Question

explain the three types of international economic exchange. Find 1 example of each type of flow which involved India and write a short account of it​

Answer 1

Answer:

There are three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange.  

The first is the flow of trade which in the nineteenth century referred largely to trade in goods (e.g., cloth or wheat). The second is the flow of labour – the migration of people in search of employment. The third is the movement of capital for short-term or long-term investments over long distances.

Flow of Trade: Prior to the British rule, India exported cotton clothes to the Western world. However, in the 19th century, Britain systematically destroyed the Indian handicraft industries and began to export cheap mill made cotton clothes to India.  

Flow of Labour: This refers to the migration of labour to other countries in search of job opportunities. In the 19th century, thousands of Indians migrated to countries like Fiji, Caribbean islands and other countries to work on plantations and mines. While some of these returned after the completion of their contract, many of them settled down in the countries where they migrated. This is the reasons, that we find large number of Indians in West Indies or Fiji.

Movement of Capital for short-term or long-term Investments over long distances:  

In the 19th century, groups of Indian financiers and traders like the Shikaripuri shroffs and Nattukottai Chettiars etc. financed agricultural plantations in various Asian and African countries using their own funds or those borrowed from the European banks

Answer 2

Answer:

The three types of movements or flows within the international economic exchange are trade flows, human capital flows and capital flows or investments. These can be explained as—the trade in agricultural products, migration of labour, and financial loans to and from other nations.

India was a hub of trade in the pre-modern world, and it exported textiles and spices in return for gold and silver from Europe. Many different foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts, maize, tomatoes, chillies and sweet potatoes came to India from the Americas after Columbus discovered it.

In the field of labour, indentured labour was provided for mines, plantations and factories abroad, in huge numbers, in the nineteenth century. This was an instrument of colonial domination by the British.

Lastly, Britain took generous loans from USA to finance the World War. Since India was an English colony, the impact of these loan debts was felt in India too. The British government increased taxes, interest rates, and lowered the prices of products it bought from the colony. Indirectly, but strongly, this affected the Indian economy and people.