Sewing Success?: Employment, Wages, and Poverty following the End of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (Directions in Development)

The end of the MFA was followed by rising apparel exports, falling prices, and a reallocation of production and employment between countries. There were also significant changes within countries. The first main finding of this report is that export and employment patterns after the MFA/ATC did not necessarily match predictions. While many predicted that production would shift to low-wage countries, this book shows that only 13 percent of variation in export changes post-MFA can be explained by the differences in wage levels. Second, changes in exports are usually, but not always, good indicators of what happens to wages and employment within countries. This is especially important for policy because it shows that simply using exports as a metric of 'success' in terms of helping the poor is not sufficient. Third, the Book identifies the specific ways that changes in the global apparel market affected earnings. The Book shows that wage premiums change in predictable ways: rising (in most cases) in countries that were proactive in adapting to the MFA phase-out and expanded their market shares, and falling in countries that failed to respond in a timely fashion to the changing environment. The Book shows that promoting 'upgrading' (defined as shifting to higher-value goods, shifting up the value chain, or 'modernizing' production techniques) seems to be necessary for sustainable competitiveness in the apparel sector but does not necessarily help the poor. Policies that support upgrading need to be complemented with targeted workforce development to make sure that the most vulnerable workers are not left behind. Having a vision for the evolution of the apparel sector that incorporates developing worker skills seems crucial. Otherwise, less-skilled workers could miss out on opportunities to gain valuable work experience in manufacturing.

Mr. M Morshed Khan, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was born on 8 August 1940 in a respected family in Chittagong, Bangladesh. A bright student, Mr. Morshed Khan graduated as a Bachelor of Engineering from the Tokyo University of Technology and Agriculture in Japan. He then obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management from Sofia University (International Division), Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Khan chose business and industrial enterprise as his career and soon became well known as one of the foremost successful private entrepreneurs in the country. His successes in business and his contribution to the development of the national economy received due recognition within a short time. This is manifested in the many important appointments and assignments he held as a leader of the business community of Bangladesh over the last three decades. At different times, among others, he held the following important positions: Former Alternate Member, Governing body of the International Labour Organization (ILO); Founder Chairman, Arab Bangladesh Bank Limited (First Private Sector Bank in Bangladesh); Chairman, Pacific Group of Industries; Chairman, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd. (First Private Sector Mobile Telecommunication Operator in Bangladesh); Former Chairman, Bangladesh Association of Banks, Co-Founder of Global Foundation for Christian-Muslim partnership; Unanimously elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the first International Conference of Asian political parties; President, Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries; and President, Bangladesh Employer’s Federation. Mr. Morshed Khan has always taken keen interest in politics. During the earlier tenure of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as the ruling party from 1991 to 1996 Mr. Khan was appointed Chairman, Special Committee on Foreign Affairs (Morshed Committee) and also a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister. Subsequently, he became member of the Advisory Council and Vice Chairman, Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He has been elected a Member of Parliament several times. Following the election in October 2001 Mr. Morshed Khan, M.P. was appointed as the Foreign Minister in the Cabinet. He has been a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committees on (i) Public Accounts and (ii) Foreign Affairs.

Liliana was born in Mexico City and raised in both Mexico and the United States. She graduated from Santa Clara University (SCU) in 2004 with a major in marketing and minor in political science and international business. During her time at SCU, she traveled to Bangladesh and spent a summer as an intern with the Grameen Bank in Dhaka. This experience affirmed her desire to pursue a nonprofit career particularly focused on children. In the past, she worked with Relief International – Schools Online in their global education department. Today, Liliana lives in Sunnyvale, enjoys traveling, has a Maltese named Toby and hopes to pick up a few more languages along the way.

Awards:

Book is the Runner-up for "2011-2012 DIY Book Festival" Award
held at Los Angeles, USA [March 3, 2012]
losangelesbookfestival.com/

The book is named an "Honorable Mention" in "The London Book Festival"
held at London, UK (Jan 26, 2012)
londonbookfestival.com/portal/

The book also earned an "Honorable Mention" in "The New England Book Festival"
held at Boston, USA (Jan 14, 2012)
newenglandbookfestival.com/winners2011.html

Review:
"Consumerism will impel us toward a marvelous machine-made world, according to this ambitious treatise on economics and technological change. Amblee, a software engineer, spotlights a handful of simple economic principles that he feels will mold the shape of things to come. Chief among them are the eternal desire for cheaper, better, more convenient goods and services; the drive for globalization and automation; and the need for cheap energy, the lack of which he believes is the primary cause of recessions. Software linked to all-knowing financial databases will eliminate distortions in stock prices and bank lending, he contends, and thus forestall asset bubbles and end the business cycle. At restaurants, "dining tables will become digital, offering world information" that will enable us to work while we eat. Everything converges toward a future that offers "more quality, more precision" and "timelier service," one where the main jobs will be "robot design, robot assembly, software development for robots, and so on," and where "life will be so easy and comfortable you will wonder how people used to stand in long lines just to pay!"His forecasts are bold--living in "space cities," we will be impervious to global warming and asteroid impacts."
- Kirkus Indie Review

Description:
Looking into the future does not come naturally for most of us. In fact, it is hard enough for us to see past today! This book makes an effort to present a technique for looking into the future with real world examples. Together we will journey into a fascinating future and see our own life. As we travel together, we will notice all of the technological marvels of the future are inevitable because the human technological evolution is unstoppable. We will explore how human life will change and how future generations must be prepared to face it...

And so begins The Art of Looking into the Future by R. S. Amblee, an intellectual powerhouse of ideas that introduces a forward-thinking school of thought. A provocative work of nonfiction that looks at how the world works in a whole new way, Amblee helps redefine what the future holds in such areas as healthcare, stock markets, real estate, education, outsourcing, global warming, and green initiatives. If his premise that the future rests in the ever-evolving arms of technology, then the future is bright--the future is very bright, indeed.

Using a timeless, unchanged model of evolution, Amblee shows readers what to expect in the near future. Broken into four parts and over twenty chapters he illustrates in very specific terms how the world will increasingly depend on automation as well as globalization. A natural progression, Amblee describes how such evolution is often hidden in the rigors of daily life. As humans logically continue to develop, there's a pattern; the genius of Amblee's work is that he identifies it. He makes no blind assumptions in his a priori assessments, which are notably hopeful, of what the future will hold, and that these guiding principles of evolution will reveal solutions for challenges in most sectors.

From such an evolutionary bird's eye view, man's survival is, if not imminent, secure.