Successful Economy through International Trade

International Trade becomes detrimental to the economic success of a nation as it progresses and hopes to advance. This truth can be seen both in the game and in the history of almost all economically successful nations on earth. It becomes almost impossible for a nation to shut itself off from international trade if it has valuable goods that other nations desire, just as Japan was unable to prevent trade with the United States after an attack. International trade has become an important part of the world economy today and very few countries can remain self sufficient and isolated from the rest of the world. Likewise, trade between nations becomes an important part of the game almost initially, and increases in importance as the nation progresses and attempts to gain further economic success.

Over time international trade has become an important and indispensable part of not only the United States economy but of economies throughout the world. All of the most economically successful nations are involved in an intricate network of trade with one another in order to best distribute resources; very few nations remain independent within today's economy. According to Colander in chapter three of Economics, sixth edition, since the 1990s international trade has grown to an even greater level due to the ".com" era and expansion of buying and selling on the internet, something known as e-commerce. With e-commerce international trade has grown increasingly easier and people with access to a computer and internet now have the entire world to purchase products from, not just the United States. This new convenience increases competition and therefore allows for the best prices and the best products to be available to consumers, while those companies not willing to conform to internet based business will eventually go bankrupt. Because of the increase in competition, not only domestic but also foreign, prices drop and the best products are produced for the consumer, ultimately allowing all those involved to benefit, except for the companies that can not compete and therefore go bankrupt.

Because of the new e-commerce expansion and the willingness of consumers to purchase products over the internet instead of in stores, global corporations have expanded rapidly. According to Colander, global corporations are "corporations with substantial operations on both the production and sales sides in more than one country." Global corporations allow companies to employ the best suited candidates for a job, regardless of location, and therefore can increase their success. In addition, global corporations allow the business to escape some of the costly or time consuming laws of one country by operating mainly in a different country. All of these become benefits for the corporation, which ultimately results in a better and cheaper product for the consumer, allowing both the consumer and the corporation to benefit. In addition, international trade allows nations to get products that are much more costly for them to produce from another nation, once again allowing both nations to benefit. It would be nearly impossible for economies to advance to this rate without international trade and global corporations.

Looking at the historical perspective of global nations, on which the game Civilization IV is based, one can apply the same ideas to the game and gain great success. Almost immediately international trade is introduced to the game and allows nations to benefit from one another, although initially it is not quite as important as it will later become. This trade allows nations to gain gold, food, ideas, and supplies that would not otherwise be available to them within their own nation. As the game, and therefore time, goes on, trade becomes increasingly important and those nations that do not participate have much less success within their economy and gold supply. In addition, ideas can also be transferred through trade, such as religion and democracy. Without these ideas people within a nation are often unhappy and less productive, once again resulting in a less successful economy. Overall, international trade increases productivity, gold, and the greater happiness of the people within a society. Those who chose not to participate in international trade make a choice that could harm not only their economy but the entire success of their nation.

In conclusion, international trade becomes detrimental to the economic prosperity of a nation as it advances technologically and culturally. Without international trade nations have no way of competing with those nations who do use economic trade and will remain less successful due to opportunity costs and the price of making certain products with limited resources. Using trade helps nations to advance their economy and makes the people within the nation happier overall. Not to use international trade, either in real life or the game, is a poor choice and should be avoided at all costs.