Paper Girl

Czech families traditionally are close and tight-knit. Urban families are usually small, rarely with more than two children. Rural families tend to be larger. Both parents generally work outside the home, but women are also responsible for the household and children.

Mothers and fathers may receive several months of paid leave when a child is born, in addition to a subsidy for each birth and child-care services when they return to work. Grandparents often help with child care, especially when a young couple is just starting out. Parents feel responsible for their children until they are financially independent. Later on in life, adult children usually take care of aging parents. Parents and children tend to share more expensive things such as cars or cha

though international trade has many economic advantages, sometimes countries practice protectionism; that is, they restrict international trade for one reason or another.

Tariffs are taxes, surcharges, or duties levied against imported goods.

Quotas limit the amount of a particular good that countries can import during a year.

In its most extreme form, a quota becomes an embargo, a complete ban on the import or export of certain products.

Sanctions are politically motivated embargoes that revoke a country's normal trade relations status; they are often used as forceful alternatives short of war.

In addition to restricting foreign trade, governments sometimes give their domestic producers a competitive edge by using these protectionist tactics:

Countries can assist their domestic producers by establishing restrictive import standards, such as requiring special licenses for doing certain kinds of business and then making it difficult for foreign companies to obtain such a license.

Rather than restrict imports, some countries subsidize domestic producers so that their prices can compete favorably in the global marketplace.

The practice of selling large quantities of a product at a price...