Table of Contents
COMPREHENSION COMPETITIVE EXAM QUESTIONS
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Directions (Q. 1-10): Read the passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words/phrases are given in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.
There’s a backlash against globalisation underway in many Western countries. Although Americans still say positive things about international trade and immigration, political candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have gotten a lot of support for opposing both to a degree that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Meanwhile, trade deals like the relatively innocuous Trans-Pacific Partnership are suddenly in danger. Britain’s divorce from the European Union is also commonly interpreted as a rejection of globalisation.
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But there’s a, likelihood that today’s anti-globalisation warriors are fighting yesterday’s war. By many measures, globalisation has been in full retreat since the crisis of 2008. First, there’s trade. For many decades up until 2008, global trade volumes had been increasing at a healthy clip. But the crisis and recession stopped trade growth in its tracks, and it hasn’t recovered; 2008 was the all-time peak of world trade as a per cent of total output.
Next, there’s immigration. Globally, the number of migrants living in other countries has continued to increase, just very slowly. In the US, the big immigration boom is over. Immigration from Mexico to the US, the subject of so much political hand-wringing, has gone into reverse. From 2008 through 2014, the population of Mexicans living in the US declined by more than 1 million. The reason? Undocumented immigrants have been going back to Mexico in large numbers.
Then there’s finance. As the Financial Times ’IzabellaKaminska shows with a series of charts from UBS, cross-border financial flows remain well below their pre-crisis peaks, and cross-border bank claims have actually declined.
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In other words, the great globalisation boom that marked the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st is over, and may even be starting to unwind. Why is this happening? The recession is part of the answer. Slower growth, especially in developed economies, means less trade, which leads to less international finance. It also reduces the incentive for immigrants to move for economic reasons. China, the big engine of global growth and international investment, has also slowed down.
The regulatory curtailing of the financial industry might be another factor. The big global banks, mostly based in the US and Europe, suffered huge losses in the crisis but that was only the beginning. Since then, higher capital requirements, tighter regulatory oversight, higher and new rules like the US’s Dodd-Frank Act have weakened bank’s business models and reduced their profitability. Humbler banks mean less cross-border financing.
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Slower population growth may also be a drag on globalisation. The end of the Mexican immigration wave in the US probably has something to do with the dramatic fall in Mexico’s fertility rate, which began plunging in the 1970s. Fewer Mexicans are coming of age every year, leaving family businesses unattended and starving factories and stores of workers. That creates a gravitational pull that slowly calls Mexicans — especially undocumented immigrants — back from the US.
Elsewhere, low fertility throughout most of the world is undoubtedly a drag on growth. China’s working-age population is now falling by millions every year, and the rate is only set to accelerate. Europe and East Asia are graying rapidly, and fertility has fallen to replacement levels throughout much of the world. Only sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s poorest region, continues to see high fertility.
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Yet another trend might be the end of the offshoring boom. Wages have begun to equalise around the world, with an especially steep rise in China. Some estimates even suggest that making things in China is no longer significantly cheaper than making them in the US. When you add doubts about quality, intellectual property theft and the sheer hassle of managing supply chains across borders, the case for offshoring looks weaker than it has in decades. Other countries like India might step up to take China’s place, but so far most haven’t shown the ability to marshal the infrastructure and education levels required to become the new workshops of the world.
1).Which of the following is not a fallout of the slower growth, especially in developed economies?
a) Reduction in the incentive for immigrants
b) Less trade between developed countries
c) Less international finance
d) Illiteracy, unemployment and cross-border terrorism
e) All the above
2).What is/are the factor(s) responsible for full retreat of globalisation since the crisis of 2008?
(A) Regulatory curtailing of the financial industry
(B) Trans-Pacific Partnership
(C) Recession
a) Only (A) and (B)
b) Only (B) and (C)
c) Only (A) and (C)
d) All (A), (B) and (C)
e) Only (A)
3). Why have Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders gotten a lot of support? Answer in the context of the passage.
(A) Because they have announced to maintain a good relationship with European countries and India.
(B) Because both of them have announced to drive away all the Muslims from the USA.
(C) Because they have opposed international trade and immigration to America.
a) Only (A) and (B)
b) Only (B) and (C)
c) Only (A) and (C)
d) Only (A)
e) Only (C)
4).Which of the following statements is not true in the context of the given passage?
a) The year 2008 was the all-time peak of world trade as a per cent of total output.
b) Low fertility in sub-Saharan Africa is undoubtedly a drag on its growth.
c) The big immigration boom has come to a halt in the US.
d) India can take China’s place, provided the required infrastructure and education levels are achieved.
e) None of the above
5).Which of the following statements with respect to China is/are not true? Answer in the context of the passage.
(A) The wages of workforce in China have seen a steep rise in recent years.
(B) Making things in the US and in China are almost equally costly.
(C) China once again has become the biggest engine of global growth.
a) Only (C)
b) Only (A) and (B)
c) Only (B)
d) Only (A) and (C)
e) All (A), (B) and (C)
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Directions (Q. 6-8): Choose the word which is MOST SIMILAR in meaning to the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
6). Innocuous
a) hurtful
b) destructive
c) injurious
d) damaging
e) safe
7). Plunging
a) waxing
b) descending
c) succeeding
d) growing
e) recovering
8). Drag
a) impediment
b) supplement
c) support
d) favour
e) boost
Directions (Q. 9-10): Choose the word which is MOST OPPOSITE in meaning of the word printed in bold as used
9). Backlash
a) resentment
b) acrimony
c) cynicism
d) affection
e) wrath
10. Marshal
a) align
b) assemble
c) disorganise
d) muster
e) escort
ANSWERS:
1).d
2).c
3).e
4).b
5).a
6).e
7).b
8).a
9).d
10).c
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