Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 May 10

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May 10

What's the approximate scale of the largest barter agreement after 1950?

Not being money or money-like (i.e. Treasuries, precious metal) would make an exact size in dollars impossible of course. Or if the things swapped were commodities of equal price they'd quickly get out of sync as prices move. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:25, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

Through at least the 1970s, many of the trade deals between Communist governments were effectively barter deals (even if they weren't always called that), due to the fact that Communist nation currencies often had little meaningful value internationally. We have something on this at Comecon#Exchange... AnonMoos (talk) 10:54, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

I heard a case of a lorry full of Bulgarian sausages being swapped for a computer. ;-) Dmcq (talk) 11:28, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

"Largest" is difficult to quantify, so I would go with something huge like the India–Bangladesh enclaves trade. If you are looking for large in size - it is huge. Over 20,000 acres of land were traded. What if you want a large number of people involved? Over 50,000 people were involved in this trade. You want a large cost, then estimate the value of all the land, buildings, crops, and future taxes on all that land and all those people (they were not forced to move - they could stay and switch countries). Overall, this trade is rather amazing. Imagine any other two countries trying to peacefully pull off something like that. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 12:52, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

In the 1970s, the British Government decided that it could undermine the Eastern Bloc by courting Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania. Trade deals were difficult, since the Romanians had no cash, so British Rail were forced by their political masters to accept a fleet of badly made diesel locomotives that they didn't actually want. I have failed to find the details, but something of an overview is here. Alansplodge (talk) 17:08, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

There was a similar deal when Canada sold a CANDU nuclear reactor to Romania in the late 1970s. The country had to accept a lot of Romanian-made goods in return ("furniture, clothes, food, heavy machinery, and farm equipment" according to this article [1]). It was quite controversial at the time. --Xuxl (talk) 18:53, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

• In 1990ish, Pepsico was given 10 tankers and freighters, ranging in size from 28,600 tons to 65,000 tons, with a total value of more than $300 million by the Soviet Union for selling soda. NYTimes article. They later took 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate and a destroyer. Eddie891 ^Talk _Work 15:29, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

As you can see, the examples given are generally "weird" situations such as doing business with Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. In more typical circumstances where all parties have access to banking systems, they use something like a swap. That's one of the main reasons for using money: no need to haul a bunch of wheat or oil or whatever around to trade when you can just exchange its value in money instead. And you can use instruments like swaps and futures to protect against risks such as the values of the commodities fluctuating. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 04:45, 13 May 2018 (UTC)

Father not paying child allowance (UK)

Hi,

I know someone who has 2 kids in the UK and he has been living in South America for around 10 years. He has no contact with his kids anymore and he doesn't pay any child allowance. Will he get into trouble when he goes back to the UK? His father is very sick and he should visit him but he keeps giving excuses not to go. I was thinking that might be the reason. By the way, the kids are over 18 now. If this man won't go back to the UK, will his kids inherit his father's house? Thanks and sorry for the complex question! Ericdec85 (talk) 13:22, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

We don't give legal advice here. He should contact a lawyer. --Viennese Waltz 13:35, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

Irrelevant diversion. Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 00:11, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
It seems [SWIM] needs a lawyer. Hofhof (talk) 00:28, 11 May 2018 (UTC) FWIW, the OP claims to be a resident of the Philippines. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:13, 11 May 2018 (UTC) That's worth nothing. The question wasn't even about the OP, but someone he knows. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 11:51, 11 May 2018 (UTC) Tell that to Hofhof. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:47, 12 May 2018 (UTC) That's exactly what SWIM means: someone you know. Hofhof (talk) 23:58, 13 May 2018 (UTC) According to your link, "Someone Who Isn't Me - But general use indicates that it is indeed the same person." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:06, 14 May 2018 (UTC) This is really absurd. Whether the OP and the person he's enquiring about are the same person or not, has no bearing on how we address the question. This information about the OP's country of residence should never have been placed on this page. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 00:11, 14 May 2018 (UTC)