Possible challenges and opportunities facing Argentina - Research Paper Example

Globalization is seen as a process involving interchange of world views through interaction and integration of all the individuals of different part of the world. It also refers to the effect of two or more things that come together for some time; this is mostly witnessed in human being’s behavior involving movement from one place to another. For example, business people come together at an international level to brainstorm about business policies. Economic expansion is the increase in level of services and goods and increase in level of economic activities. Gross Domestic product (GDP) is used to measure level of economic expansion. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced within the country’s boarder. An increase in gross domestic product of a country implies that economy is expanding while decrease in GDP will imply decline in economy (Eitzen and Zinn 22). Challenges and Opportunities Facing Argentina One of the opportunities that exist in Argentina is the possibility of increased trade output. Though Argentina is facing a number of challenges, there exist an opportunity of a wider market that has opened up due to globalization. The country can now expand its production potential in various industries, especially, food processing sector to cater for the wider market. This will enable the country to improve its balance of trade, strengthen its domestic currency and improve its GDP. However, this opportunity gives rise to a challenge to the government in developing a sound economic strategy to create an environment for expansion of industries (Nayyar 94). The government can, however, take advantage of the greater access to knowledge and resource people to develop a sound strategy. Argentina has the opportunity to develop specialized skills among its population and utilize superior technology in its production. Globalization provides an opportunity for Argentina to access the latest technological improvement in the world. This provides it with the most effective methods of production. The producers are able to reduce the cost of production, apply specialization and improve the quality of the final product for both internal and external market. As a result the producers can hire more workers, and improve quality leading to better standards of living. The producers also face the challenge of high cost of acquiring external experts to impart skills to the citizens in the country. It is also a challenge to obtain the initial capital to obtain the superior equipment technology equipment due to high initial cost (Greenaway et al 51). Argentina can use globalization to obtain foreign investor to invest in the sectors identified as of key interest. This will enable the government to rip from the benefit of increased output and access of products in the country as well as training of the local citizens on technical knowledge. There exists an opportunity for government’s improvement of its transparency and accountability to its citizens. In the past Argentina has been faced with a challenge of rampant corruption within the government which has made growth and development in the country difficult task. Globalization has introduced external checks to the government operations pressuring the government to be accountable to its citizens. The government can therefore not misuse its power over public resources (Greenaway et al 34). This leads to government acting in the interest of the citizens in all its dealings. As a result public properties are utilized to better the life of the citizens resulting into better pay, reduced poverty and improvement in the country. Globalisation and poverty go hand in hand especially in a country such as Argentina where we find that most peoples are farmers. Food processing industries are very important in Argentina economy since they employ most of the people in Argentina. The practices that occur in these industries play a key role in minimizing the level of poverty in the country (Eitzen and Zinn 43). In consideration of Argentina globalisation is a key factor to consider especially its effects to industries. We find that globalisation has helped to reduce the level of poverty through opening of markets to industries which are main employers of the countries population. This market is provided since one country can trade with other countries more easily. Globalisation leads to greeter access of loans and other credit facilities which enable the citizens to acquire finances to start and run businesses and invest in capital goods. In Argentina globalisation has led to opening of the country to other countries enabling its citizens to access funds from a wider base (Greenaway et al 62). This has led to an increase in investments made in the country, greater income to citizens and hence reduction of poverty. Economic development is key factor in influencing the level of poverty in a country. The level of development experienced by a nation is pegged on the ability of its government to develop policies that aid in the provision of necessary social amenities necessary to induce investment by domestic and foreign investors (Nayyar 23). Favourable policies will aid in the establishing the backbone required to motivate the citizens to e involved in development programmes. Unfavourable factors will only lead to de-motivation of the citizens resulting into a higher level of poverty. Globalisation also greatly influences the level of employment in the country. By 1950s there was rampant unemployment in Argentina. A big proportion of the workers who were employed also experienced under employment where their abilities were not fully utilised (Eitzen and Zinn 52). Integration of Argentina into the world network of trading and free movement of labour lend to workers seeking employment from other nations. As a result by 1980s most of the unemployed workers in the country had to seek job elsewhere. This lend to reduction on the stress on the existing resources and an increased income from workers working outside the nation. Employment of new technology in the methods of production lend to reduced cost of production which enabled the firms to higher more labour leading to an increase in the level of employment. Argentina was integrated into the world economy between the years 1930 to 1970. This was achieved after development of policies that opened Argentina for trading and other forms of relations with other nations. This has had remarkable effects on equality in Argentina. Though there was a 50% GDP growth during this period the social inequality increased to a higher level. Argentina is an agricultural country with a vast base of natural resources. This implies that most of its population is employed in the agricultural sector (Eitzen and Zinn 64). Argentina’s population is therefore composed of skilled, semi-skilled and non-skilled labour force who occupies different positions in the economy. During this time also labour unions were powerful and therefore pushed for good terms of work. For this reason income disparity was not so big among the citizens of Argentina (Nayyar 41). Opening up of Argentina to the world lend into variation in resource allocation in different sectors and trade liberalisation. This lend to a shift in the direction of production and employment within different sectors. As a result, the amount of income earned by the house holds greatly differed. This in return lend to a widened gap between the income of the skilled, semiskilled and non skilled labourers. Labour unions also became week as a result of increased specialisation leading to a decline in their role of fighting for their members rights. This lend to a wide income disparity among the citizens. Another way in which globalisation led to inequality is through introduction of capital intensive methods in the production process. Usage of these technologies led into creation of a group of owners of capital used in production who became wealthy from the returns obtained from the new technologies. The creation of these wealth owners created a big income gap between those who owned factors of production and the labourers (Nayyar 32). Its therefore evident that globalisation contributes to disparity in income distribution in developing nations. In conclusion, globalisation and economic development has played key role in the development and change in the working conditions in the developing nations. Globalisation has led to the increased movement of labour, information and capital across national borders. This has led to increase in market, opportunities, improvement in ideologies leading to positive and negative changes in the developing nations. Reductions in poverty, increased markets, increased dis inequality are all effects of globalisation and economic development. Works cited Eitzen and Zinn Maxine. Globalisation: The transformation of social worlds. Delmar: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Greenaway, David , Upward Richard and Wright Peter. Globalisation And Labour Markert Adjustment. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print. Nayyar, Deepak. Catch Up: Developping Countriess In The World Economy. Oxford:Oxford University press, 2013. Print. Read More