Exercise 1

A) Stylised facts I: International trade

Take a look at the Figure on world merchandise export as it has been reported by the World Trade Organisation (www.wto.org) and choose the right answer (note: more than one answer is possible).

Figure: world merchandise export (1980-2005) 

Q1: Based on your previous studies and what you have learnt from the media, what measures can you mention regarding international trade?

(a) value of capital inflow

(b) volume/value of export (of goods and/or services),

(c) value of capital outflow

(d) volume/value of import (of goods and/or services)

Q2: What trends can you see in the picture?

(a) stagnation

(b) decrease

(c) fall

(d) increase

Q3: When did the world experience stagnation in world merchandise export?

(a) during the eighties

(b) during the early eighties

(c) during the nineties

(d) during the late nineties

Q4: How many years were needed for the world merchandise export to double if the starting year is 1980?

(a) appr. five years

(b) appr. two decades

(c) appr. fifteen years

(d) appr. ten years

Q5: There was a slight decline in year 2001. What do you think what might have caused the decrease?

(a) world income declined substantially in that year

(b) September 11

(c) a trade war between Europe and the USA

(d) the third oil crisis

Q6: Is there a positive or a negative association between world merchandise export and world real per capita GDP (for GDP growth rate trends seehttp://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2006/02/chp1pdf/FIG1_1.pdf)?

(a) negative

(b) slightly negative

(c) positive

(d) there is no association between the two variables

B) Stylised facts II: Multinational companies

Q1: Regarding FDI inflows in the world, what trend(s) can you see in the picture?

(a) stagnation

(b) a steady decline

(c) a fall

(d) a steady increase

Q2: In which year did the world FDI inflow reach the 1,000,000 million dollar threshold?

(a) 1991

(b) 1989

(c) 1999

(d) 2001

Q3: How much was the FDI inward stock in 2004?

(a) 8,902,153 million dollars

(b) 1,765,151 million dollars

(c) 11,366,167 million dollars

(d) 5,398,342 million dollars

Q4: Which group benefited the most from FDI inflow during the last few decades? (Concentrate on stock variables in 2004.)

(a) developing economies

(b) developed economies

(c) Latin America

(d) CEE countries

Q5: Which group benefited the most from FDI inflow during the last few decades? (Concentrate on stock variables in 2004)

(a) developed Asians

(b) developing Asians

(c) developing Africans

(d) developed Europeans

Q6: Which group spent the most on investing abroad during the last few decades? (Concentrate on stock FDI outflow variables in 2004)

(a) Asia

(b) Sub-Saharan Africa

(c) developed Europeans

(d) the USA

Q7: Which group benefited the least from FDI inflows? (Concentrate on stock variables in 2004.)

(a) developed Asians

(b) Asians

(c) Central and Eastern Europeans

(d) LDCs (Least Developed Countries)