The Maritime Industry & Economic Theory
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International trade has been in existence for thousands of years, and as nations began shipping goods on the high seas (an efficient way to transport large quantities of goods over long distances), problems began to arise. If a ship flying a Greek flag with a Spanish captain and Portuguese crew carrying a cargo from Italy encountered problems in a French port, which nation's laws should have jurisdiction? It was from this need to regulate and protect international shipping that maritime law was developed. The tradition and regulations associated with maritime law remain in force to this day, and maritime law remains one of the oldest examples of international law in existence. This research considers the unique aspects of the maritime industry and one area of maritime law, wages, in relation both to the industry itself and in relation to economic theory.The merchant marine industry can be equated to the trucking industry, with the difference that many merchant vessels are involved in international trade. Similar to trucks on land, merchant vessels carry a particular cargo from one point to another, and receive payment based on each voyage. Some vessels are specialized (such as oil tankers and automobile transports) while others are general purpose vessels capable of lading containers or crated goods. Merchant vessels carry the flag of the nation where they are registered; these registries can be "flags of convenience" (FOC) meaning that the sh
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ance costs and medical benefits, other fringe benefits, additional overhead and payroll taxes which are rarely revealed to individual workers. Also, each worker has a specific skill set which is likely to be different from any other worker, even in the same job category. Some skills, such as the ability to operate certain equipment, can be quantified and labor suppliers and labor consumers can base their decisions on those job classifications. Other skill sets, such as native intelligence or ability to get along with others, cannot be quantified (Ginzberg, 1976).
Those who support a minimum wage maintain that the market is not capable of setting wages because employers have an unfair advantage over employees. If the market is left as the only mechanism for setting wages, wages will be set below the price clearing level, with the result that people who want jobs will not be able to get them (unemployment) and people who are able to get jobs may not be able to receive as much income as they desire, or as they would be able to generate in a perfectly competitive market (underemployment) (Mazur, 1995).
Under this view, a minimum wage not only has the effect of increasing the pay for workers, but that this effect is good for busi
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Approximate Word count = 1599
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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