10th grade Globalization: trade blocs, shipping and the internet worksheet

Globalization: trade blocs, shipping and the internet

Grade 10 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A. European cooperation, in our words (European Union): The Schuman plan was announced on May 9, 1950. On April 18, 1951 six countries (Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) signed the coal and steel treaty. The Treaties of Rome were signed on March 25, 1957, and the new bodies were in place on January 1, 1958. The single market, with free movement of people, goods, services and money, was launched on January 1, 1993, and the Maastricht Treaty, in force on November 1, 1993, officially created the European Union. Austria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995. The euro was introduced on January 1, 1999 in 11 countries for commercial and financial transactions. The EU has 27 member countries today.

2. 1.

   A student writes: “European integration just added members to the same project.” Using the dates, what changed besides the number of members, Ari asks?

   • Its scope grew from pooled coal and steel (1951) to a market in goods, services, people and money (1993) to a currency (1999)
   • The single market and the euro began together in 1993, when the Maastricht Treaty came into force, and the 1995 joiners followed
   • The project deepened with the same six countries, since no country joined before the euro of 1999
   • The numbers: six countries signed in 1951, 11 adopted the euro in 1999 and 27 are members today, so size is the whole change

3. Use this

   Card A. Veldia, 1910 to 2000 (a made-up country with made-up numbers). Columns: Year; Trade share of GDP (percent); Average tariff (percent). 1910: 30; 15. 1930: 18; 35. 1950: 14; 30. 1970: 22; 18. 2000: 41; 5.

4. 2.

   A student says: “Whenever Veldia’s tariffs fell, its trade rose.” Test the claim against the series, Bo asks.

   • It fails, so tariffs did not matter, since the trade share kept falling after 1930 while tariffs began to fall
   • It holds, since 1910’s tariff of 15 percent and trade share of 30 percent, against 2000’s 5 and 41, show the pattern
   • It fails for 1930 to 1950: tariffs fell from 35 to 30 percent while trade fell from 18 to 14 percent
   • It fails for 1950 to 1970, when tariffs fell from 30 to 18 percent and trade rose from 14 to 22 percent

5. Use this

   Card A. Trade agreements, in our words (World Trade Organization; Congressional Research Service): The WTO began on January 1, 1995, with 166 members that account for 98 percent of world trade; it grew out of the GATT, signed on October 30, 1947 by 23 founding members. NAFTA, in force from 1994, joined the United States, Canada and Mexico and phased out tariffs among the three, including on motor vehicles. The USMCA entered into force on July 1, 2020, replacing NAFTA; it keeps most of NAFTA’s chapters, with changes for autos, dairy and other areas.

6. 3.

   Compare the GATT with the WTO, and NAFTA with the USMCA. What does each pair show about change and continuity, Esme asks?

   • Each shows continuity with change: the WTO grew out of the GATT, and the USMCA kept NAFTA’s chapters but changed autos and dairy
   • Each shows a clean break: the WTO set aside the GATT’s rules and the USMCA replaced NAFTA’s chapters
   • Each shows an agreement that lasts unchanged, since the rules of 1947 survive in 1995 and NAFTA’s text survives in 2020 as before
   • Each shows growth in membership: 23 founders became 166 members, and the USMCA kept the same three countries

7. Use this

   Card A. Three countries (Made up for practice.) 1980 to 2000. Columns: Country; Average tariff, 1980 to 2000 (percent); Trade share of GDP, 1980 to 2000 (percent). Veldia: 22 to 6; 28 to 41. Sundal: 20 to 5; 22 to 35. Ardmoor: 21 to 20; 25 to 33. A container-shipping cost index fell from 100 to 40 in all three.

8. 4.

   Trade rose in all three countries. How do these figures split the causes, tariff cuts and cheaper shipping, Jun asks?

   • Shipping fits all three (Ardmoor rose 8 points with no tariff cut); tariff cuts fit the extra 5, if nothing else differed
   • Tariff cuts explain the 8 points common to all three, and cheaper shipping the extra 5 points in Veldia and Sundal
   • Cheaper shipping explains the whole rise, since Ardmoor’s trade rose 8 points without a tariff cut
   • Tariff cuts explain the rise, since the two countries that cut tariffs rose the most, 13 points each, and Ardmoor cut none

9. Use this

   Card A. Dates, in our words (CERN; World Trade Organization): The first proposal for the World Wide Web was written in March 1989. The first web server and browser ran at CERN by the end of 1990, and the software was released in 1991. On April 30, 1993 CERN made the web software available royalty-free. The WTO began on January 1, 1995; it grew out of the GATT, signed on October 30, 1947 by 23 founding members, and is the only international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. Card B. Veldia’s exports of online services (Made up for practice.) Percent of GDP: 0.4 in 1989, 0.6 in 1991, 1.0 in 1993, 3.0 in 1996 and 6.0 in 2000. Veldia’s total trade share rose from 29 percent in 1990 to 41 in 2000.

10. 5.

    The Web was proposed in 1989, yet Veldia’s online services trade grew mostly after 1993. What does that suggest about cause and condition, Kira asks?

    • The Web caused the whole 1990s rise in Veldia’s trade, since online services grew from 1.0 to 6.0 percent of GDP
    • The idea alone did not matter; royalty-free software in 1993 removed a cost, and growth sped up after it
    • The 1989 proposal was the cause and the delay was chance, since the proposal came first
    • The cause was the software release of 1991, since growth followed within three years of it

11. Use this

    Card A. Norland Union after its shared currency of 1999 (Made up for practice.) Between 1998 and 2008 union-wide exports rose 25 percent, an average of its North region (exports up 40 percent) and its South region (exports up 10 percent), which have economies of equal size. Unemployment: North 8 percent to 5 percent; South 9 percent to 14 percent. Reading X (invented for this sheet): “The currency boosted the union: exports rose 25 percent.” Reading Y (invented for this sheet): “The currency hurt the South: unemployment there rose from 9 to 14 percent.”

12. 6.

    Readings X and Y both cite the shared currency. How can both be right, and what comparison would test whether it caused the South’s unemployment, Luz asks?

    • X outweighs Y, since a union-wide figure counts both regions and a single region’s figure counts one
    • Both fit: the 25 percent averages +40 and +10, and only the South’s jobless rate rose; test against a similar region outside
    • Y is the whole story, since unemployment rose by 5 points in the South and that outweighs the union’s export figure
    • The South’s exports also rose 25 percent, since the union-wide figure applies to each region in the same way as to the union

13. Use this

    Card A. Veldia’s workers (Made up for practice.) In 1995 there were 30,000 mill workers paid $14,000 a year and 70,000 other workers paid $24,000; average pay was $21,000. In 2005 there were 12,000 mill workers paid $14,000 and 70,000 other workers paid $24,000; average pay was about $22,540. The 18,000 mill workers who lost their jobs are no longer counted among employed workers.

14. 7.

    A report says: “Average pay in Veldia rose about 7 percent, so its workers were better off.” What does the card show about that claim, Milo asks?

    • The mill workers who lost their jobs gained, since they left the lowest-paid jobs, which raised the average
    • The claim holds, since the average is computed over the whole workforce and rose from $21,000 to about $22,540
    • The claim fails, since pay in each kind of job stayed the same, so the average pay did not change either
    • The average rose only because 18,000 low-paid jobs vanished; pay in each kind of job did not change

15. Use this

    Card A. Firms in Veldia (Made up for practice.) Exporting firms paid an average of $36,000 a year and non-exporting firms $28,000. Firms that began exporting in 2000 had paid $35,000 in 1999 and paid $36,000 in 2005. Firms that never exported paid $28,000 in 1999 and $28,800 in 2005.

16. 8.

    A report says: “Exporting firms pay 29 percent more than other firms, so exporting raises pay.” Test it with the cards, Noah asks.

    • New exporters already paid $35,000 and their pay grew as fast as non-exporters’, so the gap reflects which firms export
    • The claim fails, since exporting has no effect on pay, as the new exporters’ pay growth shows for firms generally
    • The claim holds for new exporters, whose pay rose from $28,000 to $36,000 after they began exporting in 2000
    • The claim holds, since a 29 percent gap is too large to come from anything but the effect of exporting itself

17. Use this

    Card A. Tarnby in a bad year (Made up for practice.) Year 1: GDP $100 billion and trade (exports plus imports) $20 billion. Year 2: GDP $80 billion and trade $20 billion.

18. 9.

    A student says: “Tarnby’s trade share rose from 20 to 25 percent, so its trade grew.” Test the claim against the card, Pia asks.

    • Trade grew because GDP fell, since a smaller economy pushes firms to sell more abroad
    • Trade fell, since the economy shrank by 20 percent and trade is a part of the whole economy
    • The share rose because GDP fell from 100 to 80 billion; trade stayed at 20 billion, so trade did not grow
    • Trade grew by 5 percent, since the share of GDP rose from 20 to 25 percent in the second year

19. Use this

    Card A. Veldia, 1910 to 2000 (a made-up country with made-up numbers). Columns: Year; Trade share of GDP (percent); Average tariff (percent). 1910: 30; 15. 1930: 18; 35. 1950: 14; 30. 1970: 22; 18. 2000: 41; 5.

20. 10.

    A student’s note reads: “Veldia’s trade share rose 11 percent in 90 years, from 30 to 41, a steady climb.” Which rewrite fixes it, Zee asks?

    • Trade share rose 27 points, from 14 percent in 1950 to 41 percent in 2000, and it climbed steadily
    • Trade share rose 11 points (about 37 percent of the 1910 level), but fell to 14 percent by 1950 before it rose
    • Trade share rose 37 points over 1910 to 2000, a steady climb with a small dip in 1950
    • Trade share rose 11 points over 1910 to 2000; the fall to 14 percent by 1950 is a detail that does not change the story