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This article illustrates the differing prices of Apple's iPad devices in various countries. It cites reasons such as proximity to manufacturing base, average GDP per person as reasons for the disparity in prices across the globe. The article implies that the elasticity of iPads would be different in different regions of the world. The iPad as a device is interesting in the study of elasticity as it is akin to other forms of technology that are constantly developing. With more and more technology developing, elasticities for technological products are becoming more and more elastic due to the great number of substitutes available.

This article discusses how G.E. will begin selling jet parts and technology with China which would result in a huge financial gain. The concerns are though that by releasing this technology to china they could produce the goods for cheaper and hurt the United States and that they could develop a stronger military aviation program which could hurt our own military.

manufacturing in China is about to get far more expensive.Soaring labor costs caused by worker shortages and unrest, a strengthening Chinese currency that makes exports more expensive, and inflation and rising housing costs are all threatening to sharply increase the cost of making devices like iphone

"Consumer spending makes up more than 70 percent of the economy, and it usually drives growth during economic recoveries." This article discusses how the truth is that consumer spending does not account for 70 percent of economic activity and is not the mainstay of the U. S. economy. Investment is! Business spending on capital goods, new technology, entrepreneurship, and productivity are more significant than consumer spending in sustaining the economy and a higher standard of living. In the business cycle, production and investment lead the economy into and out a recession; retail demand is the most stable component of economic activity.

This article discusses hope of Latin America's business cycle turning for the better in the future.... Boosting business confidence, increasing demand for exports, tourism, technological advances and implementation, as well as increasing consumer confidence all suggest a promising future for Latin America. Or perhaps not?

Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the nobel prize for their researches on graphene. Graphene is a new material that derives from Graphite (the inside of pencils) and it turns out to be the best heat conductor available and to be able to conduct electricity as fast as copper. Its uses are almost infinte and they predict that it might take the place of silicon for faster computers in the future.\nHaving to deal with scarcity people find clever ways to go about with what is available to them, and often by inventing new things, in this case *Graphene*, we can make better use of resources and avoid wastes of other, less efficent, materials.

Rob Dickins, former major-label boss, has sugested to slash the price of CDs to 1 puond each so as to increase the damnd for that product. The main competition of the CD industry is music piracy and downloading it for free from the internet. Cutting down the price of CDs is not the solution because, however small the price might be, it would still be more expensive than downloading it for free. Secondly, reducing the price so drastically for such a product, other than it being an insult to producers and musicians, means a very high production cost, for very low retribution.

This article talks about how pricing helps Apple, a tech corporation, to sell more products and become the no. 1 tech company in US by market capitalization.

The U.S. is pressuring China to take part to a trade of rare earths used for wind turbines or batteries. China refuses though because it must ensure that the resources they have are sufficent to cover the country's needsbefore thinkng of exporting. This indicates that the supply of rare earths is not sufficent in the countries that pressure China to export them. this concept can also be reconected to the idea of scarcity.

From Sondos, sent to Mr. Baron: Whilst theinternet and technological developments provide massive opportunities, theyalso create problems. For some time now, newspapers have seen declining sales,as more and more information becomes available online. The higher price ofbuying newspapers decreases their demand all while increasing that ofinternet-based news links. Type something into Google or any other searchengine and you will typically find thousands of relevant articles, even if thestory has only just broken. As revenue from newspaper sales falls, revenue hasto be made somewhere else to continue investment in 'frontline journalism'. Thequestion is: where will this come from?

The tragic landslides in Brazil highlight the importance of public goods. Although, it certainly was a natural disaster the government has been criticised for not alerting people to the dangers. It was well known that this mountain in this area has a lot of rocky ground, which is impervious to water. Furthermore, rapid population growth causing the building of new housing did not improve the situation. The government failed to provide basic public goods, such as monitored flood control, efficient public drainage. "The Science and Technology Minister, Aloizio Mercadante, said five million people lived in some 800 areas considered at risk of mudslides and floods. He said it would take at least four years for a nationwide alert system to be in place."

More than 13,000 people have lost or abandoned their homes because of the disaster, government has already responded to this disaster by sending extra troops, ambulances , helicopters, first aid, food, water etc. this expenditure will be covered by tax payers money, if disaster was bigger i think government wouldn't have been able to help their people, the vivid example was the earthquake in Haiti,

This article deals with a US trade watchdog that will investigate a claim by Taiwanese phone firm HTC that Apple has infringed its patents.