Netherlands, as a small country, is one of the wealthiest and most important economic centers of

Europe. This success of Dutch started with the oldest company of the world, Dutch East India, which
turned into a global trade empire. Although the country was under the domain of Spanish Empire for
decades, victim of many wars, and struggled the tough sailing conditions between Far East and
Europe, it never stopped trading. They recognized the importance of collaboration within the country
and investors shared their risks which led to emergence of the securities market for the first time in
the world.

Starting from Dutch East India, since 17th century, the country’s international trade capacity
increased constantly. The country underwent a transformation since the 1970s by privatizing the
public sectors and investing in advanced technologies which also created competitive advantage in
the global market. Also, as a result of free trade policy and liberal market economy, with slight
government intervention, the country has a trade surplus for the last 25 years (3.84 Billion Euros in
August, 2020). It’s economic expansion is based on foreign trade and investment. With well-
developed infrastructure for international trade, Port of Rotterdam is Europe's largest and world’s
4th port. The transportation business in this port contributes 6.6 billion Euros to Dutch GDP annually
and it is a market of over 500 million customers.

1. As we have seen in Dutch example, free trade targeted policies can improve economic well-
being of a country. Can you also give examples of countries or situations where trade
restrictions lead to economic growth? Do you think it is sustainable in the long run?
2. Discuss the effect of protectionism on the economic performance of countries during the
Corona pandemic. Do you think countries that try to preserve their national economy with
trade barriers will avoid adverse impacts of the pandemic? (In your responses you may refer
to historic evidence from other countries in crises periods.)

Please prepare a discussion paper that responds to above questions. The submissions should
be prepared in word format. The word count of your paper should be between 500 and 1000
words. The papers should be uploaded to Turnitin assignment link on Bilgi Learn. Turnitin is
an internet-based plagiarism detection software. You should avoid copying material from
internet sources as Turnitin will detect these and provide a similarity score. Papers with a
similarity score above 15% will not be graded. The deadline for submissions is midnight on
November 22nd.