IB Econ HL Section B

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Julia, make sure to give a short description of the article and to explain how it relates to the topic on the tag.

With growing health concerns like obesity and diabetes, the US government is considering placing an additional tax on sugary drinks. The profits from the tax could go to fund health care initiatives. Soda is fairly price elastic - if the price were to change drastically, the demand for it would most likely decrease. So, either people will immediately curb their appetite, or the government will take the additional profits from the tax to educate the population about the adverse effects of sugar overdose.

Apple will host a product event on Jan. 27, giving chief executive Steve Jobs a chance to unveil a long-rumored, touch-screen tablet device for surfing the Web and playing movies and music. This is an example of non-pricing competition because Apple is introducing a new product through product innovation and improved technology. Apple has been succesfull in grabbing the consumer's hearts with their unique design and functions.

The french government has implemented a tax on carbon, aiming to "solely" reduce the use of fossil fuels. Sarkozy explains that this benevolent and kind action is for the greater good, to "save the human race."

This article is about the illegally exported wood from Madagascar. This represents a market failure, as the depletion of the wood is an environmental concern. The less trees there are, the less habitats there are, and biodiversity will decrease.

The demand for plastics has increased and is expected to grow even stronger due to the eradication of taxes by the government, which has logically lowered prices. Elasticity is here referred to as demand for plastic increases due to the decrease in prices. However, plastics industry fears a decrease in demand if taxes are re-established; referring to elasticity as well.

In this article New York City's health commissioner believes that the demand for cigarettes is price elastic and that with a high enough increase in price, there will be a large decrease in demand. This is contrary to the the notion that addictive goods have inelastic price elasticity of demand.

This article talks about the recent food crisis and its origins. It describes the various ways in which demand has increased, and thus how prices have increased. It also talks about how the market should respond to lower prices.

Unemployment is a growing problem in the United States. The government has gone as far as to give incentives to businesses to create new jobs or rekindle old ones. However, the incentives do little to help when businesses keep the money in their savings... This article examines what's going on in the economy now, as well as what we can see in the future in terms of employment (or, in this case, unemployment).

This article centers around President Obama's attempt to reduce unemployment and create jobs through encouraging exports. As American products find new overseas markets, aggregate demand will increase. Firms will then increase their demand for labor, reducing unemployment.

This article from BBC NEWS - WORLD ECONMY to alert bankers that they must realise that world has changed. Alistair Darling said that the party has got to be over for bankers; he wants to use some regulations to force banks to limit the proportion of their profits that they can give out in bonuses and make sure there are no rewards for failure. Mr. darling wants the bankers to behave sensibly at some situations. Mr. Darling's idea is to also have blacklist of countries that are regulatory havens where the rules and regulations companies have to follow are less onerous. In conclusion we could say that this article relates to scarcity because bankers wants to get more and more profits without thinking sensibly, that is why Mr. Darling needs to limit them.

Consumer prices in Japan have dropped by 2.4% in August. This was due to lower petrol and energy costs, as well as decreased demand. The central bank says that low interest rates and stimulus packages will prevent deflation. This article shows the importance of prices in a country's economy.

The article discusses a proposal by the Scottish government to impose a minimum price on alcohol in order to reduce the 'harmful effects of drinking'. Estimates conclude that this would save Scotland 950 million pounds over 10 years. Currently there is no concrete plan for a minimum price but the government is proposing an extra 40p per unit of alcohol.

China stated that the appreciation of Yuan will not solve trade imbalance with United States. China have continued to execute monetary policy to curb its inflationary pressure.

While Chinese officials said they will take measures to solve trade imbalances between the United States and China, they also said that the appreciation of the Yuan will not solve trade imbalance.

In this article BBC special correspondent Tom Feilden 'looks at the reasons why the era of cheap food is coming to an end'. The article describes how the prices of basic foodstuffs around the world are rising at a rapid rate. It explains that a population boom and economic growth created a new middle class which drastically increased food consumption. This excess demand over supply has therefore hiked up food prices considerably.

This article talks about the merge between Kraft and Cadbury, and Warren Buffett's criticism of the merge. The acquisition of Cadbury is not cheap: it is an approximate 19.6 billion dollars. Will the decision improve Kraft's overall worth and standing in the market?

Many nations (such as the United States) depend on nuclear energy. In U.S., for example, nuclear power makes up approximately 20 percent of the total energy used. However, nuclear power produces nuclear waste, a dangerous negative externality. This article examines the negative impacts of nuclear waste and how it can be handled in the future.

As growth in national economies continues to falter, many countries are attempting to increase their domestic prosperity by discouraging the sale of foreign products. With tariffs and other protective measures, countries are decreasing free trade in the interest of assissting domestic producers.

The Canadian methonal producer Methanex is planning to start operating its second methanol power plant to operate two plants at reduce rates and increase production rate by 20% over the next year. Productivity is major factor that influences that Average Cost of the gas consumption.

This article reports on the a small Sri Lankan tea company called Dilmah challenging the world's transnational tea manufacturers like Twinings and Lipton. Dilmah is selling high-quality, exclusive teas at higher price than the market price. Ultimately, Dilmah is selling the "exclusiveness" rather than the actual price.

This article is about a small company of Sri Lankan tea called "Dilmah". The tea factory is challenging the world´s transnational tea manufactures such as Lipton and Twinings. It is selling high quality, Dilmah is selling select and exclusive teas at higher prices. so we can say that the company is selling exclusiveness rather than the actual price.

They have excellent tea, actually.