Free Trade versus Protectionism in achieving economic development

What is Free Trade? Free trade is a system in which goods, capital, and labor flow freely between nations, without barriers which could hinder the trade process. Many nations have free trade agreements and several international organizations promote free trade between their members. There are a number of arguments both for and against this practice, from a range of economists, politicians, industries, and social scientists.

A number of barriers to trade are struck down in a free trade agreement. Taxes, tariffs, and import quotas are all eliminated, as are subsidies, tax breaks, and other forms of support to domestic producers. Restrictions on the flow of currency are also lifted, as are regulations which could be considered a barrier to free trade. Put simply, free trade enables foreign companies to trade just as efficiently, easily, and effectively as domestic producers.

The idea behind free trade is that it will lower prices for goods and services by promoting competition. Domestic producers will not longer be able to rely on government subsidies and other forms of assistance, including quotas which essentially force citizens to buy from domestic producers, while foreign companies can make inroads on new markets when barriers to trade are lifted. In addition to reducing prices, free trade is also supposed to encourage innovation, since competition between companies sparks a need to come up with innovative products and solutions to capture market share. 

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow (according to proponents) "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.

This policy contrasts with free trade, where government barriers to trade are kept to a minimum. In recent years, it has become closely aligned with anti-globalization The term is mostly used in the context of economics, where protectionism refers to policies or doctrines which protect businesses and workers within a country by restricting or regulating trade with foreign nations.

Both of these policies can be used in achieving economic development. We just have to use them properly so that we can develop our country's economy better.

Personal Plan To Achieve Financial Independence and Professional Competitiveness

    How can i achieve a financial independence? For me, I will first find a stable job so that i can generate income. I will spend my money wisely so that i can save my earnings. I'll be a good saver than a good investor. If i can find another job or sideline, i do it so i can earn extra income. I'll limit myself in buying other necessities.

If my savings are good enough to start a business, that's the time that i will be a good investor or businessman. I'll do anything just to make sure that i will be a successful businessman. In order for me to become professionally competitive, i'll be more skillful,smart,flexible and hardworking. Nowadays, finding a job is hard if your not competitive enough. Companies look for employees who are qualified ENOUGH in their positions. I will strive harder so that i can be successful in my own field.

Pros and Cons of GDP versus Human Development Index

Gross Domestic Product is a rough measure of economic power. Calculated basically as the sum of the value of an economy's goods and services, GDP is useful for its simplicity. However, it has some key disadvantages in its use as an economic growth indicator.

Pros:

• many countries use it - comparison
• easy to calculate
• consistently measured across all countries

Cons:

• does not include domestic household products, or black market
• does not consider the real value of money as it uses price
• does not consider how the wealth of a nation is distributed
• does not take into consideration the cost of productivity externalities

Human Development Index is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of "human development" and distinguish "very high human development", "high human development","medium high development" and "low human development" countries. The HDI is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to distinguish whether a country is developed, a developing or an under-developed country, also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life. The HDI has been criticized on a number of grounds, including failure to ecological considerations, focusing exclusively on national performance and ranking not paying much attention to development from a global  perspective and based on grounds of measurement error of the underlying statistics and formula changes by the UNDP which can lead to severe misclassification of countries  in the categories of being a"low', "medium", "high" or "very high" human development country. The Index has also been criticized as "redundant" and a "reinvention of the wheel", measuring aspects of development that have already been exhaustively studied. The Index has further been criticized for having an inappropriate treatment of income, lacking year to year comparability, and assessing development differently in different groups of countries.