Globalization in Terms of Consumer Goods Trade According to Tim Harford and Paul Collier

For the following questions please read “Beer, Fries, and Globalization” by Tim Harford (this is Ch. 9 of his book The Undercover Economist). 1. In this chapter this author describes globalization in terms of trade in consumer goods – Starbucks in Shanghai, etc. But, does he feel that life will really become “homogenized” around the world? (9 points) 2. This author describes comparative advantage in terms of authoring books by himself and the famed Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson. Is this description consistent with how we described comparative advantage? (9 points) 3. According to this author, can all of a country’s production be eliminated by trade with another country? (9 points) . What is the author’s view of sweatshops? Do you find his arguments persuasive or not? (9 points)For the following questions, please read “On Missing the Boat: the Marginalization of the Bottom Billion in the World Economy” by Paul Collier (this is Ch. 6 of his book The Bottom Billion).  As you can probably ascertain from the title, the focus of this book is on the billion people living in the poorest countries in the world. 5. What does the author mean by “convergence?” Where has it occurred? (9 points) 6. Why are capital flows so stacked against the bottom billion? (9 points) For the following question, please read “Comparative advantage: The boomerang effect. 7. How are “economies of agglomeration,” described above in “On Missing the Boat,” used in this article? How is the use different than in “On Missing the Boat”  8. What are the opportunity costs of producing an e-book in both Vietnam and Laos? (9 points) 9. What should each country specialize in? (9 points) 10. Let’s say that the terms of trade become 13 paperback books. How does Vietnam benefit from that before it trades? (9 points) 11. For the same terms of trade, how does Laos benefit? (9