Group items tagged

This article describes Bolivia's attempt to join the Mercosur trade bloc in South America, which we learned about this week. There are obvious benefits to the trade bloc that it wishes to exploit, but some people don't feel it is ready to join the trade bloc.

This article discusses the potential difficulties of the Mercosur trade bloc in South America. Disputes amongst the members is causing distress to the economic system, and political isolation and dispute are becoming obstacles to economic collaboration.

This article is about the trade off and trade defiecits between America and China during iPhone production and exportation. It discusses the idea in terms of America and China, but also uses an example involving fictional places to give a clearer picture and explanation of the idea.

This article expresses the opinion that in order to experience the best economic growth, America must move towards more supply-side policies, and encourage education, hard work, and investments. There are arguments to support both sides of the debate on govt. spending vs. supply-side policy, but the end goal of achieving a better economy are the same.

National defence is an important public good. It is non-rivalrous and non-excludable, as once it is provided, the whole nation will benefit. The government is in charge of the provision of national defence.

As world worries grow about a crash in the system, this article looks at some of the current issues involving the depletion of food in North America. We have already seen the severe consequences of scarcity (in terms of food) in Eastern Africa with the current famine. Certain steps will need to be taken to make sure that the same this doesn't happen in North America

This article may or may not actually affect any of you, but it was interesting nonetheless. Kimberly-Clark, the company that produced Huggies diapers (among other things) is being forced to raise their prices because of higher oil costs and "tight supply driven by strong demand in China". The entire article talks about whether or not people are willing to pay more for their products, which would in turn indicate their inelasticity (as hinted at in the first paragraph).

"It's not a question of if, but when Iraq revalues its currency," said the Las Vegas-based Scarpa, who keeps dinars in his retirement account. "The dinar will eventually have substantial value, possibly the highest in the world." He's not alone in risking his money on an investment that can charitably be described as a long-term turnaround project that will pay off only for the extremely patient. Thousands like Scarpa in America are buying the dinar, hoping someday the war-torn nation can revalue a currency worth just a fraction of a penny.

Venezuela's ports were nationalised in 2010 during a recession. However, now especially during the festive period imports have almost doubled. This has caused a large build up in the ports. Venezuela have just joined the trade bloc, Mercosur. This will cause a larger increase in imports due to the removing of trade barriers. Therefore, the poor infrastructure must be improved. A new container terminal has been suggested to try to cope with this.

IT'S election season in America, which means that China is in the rhetorical crosshairs. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have been complaining about Chinese economic misbehaviour, but Mr Romney has attacked Mr Obama especially viciously on the subject of currency manipulation and the administration's failure to label China a manipulator and slap it with tariffs. The article is tring to decide whether China should have a number of tariffs put on it to try to stop the number of exports or whether it is to late for this action.

By 2030, more than half the world's population will live in high-risk areas By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor Humanity is facing "water bankruptcy" as a result of a crisis even greater than the financial meltdown now destabilising the global economy, two authoritative new reports show.

This seems like a big issue that will unfold during our generation. In Canada, we have one of the world's largest fresh water supplies, and that will be an important resource for our country moving into the future. But even with such a large supply, it is still a very scarce resource. Last year I visited a museum exhibit on the world's water supply, and it demonstrated the amount of water usage per capita in places around the world... In North America, we were using around ten times more water per day than people in Africa. This demonstrated the availability around the world affecting people's usage, but even in places where water is abundant, if we use too much it can still run out, so we need to be careful in everything we do.