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Sirius XM Radio was once saved the "January Effect" thanks to their merger several years ago. They experienced the benefits of economies of scale as a much larger organization, which brought the two previous companies back up in stock. However, they are still facing many challenges because economies of scale do not solve all problems. Some of the issues: "A low profit margin of 9.2 percent, and an astronomical Total/Debt to Equity of 492. Also, the rapid change in broadcasting technologies, and the Internet radio gaining ground, it is a matter of time before satellite-radio becomes obsolete. Satellite subscriptions are part of consumer spending that is usually negatively affected by a weak economy, consumers will not spend excessive money on this."

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,"

This article talks about how the GDP increase fell in the U.S but that does not mean that the economy is doing badly at all. There IS an increase and overall better numbers for most aspects in terms of the goals of macroeconomics but it is just at a slow pace. The economy fluctuates and even though the increase is "pitiful", it would just mean that the economy would most likely only increase more from here on. This is also linked to the rate of unemployment. "Let's face it, the Great American Bread machine is expanding, but at a pretty sorry rate, and not nearly enough to bring the 8.3 percent unemployment rate into 7.0 percent territory." "Yes, gross domestic product is expanding, but the unemployed are still trying to recover. This is why so few wish to call the current uncertainty-plagued growth an expansion."

This article describes the recent growth in a number of firms producing Greek Yogurt in the United States. As a result of this growth, the firms are experiencing economies of scale and they are all expanding their factories to increase their output. As the article states: "The Chobani plant today bustles with 14 production lines mechanically squirting yogurt into plastic cups that zip down conveyor belts." - this shows a technological improvement that is an economy of scale: due to the increase in size in the firm, it can employ more efficient, lower cost methods of production.

This article provides evidence and data of Egypt's Export DEvelopment Fund and the promoting of exports in the first half of the fiscal year. Revenue from exports positively impacted the economy, and the EDF seeks to continue to improve the export benefits entering the nation.

Unemployment is one of the indicators used to look at a country's macro-economy. The low unemployment in Germany leads economists to believe that the economy is recovering, meaning it is going through the "recovery" stage of the business cycle - a positive thing for a country after a global recession.

The aggregate demand in an economy is made up of the total spending on goods and services in a country, and one of the components of aggregate demand is consumption (consumer spending). This article outlines some reasons as to why consumer spending - consumption - is expected to increase in the US in the coming months.

"Wal-Mart's influence on the U.S. economy has reached levels not seen by a single company since the 19th-century rise of Standard Oil, economists and historians say" To state that Wal-Mart is huge would be an understatement and in my perspective, it is the perfect example of economies of scale. The article is a bit lenthy though but the points are well explained.

This is an article from the NY times on alternative energy, and the possibility that infact renewable energies also contain the theory of economies of scale, in large quantities.

This article talks about Canada's economic growth is better than what the economist anticipated. It reveals the economic growth is desirable for government, along with low unemployment rate. Consumer spending contributes to economic growth, the consumer spending is repressed while oil prices rise so high nowadays. Interest rates is one of the measures government take to control economy.

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.

One topic we have discussed a lot in supply-side policy is the funding of education, and how increased funding can lead to more efficiency in the economy. However, after the Ontario budget, the government decided to freeze teacher wages to try to reduce funding in this education sector; which has created many problems in our province as teacher unions are now taking action, with the threat of a strike still being possible. Supply-side policy gone wrong.

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.

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 discusses inflation in Poland, and includes a lot of information from the nation's policy-makers and economists. This represents a case of anticipated inflation, because they are looking to combat rising prices, and evaluating which methods work, and which do not. The inflation has slowed down, and forecasts/estimates of the economy are looking better, due to increasingly manageable factors such as borrowing costs, interest rates, & price growth.

This article talks about the economy of India, and talks bout how recent budget talks have affected the economic outlook, not only nationally but globally on the economy. It largely consists of questions and answers, asking questions such as when is the price of oil likely to rise, and budget resposnses to rapid GDP growth.

This article talks about how inflation affects the economy and society. It mainly talks about how it affects unemployment. It later goes on to test the theory that (quote) "a short-term rise in unemployment can permanently damage an economy, by making it harder for those laid off to find work even when times recover". The government, however, is tackling the problem.