Group items tagged

This article talks about how owners of rare artworks are exempt from paying inheritance taxes as long as they allow viewing access to the public. This is somewhat an inverse of the tragedy of the commons where instead of restricting the usage of the "commons", the government encourages allowing more access to the commons. The main reason for this would be because artworks have cultural significance.

Interesting how artworks have been worth so much money and are a private good by ownership, but still are available to the public.Take any museum, its artworks are all privately owned, but have been determined to be part of our culture that cannot remained unseen. It must be public for reasons of conservation.

The article is a special example of a common good, as it gives us an example of a private property that is now going to be opened to the public. Lisa and Leon Gorman, the prior owners of Lane, an island near the mouth of the royal river in Yarmouth, have donated their private property to the Main Coast Heritage Trust. The Island formerly being a private hunting territory shall now become accessible to the public. It has been recognized as an "ecologically significant site" and shall now become part of Royal River which is being restored and protected. A long-term management plan is being developed, which includes the economic vitality as well as the significance of ecological protection of the Island and its surroundings. Although in a slightly different scenario, this article could give us an example of Elenor Ostroms theory of effectively sustaining resources through a self-motivated community.

This article is about the spike in corn prices in 2007. It talks about the price of corn which is the main ingredient in ethanol, the primary alternative fuel, is increasing fast and causing a series of problems on the market e.g. the price of other food which is made of corn is rising dramatically, farmers complains that corn price is too high for them to feed live-stocks. There are also many predictions in the article about the future price of corn based on the demand and supply rules. This is an great article related to what we have learned. So check it out!!

This article talks of the results that happened in Cuba when they abolished all private property rights and turned to communism. This eventually led to the collapse of the Cuban economy. The article mentions, "On the eve of the Cuban Revolution about 80 percent of Cuba's arable land was under cultivation (or used for grazing) and domestic production supplied 70 percent of the country's food consumption." Over grazing of the fields led to similar tragedy of the commons.

This article talks about the negative externality of smoking. It tells that when adults smoke the bad side effects affect small innocent children.

This article talks about how the number of children submitted to hospital with asthma has decreased by 12% after smoking bans were put in place. This shows that the externality created by smoking is negative, it does not only affect the individual but the society as well therefore the social costs are greater than the private benefits. It shows how government intervention helps reduce the negative externalities.

In introducing the smoking free regulation, the british government has successfully reduced the number of admissions with children suffering from asthma attacks by 12%. In addition to showing that this government intervention has successfully reduced the negative externality caused by smoking cigarettes, this form of intervention has increased social awareness and also the willingness of many individuals to prefer "smoking free homes". The Article thus demonstrates that there has not only been a change in legislation, but also a change in the attitudes of the population, which will also have an effect on demand.

This article describes the findings of Lanre Kassim of the University of Kent, who has found out that the trade liberalisation of economies in sub-Saharan African countries has not been able to affect the YED of imports and exports, meaning that trade liberalisation has not significantly changed the rate of change of income in these countries. However, Kassim states that PED of exports and imports has increased, and thus a significant change in demand can be recognised, however little the change in total income may remain.

This link gives a general summary of the HDI report of 2014, and also of India in particular in the second half of the report

This article outlines the decrease in availability in foreclosure (aka mortgage, a real estate loan) in the area of Charlotte. As the availability of credit is a non-price determinant of demand, the demand curve has shifted to the left, which has changed the point of market equilibrium (when one graphs the price against the quantity of houses), and thus, the supply of houses in the area. This example clearly displays how shifts in the demand curve affect the overall market equilibrium, through the nature of the price mechanism.

This article discusses how the inflation rate of the UK has decreased to 1.7% - a four-year low. This is in cohesion to increasing wages, and Prime Minister Cameron has used this to praise his cabinet's economic policy, aiming to further decrease the rate to 1% by the end of the year.

This article highlights how the UK inflation rate has fallen to a four-year low of 1.7%. The drop in petrol prices is the main reason of this fall in inflation rates.

This article covers the story of how a political party in India promises to eradicate tolls on a road if they get elected into power in the upcoming elections. Currently, it would take over 20 years for the cumulative toll to cover the cost of paying the company which built the roads. If the party does indeed come into power, then they would have to find a space in the budget for five times the current allocated money for road works. The political party saw an opportunity to get publicity by making this promise, since all commuters hate paying tolls.

This article discusses the effects of passing a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. On one hand it could reduce total employment by 500,000 workers by the second half of 2016, but on the other it could drag 900,000 families out of poverty and increase the annual incomes of 16.5 million minimum wage workers. Moreover, by increasing minimum wage, for the industries that this affects, total output would decrease, as the factors of production would cost more.

This article talks about how the PED of tobacco is not as inelastic as once previously thought. The price of tobacco is increasing due to the government adding taxes, and because of the large increases in prices, the demand for tobacco is decreasing.

This article is about China fighting inflation in May 2011. It describes the food prices in China were up 10.3% in January versus a year earlier and the price of gas also rises. The article also outlines the plan of China government to keep down the price of goods--price control. Check it out!

This article discuss the value of the price elasticity of demand for the iPhone. If calculated according to the equation for price elasticity of demand, the iPhone would have a brand elasticity of 4.7, which means that Apple would lose almost 4.7 percent of iPhone sales for each corresponding 1 percent increase in price.

This article talks about how China plans to cut the quota of cotton imports so that the demand of cotton can increase domestically. The reason for this is to boost the demand for domestic fiber.

This article outlines the reduction of a measure of protectionism (quotas) on a commodity, in order to benefit from higher productive efficiency of the international markets. The greater access to the commodity cotton is meant to enable domestic producers of textiles to significantly increase production, a key industry in China.

This article describes three major "tragedies" inflicted on the Great Plains of the midwestern United States. The near-extinction of the bison population, the destruction of the grasslands, and the current issue, the massive drilling and oil fracking. It details the repercussions of these tragedies, including a major reduction in its biodiversity.

This articles talks about Obama's annual speech, in his speech, Obama promised a number of things including: raising the minimum wage, creating a new tax-free savings bond to encourage Americans to save, to work for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison, just to name a few. The increased minimum wage will help a lot of people in America and will help increase the standard of living for them.

Breaks down the understanding of the Chinese Economy based on three parts: its supply, demand, and credits. It outlines the types of supply, demand, and different types of credit that China's economy depends on. Along with it's reliance on investments. An interesting fact is that last year, output of services made for 46% of the GDP in China.

This article shows the results of a survey of which stage of the business cycle investors think we are in. Most people believe we are no mid-cycle, and about 1% believing we are in recession!

This article talks about different points of view about where we are in the cycle right now, and why it is so hard to predict recessions. It uses the example of the US recession just a few years ago, and how it started in 2007, but economists weren't able to identify that until 2008.

This article discusses the impact of low economic development in an exemplary LEDC, Kenya. It explains how freshwater is very scarce and how it has hurt the growth of agriculture in the country's poorest county, Turkana County, but also outlines how the discovery of new water reserves could possibly combat this. Unfortunately, though due to the underdeveloped infrastructure of the region, and the inefficient enterprise (in this case, the government), it could be difficult to realise a steady supply of water. Thus, a vicious cycle is formed, in which development increases at a snail's pace.