Economics HL - Jacob Solomon's group - Year 1

This article from New York is about air quality. New York recently failed an air quality standard test, from a company that has according to the paper a monopoly in their market, and whether it is right that this is the case.

This artcile concerns the big American beer companies, and states that how in a time of economic recession and with beer sales slumping, how the big companie re maintaining high prices, and that quite simply the smaller companies cannot compete with these powerhouses in alcoholic drinks industries anymore.

"There is no conspiracy between the major banks, smaller banks, building societies and the RBA" ... Steven Munchenberg. Photo: Justin McManus The Australian banking sector has hit back after an offshore analyst cast doubts on the arguments used by the local sector for justifying lifting mortgage rates independently of the Reserve Bank this month. Furthermore, this article goes onto explain, in much detail, the situation and context of an oligopoly in the Australian banking industry.

This article outlines the consistent debate over nutrition, especially in schools. The beneficial externalities are obvious in an increase in health for the student, as well as the encouraged development of healthy eating. However, if junk-foods are so much easier to obtain and the number of un-educated consumers in terms of nutrition are so low, the public will be more inclined to just keep eating in their old habits. How on earth can the government effectively change this situation for the betterment of society?

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 discusses the issue in the state of California of poor road quality. It is causing citizens to pay extra money each year for car repairs...the money for car repairs in California exceeds every other state. So this article shows an example of poor quality public goods. Like I mentioned in my comment in the class discussion, government intervention eliminates competition, which can lead to a poor quality product...well this is an example of poor quality public good. No toll highway or road would ever be poor quality and have holes and bumps.

Schooling and education is a public good as it does not recieve a profit however, this article shows that at the moment it may be costing the government too much and they have decided that they have to cut back on what they are spending on it. No other companies would provide it as they will not get a profit out of it.

This article is about cuts for schools. There will be less money for public schools. Since schooling is a public good, this article applies to this weeks work.

This article talks about how negative externalities links to taxes and how it can affect a person. It compares taxing soda with other products like fuel, cigarettes etc. and how the government makes decisions on what to tax. Quote the article: "Even as adults, we sometimes wish for parents to be looking over our shoulders and guiding us to the right decisions. The question is, do you trust the government enough to appoint it your guardian?"

This article talks about how the rainy season in Malaysia has affected the roads in Johor Bahru (JB). The potholes raises the risk of accidents and contributes to noise pollution. "There are already many of my friends poking fun that JB means (Jalan Berlubang)." ---- Jalan Berlubang is Malaysian for roads with holes!

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.

Apple sidesteps iPad ban in Shanghai, but Proview is far from done A lower court says Apple will be allowed to sell the iPad around Shanghai, but similar attempts to ban the device are being brought to other courts around the country. One down, many, many more to go. This comments on the monopoly apple is wanting to make, in the market yet struggling but showing power.

This article is about how in China the state always has control of the market and doesn't allow things like monopolies and ologopolies to exist that often and that they are always the ones who decide what happens in the end even if it seems as though the consumers are the ones that are making the decision.

This article discusses how new technology (as well as government subsidies) are allowing the costs of production of wind turbines and wind-generated electricity to decrease.

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 talks about how forecasting demand influences the setting of prices. Producers use online tools to predict demand and hence set the prices. If generally consumers are confident with the products, the demand rises, and equilibrium prices will go up because the demand curve shifts to the right. When supply and demand are almost at equilibrium, the prices will tend to become more stable.

This is 'bout the elasticity of oil. The price of oil is increasing. Will people now start to use trains/etc. more?

This article is concerned with a very clear case of a resource's scarcity, and one that affects us all. Oil prices have been climbing dramatically recently, due to the fact that there isn't enough of the scarce resource to satisfy the unlimited wants that we have for it.

This article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how the Bank of Korea in South Korea lowered its economic forecasts. It also discusses that the BOK has announced that the inflation rate is within the target range for SK; 2%-4%.

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.

The UK has the highest level of inflation in Western Europe and only three countries in the EU have a higher rate, according to the office of statistics the EU, Eurostat. Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics announced the CPI annual inflation rate in the UK rose to 4.4 per cent in February, its highest level since 2008.