And Then Came NAFTA… †Economics Essay

And Then Came NAFTA†¦ – Economics Essay Free Online Research Papers And Then Came NAFTA Economics Essay The goal of most businesses in the world is to make money. To make money, businesses target groups or markets of individuals to sell their goods and services to. Since the dawn of time, cultures have ventured out to trade with other cultures that have new and better goods. With the great advances in shipping, technology and communication that the 21st century has seen, it is more important then ever for business and countries to look to other nations for partnership in trading and bartering. This has many advantages to countries and individuals. First, it brings down the price of goods by allowing items not easily or cheaply produced in one part of the world to be supplied by parts of the world where they are easily produced. Bartering with other countries also increases the target market for your products 10 fold. The more people introduced to a new item the more sales it will generate. Regional trade blocs are intergovernmental associations that manage and promote trade activities for specific regions of the world.(ucatlas.ucsc.edu) One of the largest trade blocs in the world in NAFTA, or The North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA has three main players, the United States of America, Mexico and Canada. The United States has linked with Canada and Mexico to form a free trade zone, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and now hopes to extend that to the rest of Latin America to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas. The US is already negotiating with Chile to join NAFTA, but that has caused controversy with some other South American countries. The NAFTA agreement covers environmental and labor issues as well as trade and investment, but US unions and environmental groups argue that the safeguards are too weak.( revisionguru.co.uk) NAFTA has a trade flow of more then 2,000 billion dollars; 1,017 billion dollars in exporting and 1,277 billion dollars in imports. NAFTA was introduced on January 1, 1994; came with it was promises of new jobs, a spark in the economies of all three players and a safer and more concrete trade between its partners. NAFTA set up many rules and regulations for its partners that transcend legal, state and local, political and economic. It puts regulations on food safety as well tariff constraints and taxes. In fact, there were many stipulations set up by NAFTA that congress itself denied before the introduction of NAFTA. Mexico was enticed by the overwhelming potential financial gain attributed to doing business with America and Canada. America and Canada were interested in Mexico for cheap labor costs and further markets for goods and services. One interesting point of the three partners of NAFTA are their huge differences of economic levels. America’s gross national product is $11,750,000,000,000; Canada’s is $1,023,000,000,000; and brining up the rear is Mexico with a GNP of $1,006,000,000,000. One of the selling points to Mexico and America was the potential increase in economic statues of Mexico. As you can see, there is a huge difference between the economic statuses of the three members of NAFTA. This difference in economic stages between the members of NAFTA is one of the many advantages to the members themselves. There are many advantages to NAFTA for all parties involved. Some of these advantages are as follows: For every 1 billion dollars in exports, 40,000 jobs are created in America. Opens up the Mexican market Fosters economic integration Spurs growth, generates jobs and protects the environment Allows each country to specialize and become more efficient Access to large pool of cheap labor Some of the disadvantages are as follows. Potential losses of jobs Environmental problems Lower safety and health standards Uneven effect on the Texas Vs. other states. Adjustment costs for the three partners Dynamic effects Transferred from the center to the periphery? Constraints on development policy NAFTA will limit the adoption of certain economic policies Hidden costs: How to bring together the three economies (cas.suffolk.edu) Global implications of NAFTA are extremely large. NAFTA in effect, has broken down the trade barrier walls between two world superpowers and have sparked a slow moving economy in Mexico. There has been much talk about adding other countries to NAFTA like Chile and other South American countries, the more countries involved in NAFTA, then arguably it will increase the effectiveness of NAFTA as a whole. For our neighbors across the pond, it makes goods and services from America cheaper. With quantity, prices of our good and services will drop dramatically. It also sparks further trading because of the perceived stability of America’s economic persona. Another impact NAFTA has on the global economy stems from the fact that America has its hands in many pots. On top of trading with its regional partners, America does business with many other countries in many other trade agreements. Another important characteristic of U.S. trade is the wide variation in sectional trade bala nces by region. While gains from trade liberalization are brought about by increased volumes of imports and exports, these gains can be offset through terms-of-trade effects. (ers.usda) NAFTA is a powerful trade agreement between three counties governments to allow for businesses to trade easily across boarders. With talk about increasing the members of NAFTA, it will surely gain strength and advantages for its members. As for the global market, as NAFTA grows and America’s economic reputation increases, there will be many benefits for non NAFTA members. References cas.suffolk.edu/royo/CAS393/MEX7/sld007.htm Http://www.Wikipedia.com Http://www.Sticky-Marketing.com ers.usda.gov/publications/aer771/aer771e.pdf Http://www.Learnthat.com http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/trade/subtheme_trade_blocs.php citizen.org/trade/nafta revisionguru.co.uk/economics/blocsex.htm Research Papers on And Then Came NAFTA... - Economics EssayDefinition of Export QuotasThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWQuebec and CanadaNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XGenetic Engineering

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage

The Fujita Scale for Tornado Damage Note: The U.S. National Weather Service has updated the Fujita Scale of tornado intensity to a new Enhanced Fujita Scale. The new Enhanced Fujita Scale continues to use F0-F5 ratings (shown below) but is based on a additional calculations of wind and damage. It was implemented in the United States on February 1, 2007. Tetsuya Theodore Ted Fujita (1920-1998) is famous for developing the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale, a scale used to measure the strength of a tornado based on the damage it produces. Fujita was born in Japan and studied the damage caused by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. He developed his scale in 1971 while working as a meteorologist with the University of Chicago. The Fujita Scale (also known as the F-Scale) typically consists of six ratings from F0 to F5, with damage rated as light to incredible. Sometimes, an F6 category, the inconceivable tornado is included in the scale. Since the Fujita Scale is based on damage and not really wind speed or pressure, it is not perfect. The primary problem is that a tornado can only be measured in the Fujita Scale after it has occurred. Secondly, the tornado can not be measured if there is no damage when the tornado occurs in an area without any features to be damaged. Nonetheless, the Fujita Scale has proven to be a reliable measurement of the strength of a tornado. Tornado damage needs to be examined by experts in order to assign a Fujita Scale rating to the tornado. Sometimes tornado damage appears worse than it actually is and sometimes, the media may overemphasize certain aspects of the damage tornadoes can cause. For example, straw can be driven into telephone poles at speeds as low as 50 mph. The Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale F0 - Gale With winds of less than 73 miles per hour (116 kph), F0 tornadoes are called gale tornadoes and cause some damage to chimneys, damage sign boards, and break branches off of trees and topple shallow-rooted trees. F1 - Moderate With winds from 73 to 112 mph (117-180 kph), F1 tornadoes are called moderate tornadoes. They peel surfaces off of roofs, push mobile homes off of their foundations or even overturn them, and push cars off of the road. F0 and F1 tornadoes are considered weak; 74% of all measured tornadoes from 1950 to 1994 are weak. F2 - Significant With winds from 113-157 mph (181-253 kph), F2 tornadoes are called significant tornadoes and cause considerable damage. They can tear the roofs off of light frame houses, demolish mobile homes, overturn railroad boxcars, uproot or snap large trees, lift cars off the ground, and turn light objects into missiles. F3 - Severe With winds from 158-206 mph (254-332 kph), F3 tornadoes are called severe tornadoes. They can tear the roofs and walls off of well-constructed houses, uproot the trees in a forest, overturn entire trains, and can throw cars. F2 and F3 tornadoes are considered strong and account for 25% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. F4 - Devastating With winds from 207-260 mph (333-416 kph), F4 tornadoes are called devastating tornadoes. They level well-constructed houses, blow structures with weak foundations some distances, and turn large objects into missiles. F5 - Incredible With winds from 261-318 mph (417-509 kph), F5 tornadoes are called incredible tornadoes. They lift and blow strong houses, debark trees, cause car-sized objects to fly through the air, and cause incredible damage and phenomena to occur. F4 and F5 tornadoes are called violent and account for a mere 1% of all tornadoes measured from 1950 to 1994. Very few F5 tornadoes occur. F6 - Inconceivable With winds above 318 mph (509 kph), F6 tornadoes are considered inconceivable tornadoes. No F6 has ever been recorded and the wind speeds are very unlikely. It would be difficult to measure such a tornado as there would be no objects left to study. Some continue to measure tornadoes up to F12 and Mach 1 (the speed of sound) at 761.5 mph (1218.4 kph) but again, this a hypothetical modification of the Fujita Scale.

Neandertals and Homo Sapiens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Neandertals and Homo Sapiens - Essay Example What follows is a brief presentation that sheds the light on this species of human like creature, exposing the different anthropological breakthroughs and discoveries that have came to remold our idea of the Neanderthal man. Modern anthropological findings suggest that the Neanderthal man may have lived around the years extending from 250 000 to 20 000 BC. Counting for more than a century since its discovery, theories and hypotheses around this creature have diversified albeit they mostly reflected the prejudgments of the moment. Long considered as a sub-human species at the heart of the â€Å"Homo Sapien† lineage it was at first called Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in consequence. Only later was it considered by authors and researchers as a distinct species and labeled as â€Å"Homo Neanderthalensis†. More recent studies have also suggested that the two species, â€Å"Homo Neanderthalensis† and â€Å"Homo Sapiens† may have crossbred amongst each other. .. . A Neanderthal man though, and as much as he may seem to resemble the modern human, has some marked characteristics, for instance the difference is clear when it comes to the volume of the brain, while an average human brain measures around 1300 ml, a Neanderthal brain have been known to measure as much as 1700 ml. Another, striking difference that sets apart the two human species is perhaps an anatomical one, as a quick analysis of the Neanderthal anatomy shows that the latter had larger bones in comparison to us modern humans, added to that the muscle mass which is also far superior to what a normal human being would have nowadays. Neanderthals as it would seem were large boned and heavily muscled, probably so to be withstand the hard natural conditions that were in the days. Height was not the Neanderthal man’s strongpoint, as fully grown male adults would average a height of 164 cm (5 feet 5 inches). This primitive man is said to have been an avid hunter, this is particular ly true as suggested by sheer number of healed fractured bones found in Neanderthal bodies, and as their thick leg bones suggest, they used to do alot of walking and running, running which was essential and required if they were to hunt fast moving animals, and if they were to be entrenched in long chases for their daily meat. As scientific research has it, these primitive beings were almost exclusively carnivores and assuring their daily meat meant a lot of effort, risk and danger which is associated with the fractured bones mentioned above. Lastly, and as far as culture is concerned, our primitive friends may not have been so primitive as we might think, as numerous Neanderthal burial sites were found,sites in which bodies were buried alongside

Down East Spud Busters National Distribution Program Research Paper

Down East Spud Busters National Distribution Program - Research Paper Example Because the company wants to improve its sales and capture a large market, the sales associate will be expected to work hard towards convincing most business entities that can buy the products. The sales associates can have their operating centers in each region and should receive feedback from the clients concerning the products of sales services. The HR policies and procedures should be changed to incorporate the new strategy of distributing the products. The company expects to sell in several regions using sales associates. Policies should include restrictions on product storage, handling, and management of center stores. Procedures should guide the sales associate on how they will manage the regional centers and distribution of the products. The company should develop a portfolio indicating the skills experience and qualities needed in a sales associate to help it achieve its goals. This will guide its recruitment (Bateman & Snell, 2013). Industries that could use this model are; the agricultural industry, the automotive industry, and Food and beverage industry among others. An ice cream producer could use this model and get so many customers. The same applies to a baker. Some foodstuff however, cannot be distributed in this manner, the model can still be implemented is stores are constructed in specific regions like most coffee shops have done. Another example is the retail industry.

Effects of Trade Liberalization on the Environment

Effects of Trade Liberalization on the Environment INTRODUCTION The economy of the world has gone through a lot of modifications over the last period. With the help of population and income growth the pure value of economic activity has enlarged enormously. At the same time the economy of the world has become more globalized and there is some motive power for it: improvements in communication, reduction of trade and foreign investment barriers. International trade as the result of it got lower transaction costs what increased the volumes of trade significantly. Lower transaction costs enable countries to produce the good at which they are the best, to be specialized. Though, countries divided the production of specialized units all over the world. The decrease in environmental sustainability followed the growth of economy, such as bio-diversity losses, deforestration, global warming, air pollution, exhaustion of the ozone layer, overfishing and others. Also the population growth is one of the reasons in this decrease in sustainability because more people, stronger the stress on the natural resources and ecology. Moreover, there is no any facts that the consumption of the population is decreasing. Integration of the world is leading to speed-up of economic growth. According to the trends environment is in danger until rough remedies are taken soften consumption of resources and polluting emissions. Multilateral trading system is one of the reasons of the unhurried introduction of satisfactory environmental regulations and taxes. There are several reasons for it. The first one is that the WTO rules limit policy-making. Another one is that competitiveness of the world market does not give the opportunity for the political support of domestic market to improve environmental norms. Because the costs of working alone such as unemployment and loss in investments usually make countries not to hurry in implementing some environmental regulations. Moreover the environmental fellowship is frightened that trade globalization will increase the effects of weak environmental policies in the world. For example, economic growth operated by trade can accelerate the environmental deterioration without satisfactory protection is set up. There has been an active debate over the impact of trade liberalization on environment. This debate started by negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, which occurred when worries about global warming and industrial pollution were rising. The creation of World Trade Organization and discussions about future rounds of negotiations keep the debate in tense.   The environmental effects of economic integration was not the key worry after the reconstruction of international trading system. Just some indirect links were in the exception clause of GATT 1947, Article à Ã‚ ¥Ãƒ Ã‚ ¥. This article let countries to bypass normal trading rules if it is needed for protection of human, animal or plant life, or to save exhaustible natural resources. During the first decades of GATT there was no any links made to the environmental sustainability, neither in the general text, nor in different trade debates. The problem firstly raised in the 1970s during the preparation for the UN Conference on the Human Environment, which took place in Stockholm in 1972. The GATT Council created a Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade with mandate â€Å"to examine upon request [italics added] any specific matters relevant to the trade policy aspects of measures to control pollution and protect the human environment, especially with regard to the app lication of the provisions of the General Agreement, taking into account the particular problems of developing countries.† (GATT, Industrial Pollution Control and International Trade) But, no application was made to call together this group until the 1990s. In the originate decades of GATT trade was not considered as the environmental challenge neither by policy makers nor by the general public. Economic analysis proposed that trade has the impact on environment only through transportation of goods around the world. The theory suggested to the governments to employ right environmental policies to adopt the environmental costs of production and consumption, international trade would indefinitely increase well-being. (McGuire) The occasion that the environmental policies had been implementing slowly all over the world did not mean that the process of trade liberalization should be stopped, but rather to harden environmental policies. The only environmental question which was raised during 1980s was connected to exports of domestically banned commodities. The problem was requested to be considered by some developing countries who worried about imports of prohibited in the exporting countries goods on the environmental basis to their countries. The solution searched was restraints of exports of domestically banned goods unless â€Å"prior informed consent† was protected from the corresponding authorities of the importing nation. There has been no such agreement in the GATT, but was partially concerned by other concords, such as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and the Convetion on Prior Informed Consent for Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. Environmental problems were not in the importance during the first four decades of the GATT, but they returned with the revenge in the beginning of 1990s. It started with a row of controversial environmentally-related trade debates. One of the main was â€Å"tuna- dolphin† debate between Mexico and the United States that provoked a societal noise which still exist. The debate was about the extra-territorial application of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which decreases the incidental killing of marine mammals by fishermen as well as by foreign fishermen. In 1988 the US introduced the ban on the import of tuna which was harvested in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean, because it was not satisfying according to standards for the protection of dolphins that was applied by the US government to domestic fishermen. The prohibition was set in order to decrease the practice of circling the dolphins to catch the tuna which swim beneath, hereby killing the dolphins caught up during the process. However this prohibition was found to be violating some provisions of the GATT, such as the National Treatment provision of Article III which bans discrimination of imported goods on basis of process and production methods (PPMs), here the fishing method. The environmental community saw it as the danger for the environmental policy making and environmental interest being a victim to the free trade by trade bureaucrats over the reaching the democratic operation. (Esty) The growing social anti-trade mood followed the tuna-dolphin debate was not good for the GATT which at that time was working on the largest and difficult discussions over the Uruguay Round. To change the situation before the upcoming UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade was reconvened. The Group was mandated to stay within the traditional one and expertise of GATT. The mandate limited the examination to trade provisions existing already in the multilateral environmental agreements GATT principles and provisions, multilateral clarity of environmental regulations possible to have some trade effects, and trade effects of new packaging and labeling requirements the aim of which is to protect the environment. Afterwards the mandate was enlarged to include issues discussed in Agenda 21 of UNICED regarding making trade and environmental policies reciprocally supportive. (GATT, Industrial Pollution Control and International Trade) After two years of work of the program, there was made a report which formed the basis of the Decision on Trade and Environment. It was included in the Uruguay Round Agreement in 1994. (GATT, Report by Ambassador H. Ukawa ( Japan), Chairmanof the Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade, to the 49th Session of the Contracting Parties) When the WTO was created in 1995, the environmental problems related to trade became faithful in the multilateral trading system. As written in the preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, the objectives of this organization clearly cover the recognized all over the world principle of Sustainable development. The principle of sustainable development was set by the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) as â€Å" development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.† Moreover the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE), which investigate the trade-environment relationships and make suggestions towards the aim of sustainable development, is created. The questions which should be answered in this work further are following: Is economic integration is danger for the environment? Does trade destroy the regulatory striving of the government to control resource degradation and pollution? THEORETICAL OVERVIEW To examine more extensive effects of trade liberalization on the environment we should take a look at general equilibrium models of international trade. The overview is based on the literature since the rebirth of trade and environment issue which was motivated by arguable 1991 tuna-dolphin debate between Mexico and the United States ,as well as debates arount the North Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Most of the literature is centered on the environmental consequences of trade between countries, environmental standards in which are varied. So, trade between developed and developing countries is considered because variationsin levels of environmental sustainability show variations in incomes of the countries. Works Cited Esty, D. Greening the GATT: Trade, Environment and the Future. Institute for International Economics (1994). GATT. Industrial Pollution Control and International Trade. July 1971. —. Report by Ambassador H. Ukawa ( Japan), Chairmanof the Group on Environmental Measures and International Trade, to the 49th Session of the Contracting Parties. Geneva: L/7402, 1994. McGuire, M. Regultaion, Factor Rewards, and International Trade. Journal of Public Economics (1982): 335-54.

Autobiographical Narrative: Draft

Title: The Raintree parade, Double space and indent paragraphs It’s early Monday morning; I stretch my arms wide, and yawn as I struggle to pull myself out of bed. I look over at the clock, Gasp! It’s already 8:30†¦ I run around as if I’m a lunatic, and I hop around and put my pants, shirt and shoes on. I hear my mom yell from down stairs, â€Å"James, are you up yet?! † I yell back â€Å"In a minute mom! † Begin a new paragraph each time a new person speaks. So I rush out of my bedroom and past the bathroom in a rush, the sound of my backpack flapping against my back fills the empty hallway.As I run down the steps I’m sure to skip every other one to save time, and its just plain fun to see how many steps you can skip. I grab my breakfast, and lunch of the counter just before I yell goodbye to everyone. You see, my family consists of Me James, my mother Susan, My father Ricky, and my little sister Olivia. Yep that’s my family and most of the time if you asked me I indeed would change them for the world. Would or wouldn’t change them? Just as I get to the bus stop, to my shock, it pulls up.I try to calm myself by saying everything will be ok under my breath, â€Å"Here I go, another day of school it’ll be ok you can do it James† I climb aboard the chaotic bus, and look into the faces of what seemed like 1000 eyes staring me down. So I scan for a seat I can use, carefully though if you pick the wrong one you could end up a black eye or laughed at by the entire school, that’s my favorite of the two by the way. To my surprise I make it to class alive for another day. Just as I take my seat in class the teacher takes attendance.She calls out everyone’s name. And after that comes the announcements, she tells us that the Raintree parade is coming next week. She goes on to tell us that our class must get in groups and work together on a float. It’s time to get in pairs and g o to the gym where we will be assigned jobs for the float. She tells us our partners she says â€Å"Philip and Hmm†¦Abby, Brian and Sarah, Milton and†¦Ã¢â‚¬  At that point I am yelling out in my head â€Å"Don’t say James, don’t say James, don’t say James† And, she says James.It’s no big shock I get paired up with the nerdiest kid in the world. He walks up to me and in a nasally voice he says â€Å"Hey James, ready to get started? † There’s no way I want to start on this with you is what I was thinking but out loud I say, of course. Let’s do this! So we walk over to the gym in what was supposed to be a single file line. One at a time we†¦ This is a great start. I hope you get a chance to finish it by the time you turn in your final draft. Remember to indent a begin a new paragraph each time a new person speaks when writing dialogue.

A Business Trip to Chile Essay

Excited about visiting a South American country for the first time, I started my journey to Santiago De Chile from Miami on March 2nd, 2012. To start with, I was skeptical about the quality of a Chile based airline. But, I was amazed by the excellent service provided by LAN airlines. My perception about a Chilean company changed then and there. Also, prior to my flight I doubted whether the officials in the flight will understand English (even though we were assured by the Professor that there wouldn’t be language problems during the travel) and my doubts didn’t fructify. In fact, the quality of the food given to us in the plane set up a high expectation for my one-week long stay at Santiago. Day One After watching the Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s end, a movie which I have been craving to watch for a long time, and a couple of hours of pleasant flight, we landed in Santiago on time. As soon as the automatic door swung open letting me in to the airport, I noticed a group of people standing before a counter that was used to collect a reciprocity fee. The notice board before the counter showed â€Å"US – $140†. As I didn’t fully understand what a reciprocity fee is and since I was coming in to the country from US, I stood at the back of a very short line counting my $140. When my turn came, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it applies only to US Citizens and that it is a one-time charge only for the life of the passport. I wondered what the reciprocity fees was and later found out that this was the amount the US charges Chileans entering the country. For that reason, the fees are referred to as â€Å"reciprocity†. After a little research, I found that out of the countries in South America, five of them charge a fee: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. The fees charged are in direct relation to what the home country of the passenger charges residents of the country you are visiting. The fees look like a good source of revenue for these countries. I reached the Atton El Bosque hotel by hiring a taxi from the airport after a little struggle to explain the hotel name and location to the taxi driver. After resting for a while, and after a brief orientation meeting, we started a City Tour. The tour guide who accompanied us was very knowledgeable about the history and culture of Chile. It was a pleasure to see the La Moneda Presidential Palace and was interesting to learn about the history of the palace. Construction of the La Moneda started in 1784 and was constructed to be the country’s official mint, hence the name which translates to The Mint. A wiki entry shows that coins were minted from 1814 to 1929. And, in 1845 the palace became the residence of the president. I learnt an important history of Chile that day about the Chileans having a different 911 to remember about and that was about the military coup d’etat on September 11, 1973. The then Commander-in-chief Augusto Pinochet led the coup against the President Salvador Allende. Despite the air raids and ground attacks on the palace, the President vowed to stay in the presidential palace and rejected the military’s ultimatum to step down. Eventually the President killed himself (although this is questionable and still under scrutiny). The tour guide explained this really well to the group and pointed to a closed door, which was guarded by a uniformed officer, mentioning that the dead body of the president was taken out through this door. After finishing the tour around the palace, we had a stop at Los Dominicos for some artisan shopping and then the first day of the trip officially ended. Later for dinner, we went to a place nearby the hotel and the service was not so good. So we decided to tip him lesser than the 10%. But to our surprise, the waiter stood there demanding for the remaining tip. We didn’t know if it was a Chile culture to tip 10% mandatorily. Later I found out that the livelihood of most of the waiters depends on tips. They may get a minimum salary but it is barely enough to cover transportation. But according to me, the financial dependence on tips doesn’t necessarily mean the waiters/waitresses deserve to get tips for a lousy service. Thus, day one ended with some important lessons learnt about the history and culture of Chile. Throughout the trip we were informed of the importance of the copper industry to the economy of Chile. Day Two We started early on day two for a two hour long trip to the port city of Valparaiso. En route to Valparaiso, the second largest city of Chile, we stopped at a place to refresh ourselves and we saw some Llamas at the back of the store. It was the first time I saw a Llama. Later on a casual talk to one of the hotel staff, I learnt that during the Spanish conquest the Llamas was primarily used to bring down ore from the mines that were atop mountains. But then the introduction of horses and donkeys diminished the importance of Llama as a beast of burden. And, that they are primarily used as a source of food and fiber now. The first thing that came to our attention in Valparaiso was the National Congress of Chile. Our tour guide pointed out that Pinochet shifted the congress from downtown Santiago to Valparaiso. The Chile government, like the USA, has a bicameral legislature. The legislature is made up of the Chamber of Deputies, which is the lower house, and the Senate. Also, we saw the Valparaiso market through the windows of the bus and the guide mentioned that you will get all sorts of stuff (even used goods) at cheap prices in that market. Chile has two Nobel Prize winners and both awards were in the fields of Literature. Our tour itinerary indicated a visit to the house of one of the Nobel laureates, Pablo Neruda. I wondered whether there will be anything interesting to see at a house of a poet. Again, my perceptions turned out to be wrong after entering the house and after listening to the narrations (in English! ) through an audio guide. I liked the way Pablo named everything in his house. And, the view of the port from his window was stunning. Then we trekked down the streets of Valparaiso and walked by the beautiful houses. The guide showed us certain parts of the town overlooking the port that were occupied mainly by the English and a church which had service in German. Later we took a short ride on a funicular, which was used to take the residents up and down the steep hill sides of Valparaiso. The funiculars are now operated just for tourism purpose as the cheap fee that was being charged previously for routine use was not profitable for the operators. Anyhow, it was interesting to ride on a historic means of transport. From there, we proceeded to have lunch at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the sea. The founder of La Bicicleta Verde greeted us during lunch and gave us an introduction to his business. His company, which gives a bicycle tour of the city, was founded with a local partner and through InnovaChile, CORFO, which is the executing agency of government policies in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. His insights about doing business in Chile were really thought provoking and his discussions revealed the support from the government for such innovations. After that, we took some time off walking along the beach and under the bright sun and then returned to the otel. The second day too was filled with lessons about the culture, business in Chile and about the wonderful poet, Pablo Neruda. Day Three On the third day, we visited the Adolfo Ibanez University that was atop the scenic San Ramon Hill. The University was away from the city and the tour guide told us that many poor people live near that college. Thus, students have been skeptical of travelling to the college as there have been many incidents of robbery. Anyhow, we reached the University from where we could see the whole of Santiago from the hills. There, we attended a lecture from Guillermo Paraje, one of the eminent professors of the University, about the Latin American Economies. The lecture started off with the information that the Latin American countries were only mildly affected by the economic crisis going on around the world. Also, the unemployment rate has been going down along with an increase in the average wage. Most importantly, the increasing price of copper has boosted the growth rate of the Chile economy. The Professor took pride in mentioning that Chile is the first South American country to be an OECD member. One important point that the professor touched upon was the low productivity of labor. He compared the productivity of Korea and Brazil and his graphs showed that Korean has been growing its productivity rate at 4. 7% whereas Brazil has been growing only at 0. 1%. This trend was seen throughout the Latin American countries and is a growing area of concern. Also, the Latin American countries were lagging behind in the service sector. Moreover, there seems to be an increasing gap between the rich and poor. He raised an important point about Chile (or Latin American countries) remaining as a producer of raw materials alone. That is, he mentioned Chile is the leading exporter of copper but it is not a good producer of finished goods based out of copper. This, according to the Professor, should be the long term strategy of all Latin American countries. A casual talk with the Professor after the lecture revealed that Chile is not investing much in renewable and nuclear energy. A recent proposal to invest in nuclear energy was rejected by the Government citing safety issues, especially after the incident in Japan. Being a growing country, Chile could encourage more people to invest in renewable energy. After that, we toured in and around the University and then returned to the bus to be greeted by our smiling bus driver who always referred to us as â€Å"Macho, macho†. Later in the day, we had a presentation about Flora & Fauna Chile Ltda. (Ltda. stands for limitada for limited companies). The mining industries cause a lot of environmental issues and the activities around the mining have an impact on the wildlife around the region. The company does a wonderful job in minimizing the impact to the habitat. The government made it mandatory for these mining companies to get the advice of Flora and Fauna. I was happy to learn that the government is actually interested in preserving the habitat of the various regions and they were assisted by this wonderful set of people who work for Flora and Fauna. Then, we had a presentation from the Managing Director of Banco Santander. The Banco Santander is the leading bank in Latin America. He gave as some good insights about the financial system in Chile and told us that the financial system of Chile ranks among the best in South America. Also, Mr. Martin Perez, described the Pension System of Chile. A reform in late 1980 replaced the pay-as-you go regime with a fully-funded pension system. The third day was filled with lessons about the economics and financial systems of Chile. Day Four The next day, we visited the Frito-Lay, which was located in Cerrillos. The manager of the plant addressed us with some information about the plant. In Latin America, Frito-Lay has 6 production sites and the Cerrillos plant was bought in 2008. One of the slides of the presentation showed a growth rate of around 8% in the volume of sales and a 15% increase in revenue since the inception of the plant. Another graph illustrated a volume of the salty snacks portfolio of Frito-Lay despite having no new line in the site. The manager mentioned the increase was because of an improvement in the efficiency of the site. The manager takes pride in the fact that they have a world-class site in terms of efficiency, service and sustainability. For instance, the plant includes a series of photovoltaic panels on top of the factory that produces around 12KW of electricity. Interestingly, the plant has reduced its water and energy consumption significantly. Also, the future plans for the site includes a reuse of 100% of the wasted water. Once the presentation was done, the manager took us around the factory and showed us the various lines and packaging units. Along the way, he told us that the potatoes are grown under controlled conditions and that it is not the same as the ones used for domestic consumption. On inquiring about some froth lying on the ground, the manager told me that it was the result of an experiment to re-use the starch produced from the potatoes. This was really surprising. Apart from being very sustainable, the company was trying to innovate in various ways. Finally, on inquiring about the software system used in the plant, the manager informed me that they are going to switch to SAP in few months. The plant was going all the way to become very efficient. It was very impressive. After a delicious lunch, we visited CORFO Chile for an introduction to Start Up Chile. This was the most interesting site visit for me. The Start Up Chile is one of the best incubator programs designed to attract entrepreneurs from across the world. It was started by the Chilean Government to convert Chile into an innovation and entrepreneurial hub of Latin America. We were presented with the ways in which an entrepreneur is selected for the program. Apparently, an expert team, including eminent people from USA, selects the best among the applicants. It was also interesting to know that the program has attracted people from India and China and that too, with minimal advertisements in those areas. Through the Start Up Chile program, entrepreneurs work on their projects at Chile and are reimbursed up to $40,000 in cash. During 2011-2012, the program has attracted people from diverse industries including IT, e-Commerce, Energy, Cleantech, etc. The basic idea is to boost the confidence of the local entrepreneurs by sending a message that Chile supports such innovations. The incoming people are also required to earn around 4000 points to successfully complete the program. They earn points in various ways, including giving seminars to local universities and thus, they add value to Chile. I believe this is an amazing idea to boost the economy of a country which is presently dependent on only exports of raw materials. They are building a future which is not necessarily dependent on the export industry and thereby, Chile is on track to building a sustainable future. Day Five We visited the factory of Agricom, suppliers of fresh fruits, on the second last day of our tour. Not surprisingly, the USA is the biggest market for avocados, which are exported from this facility. The company also offers other fruits such as: Grapes, Drupes, Oranges, Apples, etc. Also, Agricom generates more than 2000 jobs for the Chilean labor market. Europe is also an important market for Agricom. As future plans, Agricom is planning to invest in walnuts. The factory visit was very informative and we could feel the urgency with which the workers go on with the various activities. The urgency can be directly attributed to the freshness factor of the fruits. Then, we visited Kross, a microbrewery factory. The founder welcomed us and took the pain in explaining to us the whole process of brewing the beer. On asking whether the recipe can be easily replicated, Mr. Asbjorn explained that he can write down the recipe and give it to me but, it will be very difficult to replicate the same taste as he has the right equipment. He also mentioned that it is not a good business sense to copy another beer. I felt it was a valid point and I learnt an interesting lesson. We, then, had an amazing barbeque lunch at a picturesque building at Vina Mar, which is a famous vineyard in Chile. Later, we visited another wine factory called the Vina Quintay and the Commercial Manager of the company guided us through some wine tasting. Day Six On the final day of the trip, we had the most important topic as presentation – Mining in Chile by a senior official from Kinross, a Canadian gold company. Starting up with some basic facts about Chile, the Vice President informed us that the corruption in Chile is really low and doing business in Chile is very easy. He goes on to say that 28% of the world’s copper reserves are in Chile and that Chile’s economy is heavily dependent on mining. The mining, he said, is concentrated in the northern parts of the country. The work force in Chile is well trained for the mining business and thus makes this an important factor for investing in the mining industry. Chile is the world’s largest producer in copper. They also produce gold and Chile is the 13th largest producer. Interestingly, Chile is the largest producer of Lithium and the fifth largest producer of Silver. The mining industry contributes to 22% of the GDP and 60% of the exports. The mining industry directly employs around 70,000 people and indirectly employs more than 300,000. The Vice President goes on to say more on the challenges faced by the mining industry which includes the dwindling capacity of water, increasing demand for energy, increasing demand for specialized labor and so on. The trip ended on day six after the Kinross presentation. Departure Thus, I prepared to leave Chile after a wonderful trip with wonderful people. I probably learnt a lot of things about Chile in this short trip than I would have learnt if I had read through a book about Chile. I learnt a lot about the economics, the importance of the mining industry, the rich history and culture of Chile, the stable financial system, etc. Experiencing the culture was really important and if I start a business I would definitely look at Chile as the first option. Final lesson: if you pay your room rent and other expenses at the hotel with US Dollars you don’t have to pay sales tax.