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In India, silver is in high demand during the festive season of Diwali. This article discusses how in the case, the demand for silver is relatively inelastic, because the demand has stayed relatively the same while the price has increased around 30%. Since silver in sweets is a tradition, most people will continue to purchase edible silver leafs for Diwali even when the price increases, and so the demand for silver leafs is inelastic at this time of year, but when the festival is over, the demand will once again go down and become more elastic.

This article illustrates an important aspect of taxing that we looked at in the past few weeks, and are looking at this week as well. The government increases taxes on inelastic products (such as tobacco and alcohol- which are addictive and therefore necessities). This is done as with a price increase on an inleastic product, the demand decreases by a proportionally smaller amount. This decreases any potential danger for high levels of unemployment on behalf of the company's supplying the products.

The China Business news reports about the increasing gold prices of China. The elasticity of the product is going to be incredibly low and inelastic because gold is so unique. Of course there are faux-gold substitues, however gold is the real deal. Having a shortage of gold, combined with economic uncertainty, means that the #3 gold producer's prices may continue to change.

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.

This article discusses the excise taxes in Hawaii and how the revenues have risen over 8 percent in recent times! Although the article did not describe exactly why this has occurred, however the most accurate predictions would that the increase in revenue would be due to increased taxes on inelastic items, for example, gasoline, etc. This not only ensures that the demand is unchanged, but also ensures that all other factors stay the same. Another reason why the revenues have increased could be that the taxes did not increase, however the population grew.

This article talks about how putting taxes for fossil fuels may help to reduce the the consumption of fossil fuels. This is necessary because fossil fuels are become very scarce and we are running out of them as they are a non-renewable energy source. However, not everyone wants the tax to go up as this would mean increased spending when they cannot afford to do this. Many energy companies will be able to push this increase of tax onto the consumer as it is an inelastic product and the demand will not decrease much if the price is increased.

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).

This article concerns the increased taxes being imposed upon alcohol in Sri Lanka. The reason for this is because alcohol is viewed by many as a 'necessity', and is also addictive (which makes it a necessity). This makes alcohol a product with inelastic demand; as an increase in price will result with a proportionally smaller decrease in demand. This avoids chances of unemployment by increasing the product's price, and is therefore a reason for the increase in the imposed tax upon it.

"The study looked at 'demand elasticities' in Australia for 15 food categories and is the most comprehensive ever done in the field. The degree to which a product's demand or supply reacts to a change in price is known as its 'elasticity'" This article highlights that out of 15 food groups studied, milk, bread, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables all have an inelastic demand. This is the opposite as to what i personally would have predicted, because with varying prices and what i assumed was a varying demand for fruits and vegetables, i thought that this could be an elastic demand. Some of the products with an elastic PED are All meat types, rice, margarine and preserved vegetables. This is interesting as it seems as though consumers would rather pay more to have food that can spoil, compared to food which can be stored or freezed.

This article discusses the rising problem in New Zealand, of rising prices on dairy products. We can see a distinction in this article between milk, on one hand, and on the other, butter and cheese. Milk in relatively inelastic, because it is a necessity for a healthy diet (especially for growing children), however milk and cheese are relatively elastic, because they are not as vital for a good diet, and their demand will likely drop a lot more than the demand for milk.