Week 7 & Global Transformations

I was glad to see that week 7's readings had a much larger direct correlation to our topic of HIV/AIDS.

The trade topic of chapter three was especially relevant because when we listed and researched online resources we found that one of the largest barriers to fighting HIV/AIDS on the global level is uneven trade. The most obvious example of this is the problem of little access to the ARV treatment drugs for citizens of certain countries. Perhaps a more subtle example is the problem of access to education about the pandemic. Certain countries simply do not have the resources to better educate its citizens about HIV/AIDS prevention.

I found the history of global trade especially interesting in this week's readings as it explained the "stratification of economies," that is, how it came to be that certain economies became more elite than others.

During the period from 1870 to 1939 markets for key good began to acquire a global dimention and, unlike earlier periods, this resulted in country specialization such that national patterns of production were increasingly influenced by global competition.... networks of trade for most goods were often geographically restricted... thus the trade system was highly stratified, such that economies beyond Europe and the major primary exporters often played a negligible role in world trade. (Held et al, Global Transformations, 1999. 163.)

This has vast ramifications to access to both drugs and education among a slew of other things such as financing which was covered in the following chapter of the readings for this week. With the stratification of economies comes the stratification of access. Simply put, wealthier economies enjoy higher access to medical care, education, and financial help, all major factors to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Global Transformations also makes note of some of the regionalizing of economies through free trade agreements such as NAFTA, APEC, and ASEAN. Though Held makes the point that the regionalizing of economies is complementary and not opposed against the globalization of economies, I cannot help but notice that certain regions are neglected by this regionalization.

Extensive as they are, trade networks still appear to be concentrated within certain geographical areas, crudely Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, three trade blocs with some economic coherence and including most of the industrialized economies. (Ibid. 167.)

What of the not yet industrialized countries? What of the African continent that is hit hardest by HIV/AIDS? Although I am glad to hear that the world is becoming increasingly globalized especially economically, I cannot help but wonder about the urgency that HIV/AIDS brings to having at least a temporary solution until trade becomes more accessible to those that need it the most.

The following chapter of global finance helped me further understand the current disparity between national economies. With the end of fixed exchange rates in 1971, entire economies were in the hands of investors and the global market.

This ushered in an era of floating exchange rates, in which (in theory) the value of currencies is set by global market forces, that is, worldwide demand and supply of a particular currency. (Ibid. 202)

The effects are amazing:

As well as speculating on movements in floating exchange rates, speculators periodically take positions against fixed or managed exchange rates, effectively betting that governments will be forced to devalue. The ensuing massive flows of funds against a currency have produced notable devaluation crises, involving several European currencies in 1992 and 1993, the Mexican peso in 1994, several East Asian currencies in 1997, and the Russian rouble in 1998. (Ibid. 209.)

I was glad to read, however, that international bank loans are becoming more and more accessible to developing nations. Although such developing nations are considered high risk and thus, receive higher interest rates, I was pleased to hear that international finance to them has explanded beyond aid and FDI.