(1) Malaysia produces its own national car Proton. At the same time, Malaysia also imports cars from many economies such as Japan, US, Europe and China. Given that Malaysia already has its own locally produced cars, why does Malaysia still need to import cars from the other economies? Discuss and analyse with reference to a suitable trade theory.
(2) Singapore is one of the 10 members in ASEAN and it trades actively with the other ASEAN members. It imports fruits and poultry from Malaysia, shrimps and fruits from Vietnam, palm oil and granite from Indonesia, rubber and rice from Thailand, timber from Myanmar and also fruits from the Philippines. On the other hand, Singapore exports electronic components such as disk drive, printed circuit board and machinery to these economies and also exports services such as education where it attracts people from the ASEAN countries to study in its government and private schools. Based on your understanding of the resources endowed in these economies, explain and analyse the trade pattern between Singapore and the ASEAN economies with reference to suitable trade theories.
(3) Singapore maintains very stringent requirements on the safety and hygiene standard of imported food from all over the world. Food which do not meet the safety requirements or are suspected of imposing risks to consumers are not allowed to enter the Singapore market. Historically, there was the bird flu in which led to Singapore banning the import of chicken and eggs from the source country, the pig virus incident where pork related products were banned from the source country and also the banning of imported beef due to mad cow disease. What type of trade restriction is Singapore implementing? Summarise and discuss the effects (both economics and even political or as political economy) of such a form trade restriction.
(4) To protect the interests of the farmers, Japan had implemented a very stringent process for imported agricultural products. This is especially for rice where a steep tariff is imposed on imported rice. As a result, the Japanese domestic rice price is much higher than the international rice price. Explain the type of trade restriction that Japan is implementing and evaluate its effects on both Japan and the rest of the world under this type of trade restriction. Analyse the price, quantity and welfare effects on Japan with a suitable market diagram.