Assignment Task:
Task:
ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1 [25 MARKS]
1.1 Draw a production possibility frontier (PPF) showing a combination of two goods
that a country could produce, as well as an area of inefficiency, and another that is
unattainable. (8 marks)
1.2 List and briefly explain the four participants who influence the flows of production,
income and expenditure in an economy. (12 marks)
1.3 Country X has a terms of trade (TOT) of 17% and their neighbour, Country Y, has
a TOT of nearly 100%. What does this mean for the citizens and the economic wellbeing of the respective countries? (5 marks)
QUESTION 2 [30 MARKS]
2.1 SA's jobless number grows to 7.2-million as unemployment rate breaches new
record
“The country's official unemployment rate has increased to a record 32.5%, as the
number of jobless in South Africa grew to 7.2-million in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS)
on Tuesday, which showed that the increasing unemployment rate is due to more
people joining the labour force, as economists expected.
According to Stats SA, one-million more people joined the labour force. In total, there
were 333,000 job gains to 15-million in the fourth quarter of 2020. The largest job gains
were made in the formal sector (up 189,000), followed by private households (up
76,000), the informal sector (up 65,000) and the agriculture sector (up 2,000).
Stats SA, however, highlighted that the movement to unemployment outweighed that
of employment. Unemployment was mostly concentrated among youth - those aged
between 15 and 24 years with a rate of 63.2% - and with those aged between 25 and
34, with a rate of 41.2%”. (20 marks)
5
• Source: Omarjee, L. (2021). SA's jobless number grows to 7.2-million as
unemployment rate breaches new record. News24.
https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/sas-jobless-grows-to-72-million-asunemployment-
rate-breaches-new-record-20210223 (accessed 24 August
2021).
- QUESTION :Latest statistics include a fourth category used to classify unemployment as individuals
- who are “discouraged from seeking work”. Elaborate on this definition and provide
- examples of whom it might refer to and how it has impacted on the new unemployment
- rate in South Africa and members of society.
- 2.2 Which form of unemployment plagues South Africa the most and give two examples
- that can be used to explain this. From a macreoeconomic perspective, what can be
- done to remedy this issue? (10 marks)
- QUESTION 3 [20 MARKS]
- 5 practices to prevent and disrupt illicit financial flows
- “Six months into the Covid-19 pandemic, Transparency International found reliably documented instances of Covid-19-related corruption and misconduct across 17 countries and involving $1.1-billion in public funds. This money would have covered the cost of 50,000 ventilators.
- The illicit financial flow of money and goods, covering everything from money used to fund terrorist activity to the proceeds of tax or sanctions evasion to the laundering of corrupt or criminally obtained profits, is widely recognised as ‘one of the greatest threats to a sustainable future’.
- • Source: Ulbrich, C. (2021). 5 practices to prevent and disrupt illicit financial flows.
- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/5-practices-to-prevent-and-disrupt-illicit-financialflows/ (accessed 24 August 2021).
- QUESTION:
- Research and discuss how illicit financial flows affect inequality and recommend measures that South Africa can implement to lessen and or prevent this.
- 6
- QUESTION 4 [25 MARKS]
- Read the following excerpts from articles by Chaplot (2021) and The Washington Post (2011) and answer the questions that follow in an essay of 500 words.
- Balancing The Paradox Of Localisation And Globalisation In A Post-Pandemic World
- “China’s success in establishing manufacturing sector bases in foreign countries demonstrates its strong vision, a lesson we need to take heed. China has been heavily referenced because it is the single largest recipient of inward global production demand for export and base for foreign manufacturing entities. While this is healthy for China, it is not so for countries that have significant portions of key manufacturing demand dependent on a single country. Rather than have all one’s eggs in one basket, it would be prudent to spread key industrial production over several global hubs that provide the same production values and cost savings. World governments need to understand this trend of localisation from globalisation. They need to ensure that the policies which they are making for industries in their countries take into consideration the localisation aspect of certain industries.
- Each country should think about local manufacturing of products, on individual merit basis of the industry and take the call because no solution is perfect - neither globalisation nor localisation. The key lies in striking a balance. The concept of globalisation, which was earlier applied to maximise profits simply, should now stand more and more for ensuring the wellbeing of the people”.
- • Source: Chaplot, R. (2021). Balancing the paradox of localisation and globalisation in a postpandemic world. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/outlook-spotlight-balancing-theparadox-of-localisation-and-globalisation-in-a-post-pandemic-world/386434(accessed 24 August 2021)
- Chinese Imports and Contraband Make Bolivia’s Textile Trade a Casualty of Globalisation
- “Domestic manufacturing in Bolivia has been crushed by the influx of cheap foreign goods, mainly from China. Bolivian products cannot compete in the global market because of the small scale production, the strict labour law which keeps labour cost high, and the frequent political unrest which hurt competitiveness by raising costs. The Bolivian economy is reliant on raw material extraction, and its trade deficit keeps widening. Although the government is making an effort to raise tariffs and create state-owned companies to save jobs, globalisation seems to have caused more bad than good in Bolivia”.
- • Source: The Washington Post. (2012). Chinese imports and contraband make Bolivia’s textile trade a casualty of globalisation. https://archive.globalpolicy.org/globalization/cases-of-globalization/51770--chinese-imports-andcontraband-make-bolivias-textile-trade-a-casualty-of-globalization.html%3Fitemid=id.html#652(accessed 24 August 2021).
- QUESTION:
- Globalisation holds many benefits for South Africa. Provide a critical discussion on whether the benefits of globalisation outweigh its cost (in a South African context). Is our economy in danger like that of Bolivia? What can we do to protect our industries whilst still remaining an active part of the international community? Or should we heed the warning of Chaplot (2021) and aim to balance the losses of globalisation with the potential gains of localisation?
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