Group items tagged

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia has recently signed the Industrial Law into effect, which aims to reduce the country's dependency on imported components and machinery for the manufacture of goods. Indonesia has been experiencing larger trade deficits recently due to increasing costs in these imports, but an ISI strategy would allow the country to replace the imports with additional exports. However, the implementation of the policy is not likely to be flawless and needs to be done quickly, in time for the new ASEAN Economic Community that will go into effect in 2015. Indonesia's markets must be ready by this time to be sure that they can handle the increased traffic that will occur as a result of the economic agreement.

The gap between imports and exports in Pakistan is spurring the need for import substitution within Pakistan. However, their food industry is growing and that is expanding Pakistan's global reach.

This article discusses how the Pakistan economy needs import substation in order to decrease the trade deficit it is experiencing. 

A combination of lower imports and increased exports have led to an improvement in the balance of payments of the country of Lebanon. The country has in past years imported several times more the amount that it exports, which had led to a great deficit of trade. Due to a slowing economy, imports have decreased enough to begin to improve the deficit. In addition, an emphasis placed on the service export sector (health care, education, etc.) has contributed to the improvement.

This article talks about import restrictions to protect the olive oil industry in the United States. They are lobbying the government to put stronger restrictions on olive oil imports so that their internal industry, domestic market, can thrive. They are also accentuating the promotion of their domestic product in the market

This article talks about how rising oil prices have led to an increase in imports in Indonesia

This articles states that the slowing down of gold imports has made "India's current-account deficit... the lowest level since 2010... offering a potential boost for the nation's currency."

This article talks about how taxes on gold imports have decreased the imports and led to a decrease in the current account deficit.

This article is interesting because it is quite important in terms of the impact it could have on the U.S. India is one of very few countries near the Middle East that is "stable" at the moment, and the U.S. as a country imports quite a bit of its oil from the Middle East. This is very closely related to what we have been studying this week, in that when something is scarce, or demand is high, prices elevate. Not only is it a good decision on India's part to raise prices because it will help their own national fiscal rating, but it will also take advantage of the fact that many countries will begin turning to them as a primary source of oil / diesel until the situations in the arab spring are resolved. India is doing a smart thing fiscally, while capitalizing on unrest in the arab spring and maximizing their profit during this time of high interest in the good that they have to offer.

Louis Hobeika, an economics and finance professor, has stated that "the slowdown in economic activities this year was translated into lower imports and therefore a lower deficit in the balance of trade, which resulted in the shrinking in the balance of payments deficit."

This article discusses the relationship between the cost of living and quality of life. Mainly, whether a high cost of living offsets the happiness that results from a higher standard of living. The United Arab Emirates was recently ranked among the top 30 happiest countries in the world. It may be a very expensive country to live in however compared to others in the region like Oman, yet the country provides excellent educational opportunities and healthcare. It is important when considering the standard of living to also think about the cost of living in an area, because while one country may provide its residents with a happier lifestyle it may come with a much larger price.

This article talks about how Japan is keeping tariffs on bean imports in order to protect the country's crop rotation system. 

The articled is talking about NEW DELHI that the government reduced the import tariff value of gold and silver to $418 per 10 gram and $699 per kg, respectively, in line with global rates of the precious metals.The tariff value, the base price at which the customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing, stood at $436 per 10 grams for gold and $702 per kg for silver during the last fortnight.

India, due to its plans to discourage gold imports, is increasing tariffs on Dubai. Dubai, a major provider of gold for India, is suffering because of the new tariff. As India was Dubais top trading partner; purchasing about 50% of Dubais gold. However, the tariff on Dubai gold imports have not stopped the trade, not in the least. In fact due to the tariff, more illegal transactions are underway to obtain gold.

The article talks about positive externalities in relation to hybrid cars. The marginal private cost is higher than the marginal social cost therefore there is an excess demand for P1 price. it then talks about how the government wants to subsidize hybrid cars that are more eco friendly and gas efficient but they aren't that subsidized as other projects are more important such as health care

This article talked about eBay increasing their revenue in double digit percentage and brought in 1.8 million$ last quarter. They were able to do so because in the long run they planned ahead and predicted that mobile phones would become a platform for commerce, so eBay used PayPal to make a lead in mobile payment, which gave them more market share. eBay was also experimenting with new app called eBay Now, which allows customers to buy goods from their phones from Macy's Target and Walgreens and have them delivered the same day. So we can see how important it is for a form to plan ahead in the long run: it decides the revenue for the firm in future.

This really short article, i think, represents the real world problems of price marketing on a global scale. There is a bit of tension between two country's, West Benegal and India, over the price of coal. India is not cooperating with their usual partner to lower the price, and Benegal thinks that the importing cost is insanely high, thus we have a bit of a problem.

This article mainly discusses the economic policies of Representative Paul Ryan involving his concerns that continuing budget deficits will eventually lead to high rates of inflation. The author evaluates a theory regarding the importance of government policy on the price level of the economy. The view states that there is only one point of equilibrium in the macroeconomy where Aggregate Supply will equal Aggregate Demand, and the changing policies of the government play a crucial role in meeting that equilibrium by affecting not only the value of business assets but also people's expectations.

This article discusses the delicate balance between fiscal and monetary policy. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Eric Rosengren, blames inefficient fiscal policy on the little-effect monetary policy is having on the economy. He argues that tight fiscal policy, or contractionary strategies, are making it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to lower the unemployment rate. However, it is important to understand that monetary or fiscal policy is not better than the other. Instead, it is likely to take a combination of strategies to combat problems in the economy.

I found this article to be very interesting, because i think it is important to stay up to date with all the current events around the world in terms of politics and the economy etc... However for the past few years i had always thought of Brazil being a very big economic growth country seeing as it was part of the "B.R.I.C." s but in this article from the LA times they say that Brazil fell short of their projections and are looking for a way to regain their original growth rate.

A clinic magager discussed the importance of a well organized and maintain office. He suggests that it gives a good first impression and makes the work space more efficient.