo Sandoval - San Francisco Giants MLB (World Series MVP 2012)

Music 

• The traditional music of Venezuela is salsa, merengue, and joropo.  Joropo is the most popular and is a rural form of music that originated in the plains.  Some popular Venezuelan musicians include:
• Oscar D'León - a famous musician of salsa music 
• Alicia Machado - a famous Venezuelan actress, singer, and former miss universe.  

Food

• Some staple ingredients in Venezuelan dishes include coconut, plantains, seafood, goat, corn, and Italian pasta dishes. 
• Traditional dishes 
• Venezuelan Andean Hallacas - Venezuelan tamales 
• Tequeños - fried cheese sticks 
• Arepas - corn tortillas filled with some form of meat 

Major religions/spiritual beliefs 

• It is estimated that 92% of the Venezuelan population is Roman Catholic 

National holidays and traditional customs 

• Declaration of Independence day - April 19 
• Easter - April 20 
• Independence day - July 5 
• Hugo Chavez Day - December 8 
• Simon Bolivar remembrance day - December 17
• Christmas - December 25 

Popular TV shows and movies 

• Miss Venezuelan 2012 is one of the most watched and popular 
• Some important actors and actresses are Édgar Ramírez and Majandra Delfino 

Online news sources 

• El Universal: Major Venezuela newspaper with news section in English.
• http://www.eluniversal.com/english/
• Latin Focus - Venezuela: Examines Economic indicators, forecasts, briefing, calendar, and links to government, companies, and news.
• http://www.latin-focus.com/latinfocus/countries/venezuela/venezuela.htm#Economic%20Indicator
• Venezuelan analysis  
• http://venezuelanalysis.com/

Online forums for expatriates 

• Venezuelan expat forum 
• http://www.gringos.com/forum/f91/
• Internations Expat forum 
• http://www.internations.org/venezuela-expats/forum

Type of Government 

• Venezuela is a federal republic.  It is governed by a constitution.  Executive power is held by the president who is head as the state and head of the government.  Has four branches, the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the citizens branch. 
• Has multiple parties including The United Socialist Party and The Democratic Unity Roundtable.
• Nicolas Manduro is the president of Venezuela he succeeded Hugo Chavez who died in office in 2013 
• Venezuela is currently in political turmoil that is causing economic and social problems.  Venezuela is in a state of limbo between socialist and capitalist practices.  

Chapter 1 of "Reinventing the Bazaar"

1. The author see's decision-making autonomy as a defining characteristic of a market, where each party is voluntarily involved.  McMillan furthers his point by saying, "If people lack autonomy, then their dealings are not, by this definition, market dealings.  Both the buyer and the seller are separate from each other and have the ability to accept, veto, or barter to achieve their desired outcome.  Another key characteristic McMillan addresses is competition.  McMillan points out, "Competition curbs any individual participant's power."  Competition levels the playing field and helps to create autonomy.

2. I have observed a lot of people who believe that market are the font of liberty and prosperity.  I have also been exposed to people with negative opinions about markets, who believe that markets are a source of exploitation and poverty.  I think that some people might have a feeling of distrust towards markets because of the competition it creates.  Because of this high competition, companies do whatever it takes to either produce the best product or the highest quantity of a product.  With this comes costs.  Sometimes a company may be to focused on being the best or producing the most that they don't care about the welfare of their workers or don't create a safe, quality product.  It is also a fear that people who are "left out" of this market or is left behind because of competition will be left with nothing and no government support.  Some people may distrust government control because they think that government is going to make it so that companies can't make big profits if they deserve to make big profits.  I am still in the learning process and still trying to figure out whether I lean towards a market economy or government involvement.  I tend to think that a market is beneficial with government regulations put in place to ensure consumer and employee safety.  I also think it is important for the government to create ways for start up companies or struggling people to get back on their feet and avoid suffering because of lack of money.

3. McMillan uses folk football as an analogy for a completely lawless market and claims that modern markets are governed by rules just like modern sports.  I think this analogy is a great one.  As I mentioned in part 2, I think that rules are necessary in order to create a positive market economy environment.  One specific rule I find important for modern markets is minimum wage laws and employee welfare laws in general.  It is crucial that employees are protected because if they weren't competition could result in extremely low wages, poor working environments, and lack of employee benefits.  Another rule I find important is product quality and safety regulations.  Especially in the food industry, it is important that this is monitored in order to ensure health and maintain that companies are being honest about their products.  These are just a few of the many rules that are important in a market economy.

Reading: Differences in Human History

Date: 4/1/2014
Reading: "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?" by Jared Diamond

a. Perhaps Diamond's most important point and something he elicits in the opening sentence is his desire to turn the study of history into a science.  He believes it is important to treat history as a science in order to realize historical events and learn from them in order to prevent disasters in the future.  Another key point Diamond points out is that most people are racists.  He says that a main reason for this is that they don't have another answer as to why history took the course that it did.  Diamond attributes modern world inequalities to historical differences in Eurasia compared to the New World, South Africa, and Australia.

b. Diamond identified some important determinants to a society's success including: number of domesticated plants and animals and east/west axis vs. a north/south axis.  The luxury of having a large amount of domesticated plants and animals allow for for more calories per acre than animals and plants in wild habitats leading to a greater population of farmers/herders in comparison to hunters and gathers.  It also led to food surpluses which allowed for the acceleration of technology because craftspeople could focus on their work instead of raising their own food.  The east/west axis of eurasia meant that domesticated species could be spread throughout all of Eurasia because it had a similar climate throughout.  The north/south axis of continents such as the New World and South Africa meant that there were drastic changes in climates and domesticated species could not adapt to climate changes.  Some other important determinants expressed included continent size/population size and isolation.  For example, Australia is the smallest and most isolated continent.  This can drastically slow technology because of limits in productivity and access to outside resources.

c. The above ideas can be applied to today's global economy in multiple ways.  One way is that as Diamond explained, differences in development started a long time ago and once a continent/population faces lack of development often times they are taken over and if they aren't taken over, it can be very difficult to every catch up to continents/populations that are further along in development.  This can be seen in modern day economies.  Poorer economies tend to be underdeveloped and it is difficult for them to improve their economy/development because they don't have the means to obtain necessary resources in order to create  a stable economy.  Another way the ideas can be applied is population size.    For example, China has become extremely developed and advanced this could be due to their dense populations, especially in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.