Why do we employ core-inflation?

The econometrics used by analyst can become very complex as mountains of data points are added to the statistical analysis.

Key Concepts

Today, most economists agree on a fundamental concept: “core inflation should be a good indicator of the underlying inflation trend.” What this means is that core inflation should provide much of the information on the primary trend from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Furthermore, core inflation can be used as a trajectory of overall price change expected to persist for a period of time.

Another important concept related to core inflation is that it should capture just the component the of the price change that is common to all data points included in the CPI. On the long run prices of individual goods and services more often than do not rise along with the fundamental trend of prices in the economy. Nonetheless, some item prices might rise at a higher trend rate. while others might increase at below the trend rate or even drop. These differences in rates of change reflect shifts in the prices of relative supply and demand whilst core inflation should be abstracted from such relative price changes and single out the common component to all price variations.

Key Measurements

Based on these concepts, economist have proposed a number of different core inflation econometrics to exclude the same fixed set of components from each month’s overall CPI, even when the change is not large for a given month. Another method is to remove from a month’s overall inflation rate the components affected by large price swings in just that month. These are the two basic methods and categories used by analysts in a month’s of observation metrics.

Weights are used which correspond to the relative importance of the components in the CPI, however the weights given to the components included in the core inflation measure should add up to 1. The relative weight is based on consumer expenditures, measured in terms of quantities purchased in a base period of the CPI. Therefore, the most commonly used measure of core inflation in the CPI excludes food and energy.

VOLATILITY OF CPI PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS

1. Fuel oil and other household fuel commodities 87.2

2. Motor fuel 34.7

3. Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs 31.1

4. Fruits and vegetables 26.4

5. Infants’ and toddlers’ apparel 22.6

6. Public transportation 19.0

7. Used cars 17.1

8. Other apparel commodities 13.4

9. School books and supplies 11.0

10. Other food at home 10.8

11. Tobacco and smoking products 10.7

12. Other private transportation commodities 10.2

**Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics**

What are the effects of e-waste?

 E-waste just as space waste is becoming a head-aching concern not only for policy makers but populations at large, as electronic waste from all sorts of items ranging from computers and mobile phones, to household electronics like food processors, pressure, cookers or satellites orbiting Earth.

The effect of improper disposal of this E-waste on the environment has not been properly assessed and little is known about long term effect on populations. However, this issue poses a very real threat and danger to the global environment at all levels.

Air Pollution

A most common effect of E-waste reflects on air pollution. For example, many landfills in developing countries are invaded by a number of landfill scavengers who go through these landfills looking for improperly disposed electronics which includes wires from appliances, motors, etc. In order to make some income from recycling these wastes people burn the plastic on wires to get the copper which releases hydrocarbons into the air.

Water Pollution

When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead, barium, mercury, lithium found in mobile phone and computer batteries improperly disposed, the heavy metals leach through the soil to water reservoirs that eventually run back to the surface as streams or small ponds of contaminated water. Many communities depend on these bodies of water for drinking and bathing with the added risk of contracting disease from these water pools. Chemicals contamination can also result in the death of plants and animals that exist in the water, therefore, intake of this contaminated water by humans and land animals results in lead poisoning and other heavy metals that are carcinogenic.

Soil Pollution

Toxic heavy metals and chemicals from e-waste enter the “soil-crop-food-chain, as one of the most significant routes for heavy metals’ exposure to human health. These chemicals are not biodegradable and persist in the environment for long periods of time.

The dangers posed by improper disposal on the environment will ultimately impact human beings at a high cost of health effects which include birth defects such as, brain, heart, liver, kidney and skeletal system damage. Also, significant damage can be done to the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body. When computer monitors and other electronics are burned, they release cancer-producing dioxins which get into we breathe. In essence, improper disposal of e-waste not only affects the environment, but ultimately poses a grave danger to humans and livestock survival.

Recycling many of these materials decreases the need to mine and manufacture the amount of deadly toxins. Ultimately, proper disposal at designated collection points gives local governments the way of safely disposing of this dangerous electronic-waste.

How can one monitor the price swing of commodities and the factors that influence price volatility?

Commodity pricing has many sticky components but in general, the instability of prices and the randomness that comes with it increases the cost of doing business for producers and traders.

Cocoa futures for example have plummeted 12 percent in less than a minute and then recovered in from the “flash crash” but left everyone perplexed. Also, cotton futures can swing wildly tripping market circuit-breakers on many occasions over a trading year. Sugar is another commodity were futures can fall 20 percent in a couple days and then recover.

Just like commodities, food manufacturers and fuel suppliers, need market futures to help them set prices and predict point of delivery costs that can vary from corn flakes to cakes. As a result, farmers use the same information to decide which crops to plant. This interdependent process keeps industries running smoothly and act as insurance policies to hedge the risks inherent in buying and selling raw commodities.

But when prices move unpredictably, it increases the cost of buying the futures and options that protect companies against such changes. The added costs find their way to the grocery store and to the shopping mall for shopping consumers.

A good example of the benefit of the futures market is heating oil. Typically a distributor buys oil only as he needs to supply it, he uses heating oil futures and options as a form of insurance to protect himself against unexpected jumps in prices. However, seven or eight years ago, such protection added only 2 to 6 cents to each gallon of heating oil the distributor bought. But volatile oil prices mean it can costs him 37 cents a gallon for such hedging which is an extra cost to add to customers’ heating oil bill for a given year that can also swing wildly the following year.

Nonetheless, volatility can drive prices down as quickly as it pushes them up. A wide range of commodities can plunge, with the broad CRB commodities index closing up or down 5 percent. Moreover, the situation is more confusing for businesses as commodities have become more volatile for reasons that no one fully understands.

Much such fluctuation is caused by economic supply and demand, especially, when stocks of commodities like cotton, corn and coffee are driven to low levels, setting markets on a hair trigger. As demand for many commodities rises in developing countries like China and India that are becoming wealthier buying ever more food and oil that increases demand and puts pressure of existing stocks.

It follows that other factors are purely financial, like concerns with a weak dollar, oil disruptions on the supply side and a changing perception of the global economy, can also have influence on rapidly changing prices.

Hedge funds and commodity traders have become a massive force in the commodities futures market, in part by a switching to computerized trading. Critics say the technological switch is altering the dynamics of the commodities markets, just as it has in the stock market, which has suffered several “flash crashes” as well.

Traditional players like grain elevators or cotton merchants are being outshined by a new class of financial speculators, including high-frequency traders, who use automated programs to buy and sell repeatedly at high speeds.

“The exchanges, which profit from the increased trading levels, say high-frequency trading now makes up 10 to 20 percent of the futures trading in many agricultural commodities, nearly a quarter of the trading in metals and 30 percent in energy futures markets.”

One important issue to consider is that commodity trading is the purest form of investing. Unlike the stock market there’s no derivation, no abstraction, no three or more levels of separation from the underlying asset. There is a tangible utility like a grain a foodstuff, a fuel in a huge market with numerous players. Commodity pricing is as close as the real world gets to the classical economic concept of a good’s supply and demand curves intersecting at a particular price and quantity.

Changes in supply, not demand, is what dictates most price movements with regard to a particular commodity. But supply is contingent to various ecological factors, consumption patterns and finances that go beyond the control of the people who raise a commodity for a living.

Cocoa for instance is produced far from the world’s financial and trading centers, primarily in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Latin America, in lots of small-scale family farmers. The effect of having many suppliers offering a uniform product means that each individual supplier has little influence on the market price. In contrast another commodity like gold with an annual production averaging 2,500 tons has a small variation in a comparable period unless great uncertainty sets in the world markets including kinetic war or a trade war making world currencies become volatile.

Karl Marx thought that the amount of labor involved in creating a good determined its value, however, cocoa farmers don’t work five times harder when their product is sold for $4,000 a ton than when it is sold for $800 per ton. An investor knows this, and by extension knows that the only way to earn money in the commodities market is to anticipate price movements. Which is easy to say but very difficult to do and that explains why conservative investors put their money in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) where CME Group is the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, made up of four exchanges, CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX. These exchanges are very good reference for monitoring price swings on daily trades as well as futures market.

What is the price of a bullet train?

Alfonso Llanes, studied at Florida International University

Answered just now

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF HIGH SPEED RAIL IN EUROPE

Paper sponsored by the BBVA Compass Foundation a leading U.S. banking franchise.

Introduction from the authors:

Javier Campos

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Ginés de Rus

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Ignacio Barrón

UIC – Paris

“The cost of building and operating a new high speed rail line comes from a database containing information about 166 actual HSR projects in 20 countries is analyzed in detail. This database provides a rough guide about the typical cost structure of any HSR project and suggests tentative estimates for some representative unit values of those costs. This information, together with some additional values gathered from other sources (Levinson et al. 1997; ATKINS 2003; SDG 2004, De Rus and Nombela 2007), allow us to perform a simple simulation exercise capable not only of providing an answer to the initial question, but also of offering insights on the relevance of some elements in determining the total costs of a HSR line.”

The costs are divided into two main parts: The cost structures of a given project are established by infrastructure cost and costs associated with the rolling stock.

The paper describes the large construction costs that are incurred prior to starting commercial operations therefore large outlays of capital are required in infrastructure and maintenance of the tracks including, terminals and stations at the ends of the line and along the line, energy supplying the line signaling systems, train controls and traffic management systems and equipment, etc.

There are other costs involved in the building and operation of a rail project. For instance, planning costs as well as technical and economic feasibility studies carried out before construction is started. Moreover, there are legal requirements to be met such as expropriation or acquisition by imminent domain of right of ways from current landowners, authorization from local authorities, permits and other legal issues.

In order to build a model for cost simulation the most relevant features of the project parameters have to be described like building and operating capability for a time span of 30 to 50 years for a single line model connecting two cities at a given distance and without intermediate stops and conditioned to the characteristics of the geography which in this model is consider as flat terrain in most of the area covered by the line and a construction time span of 5 years for a distance of 500 kilometers.

Commercial operation of the line must also consider the maximum operating speed, which is related to the technical characteristics of the trains, the project in general and the average commercial speed achievable. The commercial viability of the venture has to consider the number of cars for peak hours and the total supply and demand of seats for the route which will determine capacity and frequency of the train schedule.

For this particular model the authors estimate a total cost of $36 million dollars, however, as comparison the project to link up Los Angeles to San Francisco (560 kilometers) by bullet train is already projected to cost $98 million dollars.

How does the Kardashev system work? 

A brief explanation of the Kardashev Scale can be consider as: How Far Can Humanity Advance?

A better scale would be: Is there a limit to growth? Capitalist societies depend on growth and continued expansion of the market to survive but at the same time, generate problems to life on planet Earth: environmental destruction, floods, disease, poverty, and war. At the same time, we also have technological achievements: The Mars rover missions, the Alcubierre Warp Drive, invisibility cloaks, the discovery of the Higgs particle and son.

So, how do we weigh all the scientific innovations against all the destruction and chaos to the planet? Our march towards technological accomplishment and human progress, how can we measure our standing as mankind?

Following our scientific tradition a way to answer this question is to design a scale that will allow us to measure our technological abilities against all technological possibilities. In other words, we need a scale that will allow us to measure our current development status against the total possible statuses.

One of these methods is “The Kardashev Scale.”

The Kardashev scale focuses on the amount of energy that a civilization is able to utilize. In essence, the amount of power available to a civilization is linked to how widespread the civilization is in comparison to a planet, galaxy, or an entire universe.

In 1964 a Russian astrophysicist known as Nicolai Kardashev, came up with the idea that “the status of a culture, as a whole, depends on two primary things: Energy and technology. He theorized that a civilization’s technical advancement runs parallel to the amount of energy that the civilization is able to harness and manipulate. “

In other words, according to this theory, a civilized society is a product of energy and of technology: “Through technology, energy is harnessed, and as social systems are expressions of this technology, the status of a culture rests upon —and is determined by— the amount of energy that is harnessed.”

Carl Sagan suggested adding another dimension to pure energy usage: “the information available to the civilization. He assigned the letter A to represent 106 unique bits of information (less than any recorded human culture) and each successive letter to represent an order of magnitude increase, so that a level Z civilization would have 1031 bits.” In this classification, 1973 Earth is a 0.7 H civilization, with access to 1013 bits of information.

“Sagan believed that no civilization has yet reached level Z, conjecturing that so much unique information would exceed that of all the intelligent species in a galactic supercluster and observing that the universe is not old enough to exchange information effectively over larger distances.”

I personally believe that a better measure is one that includes assessing damage to the environment by measuring how efficiently a society uses available energy from all sources. Americans constitute 5% of the world's population but consume 24% of the world's energy according to British Petroleum (BP) "Statistical Review of World Energy. In my opinion, a scale based on energy- use- efficiency measured against per capita consumption would be a better indicator if one considers the environment and damage to sustainable planetary life as a result of energy use.

Will Brexit Britain go the same way as the US, with regards to the wholesale export of manufacturing jobs and a massive increase in the trade deficit?

It’s difficult to say because the time-frame for any EU trade deal would be determined as much by politics as economics, however, it is in the financial interests of the UK to keep trading with the EU because the size of the market. The EU might play hardball to discourage other states from leaving the bloc. A deal may also take some time because EU states cannot agree among them how to treat the UK exit. Moreover there is the issue of 50 plus existing trade EU agreements with the rest of the world where the UK participated as a member. The UK would need to renegotiate new trade agreements as an independent entity to carry on trading without facing stiff tariffs and it’s not clear how long this would take.

A bigger issue than the timing of exit is the question of what sort of trade arrangement the Brexit side actually wants. Some seem to want access to the single market in the manner of Norway and Iceland. Nevertheless, economic area membership (EEA) also means accepting the free movement of people into Britain – which is intensely opposed by many Brexit supporters. Others favor a deal with Europe under the World Trade Organization framework. This is how China and the US currently trade with the EU and it would not require any complex negotiations. This arrangement would enable Britain to do away with EU regulation and close its borders to immigration from Europe. But this would also imply that UK exporters will face the EU’s common external tariff.

Almost all depends on what assumption one makes about how post-Brexit trade deal with Europe would be concluded. "Oxford Economics modeled this scenario and assumed a relative 7 per cent fall in trade volumes over 30 years. The London School of Economics’ Centre for Economic Performance calculates that the long-term costs to Britain of lower trade with the EU could be as high as 9.5 per cent of GDP. Leave campaign-supporting economists have not done much detailed modelling. But one study by Patrick Minford of Cardiff University shows a boost to GDP growth by 2020 on the basis of Britain dismantling all tariffs unilaterally post-Brexit. Under Minford’s assumptions this is great boon to some sectors of the economy which benefit from cheaper imports. But as Minford himself admits, this approach implies catastrophic damage to many exporting firms.” 

In this scenario many large companies will prefer to set up shop in the country of interest and manufacture domestically to take advantage of tax incentives and whatever other advantage they can extract from the hosting country for job creation. Of course, this exactly the direction US manufacturing took with respect to China and other countries and exported jobs to countries where labor is cheaper.

Why do countries prefer to use both import substitution and export promotion?

Traditionally, the two strategies are used separately by developing countries to achieve industrialization: one is the view of inward looking to develop domestic infant industries to compete in international markets. This strategy has the disadvantage of producing lower quality goods and using substandard technology during the capital formation stage. In comparison, an outward looking strategy encourages the allocation of national resources to export oriented transnational industries while avoiding price distortions.

An inward-looking strategy is also an attempt to withdraw--in the short run-- from complete participation in the world economy. This strategy consists of import substitution where the domestic means of production substitutes goods that otherwise would be imported.

This strategy can cut back on expenditures of scarce foreign exchange and generate new manufactured exports instead of exporting primary product while at at the same time, import substituting by infant industry argument can be applied. The strategy however, must consider tariffs, import-quotas and domestic subsidies to promote and protect import-substitution industries.

By comparison, an outward-looking strategy emphasizes participation in international trade by promoting the allocation of resources to export-oriented industries avoiding price distortions in the domestic market. Nonetheless, policy measures are not use to shift production arbitrarily between serving the domestic and foreign markets.

In this case, the economic principle of comparative advantage is the incentive for domestic production having an advantage either on labor costs, transportation or capital performance but not affecting prices of domestic consumption. This strategy follows an on export-oriented policy that is assisted by price assistance measures such as export subsidies, skill training of the labor force and using the most advanced technology. Also, offer tax incentives to foreign investment that generate more exports, specially labor intensive manufacturing where labor is abundant and its comparative advantage is greater when pegged to the overall international market.

China is a good example of this principle and strategy achieving great success in raising the standard of living of otherwise poor and untrained numerous rural populations. Another country that seems to be heading in the same direction and development strategy is India. The task is monumental for a country not only that has to focus on an outward looking development strategy but it also has to pay attention to building the supporting infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports and most importantly the necessary infrastructure for educating and training the labor force while trying to keep a balance between debt and GDP ratios to check inflationary pressures and retain its comparative advantage in international markets.

Where is there a list of tariffs in the US?

Alfonso Llanes, Master Degree in International Development

Answered just now

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) United States International Trade Commission

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) sets out the tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is the global system of nomenclature applied to most world trade in goods. The Commission publishes and maintains the HTS in its various forms, and periodically makes recommendations to the President regarding modifications needed to keep the HTS consistent with international nomenclature. U.S. Customs and Border Protection administers the HTS at U.S. ports of entry and also provides advice and rulings on matters relating to the classification of imports.

Harmonized Tariff Schedule

(2018 HTSA Revision 5)

Section I:Live Animals; Animal Products

Chapter 1	Live animals
Chapter 2	Meat and edible meat offal
Chapter 3	Fish and crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates
Chapter 4	Dairy produce; birds eggs; natural honey; edible products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included
Chapter 5	Products of animal origin, not elsewhere specified or included

Section II:Vegetable Products

Chapter 6	Live trees and other plants; bulbs, roots and the like; cut flowers and ornamental foliage
Chapter 7	Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers
Chapter 8	Edible fruit and nuts; peel of citrus fruit or melons
Chapter 9	Coffee, tea, maté and spices
Chapter 10	Cereals
Chapter 11	Products of the milling industry; malt; starches; inulin; wheat gluten
Chapter 12	Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruits; industrial or medicinal plants; straw and fodder
Chapter 13	Lac; gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts
Chapter 14	Vegetable plaiting materials; vegetable products not elsewhere specified or included

Section III:Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and Their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes

Chapter 15

Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products prepared edible fats; animal or vegetable waxes

Section IV:Prepared Foodstuffs; Beverages, Spirits, and Vinegar; Tobacco and Manufactured Tobacco Substitutes

Chapter 16	Preparations of meat, of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates
Chapter 17	Sugars and sugar confectionery
Chapter 18	Cocoa and cocoa preparations
Chapter 19	Preparations of cereals, flour, starch or milk; bakers' wares
Chapter 20	Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants
Chapter 21	Miscellaneous edible preparations
Chapter 22	Beverages, spirits and vinegar
Chapter 23	Residues and waste from the food industries; prepared animal feed
Chapter 24	Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes

Section V:Mineral Products

Chapter 25	Salt; sulfur; earths and stone; plastering materials, lime and cement
Chapter 26	Ores, slag and ash
Chapter 27	Mineral fuels, mineral oils and products of their distillation; bituminous substances; mineral waxes

Section VI:Products of the Chemical or Allied Industries

Chapter 28	Inorganic chemicals; organic or inorgani c compounds of precious metals, of rare-earth metals,of radioactive elements or of isotopes
Chapter 29	Organic chemicals
Chapter 30	Pharmaceutical products
Chapter 31	Fertilizers
Chapter 32	Tanning or dyeing extracts; dyes, pigments, paints, varnishes, putty and mastics
Chapter 33	Essential oils and resinoids; perfumery, cosmetic or toilet preparations
Chapter 34	Soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations, lubricating preparations, artificial waxes, prepared waxes, polishing or scouring preparations, candles and similar articles, modeling pastes, "dental waxes" and dental preparations with a basis of plaster
Chapter 35	Albuminoidal substances; modified starches; glues; enzymes
Chapter 36	Explosives; pyrotechnic products; matches; pyrophoric alloys; certain combustible preparations
Chapter 37	Photographic or cinematographic goods
Chapter 38	Miscellaneous chemical products

Section VII:Plastics and Articles Thereof Rubber and Articles Thereof

Chapter 39	Plastics and articles thereof
Chapter 40	Rubber and articles thereof

Section VIII:Raw Hides and Skins, Leather, Furskins and Articles Thereof; Saddlery and Harness; Travel Goods, Handbags and Similar Containers; Articles of Animal Gut (Other Than Silkworm Gut)

Chapter 41	Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather
Chapter 42	Articles of leather; saddlery and harness; travel goods, handbags and similar containers; articles of animal gut (other than silkworm gut)
Chapter 43	Furskins and artificial fur; manufactures thereof

Section IX:Wood and Articles of Wood; Wood Charcoal; Cork and Articles of Cork; Manufacturers of Straw,of Esparto or of Other Plaiting Materials; Basketware and Wickerwork

Chapter 44	Wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal
Chapter 45	Cork and articles of cork
Chapter 46	Manufactures of straw, of esparto or of other plaiting materials; basketware and wickerwork

Section X:Pulp of Wood or of Other Fibrous Cellulosic Material; Waste and Scrap of Paper or Paperboard; Paper and Paperboard and Articles Thereof

Chapter 47	Pulp of wood or of other fibrous cellulosic material; waste and scrap of paper or paperboard
Chapter 48	Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard
Chapter 49	Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans

Section XI:Textile and Textile Articles

Chapter 50	Silk
Chapter 51	Wool, fine or coarse animal hair; horsehair yarn and woven fabric
Chapter 52	Cotton
Chapter 53	Other vegetable textile fibers; paper yarn and woven fabric of paper yarn
Chapter 54	Man-made filaments
Chapter 55	Man-made staple fibers
Chapter 56	Wadding, felt and nonwovens; special yarns, twine, cordage, ropes and cables and articles thereof
Chapter 57	Carpets and other textile floor coverings
Chapter 58	Special woven fabrics; tufted textile fabrics; lace, tapestries; trimmings; embroidery
Chapter 59	Impregnated, coated, covered or laminated textile fabrics; textile articles of a kind suitable for industrial use
Chapter 60	Knitted or crocheted fabrics
Chapter 61	Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, knitted or crocheted
Chapter 62	Articles of apparel and clothing accessories, not knitted or crocheted
Chapter 63	Other made up textile articles; sets; worn clothing and worn textile articles; rags

Section XII:Footwear, Headgear, Umbrellas, Sun Umbrellas, Walking Sticks, Seatsticks, Whips, Riding-Crops and Parts Thereof; Prepared Feathers and Articles Made Therewith; Artificial Flowers; Articles of Human Hair

Chapter 64	Footwear, gaiters and the like; parts of such articles
Chapter 65	Headgear and parts thereof
Chapter 66	Umbrellas, sun umbrellas, walking sticks, seatsticks, whips, riding-crops and parts thereof
Chapter 67	Prepared feathers and down and articles made of feathers or of down; artificial flowers; articles of human hair

Section XIII:Articles of Stone, Plaster, Cement, Asbestos, Mica or Similar Materials; Ceramic Products; Glass and Glassware

Chapter 68	Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos, mica or similar materials
Chapter 69	Ceramic products
Chapter 70	Glass and glassware

Section XIV:Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semiprecious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad With Precious Metal, and Articles Thereof; Imitation Jewelry; Coin

Chapter 71

Natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones,precious metals, metals clad with precious metal and articles thereof; imitation jewelry; coin

Section XV:Base Metals and Articles of Base Metal

Chapter 72	Iron and steel
Chapter 73	Articles of iron or steel
Chapter 74	Copper and articles thereof
Chapter 75	Nickel and articles thereof
Chapter 76	Aluminum and articles thereof
Chapter 77	(Reserved for possible future use)
Chapter 78	Lead and articles thereof
Chapter 79	Zinc and articles thereof
Chapter 80	Tin and articles thereof
Chapter 81	Other base metals; cermets; articles thereof
Chapter 82	Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons and forks, of base metal; parts thereof of base metal
Chapter 83	Miscellaneous articles of base metal

Section XVI:Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Electrical Equipment; Parts Thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of Such Articles

Chapter 84	Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances; parts thereof
Chapter 85	Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles

Section XVII:Vehicles, Aircraft, Vessels and Associated Transport Equipment

Chapter 86	Railway or tramway locomotives, rolling-stock and parts thereof; railway or tramway track fixtures and fittings and parts thereof; mechanical (including electro-mechanical) traffic signalling equipment of all kinds
Chapter 87	Vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock, and parts and accessories thereof
Chapter 88	Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts thereof
Chapter 89	Ships, boats and floating structures

Section XVIII:Optical, Photographic, Cinematographic, Measuring, Checking, Precision, Medical or Surgical Instruments and Apparatus; Clocks and Watches; Musical Instruments; Parts and Accessories Thereof

Chapter 90	Optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus; parts and accessories thereof
Chapter 91	Clocks and watches and parts thereof
Chapter 92	Musical instruments; parts and accessories of such articles

Section XIXArms and Ammunition; Parts and Accessories Thereof

Chapter 93

Arms and ammunition; parts and accessories thereof

Section XX:Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles

Chapter 94	Furniture; bedding, mattresses, mattress supports, cushions and similar stuffed furnishings; lamps and lighting fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; illuminated sign illuminated nameplates and the like; prefabricated buildings
Chapter 95	Toys, games and sports requisites; parts and accessories thereof
Chapter 96	Miscellaneous manufactured articles

Section XXI:Works of Art, Collectors' Pieces and Antiques

Chapter 97

Works of art, collectors' pieces and antiques

Section XXII:Special Classification Provisions; Temporary Legislation; Temporary Modifications Proclaimed pursuant to Trade Agreements Legislation; Additional Import Restrictions Proclaimed Pursuant to Section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, As Amended

Chapter 98	Special classification provisions
Chapter 99	Temporary legislation; temporary modifications proclaimed pursuant to trade agreements legislation; additional import restrictions proclaimed pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended