A T-shirt Epic Essay Example for Free

A T- raiment Epic canvassPietra Rivolis delightful narrative, The Travels of A T-Shirt in the Global Economy, goes about a surprising excursion around the global village to disc everywhere an entangled web of economic and political forces that move this dapple of clothing around.The book is split into four parts of a t-shirts life. Part atomic number 53 of the book deals with the cotton industry. Rivolis own surprise at learning that the cotton used for her shirt comes from Texas opens up this chapter on the continuing dominance of the American cotton industry. The book then continues to explain the reasons for these away from government subsidies, the larger part of Americas continuing competitive advantage is its virtuous circle of governance. In the get together States, the farms work, the market place works, the government works, the science works, and the universities work. (Rivoli 7).The second part of the book is about the fabric industrys so called race to the lav. Industrialization is ushered in by the textile industry, and Rivoli gives examples from nineteenth century England to the Asian economic powerhouses Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong in the 20th century. The third part is about the complexness of getting a textile import into the United States, with all the confusing legislation brought about by decades of political control held by textile manufacturers in America. In the final part of the book, Rivoli examines the global market for used t-shirts, which she concedes is the final place where markets actually determine its origin and destination.Free Trade or Protectionism The pen is non making an argument for all protectionism or let go of dispense. Obviously, as a trained economist, Rivoli favors free trade, as do all her colleagues in an almost unanimous voice. However, the book does not argue for either side, and instead illustrates that both sides of this policy divide unwittingly spur economic development.Free trade po licies set ahead to a greater extent races to the bottom(a) as production shifts to low cost countries however protectionist policies also contribute to another(prenominal) type of race. In the battle for quota imports to the United States, for example, investment has flowed into atomic number 18as where there is less restriction on trade with the worlds largest consumer of textiles and apparel.In the modern-day case with China, the relatively low quota limits that China has for its exports to the US originally the expiration of the Multifiber Agreement (MFA) (Rivoli 121) has encouraged investments in other ontogeny countries wish Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Sub-Saharan Africa. As the book notes, the exclusion of one creates opportunities for another, and the humble textile industry is the first step towards industrialization for many a(prenominal) developing nations. As Rivoli further notes, when the MFA was scheduled to be taken down, a lot of other developing countries w ere scared of China eating everyones share of the textile pie. It represents one of the few actually believable pro-protectionist arguments in the book, which are not really argued for but exclusively explained.The role of politics in supranational tradeIts a given fact that politicians will listen more often that not to their constituents first instead of to common sense. Unfortunate as it may be, politics more often than not counter the market forces that power the global race to the bottom. Rivoli puts it as While the market forces powering the race to the bottom are strong, the political forces pushing back against the markets are strong as well, particularly in the United States. (Rivoli 115)This clash between the two has made importation of textiles a very complicated business in the United States, and changes the face of international trade with it. If an item cannot be imported from China, it is imported from Mexico instead, giving an painted advantage to some countries that will not be there if market forces were solely in control. The decisions that politicians like congressmen and senators in Washington make often influence the very futures of some countries in the world.Rivoli characterizes American industries that are aging as trying to escape market forces by clinging on to their political supports. Instead of a paradise of no intervention and perfect competition, what happens is that more often politics exert a great(p) unpredictable force that tilts the equation over completely.Another example was 18th century England, where to no supporter Parliament tried to pass acts that would protect their domestic wool producers. Instead of having the intended consequences (i.e. eliminating imported cotton), it just pushed international trade to adapt to the circumstances.The race to the bottom phrase used so much in the book is one of the most intriguing ideas of Rivoli. Basically it says that the textile industry, like all industries is governed b y market forces. On the supply side, producers seek more and more productivity for lower costsa chemical reaction that sparked the original Industrial Revolution. However, as wages go up along with production costs, producers are astute on reducing costs and preserving low prices with huge markets. These trends doom an industrial countrys textile production after it becomes less competitive than another aspiring country who is not the leader in the bottom of production costs.The fire of the Industrial Revolution spread to the United States, and then in the digest century to Asia, where during the past twenty or so years China has held the spot as tallness in this ubiquitous race to the bottom.The other side of the argumentthose activists who bring about higher(prenominal) minimum wages and better labor standards, hasten the fall of a country from the race to the bottom, but at the same time also hasten industrialization and the development of other more value-added industries. It also makes another country leader of the race to the bottom, ready to start the cycle all over again.This history repeats itself phenomenonfrom Britain to Taiwan leaves the reader enthusiastic of the future, and of how economics will eventually make all the nation of the world feel a little bit better.R E F E R E N C ERivoli, Pietra. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. New island of Jersey Wiley, 2005.