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John B

Is Education a Public Good or a Private Good? - Innovations - Blogs - The Chronicle of ... - 1 views

  • Advocates for more generous support of students frequently bemoan what they perceive as a social shift from viewing higher education as a “public good” to viewing it as a “private good.”
  • The concept of public goods is central to economic analysis of the role of government in the allocation of resources. Public goods are defined by two characteristics: 1) Non-excludability: It is not possible to exclude non-payers from consuming the good. 2) Non-rivalry in consumption: Additional people consuming the good do not diminish the benefit to others
  • Advocates for more generous support of students frequently bemoan what they perceive as a social shift from viewing higher education as a “public good” to viewing it as a “private good.” What they mean is that the public gets benefits from people going to college and should not be transferring responsibility for the costs of education to students themselves.
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  • This is not an either/or question. The benefits of college are not all public and they are not all private. The debate should be over what fraction of the cost of postsecondary education students should bear and how large society’s subsidy to them should be. It should not be over whether education is a “public” or a “private” good.
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    This article is telling us about how the higher education (college) is allocated. If it is a private good or a public good. I would say that for the moment, it is a good that is can be excluded for people who cannot afford it. Therefore it is not a public good.
Amanda Anna G

Is the bank ATM a public good? - Livemint - 1 views

  • The aftereffects of the ATM incident show that we are still ambivalent about it. Our idea of a public good is centuries old.
  • What everyone conveniently forgets is that an ATM is not tied to the mother bank—the free usage of another bank’s ATM (up to a fairly liberal limit) has made the ATM a near-public place.
  • Very early in life, I learnt the importance of the state. By now it is well-recognized that much as we deride the state, we can’t live without it.
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  • Is the bank ATM a public good? The idea of mandating banks to provide security to ATMs betrays a pitiable lack of understanding of the changing face of public goods
  • But several decades on have we evolved enough in our understanding of what constitutes a public good that the state should provide?
  • The implied belief is that an ATM is a bank’s product, meant for the bank’s customers, and hence its security is the bank’s problem, i.e. it is not sufficiently “public”. The subtext, sometimes articulated, is that since 60% of the adult population does not have a bank account, an ATM is essentially an elitist construct, not worthy of being within the protective cover of the general law and order setup
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    This article asks the question is the ATM a public good. Inside we will find the article making statements to why it is in fact a public good and why it should be considered as one
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    This article deals with the idea of assign authority to banks to provide security to the ATM. Is the ATM a good that benefits to the society? Since the ATM is a way to give freedom to the people I would say yes, but should then the ATM be controlled by guards? In my opinion, I think it would be a good idea. Even though one might argue that the idea would take away the freedom of ATM, I think the security will provide even more freedom to the people since they can deal with their money safely.
Yassine G

Pollution as a Public Good - NYTimes.com - 1 views

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    This is a very interesting public good. It is both helpful for the government and the public. Pollution will decrease, which means better and healthier living condition, and the cost of the permits allows the government to add new public gods or improve the quality of its services. 
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.
Sebastian G

A Brief History of Public Goods - 0 views

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    The title of the article already explains it all, it is a brief history about public goods.
Haydn W

What are multinationals doing to champion rights of millions trapped in modern-day slav... - 0 views

  • What are multinationals doing to champion rights of millions trapped in modern-day slavery?
  • With almost 21 million people working in forced labour conditions in the global economy, companies are being made to clean up their act
  • In a world of complex supply chains, migrant workers, sub-suppliers and a constant squeeze on costs, corporate leaders and their stakeholders are keenly aware of the risk of labour exploitation.
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  • No industry or region is fully insulated from the social deficit which has emerged from the rise of the modern global economy.
  • Given the influence and impact that multinational corporations have, there is significant scope for corporate leaders to champion reform and action in this area.
  • However, the ILO estimates that 44% of those working in forced labour are also victims of trafficking (pdf).
  • The fight to eradicate the scourge of forced and child labour, sometimes referred to as modern-day slavery, has re-emerged as a defining issue in this century
  • The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that almost 21 million people are currently working in some form of forced labour, with 14.2 million in economic activities such as agriculture, construction, domestic work or manufacturing (pdf).
  • Beginning in California in 2012, following effective campaigning and lobbying to then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, mandatory corporate disclosure of a company’s non-financial activities has been on the rise.
  • From US President Obama’s executive order on trafficking and federal procurement, to the UK Modern Slavery Bill’s recent amendment to include supply chain disclosure provisions, to the EU’s adoption of a non-financial reporting directive, compulsory transparency around global corporate practices – including human rights, labour and social impacts and policies – is the latest tool being employed by legislators to place social expectations on corporations.
  • multinational corporations have grown significantly in terms of size, assets, resource control and revenue, not to mention societal influence.
  • This growth has been accompanied by growing expectations by society and government.
  • It is, of course, critical to recognise that the global corporate supply chain can be a force for good.
  • However, with their multiple levels of subcontracting, particularly throughout impoverished regions where labour laws are non-existent or not enforced, global labour and product supply chains also provide fertile ground for inhumane practices and working conditions.
  • The United States Department of Labor, for example, has produced a list of 136 goods produced in 74 countries using forced labour, child labour, or both.
  • Many leading companies already understand that their strategies shape the lives of millions. The most forward-thinking believe that business is an integral pillar of society and recognise that the people they rely on at home and abroad are central to building sustainable and lasting businesses.
  • And since mandatory disclosure requires all multinationals to take notice and action rather than just the industry leaders, this ultimately helps level the playing field.
  • Some believe supply chain transparency laws do not constitute any real change from the prevailing corporate-driven model for CSR, while others oppose increased regulation and oversight as unnecessary state intervention, believing that industry led efforts have the best chance of success.
  • it is a combination of corporate leadership and regulation in this area which will help ensure all market participants rise to acceptable standards.
  • The trend away from voluntary reports towards mandatory social reporting for global corporations is here to stay and may represent a first step towards increased legislative requirements
  • No matter where one believes the solutions lie, the ultimate goal is a global economy free from forced labour, trafficking and other abuses. For the millions of victims who go out into the world seeking work in the hope of building better lives, we must commit to seeking the best path forward.
Jakub B

Are children a public good? - 1 views

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    The article discusses the topic that regards children as a 'public good' and treats natural increase as a problem that should matter every citizen of a particular state. The selfisg parents do not invest money in their children since they cannot see any potential benefits from children and also can get pension when they will be elderly Therefore, the parents do not compete to have the best child (because it is costly). There are high IQ children who tend to be more beneficial to the society, while others tend to be less productive. Eventually, the author disagrees with the considered statement as the obtained knowledge as a part of human capital is excludable.
Dina B

' The NHS must be preserved from commercial interests' - 1 views

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    This article, written by Stephen Hawking, talks about how the NHS (british heath care paid for by the government) is a great public good and should not be made private and given a charge. He talks about his personal experience.
Zuzanna G

The CBC: What's it good for, without hockey? - 0 views

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    This article is about the main public Canadian corporation that delivers radio and TV. On the example of hockey it discusses the matter of media as a public good.
Clemente F

Is High School Soccer A public Good? - 3 views

shared by Clemente F on 03 Dec 13 - No Cached
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    The article discusses how High School soccer may be considered a public good
Haydn W

Royal Mail shares soar 38% as Labour complains of knockdown price | UK news | The Guardian - 0 views

  • Royal Mail shares soar 38% as Labour complains of knockdown price
  • Ed Miliband blames government for underpricing in 'fire-sale of a great British insititution' as investors make £284 paper profit
  • The government has been accused of shortchanging taxpayers by selling off Royal Mail at a knockdown price after shares in the privatised postal service rose by 38%
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  • Miliband, the Labour leader, said the jump in the share price – which made an immediate £284 paper profit for almost 700,000 Royal Mail investors – showed that the privatisation was a "fire sale of a great British institution"
  • Royal Mail stock, which the government sold at 330p, leapt to 455p
  • Royal Mail's market value rose by £1bn to £4.3bn – confirming that it will join the FTSE 100 list of Britain's biggest companies.
  • The government had valued Royal Mail at a maximum of £3.3bn, and had attacked analysts' valuation of £4.5bn as "way out".
  • Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, tweeted: "Privatising #RoyalMail has become little different from selling five pound notes for four quid."
  • George Osborne said the privatisation had been a huge success.
  • Asked whether the shares had been sold too cheaply, the chancellor said: "All privatisations are done at a discount.
  • The National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, will investigate the pricing of the float, but Cable dismissed the huge share price rise – which was bigger than that experienced on the 1980s flotation of BT and British Gas – as "froth and speculation" and said "what matters is where the price eventually settles".
  • The stockbrokers Peel Hunt said: "This is not 'froth'; it's real people buying, selling."
  • Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, described the share price surge as a "dazzling stock market debut".
  • Private investors who bought their shares directly from the government will have to wait until at least Tuesday if they want to sell. About 690,000 people were granted 227 Royal Mail shares worth £749.10 (at the 330p float price) following overwhelming public demand for the shares.
  • The public applied for more than seven times the number of shares available to them, which meant nearly everyone did not get as many shares as they had asked for.
  • More than 36,000 people who applied for more than £10,000 worth of shares were prevented from buying any at all. About 40 people applied for shares worth £1m or more.
  • It is understood that about 20% of the shares available have gone to sovereign wealth funds – including those of Kuwait, Norway and Singapore – and other foreign funds. Royal Mail's 150,000 employees collected 10% of the shares free of charge, worth about £2,200 each at the flotation price and now worth £2,900. Employees were also allowed to buy a further £10,000 worth, but are not allowed to sell for three years
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    This article shows how demand for shares in the newly floated UK postal service Royal Mail has pushed the price up from 330p a share to 450p. This is the price in which demand is seen to be equal to supply, something the UK Government are being criticised for failing to notice as they believed 450p was a far to high price. The move itself if highly controversial and has been a hotly debated topic ever since it's proposal with many employees fearing that jobs will be lost.
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    I think this is really normal. Simply because private companies tend to have higher efficiency rates and therefore make more profits, this is the business part of the reason. Now if we consider the economical reason, I think that higher profits (deviants) will attract a lot more shareholders, this means higher demand. from the other side, shareholders will be willing to keep their shares as the company is making more and more profits, therefore less shares supply. So in short, more demand, less supply of shares could not lead to anything else except hiher prices and greater value of the company.
Amanda Anna G

The trade-offs of Obamacare's preexisting condition coverage - latimes.com - 0 views

  • The trade-offs of Obamacare's preexisting condition coverage
  • Polls have consistently shown that even though the public opposes Obamacare, people like some of its most significant provisions. That's particularly true of the requirement that insurers ignore preexisting conditions when signing up customers for coverage. Yet that one provision, also known as guaranteed issue, is responsible for trade-offs that people bitterly oppose.
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    The "Obamacare" has faced public opposes, but some people like some of its most significant provisions. The guaranteed issue is responsible for trade-offs that people bitterly oppose. 
Amanda Anna G

Macroeconomic challenges no longer constitute risks - Finance Ministry - The Malta Inde... - 2 views

  • The Ministry for Finance notes with satisfaction that the European Commission considers that, compared to the last year, the macroeconomic challenges in Malta no longer constitute macroeconomic risks.
  • “the macroeconomic challenges in Malta no longer constitute substantial macroeconomic risks and are no longer identified as imbalances in the sense of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP). It further notes that “risks to the sustainability of private and public sector debt and the stability of the financial sector appear contained. “
  • The Ministry also welcomes the Commission’s conclusions that “as regards public finances, Malta is expected to meet its nominal deficit targets in 2013 and 2014.”
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  • “the housing market has stabilised and thus risks arising from over-exposure to property are limited”; that “private debt is on the decrease”; that “the corporate deleveraging is taking place in an orderly manner and credit market pressures are limited.”
  • “trade performance has been positive” and that “the current account balance is in surplus." In particular the Commission also noted that "the export performance of the Maltese economy has been successful".
  • “The report, unlike the one published last year, is confirming that across various fronts, the Maltese economy and public finances are getting in good shape and are meeting the ambitious targets set by the Maltese Government,”
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    This article is about the economy in Malta. The macroeconomic challenges Malta have been facing are now no longer risks and imbalances in the economy. This is due to, among others, that the housing market has stabilized and the private dept is on the decrease. 
Haydn W

BBC News - Royal Mail 'confident' after revenues rise - 0 views

  • Royal Mail 'confident' after revenues rise
  • Royal Mail has said it is "confident" about hitting its targets after posting a 2% rise in like-for-like revenues in the nine months to 29 December.
  • Parcel deliveries accounted for 51% of revenues, and chief executive Moya Greene said the firm handled 115 million parcels in December.
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  • The postal service was privatised in October 2013.
  • Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said the update was "perfectly acceptable".
  • She said the company's European parcels business was doing well after exploiting "growth opportunities in the eurozone". Letter revenue fell by 3% on a like-for-like basis, the company said, as the impact of London 2012 collectable stamp sales waned.
  • Shares in Royal Mail closed down 2.6% at 572.5p, against a flotation price in October of 330p-a-share.
  • Mr Hunter said Royal Mail's shares had had a "very strong run" since October but that it may struggle to make "further meaningful progress" in the shorter term. The company was "simply a hold" for investors, he said.
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    This article from the BBC News website details how Royal Mail, the recently privatised public service has seen a 2% increase in revenues. Th controversial move triggered widespread uproar from opponents and share prices rose rapidly above the target when the company was floated in October 2013. This article shows that despite the move the firm has continued to make money and appears to be in no immediate danger.
Fiete M

New ObamaCare Push - 3 views

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    This article discusses how healthcare in the US is being made a public good.
Haydn W

South Africa at 20: Storms behind the rainbow - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 1 views

  • April 27 marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa's first democratic elections.
  • Many things have improved in South Africa since 1994, to be sure. State racism has ended, and the country now boasts what some have described as the most progressive constitution in the world. People have rights, and they know that there are institutions designed to protect and uphold those rights. Still, everyday life for most South Africans remains a struggle - a struggle that is infinitely compounded by the sense of disappointment that accompanies it, given the gap between the expectations of liberation and the state of abjection that the majority continues to inhabit.
  • South Africa's unemployment rate in 1994 was 13 percent - so bad that most were convinced it could only get better. Yet today it is double that, at about 25 percent.
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  • And that's according to official statistics; a more reasonable figure, according to most analysts, is probably closer to 37 percent. The situation is particularly bad for young people. The Economist recently reported that "half of South Africans under 24 looking for work have none. Of those who have jobs, a third earn less than $2 a day."
  • South Africa also boasts a reputation for being one of the most unequal countries in the world. Not only has aggregate income inequality worsened since the end of apartheid, income inequality between racial groups has worsened as well.
  • According to the 2011 census, black households earn only 16 percent of that which white households earn. About 62 percent of all black people live below the poverty line, while in the rural areas of the former homelands this figure rises to a shocking 79 percent.
  • The ANC's Black Economic Empowerment programme has succeeded in minting new black millionaires (South Africa has 7,800 of them now), but can't seem to manage the much more basic goal of eliminating poverty.
  • during the negotiated transition of the 1980s and early 1990s. The apartheid National Party was determined that the transition would not undermine key corporate interests in South Africa, specifically finance and mining. They were willing to bargain away political power so long as they could retain control over the economy. And so they did.
  • The ANC was forced to retreat from its position on nationalisation and an IMF deal signed just before the transition deregulated the financial sector and clamped down on wage increases.
  • Still, when the ANC assumed power in 1994 it implemented a progressive policy initiative known as the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The RDP was designed to promote equitable development and poverty reduction
  • Despite its successes, this policy framework was abandoned a mere two years later. Mbeki and then Finance Minister Trevor Manuel held clandestine discussions with World Bank advisors toward drafting a new economic policy known as GEAR (Growth, Employment, and Redistribution, even though it accomplished precious little of the latter).
  • Given these contradictions, it's no wonder that South Africa is ablaze with discontent, earning it the title of "protest capital of the world".
  • Early this year some 3,000 protests occurred over a 90-day period, involving more than a million people. South Africans are taking to the streets, as they give up on electoral politics. This is particularly true for the young: Nearly 75 percent of voters aged 20-29 did not participate in the 2011 local elections.
  • The government's response has been a mix of police repression - including the recent massacre of 44 striking miners at Marikana - and the continued rollout of welfare grants, which now provide a vital lifeline to some 15 million people.
  • So far the protests have been focused on issues like access to housing, water, electricity, and other basic services, but it won't be long before they coalesce into something much more powerful
  • as they did during the last decade of apartheid. There are already signs that this is beginning to happen. The Economic Freedom Fighters, recently founded by Julius Malema, the unsavory former leader of the ANC Youth League, is successfully mobilising discontented youth and making a strong push to nationalise the mines and the banks.
  • It seems that the ANC's legitimacy is beginning to unravel and consent among the governed has begun to thin. It is still too early to tell, but the death of Mandela may further widen this crack in the edifice of the ruling regime, as the ANC scrambles to shore up its symbolic connection to the liberation struggle.
  • In short, the situation in South Africa over the past 20 years opens up interesting questions about the meaning of democracy. What is democracy if it doesn't allow people to determine their own economic destiny or benefit from the vast wealth of the commons? What is freedom if it serves only the capital interests of the country's elite? The revolution that brought us the end of apartheid has accomplished a great deal, to be sure, but it has not yet reached its goal. Liberation is not yet at hand.
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    From Al Jazeera I chose this article about the poor state of the economy in South Africa, 20 years after Nelson Mandela and the ANC came to power, ending the system of political, social and economic segregation, Apartheid. Despite reforms in the 90's the majority of wealth and power is still held by rich whites. With around 30% unemployment rate and young people struggling to find work many feel only anger and resentment to the current ANC government led by Jacob Zuma. Economically speaking South Africa's imports are up and exports down, reducing GDP as AS is shifted left. This is especially evident in industries like mining and banking which many are now calling for to be nationalised. 20 years on from Nelson Mandela's historic victory in the 1994 general election, South Africa, despite being free of the shackles of segregation is not in the boom many predict. The ANC must be careful in there actions, should they, following the death of Madiba lose contact with his legacy and what he stood for.
Hardy Hewson

Foreign trade drives fourth quarter German growth as domestic demand disappoints - 1 views

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    This article discusses Germany's GDP in detail
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    The attached article compares and contrasts the contribution made to aggregate demand by varying foreign and domestic demand. It states, that despite relative increases in demand overall (especially in public opinion), domestic demand figures are still low. Instead, foreign trade appears to make up the majority of aggregate demand in the overall economy.
Marenne M

Rice Subsidy in Thailand causes Debt - 0 views

  • drop its multibillion-dollar rice subsidy program and scale back
  • make room for spending on projects that enhance growth
  • stimulate spending in rural areas and support Thai farmers
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  • government buys rice from local farmers for a set price above market rates
  • “It is inevitable for the government to incur losses as long as the scheme remains unchanged,” the IMF said.
  • The subsidy program left Ms. Yingluck’s administration with a big bill and millions of tons of unsold rice
  • egan buying rice at premiums of 35%-50% above market rates
  • isplacing Thailand from its perch as the world’s biggest rice exporter
  • eopardize a government commitment to balance the budget by 2017 and keep public debt below 50% of GDP
  • Thai authorities said the subsidy aims to address economic inequality and help poor farmers improve productivity
  • suggested that a reduction in the pledging prices or limits on the amount of purchase might be needed to ensure the sustainability of the policy
  • For the third subsidy year, which began last month, the government made some minor moves to scale back the subsidy
  • ay around $8.6 billion on the subsidy for 2013-‘14
  • hat losses from the subsidy could threaten Thailand’s credit rating
  • 5 million tons of rice in its stockpiles
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    This article describes how the government is trying to stimulate the rice market in Thailand by buying rice and placing subsidies on it. These major investments, however, are causing debt for the government, and prevent the government from investing in other projects.
Amanda Anna G

Help-to-Buy: George Osborne makes major concession | Heather Stewart | Business | thegu... - 0 views

  • Subsidising high LTV mortgages in boom-bust UK housing market was political masterstroke – but economic madness
  • The centrepiece of this year's budget, Help to Buy was a political masterstroke, pumping up public confidence just as many potential buyers were thinking about returning to the estate agent's, and helping the government to claim credit for an upswing in the property market that had already been kicked off by the Funding for Lending Scheme.Economically, however, Help to Buy is madness, as the Treasury select committee, the International Monetary Fund and the outgoing governor of the Bank of England all lined up to say.
  • Offering taxpayer subsidies for high loan-to-value mortgages worth up to £600,000, just as the incorrigibly boom-bust British housing market is moving from stop-to-go mode, is at best risky, at worst, downright reckless.
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  • Initially, the Treasury's argument was that the scheme would help to spark a building boom, as the surge in demand for homes prompted developers to re-start long-stalled projects.Housebuilding has picked up modestly – but by common consent it remains well below the levels that would be required to keep prices stable.
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    The "Help to Buy" was a political masterstroke since, among other things, the government got help with the claim for a credit for an upswing in the property market, helping to spark a building boom. I think, the offering taxpayer subsidies, will help allocate resources in the free market since more will get willingly to pay for houses. But this is risky for the British housing market, since the levels that would be required to keep prices stable will remain below what is needed.
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