France gradually opens to globalization

the article can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/17/france.globalization.ap/index.html

As France faces an upcoming presidential election, globalization is one issue that may sway voters. for many years, france has been seen as being afraid of, and averse to, globalization. they have tried to keep their borders as closed as possible in order to preserve their jobs and economy. now, however, the french are slowly, very slowly, opening up and allowing that perhaps globalization is not all bad. most of the presidential candidates are for a limited amount of globalization, and the most anti-globalization candidate is lagging far behind in the polls, which appears to signify the beginnings of a change in french policy.

obviously none of the french economists have read "Naked Economics" because they have been so ani-global trade for so long. of course, that could have much more to do with the lack of the public's understanding of the tradeoffs of globalization. i believe, in the long run, opening the borders a little will have a very positive outcome for the french. they will be able to specialize much more.

the part of the article i found most interesting, however, was one paragraph about how the current president of france has allowed globalization on his own terms: "The outgoing government believes France should push for a kinder, gentler globalization, typified by outgoing President Jacques Chirac's international initiative for a tax on airline tickets to raise money for fighting diseases in poor countries."
a tax on plane tickets to raise money for fighting disease? can you IMAGINE trying to push that bill thru in the US?!?!?! i, personally, think that that's awesome! since lots of people fly, and since tickets are expensive already, it wouldn't have to be a large tax in order to make a lot of money. ingenious. and altruistic. beautiful.

Entrepreneur hopes to milk camels for cosmetics

find the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/04/03/camel.milk.reut/index.html

Nancy Abeiderrahmane owns and operates a camel dairy farm in Mauritania and is hoping to branch out into the production of cosmetics such as lotions and soaps. she claims that even drinking the low-fat camel milk can be good for the complexion, so creams would work even better. Abeiderrahmane hopes that the expansion of her business will yeild more jobs and profits for Mauritanian people.

parts of this article really highlight things we've talked about in class. for example, Abeiderrahmane's company is the only one in the WORLD to make a soft camel-milk cheese. talk about a monopoly! they would also have a monopoly on cosmetics, being the only company to sell them w/in 600 miles.

another thing mentioned in this article is how the european union has very stringent animal health and food regulations and a large lobby that wants to prevent diary imports. because of this, there was not a quota or tariff put on the camel cheese, it was outright banned. and, if a quota/tariff are bad for both countries, a ban is undoubtedly worse. when the camel cheese was banned, not only were potential jobs in Mauritania lost (and Mauritania badly needs jobs), but diners in Europe were denied another option. it's bad for everybody.