Part of the syllabus: International Economics
Source: Haaretz – Israeli News source
Date of the article: 2016-02-21
Link to article: Israel to Reduce, Eliminate Tariffs on Farm Products (save the article once you open it as this website requires a subscription! or you can use this link instead: Alternative link; you can also try googling the title of the article and accessing it through google)
An IB Economics IA Article International Economics part of the syllabus. The article talks about Israel’s plans to reduce or even completely eliminate tariffs on farm goods.
Possible talking points:
- Since this is an International Economics Internal Assessment, drawing a diagram to demonstrate the effects of tariff reduction/elimination is a must! Especially considering you can talk about trade creation (show and explain gains from tariff reduction or elimination on your diagram).
- Some evaluation at this point regarding your diagram: what are the losses of the government due to tariff elimination? How much do consumers gain? Does it depend on the relative price elasticities of demand and supply? How would the effect be different is PED and PES are different? (you could leave this for the end, where you go all out on the evaluation of tariff reduction/elimination)
- A diagram showing how the government might attempt to protect their domestic farmers by giving them subsidies is a possibility, however not necessary – your second diagram could also be a diagram of one of the markets for example.
- To evaluate – what is the effect on the government: losing revenue due to tariff reductions? Also higher expenditure on subsidies? Why subsidize domestic producers at all?
- A producer mentions how he would lay off workers if the tariffs are reduced/eliminated. How should these possible effects be addressed by the government? Or should “inefficient” producers be left to go bankrupt?
- Lower cost of food – possible higher living standards?
- To evaluate further you could weigh all the possible advantages/disadvantages for all agents involved: consumers, producers, the government, even the employees involved in farm product production
