Social and political environment of business

Social & Political Environment of Business

Protectionist policies include policies such as tariffs (taxes) upon imported goods and quotas, the latter of which limits the number of imported goods which can be brought into the country. The intention of protectionist policies is to protect local industries and jobs from competition.

From the perspective of a poorer nation, protectionism can have certain advantages. A developing nation frequently does not have the resources to compete with a more developed nation in terms of the quality of the goods it manufactures. Developed nations can frequently operate on economies of scale and price their goods much more cheaply and have better technology to produce those goods. Through protectionism, a local industry in a poorer nation has a chance to grow and develop while it is 'protected' and can employ native workers in the process.

Q3. However, there are considerable detriments to embracing protectionism: from a free trade standpoint, it makes little economic sense for a nation to produce what it can more cheaply import. This is unfair for consumers, who are being deprived of additional variety and a choice of low-cost goods. Protectionism can also start trade wars with other nations, limiting the ability of the protectionist nation to export its goods and thus ultimately hurt the protectionist nation's economy.

Q4. Economic globalization is defined as the increasing connectivity of the international economy on a global level and the mutual dependence fostered between different nations on an economic basis.

Q5. Overall, economic globalization has increased the markets for goods and services and improved the economic lot of many people; it has encouraged a freer flow of democratic ideas and made modern technological developments and improvements more accessible. However, it has also created an even greater divide between the haves and the have-nots of the world. It has erased many of the differences between different national cultures. And the growing embrace of the Western way of life has had a very negative impact upon the environment.

Q6. Sweat shops are factories in which the workers labor for many hours a day, far longer than would be allowed according to U.S. law, often under unsanitary or dangerous conditions. Workers are paid very little. There may be an illegal amount of pressure to force workers to labor under these conditions, such as a threat of physical violence.

Q7. However, some people have defended sweat shops, saying that they are a necessary part of a nation's economic development. Workers are often willing to labor for such long hours out of a desire to make money and to improve the future of their families. Without sweat shops, unskilled workers in the developing world might not have work at all.

Q8. Unskilled workers may be willing to do work that other workers are not. Lower-cost labor keeps down the price of many goods and services, spanning from everything from housecleaning to restaurant meals. However, the downside is that the availability of cheap labor exerts downward pressure on all workers' salaries, particularly unionized workers. This undercuts many of the gains of the labor movement. Also, because unskilled workers may be willing to work without benefits, there is less pressure on employers to offer health insurance and other necessary aspects of modern life.