Group items tagged

This article talks about India and its current account deficit. Import substitution is a good way to reduce current account deficit by reducing the import expenditure.

The price of crude oil is said to be the underlying reason for the effect of the Rupee weakening.There is downward pressure from losses in the domestic shares. "Importers looking to meet month-end import commitments weighed"

This article tells the balance of payments of Ghana skyrockets comparing to the same period in 2011. The main reason is the falling price of cocoa beans, which is a main export of Ghana, and the falling export volumes. With the export going down and imports of oil, and other non-oil imports skyrocket, the balance of payment become negative value.

When countries form a free-trade deal, it allows the imports and exports between the countries to grow, because there are less trade restrictions such as tariffs. This means that, with import prices decreasing, aggregate supply in Canada will increase.

This article states the relationship between currencies, which links to prices, and the demand for goods and services. While the currencies are weakened worldwide, the manufacturing industries are highly impacted. Therefore, the supply is lowered.

The United States hit Chinese solar companies with punitive import tariffs of 30 percent or more, ruling they had dumped cut-price solar panels into the U.S. market. Several of the Chinese companies and a solar trade group opposed to the tariffs denounced the duties, and said they would drive up costs for the clean energy source, stunting its fast growth.

It is interesting to receive a totally different perspective on the issue that China keeps its currency artificially low. In this article, it actually says that the benefits to the US of China manipulating its currency far outweighs the costs. The reason is that the consumers get cheaper goods, which are essential goods such as toys and clothes. The other reason is that when the Chinese government is constantly buying dollars to keep Chinese yuan low, it helps to stabilize the price level in the US because the imported goods do not become more expensive, and it also helps to keep the interest rate low. This is beneficial to the US economy.

A lot of movement in the reserve assets component of the financial account in India is causing stress for the balance fo payments. Demand for gold is increasing, and because of great returns on investment and the affinity for gold in India, demand is increasing. The determinants of demand are highly responsible for maintaining this instability in current account deficit and "stress on the system" for the Reserve Bank of India.

This article explores the causes and outcomes of a rising current account deficit in Australia. The central bank is evaluating different options to try and balance the current account deficit by manipulating imports and exports, as well as adjusting the value of currency.

The balance of payments records two different kinds of transactions: cross-border payments for goods and services (ie, exports and imports), which are recorded in the "current account", and cross-border payments for assets. China's current account is still in surplus, largely because its exports exceed its imports. China is also attracting plenty of direct investment from foreigners eager to buy or build companies on the mainland. But both these inflows of foreign exchange were outdone by a record outflow of other kinds of capital, amounting to a net $110 billion. This left China's overall balance of payments in deficit, diminishing China's international reserves by $11.8 billion (or just under 0.4%).

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.

In order to protect its domestic industries from European subsidized-sugar, Canada places high duties (tariffs) on imported sugar. This article details how local firms are benefiting due to a ruling that allows these trade barriers. While consumers would benefit from free trade because they can purchase sugar at a low price, it would have a harmful effect on domestic firms, which is why protectionist measures are put in place.

This article discusses the impact of business franchises in the US economy. The output and production of the franchises has been increasing and maturing as the economy gets better. This contributes to the national output, and the capacity for that output known as aggregate supply.  "The franchise industry is a unique business sector and a vitally important contributor to the U.S. economy spanning some 300 lines of business, supporting nearly 18 million jobs, 825,000 establishments and providing for over $2.1 trillion in economic output,"

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.

This article shows the real-life application to the new ideas we've been discussing in terms of the Republic of Cyprus. "Cyprus has so far been an energy island -an isolated energy system- and has till recently been almost totally dependent on imports of oil which burden the current account balance. A bright horizon of peace, cooperation and economic growth will then open up for the area of the Eastern Mediterranean, to the benefit not only of the countries and peoples of the area but also of our wider European family." I have included the conclusion to the article as well, which wraps up this sustainability-conscious article."In shaping the world of today and tomorrow through their decisions on energy issues, visionary leaders will aim at improving the prospects of both the current and future generations in terms of economic and social development and of sustainability, and certainly in terms of establishing and strengthening peaceful and hence productive international relations."

This article shows an importance of price control on goods. Because of the high diesel and gas prices, people's life are being affected, in a negative way. First of all, people who own cars will fell the financial pinch, because now they spend a lot more on diesel. And lives will not keep running, in some contexts, without cars. And diesel is a fuel for heating too. Canada's winter is freezing cold, without heating, life will be miserable. To ensure people's welfare is protected, a price ceiling for diesel, in this case $1.44 cents per litre.

This article outlines how dependent energy sources are on water. The wants and needs for water resources are increasing worldwide, and this could become a problem to power plants, hydroelectric facilities, and other major sources of global water supply.

Aha! Scarcity of water supply, and it's a need. It is really important for us, human beings to know the importance of preserving the environment!

This article demonstrates opportunity cost because it shows that eating healthy food costs less but most people prefer not to because of the inconvenience of cooking it.

This is a really neat way of looking at opportunity cost! It not only shows the opportunity cost of specific products, but how we as humans determine what's important, or what's the most important.

This article demonstrates the concept of equilibrium by pointing out that there is a shortage of sugar in Europe because the EU is trying to shrink the sugar industry. The shortage of sugar means there's excess demand; the supply is insufficient because of certain trade barriers and import duties. 

A study done in Canada by the University of BC looked at who REALLY made up this '1%' that all the Occupy protesters hate so much. Something important they conclude is that the gap between low-income and high-income demographics is massive; nothing to this degree has been seen since the Great Depression. It makes us think about how serious our economic situation really is right now. Another interesting section is around the middle of the article, where they discuss possible reasons for this severe inequality.