There is no question that the United States is currently facing numerous problems, one of the largest being oil. It’s difficult to decipher what exactly the Biden Administration is planning considering some of their contradictory statements and actions, however, looking at how events transpired chronologically through a timeline helps illustrate how the oil crisis came to be, its economic impact, and some potential solutions.
In the United States, as in other countries, immigration is the subject of intense public debate. Disagreements persist on many components of policy, including levels of enforcement, treatment of entrants to the destination country, and levels of acceptable immigration, notably by quotas. However, what is perhaps most unique about the United States immigration system, and the way that debates surrounding it are structured, is the extent to which immigrants are viewed in extremes.
Due to the pandemic and a lack of trust in the U.S. government, the ban on trading for the members of Congress has surfaced as one of the top issues within our borders. The proposal called the Ban Conflicted Trade Act has gained a lot of traction and backing from government officials, so it is just a matter of time before it is enforced. Proposed over a year ago, the bill “prohibits a Member of Congress from (1) purchasing or selling specified investments, (2) entering into a transaction that creates a net short position in a security, or (3) serving as an officer or member of any board of a for-profit entity” (“H.R.1579 - Ban Conflicted Trading Act,” 2021). This issue entered into the spotlight due to members of Congress making trades directly before and during the pandemic. This claim is backed by the multiple cases of suspect trading activities occurring at optimal times.
Innovation and popularity of the electric vehicle industry has reached new heights recently, as the push for saving our environment through cleaner emissions are taking root in America. The United States is behind in the EV industry when compared to their competitors, but is beginning to take initiative and eliminate gas-powered cars from their roads. Currently, China’s EV market is three times as large as the United States’, but this could soon change as President Biden is proposing a substantial $174 billion investment in the EV market, with hopes to increase domestic supply chains, create American jobs in the industry, and provide sale rebates and tax incentives to encourage both consumers and producers (“The American Job Plan” 2021). Although this infrastructure package is still being debated, the Biden administration has already taken many other steps in promoting a cleaner and more fuel-efficient future.
In part 1 of our discussion, we talked about how import-substituting strategies have their unique and crucial contributions to the progress of a developing country, like Ethiopia. Domestic control over far-reaching input capital goods, such as cement, metal, natural resources, etc. provides robust support to virtually all other industries. Contrary to import-substituting policies, export-oriented ones provide fast rides to advanced technologies, mature management, and a larger market, though at a high cost of local control and path certainty.
Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa that pursues an active and comprehensive industrial policy. Ethiopia is looking to position itself as the new low-cost manufacturer of the world. To achieve its goal, Ethiopia needs proper industrial policies consideration which comprise “more particular facts than any brain could ascertain or manipulate” (Hayek 1973). The objective of the “Industrial Policies Series” is to examine current outcomes of Ethiopia’s endeavor to identify key elements in the Ethiopia-specific complexity that are pivotal to both success and failure. Targeted sectors used for our examinations are the leather sector, horticulture sector, and cement sector. In part A, a comparison between the leather, horticulture sector and the cement sector will be made to stress on the value of import-substituting policies.
