Interdependence and Specialization

Back to the Middle Ages…

• In the beginning of the year we said that a medieval manor was self-sufficient. What did that mean? Are we still that way?

Specialization• situation where an individual or a country

concentrates on a specific skill or task.

Specialization

• For example, teachers specialize in providing education. Teachers usually do not cut their own hair or repair their own cars. They depend on a hair stylist and a mechanic for these services.

Interdependence

• one country depending on other countries to get the goods and services they need or want.

Columbian Coffee

Canadian Pork

French WheatFlorida Strawberries

Iowa Eggs

• Consider a typical “American” breakfast. A single U.S farm doesn’t grow all the necessary ingredients. So what do we do?

• We trade with other states and even other countries to get what we need and want.

• Give an example of interdependence from our study of Medieval Africa.

• Can we think of any other examples of interdependence in the world today?

International Trade

• Imports: goods purchased from another country

• Exports: goods sold to another country

Tariffs• A tax that is added to an

imported good or service. • This makes goods from other

countries more expensive that those made in the United States.

• Higher prices on imports leads to an increase in profits for domestic producers (people who make goods in the US).

Quotas

• Limits set on the quantity of a good that a country may import. Quotas reduce the quantity supplied of the import and cause price increases.

Embargoes• An order that forbids a country to trade

with another country.

• Embargoes are often placed by the leader or President of a country.

• Penalties for violating the embargoes are high. Embargoes can also be placed against a certain good or industry such as rough diamonds, narcotics, or weapons. Cuba is a country where the U.S. has a longstanding embargo.

Embargoes- Good or Bad?

Subsidies

• Payments to producers for making or selling a certain good. For example, the government might pay farmers extra to plant corn. Or, they might pay them NOT to grow wheat.

Product Regulations

• Laws that regulate production, manufacturing, transportation, or packaging of goods. These laws are meant to protect human, plant, and animal health.