Group items tagged

Poverty is fueling the protests in the Middle East. This article is relevant to this week's topic because lack of education and unhealthy environment leads to low-quality human resources, and thus the slowdown in the economic growth.

This article is about how the financial crisis of 2008 has affected the market for luxury yachts in the Middle East. The article reports that sales of leisure boats are expected to plunge up to 75% as people are less willing to splurge on luxury goods. This shows that the YED for luxury yachts is relatively elastic, as the loss of income resulting from the crisis has caused a greater than proportional change in quantity demanded.

This article speaks about how the balance of economic power has started shifting form the West to the east and talks about the role that developing countries have played as we approach the 10th anniversary of the Doha Development Agenda

This article is about how rising food prices, recently aggravated by unrest in the Middle East, have rapidly been "pushing" many people below the poverty threshold. 44 million people are now below the threshold of extreme poverty.

The World Bank and IMF are calling for support for Middle Eastern nations, arguing that higher food and oil prices, and a jobless economic recovery, will harm nations in the region. The World Bank and IMF are saying that, in the long run, lack of involvement in the Middle East will cause a downturn in the economy - and an increase in poverty.

This article is about market for high-end and luxury goods in Asia. With an increase in income and spending power, there has been an increase in the demand for luxury goods.The article also highlights the movement of these luxury markets from NY and Geneva as a result of the economic crisis. Income has decreased in these places, therefore demand for luxury items has decreased.

This article describes how, in the midst of the economic downturn, hard-hit Eastern European countries are increasing taxes on cigarette and alcohol - goods with relatively inelastic demand curves - in an attempt to raise government revenue. A problem that many of these countries face is that a large proportion of alcohol and cigarettes are produced and sold without license/illegally, making it difficult for governments to collect revenue.