For each dollar it takes at the till, Walmart skims off about three cents in profit. (Location 246)

Tags: walmart

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In total, China flogs as much to that one retailer – via some 20,000 suppliers – as it does to the whole of Germany or the UK. Much of every $1 spent on a toy, electrical gadget or T-shirt at a Walmart checkout (Location 259)

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Note: .walmart

earth. In 2017, goods worth almost $506 billion were shipped from China to the USA, with goods worth $130 billion going the other way. The $375 billion difference between the two – the trade gap or deficit – was the largest in history, and has swelled this century, partly due to Walmart’s buying habits. (Location 264)

What influences those costs? Many factors are at play: the availability of natural resources, climate, land, size of workforce, wages, rent, regulations, skills, machinery and transport. China has a plentiful, young workforce and relatively few regulations. For every dollar a company has to spend employing a Chinese factory worker, it would have to fork out roughly five times as much for an equivalent American worker. Walmart can source goods more cheaply in China because the Chinese have become specialists in low-tech manufacturing. Plants in Shenzhen can churn out toys and electronics at a fraction of the cost of a factory in Michigan. For the Chinese manufacturer – and everyone else – selling goods to the USA is a no-brainer. American consumers account for one in every five dollars spent around the globe; it’s still the largest market in the world. (Location 304)

So specialisation and free trade mean more goods and lower costs. And lower costs mean lower price tags. China has the planes it needs to satisfy the wanderlust of its increasingly prosperous population and Lauren Miller saves money by buying a Chinese radio at Walmart. As a consequence she has more to spend on other items, such as taking her kids to the bowling alley at the weekend. (Location 334)

Tags: specialisation

Note: .specialisation spcialisation leads to more goods and lower costs

Those Chinese low-priced goods help to keep the US interest rates low too, and that in turn keeps the cost of borrowing down for households and businesses. (Location 341)

China has one-fifth of the world’s population but only 7 per cent of its arable land. (Location 373)

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Note: .china there is an inbalance between chinas population and its arable land

Wages in Vietnam make China’s look almost munificent. The minimum wage for a textile worker in Vietnam is about $100 per month. That’s less than one-fifth of the amount a worker in China would earn for stitching together the same T-shirt. (Location 555)

Tags: vietnam, china

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