Abdoul, thanks very much for your input. Your quote below is valid under ceteris paribus conditions (all things equal in economics). However, things around the world are never equal and thus, you have the trade wars and dumping issues that currently grips the US steel industry among other industries and countries. Moreover, is the theory of comparative advantage working for Gambia and the so called "Third World"? What is The Gambia selling to the outside world, that is the question. Very few things. We can produce our fish, fruits, and vegetables cheaper than most of the countries in the west and around the world. We buy everything from them, even the rice that we can grow much cheaper than the producers in Louisiana or South Carolina. Singapore is where it is today because they sold more than they import. In the sixties, our economy was the same as Singapore's in almost all factors. Where they left us behind, way behind, is their leadership flatly refused aid but requested to have access to world markets, and the rest is history. They developed a culture of manufacturing and production where as we chose the consumption route. They were able to delay gratification, when we were more eager to stretch our hand and 37 years later we are still stretching our hand. The more you sell to the outside the better off your economy, the more they sell to you the worst off you are, especially, when they also loan you the money to buy from them. Our ancestors even have a saying for it "Bul Ma Mei Jeen, Jangal Maa Nee Nour Nappe" (don't give me fish, teach me how to fish). :)! Same reason why foreigners are making it in our country as I write, while we complain. They sell and Gambians consume. Let me know your thoughts and thanks for adding value to the discourse. >From: Abdoul Njie <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Another Milestone reached - Trade Versus Assistance. >Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 04:29:53 +0000 > >Joe and Mr. Sidibeh, > >I am of the belief that The Gambia needs to apply a mix of both trade and >assistance. > >Clearly we need to refrain from accumulating high debts which only helps in >putting us in a deeper hole, but I also think that trade between the two >countries should be based on the economic concepts of ABSOLUTE and in some >cases COMPARATIVE advantages. > >I quote: > >The idea here is simple and intuitive. If our country can produce some set >of goods at lower cost than a foreign country, and if the foreign country >can produce some other set of goods at a lower cost than we can produce >them, then clearly it would be best for us to trade our relatively cheaper >goods for their relatively cheaper goods. In this way both countries may >gain from trade > > >Best Regards, > > >Ablie Njie > > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ >MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: >http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~