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Home/ IB Economics HL 2010-2012/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by Waller Alexander

Contents contributed and discussions participated by Waller Alexander

Waller Alexander

Japan thanks Taiwan for quake aid - Taipei Times - 0 views

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    Japan, as we know, was devastated by the earthquake last year. This article is just thanking the world for all the aid. This article indirectly shows that the right sort of aid to a country with a stable political sector will ultimately help the country. 
Waller Alexander

World Bank sees FDI streaming into Nigeria, others in 2012 - 0 views

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    This is an article about how there is more FDI going towards Nigeria and other parts of Africa. This will help the African nations if the politics around the investment are controlled. Usually there will be a increase in the wealthier population and an increase in the poorer population without much growth to the middle class
Waller Alexander

BBC News - China's exports and imports dip raising growth concerns - 0 views

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    This article is about how China's exports have decreased and this small decrease has proportionally decreased the economic growth rate. 
Waller Alexander

Poverty and Bloodstream Infections Linked - 1 views

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    This is an interesting article relating the amount of infections in a society and the poverty rate. 
Waller Alexander

China Plans Unified Survey to Gauge Wealth Gap, Daily Reports - Bloomberg - 0 views

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    This article discusses China's income distribution gap. It also relates to the methods used and the dishonesty China has presented previously. Philosophically, there should be no income gap because of the basic concepts of communism, but this is not the case.
Waller Alexander

Malaysia's trade growth seen at 6% - 0 views

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    This is an article about how Malaysia's terms of trade is improving. 
Waller Alexander

W.C. Varones: Fed to Devalue Dollar by 33% Over Next 20 Years - 0 views

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    The Federal Bank wishes to devalue the dollar by 33% over the next 20 years to put Obama's "American Production Power House" idea under way. Obama wants to make America the major exporter that it was in the 1920's but he is kind of cheating. Instead of devaluing the dollar to make exports more attractive, why not create avenues for  entrepreneurship?
Waller Alexander

China Economy | Yuan Devaluation - 1 views

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    This is a very interesting article about how Chinese economists are going to raise the value of the yuan. It seems that there are outreaching effects in the United States - the exports from China will raise in price and therefore Americans' disposable income will start to decrease. 
Waller Alexander

Fuel bills: Trouble turning up the heat | The Economist - 0 views

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    This article is about how consumers are paying more for fuel than they have before. The "Big Six" says that it is because of the "opacity" in the price system. This is due to tariffs. There is a "lack of competition" because consumers are unable to verify which prices are the lowest due to the tariffs. Consumers may be purchasing energy from the least efficient company and not know it due to the artificial prices due to tariffs. There are also two other problems. In a supply and demand graph with a tariff in place, one expects that when a tariff is set, the demand will decrease; this is not totally true for energy. Energy is a very price inelastic good and therefore the quantity demanded will not change by much when the price is artificially risen. The other problem with this scenario is that there are only six major energy producers, the "Big Six". This market is a very oligopolist market. There might be a decline in competition simply due to the "Big Six" working as a group to form an imperfect market. 
Waller Alexander

Protectionism in Argentina: Keep out | The Economist - 3 views

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    This article is about how the Argentinian government is protecting the domestic production of BlackBerrys in order to "cut foreigners' share of Argentina's mobile-phone market". Even though this seems to be a valid case of protectionism, it will "cost $23m upfront, plus $4,500-5,000 a month per worker, some 15 times more than in Asia". This is because Asian laborers and factories have already perfected the production of cell phones. They have the 'factor endowment' in the production of cell phones. This is because to start a factory in Asia, the price is already low. Also the labor is cheap and skilled. The start up price for this endeavor is already going to be $23m, they will also have to train the workers and pay them more than they would if the Argentinian companies outsourced the production to Asia. Another problem with the domestic production of cell phones in Argentina is that Argentina, at this moment, is not known for their production of cell phones. They are not a place in which companies like Motorola or Nokia look for to manufacture their products.  Argentina could do this but it will take them a long time before they clean of their capital debt. In the short run, they will not make any money but nobody knows for sure what the long run has in store for this unorthodox market. In my opinion, Argentina should focus its money on something that will be profitable not only in the long run but also in the short run. This is possible. Argentina has a factor endowment, its tourism. It does not take that much money and effort to increase the amount of tourism in a country that is obviously beautiful and worth seeing. Even if they were not to invest in tourism, they could focus on, for instance, the exporting of more beef or fish. These are things that people already are accustomed to getting from Argentina. It all bundles down to this: when you think about Japanese production, you think cars and phones. When you think about Argentinian production, you
Waller Alexander

Sin, politics and economics in Nevada: The trouble with sin as comparative advantage | ... - 0 views

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    This article is saying how a land as barren as that of Nevada, can still make for good trade. Nevada has made itself a place where questionable events may be held. By doing this they give them self the comparative advantage in tourism. Tourism may not seem like a good but it is. Nevada, by hosting these events, give the tourist an incentive to come. Nevada has made itself more profitable than other tourist destinations by having things such as Boxing and Prostitution. In the interstate/international market for tourism, Nevada has made itself a top competitor.  In the economic terms, Nevada can produce certain services (prostitution, casinos, boxing,...etc) with less opportunity costs (prison, fines, fees,...etc) than the leading competitor. Also it is in a prime location. People from all over the states can fly or drive to Nevada to see the shows and events that would be illegal elsewhere.  This truly shows that with smart planning, any country/entity has the ability to trade successfully. 
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