IB Econ HL Section B

This article talks about the cost of falling energy prices for Exxon. Because prices are dropping, the company is not making as much revenue. This means that the costs of production are not offset as much by the revenue. With the falling prices, the company is less able to pay the costs.

This article from the Global Times is about how rising oil prices are affecting logistics firms. As logistics firms are involved with the transport of goods, oil constitutes a large part of their costs. In the past, these companies have been able to neutralize rising costs by increasing their service fees, but now that the economy is on the rebound, this isn't as easy.

Mexico is heavily dependent on oil funds. However, amidst the decline of the oil revenue, lawmakers have proposed an increase in the nations VAT to offset losses. Will the raise in taxes help Mexico's economy? Or is it a tax that is unfair to the nation's population?

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.

The government of Switzerland is planning to impose tax on nuclear energy to fund other renewable energy sources. Nuclear powerplants have been give a longer "life-span" from 40 years to 55 years. Supporters for this taxation say that Extra profit created from the nuclear energy could go toward renewable energies such as solar, geothermal or wind power. However, the nuclear safety issues and alternative taxation are still in questions.

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 articals explains how seafood at a large canadian seafood company try to keep steady prices with a very inacurate knoledge of what fish will be caught and the demand on that determined by price of the amount of fish in the stores. Currency can rapidly rise and fall in canada for fish markets suffer.

With the current recession, many consumers have switched from luxury car brands to inferior ones. With the decrease in income, people have switched to car brands that are more affordable but still enable mobility. As a result, the luxury car industry has seen a decrease in sales from previous years.

This article is about imposing a tax for the sole purpose of increasing revenue to put towards health care. The article talks about putting a percentage tax on all goods. In total, the burden of the tax should be spread out as there is a range of elasticities of goods being taxed.

Many economists and policymakers are considering the idea of a tax credit to American companies that create new jobs. This is intended to encourage companies to begin hiring again by making it cheaper to get new workers. Lawmakers hope this will help reduce unemployment.

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."

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.

This article promotes Portugal as a place where to buy houses for summer and holidays; it refers to elasticity as the propaganda views that during holidays there will probably be an increase in demand due to the remanining accessible prices of houses in Porto and Lisbon. Since prices are good, demand at summer will tend to increase.

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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.

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.

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.

The price controls implemented on products like seamless steel pipes have caused a glitch in fair trade worldwide. As a result, imports from China have surged and domestic producers have accused the Chinese government of setting unfairly low prices. Another problem undergoing scrutiny is whether or not Beijing has been manipulating its currency.

The prices of the once popular Crocs must now be altered to suit the falling demand in the market. When Crocs hit their peak popularity, the demand for the shoes increased greatly. Millions of pairs of shoes were produced and sold. Then, demand fell but supply was still high, and now the prices Crocs are selling for must be adjusted so that the demand for them will potentially increase once again.

With the increasing demand for oil, developers are looking into projects like the Lower Tertiary in the Gulf of Mexico. While such developments could produce as many as 15 million barrels of oil, they would also be plunges into the unknown. Not much is known about the Lower Tertiary, and therefore any possible developments there could obtain less oil - and less profit. However, because oil is in such high demand internationally, the oil developments may actually prove to be economically beneficial to oil producers, given that the producers are willing to take the high risk in searching for the oil.