/sci/ - Science & Math

economics isn't science, but the cost of labour is generally the largest part of any product, with food it's almost 100% (the rest is transporting and preserving it), people in india have no money -> they will work for no money -> labour is cheap/free -> food is cheap/free qed

>>4743280
I'll add that it's almost 100% in western countries where salaries are high, in india it's obviously a much lower percent as the price of fuel and electricity (transport + preservation) is more or less the same everywhere.

Actually, if you live in Europe what is really going on is the CAP.

The common agricultural policy is half the EU budget.

The object of the CAP is to prevent African farmers and other 3rd wolders from importing cheap food from developing countries.

It is an extremely anti-free market policy, and aside from the cost of implementing the CAP (> 50 billion a year), it prevents the agricultural markets in Africa opening up to the world. On both an economic and a moral level, it is sick, twisted concept.

Here, check that I am not making this up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy

Not only are they preventing the poorest produce products for the world's largest and wealthiest consumer market (Europe), but it holds back development in Africa. close to 50% of the EU budget goes to < 1% of 5% of the population (a tiny fraction of farmers receive most of the benefit). It's a giant fucking scam.

>>4743303

The United States has some similar policies too.

In layman's terms, the CAP esstentially increases the prices of any imported commodities until they reach the price at which our farmers in the EU can produce.

Yes, EU farmers have education, good machinery and fertilizer.

But...

Africans are so incredibly fucking poor that even though their European farmer counterparts are orders of magnitude more efficient, it would still bring food prices down to tiny tiny amounts of money, literally a few cents or pennies for items you acquire today for dollars or pounds.

These stupid rules prevent us getting cheaper food, and since Africa is 90% agricultural like we were in the old days around 1600 - 1700, it prevents African obtaining industrialization.

I mean it's obviously not the only issue, but it's a fucking big one.

>>4743324

Ironically, this subject often unites both socialists interested in the humanitarian end of things, and capitalists like myself.

I mean, when left wingers and right wingers are agreeing on something... you know something really peculiar is going on.

The CAP cannot be morally or economically justified. Anybody rationalizing what we are doing, is sick in the head.

>>4743233
Actually, if you paid the true cost of producing and shipping, food would cost a lot more than we currently pay. Agriculture in the developed world is sustained only by obscene levels of subsidy.

>>4743367

Er yeah. Assuming you didn't like... trade with literally anyone for them. In which case the food would be massively cheaper in most cases.

Take sugar beet for example. EU farmers grow this to generate sugar in mills. However sugar cane produces sugar far more efficiently. Hence the fucking name: sugar cane. That's how we all used to get sugar in the old days.

Not to mention the people working on the fields in those countries are pretty much overjoyed just to get a square meal, so they will work for almost zero $$$.

Every fucking thread on the front page is as bad as this shit. Why is this board still here?

>>4743414

+1

>>4743392
That would mean transporting your food halfway across the fucking world before you get to eat it. Seems like false economy to me.

>>4743439

While some commodities like milk, eggs are certainly locale dependant, the vast majority of items we actually eat are somewhat more elementary.

That is, powered milk/eggs are fit for long distance travel, don't rot, and make up some of the constituents of things like pizza, ice-cream that is mass produced.

Even without that travel, the majority of the world's beef, wheat, corn, rice markets aren't exactly local. Take a look at your local shop sometime, and work out how many of those items come within your country.

Even in Europe with the CAP, a fair majority of products are ultimately foreign imports.

With the era of container ships and specialized mass sea going transport, the food on your plate normally comes from the four corners of the world. Transport is not the main issue.

>>4743414
>>4743426

Believe it or not, the study of the world's economy has something to do with science, rates of production, trade arbitrage, law of comparative advantage and so forth.

inb4 hurr durr, only math and physics are "real science"

/sci should welcome intelligent discussion on pretty much anything anyway, since there is so little of it in practice on here.

Tax barriers and regulation barriers used for national industry protectionism has the same economic effect of living "in some really remote area at the top of a mountain"

>Why is the same shit really cheap in one country and really expensive in another?

Do you have an example of a product of the same quality which is a lot more expensive in a first world country than in a second/third world country?