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DOMINICAN vs. the US
Abstract
The US and the Dominican Republic are two entirely different countries with distinct economic systems. The US is a superpower with the largest economic framework in the world. Its total GDP is larger than many countries across the globe. This developed country has a budget of billions of dollars and has controlled inflation and unemployment rate. Gini co-efficient of the US is almost 50% that shows a space for improvement regarding income inequality. The country dedicates a large portion of its income and policies to R&D. The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, is a middle-income country with almost the same rate of Gini co-efficient. The country earns a large amount of income from tourism and remittances and dedicates this money to the necessities of its citizens. Its economic system promotes individual investments but applies taxes on its people to earn taxes. The country has a large number of exports sent to the US and other nations in the world. Both countries can expand their exports to ensure that the balance of payment is under control and they are sending more goods outside of the country than they are getting in.

Introduction
The US is in North America while the Dominican Republic is a country in Latin America. These two countries, although located on the same continent, have entirely different economic systems and the way they respond to any economically challenging situation is also different.

The US has one of the largest economies in the world and is a highly developed social and financial system. With the world’s largest nominal GDP and second largest purchasing power parity (PPP), the US has thriving prospects. On the other hand, Dominican Republic is the ninth largest economy in Latin America. With a multidimensional economy, DR has many things common with and different from the US (QFC).
The economies of the US and Dominican have several things in common. However, there are countless things that make these entirely different from each other as well. The US is a global super power in economic, social, political and strategic terms while Dominican does not have that much of an influence on the global market. The US economy is thriving and taking a larger chunk of the global economy in many sectors. However, the economy of Dominican is struggling to find a good spot in the domain. Nevertheless, Dominican’s services sector is a leading employer while its tourism is growing which provides it with opportunities to evolve.
One of the many things that give the US a worldwide advantage is its position as a financial center of the world. New York which is world’s second largest city and is also the business capital of the world. It has NYSE and Wall Street that are some of the leading bodies of world business, stocks and financial matters. Dominican on the other hand does not seem to enjoy that impressive reputation in the world market. Santo Domingo is the financial center of the country. The country earns a huge amount in tourism tough. In one year, Dominican earns about $1 billion just through its tourism which is an impressive amount. Both of these countries are members of WTO which represent that they are supporters of active trade relations across countries (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
This essay will meticulously explore both of these economies and will put light on various dimensions of these economic systems. The next section will put light on the economic history of both countries while the third section will discuss the GDP and other macroeconomic demographics of the economies. Fourth and fifth sections will be about international trade and geo-political and geo-economic factors. The sixth section will be about the financial and law situation and business culture and the second last part will scrutinize the economic policies. The final section will provide concluding remarks.
DOMINICAN vs. the US – Economic Background
When the American settlements happened in the 17th century, US’s economic history was initiated in official terms. In 1770’s, American colonies started emerging and covered the journey of being small economies to established farming economic system. All of this took its refined form by 1776. Although the overall condition of the country was still not incredibly impressive, current circumstances at that time did pave the way for future growth of the country. Later on, 19th century proved to be an impressive century for the history of the US. From 1776 down to 180 years, the country was able to evolve into a well-formed economy that was being led by industrialization., integration and economic wisdom (Phillip).
In these 180 years, the growth rate of the US was at such an impressive pace that the country grew to be the fifth largest economy in the world. Catching up too much and making its space in the global was certainly something incredibly inspiring. From the very beginning, it is seen that the US economy has been focused on being industrialized and has been open to adopting methods that make it easier for the economy to play an active role in the dynamics of the world economy. That is something that made the transition of the economy way smoother.
The world was still enjoying the essentials of the 18th century when US’s GDP surpassed UK’s and proved to the world that it is on its way to make a mark on a global level. With that being persistent, the wages in the US were relatively high, and because of this high wage rate, immigrants from across the world were getting attracted to migrate to the US. That made the economic, social and political position of the US in the world even more notable (We Forum).
By the start of 1880’s, the US was considered to be a country that was agriculture oriented. One factor that compliments this fact is that in this decade, about 80% of the population in the country was directly or indirectly associated with farming. Most of the agriculture in the States at that time was in its early stages, and most of the production started from raw material. Although it sounds like a basic stage of development, it gave the country an edge and gave it time to develop from scratch. By the 20th century, the US made a turn towards innovation and technological advancements. That was an era that paved the way for innovation, undeniable growth and technological evolution across the country.
Compared to the US’s history, Dominican’s economic past goes into a different dimension. However, this country had to go through a couple of stages to become the large economy it is today. Dominican is a middle income developing country that depends on agriculture, mining, service and national and international trade to grow and fulfill its needs. The country started with agriculture as the main sector, services sector in the economy developed to a wide enough extent. Right now, Dominican’s services sector is the dominant one, but agriculture remains to be a significantly large and active domain.
The country has been going through some economic and social struggles in its early history. However, in 2006, the country was saved from a huge crisis by Fernandez’s measures taken towards the support of austerity. While some economies around the world are still against these policies of austerity, the plans seemed to work well for Dominican, and the economy survived an economic recession. At that time, the economic growth of the country also went up to 11.7% that was a good number considering the monetary struggles of the nation (Travel Docs).
In the 21st century, a large number of people moved to the US to get benefits from the higher wages of the country. By the time, the number of Dominican immigrates in the US increased which resulted in a greater amount of remittances being sent to Dominican. Along with that trend, a larger investment, and then returns from more active tourism, remittances, and tourism revenues became one of the principal income sources for Dominican (We Forum).
Just like the early years of the US, Dominican was also associated with agriculture. This makes sense in an economic framework because most countries start with the basics of farming and then move on to more industrialized approaches to growth and long-term development. When the 21st century started, the total percentage of people who were associated with the field of agriculture and related sectors was as much as 20%. From 1968-1973, the agriculture sector in the country grew at a remarkable rate of more than 7%. But later on, the growth rate reduced because of weather effects and other haphazard. Nevertheless, in 2001, this sector was responsible for 11% of the national GDP.
This historical analysis of the countries shows that both countries started small and depended on agriculture for a significant duration of time. In the light of economic argument, depending on agriculture as an early source of economic growth is a justified strategy because if the country is bestowed upon by natural resources, agriculture is an easy yet intense model to allow a country to grow and evolve. Later on, both countries started moving towards technology and more advancement. Dominican also depends on the revenues from tourism and remittances it gets from its citizens living abroad while the US has a large technology sector and trade relations with other countries (CIA).
GDP, Employment, and Other Macroeconomic Factors
When it comes to GDP and other macroeconomic variables, the US is certainly one of the world’s most developed and thriving countries. The fiscal year of the US is from October 1st to September 20th every year. In 2017, total GDP of the country was $19.36 trillion and was the top nominal GDP in the world. Regarding purchasing power parity that represents the real income of the country, US stood in the second place. In terms of basic economics, the US seems to be in a pretty good spot with a top nominal GDP and second largest PPP.
In 2017, GDP growth rate of the country was 2.6% which is not incredibly impressive. However, considering the size of the country and the worth of even its nominal GDP, even this growth rate was enough to make its GDP world’s largest. Its GDP per capita was $59, 495 which means that an average annual household income in the US is more than $50,000 which is higher than a lot of countries across the globe. Its GDP per capita was ranked 7th on a global level, and with PPP being on the 2nd spot, its PPP per capita was the 11th largest in the world (Baten, 233).
GDP of any country is usually broken down into segments, and various segments contribute to a specific portion of the entire GDP. In 2016, agriculture had a contribution of 1.1% in US’s GDP. The industry had about 20%, and services accounted for about 80%. In the same year, the population of the nation rose by 12.7% while the Gini co-efficient was 45%. A Gini co-efficient is an indicator to represent the level of income inequality in an economy. The higher the variable is, the lower level of income inequality the country is suffering. The US has a Gini of almost 0.5 which shows that income inequality is not incredibly low in the country and there is enough space for improvement in the domain, especially regarding the difference between the basic income of the high and lower income classes.
The latest rate of inflation in the US is as low as 0.4% which shows that the government has a good grip on prices. For any growing or even developed economy, having some type of inflation is necessary, but this rate should not be double-digit. The same thing is happening in the US when the inflation rate is in decimals and is, in fact, less than 0.5%. With about 160.5 million people being part of the labor force, US’s unemployment level is 7.5%. It means that out of the workforce available in the market that is willing to work, about 8% people are not employed. However, some of these people might be just transitioning from one job to another leading to transition unemployment which can never be zero in an economy (McFeatters).
For the Dominican Republic, these macroeconomic numbers are also note-worthy. For instance, in 2017, Dominican had a GDP of $143.100 billion. When this GDP was spread across its population of 10.65 million people, GDP per capita of the country became $10,060. This is incredibly low compared to the per capita income of the US citizens which was more than $50,000. However, one thing that should be kept into account here is that its currency is weaker compared to the US dollar and therefore, the exchange rate might offset some of this difference.
When the GDP growth of the Dominican Republic is broken down into sectors, agriculture played 11.5% role here while industry and service had a contribution of 21% and 67% respectively. Although the numbers are different, both countries are showing a similar trend regarding depending on various sectors for is GDP growth rate. The inflation rate in the Dominican Republic was recorded to be 3.9% in 2012. This number is higher than the US but is still a lower stand-alone number. This shows that the country has managed to control its inflation rate to ensure that the prices across the country do not affect the real income of the people and the country enjoys a good growth of GDP. That might be one of the reasons that Dominican Republic’s GDP growth was more than 7% from 2014-2016 and was more than 5% in 2017. Overall the LAC region had a GDP growth of 1.4% in that year.
The country had a population growth rate of 1.1% in 2016 which shows that its population growth is under control. Out of its entire population, about 5 million people are a part of the labor force, and out of these, 12.5% people are unemployed. This double-digit employment rate illustrates that finding a job in the Dominican Republic is not as easy as it is in the US. Gini co-efficient in the state is 47% which is almost the same as the US (CIA). This shows that the gap between the lower and the higher income families is equally huge and both countries have to grow in this area to ensure that the disadvantaged also get some benefit from the financial strength of the nation.
International Trade Relations
US’s trade and business trends are very dynamic, and it has trade relations with a large number of countries across the globe. The state is a member of WTO which shows the positive stance of the US on free trade and international trade relations. In 2010, total revenue that the US generated from exports was $1.45 trillion. Out of all these exports, a big portion of exports came from the manufacturing sector, and the sector accounted for about 75% of the total exports. Agriculture sector contributed to around 10% and fuels and mining also contributed to around the same percentage.
Major countries that the US exported these products to include European Union, China, Mexico, Japan and Canada. Out of all these trade partners, around 19% of the exports were dispatched to the EU. Total imports that the US received from other countries around the world seemed to be more than the exports. In 2016, the total cost of all the imports to the US was $2.25 trillion. Some of the common countries responsible for the US imports included China, EU, Mexico, Canada, Japan and other countries. This trend shows that the US has good trade relations with these countries and gets engaged in both imports and exports at the same time.
In the global economic domain, the US is one of the most active countries that positively engage in trade deals with other countries. For any country, the major purpose of trade is to ensure that it gains maximum profit and benefit out of a product while meeting its needs. If producing a product from scratch is not economic, the country prefers to buy it from other countries that have a comparative advantage in producing that good. This eventually benefits the importer and exporter at the same time because the producer gets to sell its product while the other country buys something at a lower price.
As a trade a global trade union, US stands on the second spot and ends up having a large amount of money being circulated to and from the country. Being a large trade union on a global level is also a reason that the US dollar has a strong value in the global economy, and is widely used as an international medium of exchange. Out of all the mediums of exchange used for national and international trade, more than half of the money is the US dollars. The US is also a member of NAFTA and is a part of other business and trade unions across the world that represent its stance on international trade relations (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
The Dominican Republic has an active economy as well. It is involved in a number of economic, trade and financial activities on a national and global level that make the economy stand out. In 2010, the worth of total exports that the country made to other nations was $6.16 billion while the imports were worth $14.53 billion. Major exports of Dominican Republic were sugar, gold, coffee, silver, meat, tobacco and other consumer goods while the imports were oil, cotton, chemicals, and medication. About half of the merchandises that the Dominican Republic exports to other countries are sourced to the US. Canada is its second largest export customer that accounts for 10% of the total exports. Other export customers include UK, Italy, Haiti, and Netherlands. On the other side, major imports for the Dominican Republic also come from the US. Other exporters to the country are Mexico, China, Brazil, Venezuela, Brazil and, Chile.
Like NAFTA and other trade treaties that countries have with each other, the Dominican Republic signed a trade treaty with the US while five other countries in Latin America were also a part of the deal. The main purpose of the deal was to ensure a free and smoother trade between nations and ensure that any unnecessary steps that hinder the trade ties can be cut down. The agreement was called CAFTA (Central America Free Trade Agreement) that came into effect from March 2007. The US has made major investments in the Dominican Republic too. For instance, an investment of $3.3 billion was made by the US in the country in the tourism and energy sectors. That is also one of the reasons that the Dominican Republic earns a large amount of its annual revenue from these sectors and due to the associated projects (Baten, 116).
Because of being a Free Trade Zone Industry (FTZ), Dominican Republic has faced some ups and downs regarding its exports to other nations. However, the status has also helped the country to gain a prominent spot in the regional and international trade domain. The country still needs to gain some good position in the electricity business. In the global trade market, Dominican Republic stands as the 38th largest trade partner with billions of worth traded goods circulated the world. These trade relations of the country support its short-term and long-term economic goals (Travel Docs).
Geo-political, Law, and Geo-economics Factors
Regarding geo-political and geo-economic aspects, the US is one the largest countries in the world. Geologically, it is a hug continent that is somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. This makes the country geologically strong because it makes is easier to protect the boarders of the country. The huge area of the country accommodates millions of people, and this economic, political and geographic strength is the reason that the US is called a land of opportunities.
The country has a strong legislative stance in the global framework. For instance, the country has a veto power in the United Nations that allows the country to vote against any rule or policy being signed. As the largest economy in the world, the US is supposed to sustain a position as an independent economy that also supports the independence of other economies. That is exactly that it is doing as a leader and runner of the world economy. The country openly supports democracy, and due to its strong influence on the global politics, its political, strategic, defense and other systems are appreciated around the world (We Forum).
The US has a federal government that heads everything, a state government which is responsible for the respective state and a local government that works on a lower and more granular level. The state government can make laws that abide by the constitution of the country and do not break any federal law either, educational, contract, family or other. All states within the country are in control of the business activities and take a close look at what is happening in the business sectors. Each commission has a different set of laws and requirements that align with the federal law. However, these states can vary from one another from a minor to a major extent in some cases.
The total number of local governments in the US is 89,500 that also covers 3,033 counties and thousands of municipalities, districts and counties. These local governments operate on a more granular level and are supposed to make sure that the general to specific needs of the citizens is met to the maximum extent. In the political system of the US, development of special interest groups is completely allowed as it supports the idea of basic human rights. These groups can support anything from labor rights, trade bills, same-sex marriages, black lives, religions or anything social, economic, political, financial, ethnic, strategic or general. These special interest groups can be private or can be organized by the government as well depending on the sensitivity and scope of the matter (Baten, 132).
The US has two major parties that dominate the political system of the country. These two parties are republican and democratic. Since 1852, these two entities have dominated the political system and elections in the country, and people have been choosing their political leader from these two options. With the parliamentarian system, the two parties are loosely organized to support the similar ideologies that complement the national interest and do anything that is against the general law in the country.
Putting the light on the Dominican Republic, although the country has a strong economic standing in the world economic market, its geopolitical stance is certainly not as strong as the US. After getting most of its income from tourism and exports, the country spends most of it in common household items like food and other necessities. It imports a large amount of oil, manufactured goods, medicines and metals from other countries which makes it dependent on other countries for a lot of things. One thing common in the political system of the Dominican Republic and the US is that both of them support democracy and believe in electing the most suitable person as a national leader. However, unlike the US, Dominican Republic has a multi-party system and several parties take part in the election to see their candidate get a national representation.
The first constitution of Dominican Republic was signed back in 1844, and that was the time when the country aimed to have a fair and independent politics. The president is the highest authority in the country, and a document of about 27 pages covers the duties and power of the president. With the total military of 45,000, the country protects it national and international borders. There are legislative and judicial branches that are responsible for certain sections of the law and all these duties sum up to the highest representative authority (QFC).
Finance and Business Culture
As the US is a massive economy, its financial position in the world is pretty notable as well. In 1980’s, the total number of debt the US had was $909 billion. As a percentage of GDP, this amount was around 33% which is a huge percentage. This led to several challenges for the US economy. By 1990, this percentage rose all the way to 56%, and the amount was $3.2 trillion. By 2009, the total debt of the US was so high that it accounted for 100% of its total GDP. By 2019, the total amount of debt the US economy be accounted to is expected to rise to around $700 billion with a progressive rate (Smeeding, 12).
This public debt condition of the US is multi-dimensional and has many facets to it. For instance, in 2006, about 44% of the total public debt of the US came from non-US citizens. This was certainly an alarming number and rose the need for the US to monitor its financial situation so that the extra expenses could be cut off. On the production side, the total worth of assets in the country is more than $269.6 trillion. These assets include public possessions like households and luxuries, government properties, and businesses. In 2014, the total debt that the US had was around nine times its total GDP. With that highly volatile financial situation, the business trends in the US seem to be in a large market danger, and there are several market sensitivities that the country can be exposed to because of this economic instability.
These volatilities are the main reason the US has a negative interest in these government debts. This negative interest rate allows to tackle the sensitivity and help with the risk that hedging involves. Additionally, other investments like bonds, pension funds, money markets, insurances and mutual funds are also put at risk because of the intensity of volatility, and that is why there was a need to introduce something that can bring the stability back or at least stop it from getting worse. This negative real interest can help countries get rid of some extra burdens in their economic framework. Some examples include the US and the UK when they used these strategies to get rid of some of the debt burdens they had in the 1970s’s.
The overall business culture of the US is pretty independent and user-friendly. Privatization is completely supported, and if an entity is following the rules, and regulations of doing business, there are no hurdles in the economic decisions and business operations done on a private level. That support for privatization and growth is the reason for the country’s development in the field of technology and innovation.
Compared to the US economy, the economy of the Dominican Republic is smaller when it comes to the financial vastness. However, the standalone economy is still a large one. The ministry of finance of the country is in control of all the business and financial matter on a wider scale. Its establishment took place in 1844. That time was not very far ahead of the independence of the country. After coming into power, the ministry was given gives several names that were updated as well but the body remained a high authority in term of financial matters.
Economically, an upper middle-income country as the Dominican Republic has to be very careful about its financial activities. That is because its activities lead several channels in the economy at a time and a small mistake can lead to a drop in the performance of the services and many other sectors. For the Dominican Republic, most of its income depends on revenues from tourism and trade it has with other countries. Having these two sectors providing a huge chunk of the income, the Dominican Republic has to ensure that the public debt is not a huge part of the GDP that it becomes harder for it to finance its business ventures (Smeeding, 14).
In 1999, a report prepared by IMF said that the income that the Dominican Republic generates from remittances is around $1.5 billion. While this money helped in addressing the basic needs of the nation, other financial ventures helped with the luxuries and other expenses of the country. Although the business culture of the country is open, some challenges like the energy losses are a danger to its long-term growth. For instance, in 2005, energy losses in the Dominican Republic were as much as 38% which led to a major financial loss. There is a need for the Dominican Republic to bring enough investment in the state and implement efficient policies that financial stability can be brought and sustained.
Economic Policies and Plans
In terms of policy making, there are several channels that the US has. For instance, fiscal policy is handled by the government, and it is responsible for the development of relevant policies. The monetary policy comes under the central bank that ensures that the monetary plans in the US are addressing the current economic, financial and monetary needs. Fiscal policies also cover the taxation policies and design the spending patterns. For instance, it is decided how much money will be collected from taxes and how much will be spent on various developmental and non-developmental projects. A spending plan is also made to carve out a strategy on the spending plans. This ensures that the money is well-spent and all sectors in the economy become a part of the national financial activities. As the US is a supporter of free market and trade, the government make sure that any monopoly is not developed in the market. That is so because monopolies do not only exploit the customer by charging them the price that the monopolist wants but is also not fair to the economy since the quantity provided in the market is below the optimal level.
The tax policies in the US are pretty complicated. There are several governmental bodies that a person has to pay taxes to while the ways of taxes and types also vary. These governmental bodies are local, federal and state while counties, municipalities, townships, and districts are also involved in the tax system to some extent. The system is well knit, and these taxes are implemented on a number of things including property, goods, sales, wealth, imports, and payroll, etc. Back in 2011, about 25% of the GDP budget of the US came from taxes.
Entrepreneurship is supported by the US government because it brings in innovation and advancement in various dimensions. In the 19th century, the US became a leader in innovation and technological advancement and 20th century was a significantly prominent period for economic and financial advancements in the country. That was the time when the country decided to be more liberal and open-minded to change and innovation, and that is the reason the journey of growth of the US never stopped after that (Smeeding, 30).
These developments led to a wider space for entrepreneurship which essentially led the economic policies in the country. Right now, capital investments in technology and advancements dominate the US economy, and a large number of jobs is generated in the innovation, and entrepreneurial sector. In 2014, about $48 billion worth of investment was made in the US, and a total number of 4,356 deals were made. The numbers are still on their way of increasing.
A large portion of the US’s economic policy is also based around R&D. In fact, this R&D is the reason for the growth that the US has seen lately. The total amount of funds that the US government has dedicated to research and development is more than most of the G7 countries in the world. In 2012, this number for the US was 17% larger than the rest of G7 countries. This research and development also make it easier for the States to deal with the crisis. For example, whenever there is a situation of crisis, a well-structured system is deployed that provides the government with enough equipment, plans, and strategies to overcome the crisis.
For the Dominican Republic, most financial matters are handled by the central government, especially the monetary policies and money-making strategies. However, other matters are usually dealt with by the government that designed the fiscal policy. These policies ensure that the services and agriculture sector of Dominican Republic get the required attention. That is because these contribute a major chunk in the total income of the country, and it is, hence necessary for the state to ensure that the fund allocation is well-done (Piketty, 123).
One of the things that assist the economic and financial condition of the Dominican Republic is its fertile land. About 80% of the land in the country is fertile enough for harvesting which provides enough opportunities to explore different avenues for growth. Other than that, fishing, animal husbandry, mining, and forestry are also some major sectors that assist in economic modelling because of their contribution to the overall growth and GDP. Being a leading employer in the region, Dominican Republic ensures that unnecessary monopolies are not encouraged because it essentially weakens the overall economic advancement.
An official credit rating of the Dominican Republic is B+ that was done by Standard & Poor’s. The rating shows that there is still some room for improvement in the country. This improvement can be around the economic modeling of the country, and it can be done in such a way that its income can be increased. One thing to do that is to balance the imports and exports and make is possible to do more exports than imports so that the revenues that the country gets is higher than the money spent on imports (Charles, 225).
Conclusion
The US and the Dominican Republic are two entirely different countries with different economic, financial and business systems. The Dominican Republic is a Latin American country and has a growing middle-income economy. It provides sources of income to a huge number of population in the entire region. On the other hand, the title of world’s largest economy goes to the US due to its vast economic structures. The US is considered to be the super power of the world due to the size of its economy and the trend of its growth.
The US’s macroeconomic demographics are pretty impressive. With a huge labor force, the employment rate, and inflation rate are under control. Gini co-efficient of the US is slightly lower than 50% which shows that there is a room for improvement in the country regarding income inequality. The country has a huge import volume and also exports a significantly large number of exports to other countries. There is a federal government that heads the country while local, district and state governments play their part in the overall regulatory system as well.
The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, comes with a different set of dimensions. Regarding imports, exports and general economic modeling structure, the country is somewhat like the US, but there is a large number of factors that are different. The country has large imports and exports, and its largest export partner is the US. Gini co-efficient of the country is almost like the US showing a space for improvement. The country earns most of its income from tourism, exports, and remittances from its citizens living in other countries. A major chunk of the Dominican immigrants lives in the US who send their money back home, which later on, becomes a source of income.
This state becomes a part of the economic system which assists common people. Various economic and financial models are designed and implemented in the countries to ensure that the money gained from various platforms is well-spent and well-organized. Whenever it comes to spending money and assisting the public, governments need to ensure that a transparent system is applied which channelizes the money into the right direction. One thing the countries need to do that is to balance the imports and exports and make is possible to do more exports than imports so that the revenues that the country gets is higher than the money spent on imports.

Works Cited
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