Group items tagged

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 talks about the effect production costs have had on the number of episodes in a season. In an attempt to be productively efficient as production costs per episodes rise, show producers have simply had to cut down the output of episodes. This makes sense because if we shift the AC curve left, the cost will decrease, but so will the output when AC=MC (productive efficiency).

This article discusses the environmental and human health costs of power plants. These type of costs would be considered negative externalities of production, because they are harmful effects that do not effect the firm producing the power, but rather a third party, society as a whole. When producers are making the power, they value the cost as the private costs to their firms, but as outlined by this article, there are many social costs which they do not consider, and this leads to over-production, which means the market is failing, as the resources are not being allocated efficiently. An interesting aspect is that they are able to put a true "cost" on environmental and health effects, which can be quite hard to determine.

For this week, I decided to find an article that is very close to most of us, because we all, at one point or another, eat meat, as well as drink milk. When we consume these products we probably don't realize what harmful chemicals go into these products and how they can negatively affect us. This article talks about the antibiotics and hormones that are injected into livestock to increase the rate of growth as well as in cows, the increased production of milk, and how these chemicals can negatively effect us.

This article examines how the increase of production cost of cent and nickel affects the business. The total costs has been increasing and making the firm losing money.

This articles start out by talking about how Chinese support the world with cheap goods. However, prices are expected to go up as Chinese manufacturers run down with higher wages, more expensive raw materials and an growing currency. This article shows the increase of production cost and the effects it will cause, such as: having companies to opt out, or relocating their companies to other countries.

For decades, China's factories have supplied the world with cheap goods - from denim jeans to desktop computers. But export prices are expected to go up as Chinese manufacturers are battered by higher wages, more expensive raw materials and an appreciating currency.

Production costs have risen for farmers producing milk from their cows, which has resulted in a shortage of milk, but a still constant supply.

This article details how the large company Proctor & Gamble is attempting to cut variable costs by eliminating jobs, which leads to lower labour costs. This action results in a lower cost for their products, leading to more productive efficiency. This competitive behaviour is also partially reflective of perfect competition, where companies must decrease costs in order to increase profits; however the article also focuses a lot on the advertising done by Proctor & Gamble, which is not fitting with the assumptions of the perfect competition model.

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.

Now for Somalian citizens who are faced with a compulsory pattern of living with famine, scarcity can be thought as not invited but already a citizen, despite the environmental constraints of hydro climatically-induced water scarcity and the considerable fluctuations which characterize the natural freshwater supply supposed to exist; a water-stress routine is now an impact on the responsibility of improved water supply for self-sufficient crop production (resulting in lack of food and crop production) as well as the number of these Somalian individuals desperately depending on any flow unit of water available to them from the water cycle. Sadly as stated it is not of a short term crisis but if seen in a medium-term-perspective, water may not be readily available to support improved life quality for this growing African population, so the economy therefore is faced with a great deal of scarcity without knowing what to do about it.

The rationing function ( a specific aspect in price mechanism) Prices serve to ration scarce resources when demand in a market outstrips supply. When there is a shortage of a product, the price is bid up - leaving only those with sufficient willingness and ability to pay with the effective demand necessary to purchase the product. In this case this countries are finidng a suitable way to solve the issues regarding issues concerning gas...

The quantity demanded of this products changing with the change in price of the products.

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 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."

China has been, is, and will continue to be a coal-powered economy. In 2007 Chinese coal production contained more energy than total Middle Eastern oil production. The rapid growth of coal demand after 2001 created supply strains and bottlenecks that raise questions about sustainability.

This article concerns the problems that are being caused by a wagon-assembly factory in India. Not only does the factory cause air-pollution through fumes, but it also causes noise-pollution and vibrations that make living in the area very uncomfortable. This clearly illustrates how the MSC is much greater than the MPC of production, and is therefore is therefore a "Negative Externality of Production".

Hello, In this article it talks about how South Sudan has suspended its oil production due to a disagreement with the Republic of the Sudan. South Sudan says it will stop its oil production because it does not want to share its revenue with Sudan. Sudan has accused the south for not paying transport fees, because the south has all the oil fields however, it relays on the north because south Sudan does not have a port and uses Sudan's port to export their oil. South Sudan claims that Sudan has stolen $350,000,000 worth of crude oil as an exchange of their transport fees. The two countries are know in Ethiopia trying to settle an agreement in which the south can use the north in order to export their oil.

This article highlights the redesign of solar manufacturing so that it is cost-efficient for the company, as well as energy-efficient for the consumers. The lower-cost manufacturing is simpler by a decision to minimize some production costs by combining the design into a "single silicon wafer processing line." Clearly, it's a variable cost, and a positive change for the firm.

This article describes the cell phone costs that one small business owner is experiencing. These cell phone costs could be both fixed and variable costs - she still has to pay her basic cell phone bill no matter how many clients she has, so that cost is fixed regardless of output, in that sense, because at a certain rate the costs are constant. However, if she has a larger number of customers, and needs to call to deal with more of these customers, therefore going over her monthly plan limits, than the cost will begin to vary, so in that sense it is a variable cost. Overall, she needs to attempt to reduce this production cost in order to gain a better profit for her business.