Group items tagged

This article considers what governments should 'spend their money on'. Apparently, economists seem to have the answer to that question: lighthouses and autopsies; public goods that "we all need, that will make our lives better, but that the market will not and cannot provide". Other public goods that the society would benefit from when financially supported by the government are also mentioned in the article, examples of those are: court systems, the military, etc. The debate does not stop here however for another question arises: How MUCH should the government invest in each of the public goods that need to be provided?

In Jakarta, Indonesia, the Transportation Ministry plans to give yellow license plates to vehicles transporting public goods so they can receive subsidized fuel with hopes of making up for the positive externalities of consumption conferred by these public goods.

This article explains public goods and services with some real case examples. The article focuses on what is public goods rather than real case example

The article discusses the price mechanism as a signal for allocation of resources in two markets - consumers goods and stock market. A rational perspective would assume that as demand rises, suppliers are attracted to the particular product as they see incentive for profit and thus supply extends and prices rise. This then has the opposite effect as since prices are high, demand contracts. This self-correcting mechanism is in place for the market of consumer goods, as the article discusses. Eventually, price will return to equilibrium. However, in the case of stocks, as prices of stocks rise, investors are more attracted to the stock as they see incentive for capital gain. Thus demand extends, contrary to the rational model observed in the market for consumer goods. Nevertheless, the article provides supports the notion that as demand rises, prices rise and more of that particular good/service is supplied to the market.

The article raises an interesting point regarding the use of public good expenditure as a stimulant for the economy and job creation - thus creating an overall positive benefit for society. It also discusses expenditure conflicts between provision of different types of infrastructure e.g. roads or highways as transportation infrastructure. Ultimately, it states that the US should spend more on public goods oriented around job creation to benefit the economy.

This article is about cigarettes and plastic bags being a public good and their consequences. There are issues in different countries with these goods and the author talks about what people do against that.

This Article highlights the problem of water scarcity in war-torn Iraq. The Scarcity of Water has caused the government to make it a priority in solving this problem along with UNESCO and the EU. Any story that involves Iraqi politicians cooperating to solve an issue must be a good sign weither they accomplish it or not. This Scarcity is a central and unifying issue and ironically may produce positive effects.

Nabil, I find this interesting since it associates scarcity with water. I recently read an article that talked about the implications of bottled water being treated as a luxury good in developed nations (branded water even!). And in your article water is being discussed as a scarce resource. Clearly, it would make more moral sense for less water to be sold as a luxury and more distributed to areas where it's scarce, but the profit motive steers the practice in another direction altogether!

Nabil, I also find this particularly interesting because I've always wondered about whether or not water availability will decrease as time progresses and the amount of human beings in the planet increases. I have always thought of water as being incredibly cheap if not completely free (go to a river and sip some water), and this makes it hard for me to think of water as being something that will be depleted any time soon.

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 explains how demand for financial assets is different from that of regular goods.

"Putting caps on prices is only a short-term solution" Asian countries, China, Malaysia, and the like, are reluctant to raise prices on fundamental goods such as food and petrol. This allows the people of the country to have access to cheap petrol and thus more motivation for actions which lead to economic growth using petrol. Although the price caps seem beneficial for the country, that is only true in the short run. In the long run, the price caps will increase consumption in the country, and thus increase the demand for more crude oil from abroad which will lead to a rise in global prices of crude oil. Thus, looking ahead, it is for their own sakes that Asian countries should cut down on their price controls on such goods.

This is an article regarding the current situation in Uganda regarding their governments economics and refers to what they are attempting to do with public goods several times. It is somewhat on a commentary of the structure of the the economy of Uganda.

An article talking about the fiscal details of a lighthouse, which is a public good.

As the recession crawls on we see the reduction of many public goods. In this NY times article we hear about the cuts to military spending in the USA. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to cut 78 BIllion dollars of the military budget in five years.

This article touches on how there has been a recent escalation in military pursuits in Afghanistan. This is an example of a public good because the military is non-exclusive, as everybody is subject to the benefits (and side effects) to the actions the military is taking.

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.

This article considers the possible measures that the Maldives should consider in order to develop its not yet fully matured economy. Today, government intervention to reduce or diminish market failure takes many forms: direct controls, government regulation, government subsidies, taxation of negative externality engendering goods, etc. However, it has been strongly suggested that for a developing country such as the Maldives, "and given that there is no one perfect model of state involvement in the economy, effective and well managed Public Enterprises need to play a vital and integral role of the national economy." Further solutions for market failure in the Maldives are also discussed.

Wikileaks might choose to relase the names of people and firms in posession of "black, unaccounted money". If it chooses to do so the CPI will use this money for pubblic goods. This would greatly benefit the economy from a pubblic point of view and would also probably prevent people from creating illegal bank accounts to evade taxes in the future.

Good article to talk about unemployment. Not only does it talk about the unemployment rates in the last few months in the US but it also talks about which job sectors are hiring (a good example of structural unemployment/employment)

"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.

"The chain of logic for supply-side policies to work requires the following. Lower tax rates on savings (or on those who save more) leads to higher saving rates. Higher saving leads to more economic investments and greater capital accumulation. Finally, more capital leads to greater economic growth. At each of these steps, however, there is reason to doubt the theory-there are other possible outcomes and conflicting theories. Rep. Ryan's plan is supply-side economics on steroids. His budget for fiscal year 2012 beginning in October would curtail spending, end Medicare as we know it, and reduce taxes on the wealthy while keeping overall tax revenue constant. This can only mean taxes will go up on the "nonwealthy." Ryan boasts that all this pain will be for good. And he is backed by the Heritage Foundation, which predicts-among other fantastical claims-that his budget will add an estimated additional 1 million jobs in 2012. Those 1 million jobs, however, are fictional."