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Amanda Anna G

Counting the Cost of Fixing the Future - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • What would you pay to protect the world in which your great-great-grandchildren will live from hurricanes, drought and the like?
  • Perhaps the most startling conclusion to be drawn from the new estimates is that the sacrifice demanded of our generation to prevent vast climate change down the road may turn out to be rather small.
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    I think this article was appropriate for our task, since most of the article was about opportunity cost, if we should spend our money on fixing the future. This subject (the environment) can be seen as an opportunity cost since we choose to venture our money on the environment for the future, even though we might not will take part of the advantages now, for the moment.
Marenne M

Experts say future water scarcity threatens Pakistan - UPI.com - 0 views

  • Pakistan will face an acute water shortage in the not-too-distant future
  • no access to clean drinking water, and farmers lack irrigation water
  • he backbone of the economy
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  • not far from being classified as 'water scarce,' with less than 1,000 cubic meters per person per year.
  • eak regulation, lack of such demand-management tools as consumer meters and "highly inappropriate tariffs”
  • Agriculture
  • storage capacity is equivalent to only a 30-day supply, compared with the recommended 1,000 days
  • ater scarcity means compromising on water quality as well as quantity.
  • Many of Pakistan's rivers pass through India first, giving India control over their flow, and water has been an issue between the two countries in the past -- leading some to point to the possibility of a future war over water.
  • mismanagement and criminal negligence of our successive governments
  • construction of large dams and better planning.
  • solution
  • 18 million gallons of water ran out to sea.
  • 3 percent less water than it needs
  • We should increase efficiency of irrigation by sustainable agriculture practices and advanced technologies.
  • India over water because agriculture is [the] backbone of our economy,
  • dialogue with
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    This article describes the scarcity of water in Pakistan due to a lack of organization and planning. It goes into detail about what causes the scarcity of water, what the current effect is on Pakistan, what effect it could have in the future, and some solutions to this problem.
Haydn W

Fossil fuel subsidies 'killing UK's low-carbon future' | Environment | The Guardian - 0 views

  • Fossil fuel subsidies 'killing UK's low-carbon future'
  • despite commitments to cut carbon emissions and reduce "perverse" fossil fuel subsidies.
  • Britain is "shooting itself in the foot" by subsidising its coal, oil and gas industries by $4.2bn (£2.6bn) a year even as government reviews the "green levies" on energy bills which support energy efficiency and renewable power, according to a report published on Thursday.
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  • The figures from the Overseas Development Institute suggest that Britain is now the world's fifth largest subsidiser of fossil fuels
  • For every $1 spent to support renewable energy, another $6 were spent on fossil fuel subsidies
  • In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, Britain gave tax breaks of £280m to oil and gas producers and reduced VAT on fossil fuels by several billion pounds
  • Rich countries have committed to phase out "inefficient" fossil fuel subsidies but the ODI figures, drawn from the International energy agency, OECD and other sources, suggest global subsidies to fossil fuel producers totalled $523bn a year in 2011 – dwarfing subsidies to renewable energies.
  • £2.6bn yearly incentive favours investment in carbon at the expense of green energy, says thinktank
  • In effect, each of the 11.6bn tonnes of carbon emitted from the top 11 developed countries comes with an average subsidy of $7 a tonne – around $112 for every adult
  • The figures have been released as ministers prepare to go to Poland for the deadlocked UN climate talks and as uncertainty surrounds the future of government-mandated levies on energy bills that support fuel poverty schemes and renewable energy.
  • G20 governments accepted in 2009 that fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, reduce energy security, and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change.
  • The report said: "Investors are being sent the wrong signals on two fronts as carbon prices decline and fossil fuel subsidies increase."
  • The report argues that fossil fuel subsidies also fail in one of their core stated objectives, which is to to benefit the poorest.
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    This article describes how the UK government is heavily subsidising fossil fuel producers instead of prioritising and investing money in renewable sources of energy. Although it is essential to keep crude oil and fossil fuel prices low, as they are essential to many businesses, consumers and indeed the country itself, the G20, of which the UK is part of, has made a commitment to phasing out fossil fuels in favour of greener and more sustainable energy sources. 
John B

A Fair, Free Market Or The Copyright Monopoly? - Falkvinge on Infopolicy - 0 views

  • The copyright industry likes to pretend that making copies is somehow “stealing” and that on a fair and free market, everybody would be forced to buy from them.
  • the copyright industry deliberately confuses the goods that they offer for sale with the service of duplication, which is a completely different kind of offering. The service of duplication is what’s on an immoral, anachronistic monopoly, not the goods themselves.
  • In my world, and in a fair and free market, any entrepreneur or executive that claims a moral right to prohibit others by law from competing with them can fuck off and die.
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    this article wants to tell us that the copyright monopoly is something bad. That it slows down the development in the future. Personally, I would say that this article is not thought through since it is contradicting and use language like "can fuck off and die". The writer aims a lot on the right of duplicating, and that copyright monopoly stands in its way for that. I would say that duplicating something that a company has put a lot of money and time on, would not be morally right, because the one that is duplicating it will spend a very little fortune and time on doing this compared to the real producers. It is actually a pretty bad article, it feels like the writer tries to promote the duplication right of copying movies, programs, etc. and then share it on for example pirate bay.
Marenne M

Dutch Economy Emerging From Two-Year Recession - WSJ.com - 1 views

  • he Dutch economy is emerging from a two-year long recession
  • The country's gross domestic product will expand by 0.75% in 2014, slightly higher than a previous forecast of 0.5% growth
  • The economy will grow by 1.25% in 2015, it added
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  • CPB said the government's budget shortfall will narrow to 2.9% of GDP in 2014 and 2.1% in 2015
  • it was hit by the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone and deep problems at home
  • A slump in the housing market has hit highly indebted households
  • he recovery will largely be driven by a pickup in exports as a result of the improving global and European economy
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    This article discusses how the Netherlands are finally picking up after a 2 year long recession. One of the main problems during the recession was that the Dutch citizens became afraid to spend money because they were unsure of their financial state in the near future. This caused a sort of glitch in the macroeconomic cycle of Holland, because people stopped spending and the companies stopped making as much income, therefore people got fired, and the cycle continues on. The economy in Holland is finally picking up and the GDP is said to rise by 0.75% this year.
Haydn W

Broadcasters failing to keep up with 3D TV demand - Telegraph - 0 views

  • 60 million 3D TVs are expected to be sold in 2013, and this figure is set to rise to 157.7 million by 2017, accounting for 58 per cent of all TVs sold across the globe
  • broadcasters' approaches to delivering 3D content differ widely
  • In the UK, with BSkyB has reaffirmed its commitment and Virgin Media increased its range of 3D broadcasting, while the BBC has postponed trials, which they have decided to conclude by the end of this year and will make no further 3D programmes for 3 years
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  • 3D content will become increasingly restricted to premium and on-demand offerings.
  • the unique appeal of 3D to the consumer is that it offers greater immersion in content
  • A number of major broadcasters are now diverting investment to other initiatives, such as 4K and multi-screen content delivery.
  • Futuresource Consulting added that the market for 3D cinema remains stable.
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    This article shows how the demand for 3D TV's is increasing but broadcasters continue to not offer much 3D content to their viewers. 3D TV's were predicted by many to be a commercial failure, as the home experience is said to be not as good as the cinema experience but demand has continued to rise among consumers. Broadcasters however are not so keen to provide 3D content as they have their ever changing gaze to future investment in 4K technology in the continuous attempt to keep up with the relentless pace of modern technology.
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    I think that one of the reason that will not allow 3D technology to get popular is its very high cost. This is not only for consumers who are buying the TVs and Glasses, but also for producers. IT is an extra cost, without an extra profit.
Sungmin Lee

China to again levy coal import tariffs after nearly a decade - 1 views

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    Australia, Russia exports seen hit; Indonesia to be exempt * China thermal coal futures, China shares of top coal firms rise (Adds analyst's comments, coal futures and coal firms' shares) By Fayen Wong SHANGHAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) - China, the world's top coal importer, will levy import tariffs on the commodity after nearly a decade, in its latest bid to prop up ailing domestic miners who have been buffeted by rising costs and tumbling prices. China will levy import tariffs between 3-6 percent.
John B

The Chevy Volt's $89,000 production cost: A waste of money? - The Week - 0 views

  • the environmentally friendly Volt's base price is about $40,000, says Reuters, production costs per vehicle run a stratospheric $89,000 — given the car's pricey lithium-polymer batteries, hybrid gas-electric engine, and next-age electronics. That means GM is losing $49,000 for each Volt it sells.
  • No. The investment in the Volt will pay off: The Volt represents "a long-term investment" that is helping GM become a car company of the future
  • Yes. The Volt will never be profitable: The Volt's high production costs "prove that the innovative plug-in hybrid is impractical and will probably never be more than a niche product,"
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  • The Volt demonstrates to consumers that the "reinvented company is capable of producing a high-tech, fuel-efficient car," and the Volt's technology "will almost certainly find its way into" other cars in GM's lineup.
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    This article is about a car made by General Motors. The company have, if we look at this as in the way that the car will never be profitable, made a huge mistake of miscalculating the costs and profits earned from the car. But if we look at it as if the car would be profitable, they might have thought of making a good car that will sell easily. It is a car that is environmental friendly, and this will affect the cars coming up in the same series. It will then be more of a long-run investment.
Daniel B

Economies of scale in the shipping business - 3 views

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    The trade on the route Europe-Asia depends mainly on shipping. The biggest corporation is Eleonora Maersk. In this article it was highlighted that only big companies take advantages of economies of scale in this business and small ones could quite their entrepreneuers in the future.
Yassine G

Water Demand for Energy to Double by 2035 - 0 views

  • The amount of fresh water consumed for world energy production is on track to double within the next 25 years
  • the IEA calculates that water consumed for energy production would increase from 66 billion cubic meters (bcm) today to 135 bcm annually by 2035.
  • The agency estimates oil and natural gas production together would account for 10 percent of global energy-related water demand in 2035.
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  • "It takes a great deal of energy to supply water, and a great deal of water to supply energy. With water stress spreading and intensifying around the globe, it's critical that policymakers not promote water-intensive energy options."
  • Fellow
  • IEA sees coal-powered electricity driving the greatest demand for water now and in the future
  • Steam-driven coal plants always have required large amounts of water
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    This article gives you an idea of how we get our energy today, and how we will be getting it in the upcoming years. It emphasizes mostly on water, as water is being used in Steam-driven coal plants in a large amount. These plants are increasing as they are more environmental friendly. This means that demand on water is increasing rapidly although water itself is a becoming very scarce. This High demand for this scarce very important natural resource raises many questions about how we would be able to survive in the long run.
John B

Steve Jobs And The Economics Of Place | ThinkProgress - 1 views

  • One of the most fundamental elements of the economics of cities goes by the oddball name “agglomeration externalities” which is basically the idea that individuals and firms obtain productivity boosts by clustering together.
  • You see this again during the development of the Apple I. Steve Wozniak is employed by Hewlett-Packard at the time
  • Silicon Valley is not only a hub of electronics and engineering but also geographically proximate to San Francisco and the arts and counterculture scene with the influence that has on Jobs’ life and the aesthetic orientation of his company over time. The story keeps going on like this. Jobs doesn’t build the company alone, or even build it with his formal partners. He also builds it with an array of formal and informal personal and professional associates that you only meet in certain kinds of places and that can only exist given the pre-existing high density of electronics firms in the area.
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  • Part of the moral of the story is about the role of luck and contingency in any successful person’s life. But an important part of it is about the importance of clusters as such and the way that past success can lay the groundwork for future success. America is home to many of the world’s most successful high tech companies today in large part because we were home to many of the world’s most successful high tech companies 35 years ago.
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    This article is about the biography of Steve Jobs. It is talking about how Jobs used agglomeration externalities, "individuals and firms obtain productivity boosts by clustering together". By the use of the location, Jobs managed build up the company, but he is not alone building this company. He has his personal and professional associates that result in a boost in productivity. They use agglomeration.
Haydn W

Scrap the licence fee and privatise the BBC - The Commentator - 0 views

  • The next two years will see a lively debate over the future of the British Broadcasting Corporation, with the current Royal Charter due to run out at the end of 2016.
  • According to an ICM poll in the Sunday Telegraph last month, 70 per cent of voters believe that the licence fee should be abolished or cut.
  • With the licence fee scrapped, should the BBC remain in public ownership? Or should the BBC be privatised, so that it can compete on a level playing field with the global media giants that are now emerging? 
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  • Paul Samuelson, the Nobel-prize-winning American economist, advanced the concept of "public goods" in his classic 1954 paper "The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure", demonstrating that such goods had to be financed by taxation and could not be left to the free market. The hostility to advertising meant that broadcasting was the textbook paradigm of a "public good".
  • Still benefiting from the halo conferred by its wartime role, the BBC was by far the most influential broadcasting service in the world. Further, with the UK accounting for almost 10 per cent of world output in the late 1940s, its state-owned monopoly was a vast broadcasting business by international standards. The BBC may not have been part of the British constitution, but it was undoubtedly a "national champion".
  • Advertising is sometimes demonised by left-wing commentators as capitalism without taste or shame, and as free enterprise at its selfish worst.
  • The actual position is far more even-handed and complex. As the growing unpopularity of the licence fee has constrained the BBC's revenues, TV advertising spend is now about the same size as the total money collected by the licence fee and well above the portion of this money devoted to television.
  • But the truly spectacular development of the last few years is that both total advertising spend and the licence fee money have been surpassed by BSkyB's subscription revenue. As BSkyB also picks up advertising revenue on its channels, its annual income is well above the BBC's.
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    This article talks about the logistics of scraping the license fee that finances one of the worlds most famous examples of a public good, the BBC. Economic stagnation and falling wages have left many consumers disgruntled at the license fee and with the BBC failing to keep up with it's competitors in terms of revenue, costs have had to be cut at the world renowned corporation. The article explores the concept of the public good and how politicians have began to propose alternatives to the license fee.
Zuzanna G

Australian Government investment in science reaches 30-year low - 1 views

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    This article is a brief analysis of Australian government's investment in research and points out that the amount of money invested is decreasing. It also presents possible future implications of this state of affairs.
Haydn W

Falling oil prices offer the west a great chance to refashion itself. Let's seize it | ... - 1 views

  • Falling oil prices offer the west a great chance to refashion itself. Let’s seize it
  • For the past 18 months, the world’s biggest oil producer has been the US.
  • One first good result of this oil price shift, however, was witnessed at Opec’s meeting in Vienna last week. The once feared cartel of oil-exporting countries, with Saudi Arabia at its core, a cartel that at one time commanded more than half of global production, is now a shadow of its former self.
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  • the US will maintain this new standing for the foreseeable future, according to official projections.
  • It should be no surprise, then, that in the past rising oil prices were associated with recessions and falling oil prices with booms. If the oil price carries on falling back towards $50 a barrel, and if history is any guide, the western economy should respond – to the good.
  • But although particular companies may lose out, the first-round effect of this fall should provide good news. High oil prices depress economic activity. They suck money from consumer spending and redirect it to oil-exporting countries, which typically hoard it in elephantine foreign exchange reserves or unspent  bank deposits. It is a tax by the few on the many.
  • With the US needing to buy less oil on international markets and China’s growth sinking to its lowest mark for 40 years, there is now, amazingly, the prospect of an oil glut. The oil price instantly nosedived to its lowest level for four years, around $70 a barrel – down more than a third in three months.
  • Suddenly, the balance of economic advantage with Russia, no less dependent on oil and gas exports, will flip. Russia’s 2014 budget was based on an oil price of $100 a barrel. At $70 a barrel, the economy will contract by at least 3% in 2015, the country will run a balance of payments deficit and the government’s finances will spin out of control.
  • The chances of Russia sustaining a surrogate war in Ukraine have suddenly been reduced. All good news.
  • But western governments cannot hope that economic benefits will arrive automatically. These are new times.
  • Uncertainty and fear abound. Interest rates in Britain alone have been pegged at 0.5% for more than five years. But still business is reluctant to invest, not knowing what technologies to back or not knowing how much demand there will be for new products and services. We live in an era of stagnation, “secular stagnation”
  • So falling oil prices offer the world economy a great opportunity. But if it is not leapt upon purposefully by aggressively expansionary economic policy, secular stagnation might worsen.
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    The recent fall in oil prices, largely due to America's newfound dominance in the market, will cause Russia to experience a balance of payments deficit, according to this article from the Guardian. This is based on Russia's overestimate of the forecast for the global oil price and can be said to be an example of how global prices often influence balance of payments for countries, especially when it concerns national resources.
Haydn W

ECB's Draghi says euro zone must 'complete' monetary union | Reuters - 0 views

  • ECB's Draghi says euro zone must 'complete' monetary union
  • (Reuters) - Euro zone countries must "complete" their monetary union by integrating economic policies further and working towards a capital markets union, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said.
  • Draghi said structural reforms were needed to "ensure that each country is better off permanently belonging to the euro area".
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  • He said the lack of reforms "raises the threat of an exit (from the euro) whose consequences would ultimately hit all members"
  • He said an economic union would make markets more confident about future growth prospects -- essential for reducing high debt levels -- and so less likely to react negatively to setbacks such as a temporary increase in budget deficits.
  • Unifying capital markets to follow this year's banking union would also make the bloc more resilient.
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    This article, from news agency Reuters, outlines Mario Draghi's, head of the European Central Bank (ECB), statement in Italy this week, regarding the Eurozone, a form of monetary integration. Draghi outlined the need for European countries to complete the monetary union and integrate policy to avert another crash. 
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