Theos-Talk Archives (January 2001 Message tt00122)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Blip Bland" <fork34lift@yahoo.com>
To: <thucydides@egroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2001 7:44 PM
Subject: Theos-World system

> Abstract:
> Our economic reward system is not a democratic system because the rewards 
> aren't divided up equally; and the concept of democracy is about equal 
> participation.  
> In order to have a reward system you have to have a reward. 
> -Therefore some group has to be stuck with the 
> thankless task of generating that reward. For that group, life isn't veryrewarding, 
> 
> as not only do they have to produce what they need, but also what those above them 
> demand as their reward. Now, in order to get this group to accept their place;
> a backdrop of starvation is instituted so that they will accept the menial reward they receive for generating the reward system's >reward; since theonly alternative is the backdrop of
> starvation. This is how the reward system is enabled to
> operate. However, the backdrop of starvation that is needed for enabling
> the reward system, has negative undesireable consequences 
> of its own.

WTO NEWS: 2000 PRESS RELEASES
Press/181
13 June 2000
Free trade helps reduce poverty, says new WTO secretariat study

A new WTO Secretariat study published today (19 June) finds that trade liberalization helps poor countries to catch up with rich ones and that this faster economic growth helps to alleviate poverty. WTO Director-General Mike Moore said: "This report confirms that although trade alone may not be enough to eradicate poverty, it is essential if poor people are to have any hope of a brighter future. For example, 30 years ago, South Korea was as poor as Ghana. Today, thanks to trade led growth, it is as rich as Portugal." 

The following is a selection of the highlights of the study "Trade, Income Disparity and Poverty", by Dan Ben-David of Tel Aviv University and L. AlanWinters of Sussex University.

Extreme poverty is a huge problem. 1.2 billion people survive on less than a dollar a day. A further 1.6 billion, more than a quarter of the world's population, make do with one to two dollars a day. 
To alleviate poverty, developing economies need to grow faster, and the poor need to benefit from this growth. Trade can play an important part in reducing poverty, because it boosts economic growth and the poor tend to benefit from that faster growth. 
The study finds that, in general, living standards in developing countries are not catching up with those in developed countries. But some developing countries are catching up. What distinguishes them is their openness to trade. The countries that are catching up with rich ones are those that are open to trade; and the more open they are, the faster they are converging. 
The study also finds that poor people within a country generally gain from trade liberalization. It concludes that "trade liberalization is generally a strongly positive contributor to poverty alleviation-it allows people to exploit their productive potential, assists economic growth, curtails arbitrary policy interventions and helps to insulate against shocks". This concurs with a new World Bank study which, using data from 80 countries over four decades, confirms that openness boosts economic growth and that the incomes of the poor rise one-for-one with overall growth. 
The WTO study acknowledges that some people do lose in the short run from trade liberalization. Some are well-off, others not. The report argues that the plight of the losers should not be ignored, but that the right way to alleviate their hardship is through social safety nets and job retraining rather than by abandoning reforms that benefit most people. 


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