Trading’s Secret

The Trading Game

During class we played a trading game that symbolised the role of trade in the big world. In the beginning of the game my team started off with only two pencils, around 4 pieces of paper, and $200, so you could say we were not a part of the MEDC. As Ms Radford told us that no products were going to be counted in if they are not cut with scissors, we realised that we needed to buy a pair of scissors from another group. I convinced my friend in another group to give me a pair of scissors for $100. This showed that having connections within different groups could be very useful. We started cutting out rectangles, but then realised that the right angled triangles are more efficient and would earn us more money. A lot of groups came to our table to offer us money for sharing scissors but we would not agree due to loss of time and greediness. We then realised that we were running out of paper so we decided to trade one of the two pencils we had to a group that had 4 pieces of paper. Later on Ms Radford announced that right angled triangles were worth no value anymore, so we quickly switched to making circles that were worth $500 because there was a very limited amount of time left so we decided to make as much money as possible. During the game I felt very rushed to complete a lot of products in the time given to us. In the end, our strategy of not sharing our resources worked out very well because it gave us more time creating products. My group won the game and made the most amount of money. I thought that it was fair in a way because everyone always starts off differently and you need to work hard to get something that you need in order to succeed. My group did have some resources but not important ones to complete everything so therefore we had to negotiate and deal with other people in smart ways in order to get what we wanted.

Global Trade

This game represented the global trade in a fairly clear way. Different teams represented different countries and the resources that were given to us to begin with represented the different resources that each country has. As the game started, we did not have everything we needed to make quality goods. Some countries are allies and some are not, and it is always good to have connections in different places, which showed through me convincing my friend to trade one of her scissors to me for only $100. Graph paper was one of the resources that only 2 groups had. Towards the end of the time that we were given the teacher announced that resources out of graph paper were worth twice as much which symbolised resources that poor countries did not know they had to begin with. Scissors, rulers, and pencils was the equipment needed to make quality products. The group that had graph paper did not have anything but paper as their resource. Some countries in the world do not have specific types of resources and therefore they use their domestic resources or otherwise money in order to trade with different countries.When Ms Radford called out the announcement that right angled triangles were not worth anything anymore, connected to overproduction in trade and there are so many of a specific good that it looses its value. My group did not trade anything except an extra pencil for more paper to create more goods. This shows that countries trade when they really need something otherwise they are greedy and do not share. I think that in the game my group represented a country like India, because although we had resources we did not have any expensive equipment to make the best goods. India has a lot of natural resources but in parts they lack in economy therefore sometimes cannot afford to get the best equipment.

Trade and Developing a Country

I think that trade is a big part in the development of a country because you can get something you need out of it by trading something you do not value as much. Countries trade when they do not have specific resources that they need. They trade by exploiting their own resources that they have and then trading that to a country that has a resource that they want. Out of those resources they could be manufacturing goods that their people are good at making and then selling it out and making progress economically. When trade happens there are more jobs that open up in producing goods, delivering goods, trading goods etc. If the goods are then made with quality and are wanted then income will increase and higher wages will be made.  If the product is good then there will be a further demand in it and then the production of it will also be increased and traded again. If this keeps happening then the cycle will keep going and eventually the money will increase over time and that money could be used in further developing a country. A problem in global trade is that if a less developed country keeps making the same goods, the goods might become over produced and loose their value, which is when the economic income slows down. When a countries GDP is low then they might not always be able to buy or make equipment to produce goods of high quality that would cost more and increase their economical income. Although there are many other factors that could help improve and increase the development of a country, trade is one of the bigger ones because from that you can create different types of goods and increase income. When economy in a country becomes better and money increases, then the country becomes open to other steps, like the sustainable development goals, that they could make in order to become more developed. This process could take a lot of time and skill until it makes a change in a country.