Globalization and its Effects on Emerging Economies

[Said1]

France has made this kind of promise before. Then their farmers protest and the French government gives in.

Too true! Although budget talks were stalled over this and UK EU rebates, no one is budging without compromise. If France has the most dominant sector, they don't need to be so heavily subsidized. There are other Eastern Euro members who could use the help A LOT more.

Yup. Nobody is building the equivalent of Cockshutt 30s or Massey 55s though. Those are very simple tractors and the equipment from the same vintage is equally simple. Most things can fixed with a few wrenches, a hammer, and a welder. Their small size also makes them very versatile. Hell, I know farmers here that wish that kind of equipment would come back. It's good, it's cheap. Nobody builds it anymore though. It isn't big enough for northern farming techniques.

An excellent project would be to set up a plant that builds that kind of equipment someplace in Africa. They could build them and have equipment that they could use. No profit in that for northern corporations though.

Agreed. Here's a great Tanznian project (I"m susrprised I remembered that correctly - I thought it might be Djibouti also!): http://www.udata.com/users/stusmith/tractors.html

So that has to be specified in trade agreements. No child labour. Education mandatory and paid for by the state.

Agreed. So simple to impliment, yet it's proven to be a virtually impossible task to carry out.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Agreed. Here's a great Tanznian project (I"m susrprised I remembered that correctly - I thought it might be Djibouti also!): http://www.udata.com/users/stusmith/tractors.html

I'm a little concerned about some of the religious overtones. When I see phrases like, "The establishment of these cooperatives will multiply the efforts substantially and will provide revenues for the diocese organization, thus building better sustainability within the diocese," I worry about ulterior motives.

I wish I would have known about this before though...we just sold a whole bunch of old equipment off for scrap from my grandfather's place. I likely could have talked the family into donating it. Or maybe not...I hear they're fighting because a non-running Deutz tractor went for only $100. Turns out my uncles are idiots.

Agreed. So simple to impliment, yet it's proven to be a virtually impossible task to carry out.

I hate to mention the UN again, but they've had some success with education programs and are still pushing the program. If education is tied to trade and supported (but not tied to) aid, it would help a lot too. The UN cannot do much in the area of trade though.

 

[Said1]

I'm a little concerned about some of the religious overtones. When I see phrases like, "The establishment of these cooperatives will multiply the efforts substantially and will provide revenues for the diocese organization, thus building better sustainability within the diocese," I worry about ulterior motives.

Ordinarilly, I would argue that there are plenty of non-secular charties and NGOs doing great work. I would even go so far as to say "Tractors for Tanzania" seems to understand the backwards/forwards links that are curcial to successful economic development, and they understand it takes time to build a solid economy. However, when looking at the web-site again I saw this at the bottom of their home page "Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church". Evangelicals ALWAYS have an ulterior motive. I always hope I'm wrong, but never tend to be.

I wanted to join a geology club when I was a kid living in Calgary. It turned out to be a some sort of "Creationist" club for youth. One would never know by reading their flyiers, and it cost big bucks to join

I wish I would have known about this before though...we just sold a whole bunch of old equipment off for scrap from my grandfather's place. I likely could have talked the family into donating it. Or maybe not...I hear they're fighting because a non-running Deutz tractor went for only $100. Turns out my uncles are idiots.

Too bad, but you're probably right. People can get funny when free money is invovled.

I hate to mention the UN again, but they've had some success with education programs and are still pushing the program. If education is tied to trade and supported (but not tied to) aid, it would help a lot too. The UN cannot do much in the area of trade though.

I do have some faith in UN. I use their environmental stats a lot , they're not as over blown as some might like us to think.
Who does the poverty assessment reports, the UN or the IMF? I can never remember.

 

[Reverend Blair]

Evangelicals ALWAYS have an ulterior motive. I always hope I'm wrong, but never tend to be.

That doesn't mean that nobody can steal their idea. It is a good idea. There is a lot of this kind of equipment slowly rusting way in farm yards all over the prairie and you're generally lucky if you can get somebody to haul it away for free.

Too bad, but you're probably right. People can get funny when free money is invovled.

The really funny thing is that it went into my grandfather's account. He doesn't actually know what money is any more, but back when did he would have been happy as hell to give that equipment to somebody who would use it instread of crush it. Anybody who knew him knows that.

Who does the poverty assessment reports, the UN or the IMF? I can never remember.

Both the IMF and the UN (as well as the World Bank, the WTO and who knows who else) does poverty assessments. It is the UN that comes up with the ones that say who is living on a dollar a day and what that means in the big picture though. The others tend to be based on corporate measurements such as potential profits instead of the well being of people.