Lendts Last Geography Paper Essay, Research Paper

Lendt’s Last Geography Paper

5-21-00

The reason for the World Bank’s existence is to stimulate economic growth in

developing nations. Its members include 180 nations the major players being the g-7 with the U.S. domination the presidency. The World Bank was created after World War II, and became the largest single source of lending for development. Between 1947 and 1990 the funds lent to nations in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa totaled 186 billion dollars. These loans were granted mainly to higher-income developing countries, because such buyers are regarded as credit worthy. A current issue surrounding the World Bank involves the recent riots in Seattle and elsewhere regarding the current loans to third world countries.

The reason for the International Monetary Funds existence is to oversee the global rules governing money and to ensure orderly currency arrangements among the industrial nations. It was also intended to be a lender of last resort for rich and poor nations alike. Like the world bank the IMF is controlled by the wealthy nations. The major past actions of the IMF are the economic reform programs in more than 50 countries. The major conflicts have been with Russia who has been reluctant over the decontrol of energy prices and the reduction of subsidies to state-owned businesses. It’s major current issues are the loans to third world countries which became unpayable after recessions in the industrial countries. Protestors want them to forget about the debts.

The reason for the World Trade Organization is to encourage development, opening greater access to markets, and promoting fair competition. The members of the World Trade Organization are essentially the same as those of GATT, over 125 nations. Relatively new the World Trade Organizations only major act has been a major agreement to further liberalize trade in financial services in 1995. One of the major issues of the World Trade Organization today is the environmental impact of trade liberalization.

The reason for the European Union is to encourage economic cooperation among the industrial countries of the region by eliminating trade barriers to form a single market. It includes 15 nations altogether, including: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, and Finland. The EU has a long history. They formed the EEA, the Maastricht treaty, and the development of the Euro. Issues on the current agenda involve whether or not Norway will join and the development of a European Central Bank from the EMI.

The reason for NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement is to eliminate tariffs, and other trade barriers between Mexico, the United States, and Canada within 15 years time, it started in 1991. The destruction of tariffs has helped some companies increase sales to the other countries while the relatively low wages offered by Mexico have attracted factories to the country. Issues on the current agenda involve expanding the agreement and the greatest emphasis on expansion seems to be on Latin America.

The reason for OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies, is to gain profits for its members by gaining control of production so they could manipulate oil prices. Member countries are mainly found in the Middle East and North Africa, all are major petroleum exporters. Their history has been short, but it mostly consist of the rapid price increases during the 1970’s and 1980’s and then the stabilization of those prices by placing quotas on production. These higher prices caused other nations to put more effort in finding better sources of energy this did cause some lowering of prices. The dilemma today is this: while OPEC as a group wants to hold production steady in order to maintain the stability of prices, individual OPEC countries want to increase their own output in order to increase their revenues. OPEC sets quotas for its member nations, but the quotas are often violated. Solving this problem is the major agenda.

The major issues facing nations in the field of international trade are