tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post3643694088276121421..comments2024-03-29T12:03:50.891+05:30Comments on The Leap Blog: Globalisation: the glass is half emptyAjay Shahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03835842741008200034noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-13545485579763592352011-01-31T07:18:34.486+05:302011-01-31T07:18:34.486+05:30Ajay,
You are absolutely right. In the research ...Ajay, <br /><br />You are absolutely right. In the research I have done for my forthcoming book on the Indian services industry, it is quite clear that trade in services just hasn't received the attention it deserves. So much so that most national accounting doesn't even have a classification where exports of goods and services are at the same level (this includes India). Often it is put under Invisibles or some such thing.<br /><br />Most services are not tradable across countries. But in the last two decades India has been at the forefront of this huge trend of offshore services. The responsibility of getting WTO to focus on things like Service Visas rests with India.Basab Pradhanhttp://6ampacific.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-26286235349406653162011-01-29T14:37:06.617+05:302011-01-29T14:37:06.617+05:30My 0.02$
The extent of trading barrier or the abse...My 0.02$<br />The extent of trading barrier or the absence of it, can be well ascertained by History and Markets :) of 1810-1880 :D<br /><br />European mills were by and large supplied cotton from the Southern American states since the late 18th century, with Indian cotton catching up by 1810. <br />But I suspect, in the absence of Suez Canal,the Indian cotton's supply was not "just-in-time" enough to be considered for the mills seriously. <br />By this time, the agricultural crop prices after a multi decade depression (since 1770's) was improving. But well, taxation was so high, and credit system in the then India so primitive, that usury was a thriving business. By 1855-1860 when American Civil War, started, Confederates to raise mony, started selling cotton bonds in Europe with cotton as its underlying. Well,due to many reasons though, it was seen highly attractive in the beginning,but investors soon, found it too risky,for which the yield went up.To support the prices, Confederates started regulating and finally banning the export of cotton.Since 1859, cotton supply from US increasingly came under pressure, but now the final nail was stuck. To ensure better supply, Indian farmers were tapped. East Ind.Co. started financing local moneylenders, easy credit,incentives for cotton farming and an insatiable appetite for cotton(in the absence of mainstream supply), got the prices of cotton soaring.500% in 3 years, Bombay Gazette, brought out an article in 1864,asking what would prevent India from taking the place of US in cotton market?.<br /><br />But then, the war got over in 1865, cotton supplies resumed from US, the EIC had fuelled a huge credit bubble, tax increased, <i>sahukars</i> understanding the riskiness of their subprime credit, raised the interest rates.<br />And well, in 1875 a peasant rebellion broke out in the Deccan.<br /><br />In hindsight all because, of one paper whose underlying was cotton. :)<br /><br /><br /><br />P.S: Apologies for such a lengthy commentSoham Dashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16061423154270335417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19649274.post-44455798452754069182011-01-29T00:52:16.440+05:302011-01-29T00:52:16.440+05:30Aren't barriers to services by definition hard...Aren't barriers to services by definition harder to erect (or remove) than barriers in goods? Some services are by nature very easy to cross natural borders. Think of IT call centers, journal copy-editing, medical transcription etc. These will be hard for governments to interfere with anyways.<br /><br />OTOH, services like haircuts, babysitters, nurses etc. are very hard to push across borders irrespective of government policy. <br /><br />Maybe that explains why not much reduction in cost-of-service-trades happens. The ones that are easy are already done, whereas the other ones are really difficult.Rahulnoreply@blogger.com