"For those who think they are up to speed on the ins and outs of today's global economy, here's a quick quiz that will test your knowledge of global commerce, and hopefully expand your horizons.
1. The country that spends the most on foreign travel is:
a) Germany
b) United States
c) England
d) China
2. Which of the following countries is NOT currently a member of the World Trade Organization?
a) China
b) Russia
c) Togo
d) Guatemala
3. The Director-General of the World Trade Organization is:
a) a French Socialist
b) a Chinese industrialist
c) an American economist
d) a Brazilian minister
4) The world's largest exporter of coffee is:
a) Columbia
b) Vietnam
c) Brazil
d) Indonesia
5) The world's largest exporter of tea is:
a) Sri Lanka
b) Kenya
c) China
d) India
6) America's top trading partner is:
a) China
b) Canada
c) United Kingdom
d) Mexico
7) Almost half the world's spending on health care comes from one country. Which is it?
a) China
b) India
c) Sweden
d) United States
8) Which two countries joined the European Union last year?
a) Bulgaria and Romania
b) Turkey and Albania
c) Croatia and Macedonia
d) Latvia and Poland
9) What is the world's most populous democracy?
a) Indonesia
b) India
c) United States
d) Brazil
10) The second-largest economy in the world belongs to:
a) Bill Gates
b) France
c) Germany
d) Japan
Answers:
1) Germany. Germans spent over 60 billion euros on business and leisure travel in 2006, according to a report from Dresdner Bank. That's about 11 percent of all spending on foreign travel. Austria and Spain are the favorite destinations of Germans.
2) Russia. Russia is in the final stages of negotiating its accession to the World Trade Organization. China joined the WTO in 2001. Guatemala and Togo have been WTO members since 1995.
3) French Socialist. Pascal Lamy is the Director-General of the WTO. Prior to taking his position at WTO, he was a European Commission trade minister and an advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, then-President of the European Socialist Party.
4) Brazil. Last year Brazil produced $3.3 billion worth of coffee — about 2.5 percent of all of Brazil's exports.
5) Kenya. In 2005, Kenya overtook Sri Lanka as the world's largest exporter of tea, shipping 123 million kilograms of tea overseas.
6) Canada. The United States and Canada trade $610 billion in goods and services, about 5 percent of all global trade in the world, according to the Progressive Policy Institute.
7) United States. PPI also points to a report from the World Health Organization and the World Bank which concludes Americans spent about $1.7 trillion of the total $3.7 trillion spent on health care in the world in 2003.
8) Bulgaria and Romania. Bulgaria and Romania officially joined the EU on January 1, 2007. The EU is currently considering Turkey, Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia for membership.
9) India. With approximately 1.1 billion people, India is the world's most populous democracy and the second most populous nation. Some research suggests India will overtake China in population in the next 50 years.
10) Japan. Bill Gates may be rich, but Japan's Gross Domestic Product is pegged at about $4.7 trillion. Germany's GDP is $2.7 trillion and France's GDP is $2.1 trillion
How did you do?
10 correct — head for Davos, where globalization's elite get together to discuss all the big issues.
7-9 correct — take a trip to New York, and visit the United Nations. You'll fit right in.
4-6 correct — subscribe to the Economist or Foreign Policy magazine to brush up a bit.
Less than 4 correct — you need to get out more.
David Wescott is a Lexington-based senior associate for APCO Worldwide, a global public affairs firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.
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