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The Japanese automobile maker Nissan announced a couple years ago its plans for a new completely electric car, the Nissan Leaf. However, sales in the United States have been fairly low, only selling 10,000 of the cars in 2012. The reason for the small amount of sales is believed to be caused by its high price, due to an expensive and large battery back in the car, and the fact that the car has a small 80 mile range. In hopes to increase sales, the company is beginning to start production here in the United States. Producing the product closer to where it will be purchased will reduce production costs for the company, allowing it to decrease the price of the car and leading, hopefully, to an increase in demand.

Nissan is opening up a production plant in the U.S. to produce their car, the Leaf electric car. This is the first production plant. The short term is the building of the plant, which should decrease unit costs because they will no longer need to transport the cars to the U.S. The long term is the plan to create new technology to improve the car (battery, charging, etc.) and hopefully increase the demand, which could reduce unit costs even further. 

This article is interesting due to the fact that it provides an overview of the changes in taxes in the United States. It is also interesting how taxing Cannabis will affect the market for it and the economy of the states.

Economies of scale is the increase in efficiency as a company gets bigger. In this case the economy of scale is the creation of larger shipping containers. The great thing about scales of economy is that it has lowered the production cost of products such as the creation of t- shirts for some companies. However as companies have more products to they needed bigger containers to transport their goods. As the supple of t- shirts increases the size of the ship that transports the goods needs to increase in size as well. Maersk lines , the world's biggest shipping container company has decided to increase the size of his ships. The company plans to build 20 ships with a capacity of carrying 18,000 twenty-foot equal units. The company does this out of efficeny in transportation and gas cost. The larger the ship the more it can carry and the less times the ship will have to travel back and forth to transport goods. The increase in ship size than is an example of the economies of scale when bigger = more efficient.

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 is a perfect departure from our unit on developmental economics as it is an agglomeration of the spectrum of sub topics we covered these past few weeks. It perfectly and graciously includes various background knowledge that we have learnt and very thought-provoking insights into the ramifications to globalisation.

A new report from the Census Bureau shows that despite signs that the economy is improving in the United States, including dropping unemployment and increasing economic growth, the distribution of income in the country remains the same. Gains have been made for the top 5% of earners yet many others remain reliant on government aid. This brings up an important issue regarding what economic growth actually means for the people of a country. Although the economy may be expanding, the standard of living for struggling families may not be improving.

A recent agreement between Canada and the European Union has created a free-trade condition between the two countries. The action is intended to have beneficial effects for both parties, including new jobs and additional demand for businesses in Canada. In addition, it is likely to reduce the country's dependency on the United States, with which it has traded freely since 1987. People hope that this agreement will eventually lead to a larger free-trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, but not much progress has yet been made.

Due to a combination of factors, the value of the Euro is expected to depreciate relative to the United States Dollar in the next few days. The European Central Bank lowered its base interest rates to their lowest levels in many years due to an issue of stagflation (no growth, high inflation) which is expected to decrease the value of the currency further. Meanwhile, economic growth in the US has exceeded expectations, making it likely that the value of the Euro will fall very again very soon.

This article focuses on the upcoming challenges and goals of the United Nations climate talks in Doha, Qatar. The talks aim to discuss how to remedy global warming that could lead to a planet up to 6 degrees warmer in the future. To do this, carbon emissions must decrease by about 5% each year. Topics at the talks may include current issues of greenhouse gas pollution and deforestation, especially with improvements of the carbon market. Businesses may soon face strong encouragement to accept these proposals, as climate change begins to result in not only impact on society but also private costs of businesses. These externalities, previously external but becoming increasingly internal, may soon force large business leaders to reconsider their impact on the environment.

This article from the Huffington Post explains why Fedex, the popular express mail company, is cutting jobs in the united states and over seas to save a more money as 2012 was not a good year for fedex. They expect to save 300 million in fuel alone from the job shredding. Very interesting article as it shows why companies would cut jobs to save more money, basically a way of thinking put in place by President Reagan long ago.

Because the production cost of energy was greater than the actual price of these energy, a tariff was put on Chinese manufacturers who provided cheaper alternatives for energy for the United States. This led to an increase in demand for wind power in America.

This article discusses the lawsuit of Standard & Poor's, one of the largest credit ratings agencies, sued by the Justice Department of the United States. The lawsuit is over accusations that the agency unfairly tilted its ratings in favor of certain companies, thus contributing to the financial recession. However, the author of this article also discusses the oligopolistic characteristics, , of the three largest credit ratings agencies (Moody's, S&P, and Fitch) such as mimicking each other's ratings, and calls for the breaking up of these firms to correct the industry.

This article speaks about a trending topic her in the US which is that of increasing the minimum wage from $7.50 to $9.00 or just around that. This would be a step in the right direction because it would increase the nation's overall per capita salary. What is also interesting is that the minimum wage in the united states is not adjusted to the rate of annual inflation (3%), only ten states are the wages adjusted. The bill in congress would include after a certain time that the wages start to be adjusted with inflation annually.

The article is talking about the strengthening housing recovery and robust auto sales contributed to moderate growth across the United States.Employers added only 88,000 jobs in March, a sharp slowdown from average gains of 220,000 in November through February. And consumers cut back on their spending at retail stores and restaurants last month, a sign that higher Social Security taxes have made more Americans cautious about spending.Debate was about Fed policymakers about when to rein in the bond-buying program, which began last fall.The Fed is expected to stick with plans to keep short-term interest rates at record lows at least until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent. And it will likely continue purchasing $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds to lower long-term rates and encouraging more borrowing.

This article from the Huffington Post is talking about the dilemma between dealing with the "slightly high" inflation rate in the united states or the higher unemployment rate. This article suggests that instead of dealing with the inflation they should put more focus on the unemployment rate because in the long run the government will benefit from it more. Really interesting article i recommend all of you to read it.

This article showed the relation between the price and demand. The oil companies need guar gum powder for fracking to get oil, this increase the demand of guar and the guar price rised up. In our textbook, the relationship is a little bit different. Our textbook said as the price increase the demand of the product will increase, where as in this article as the demand increase the price will increase. This article showed me the mutual relation between the price and the demand.

This article talks about the rising tensions in the middle east and its effect on the price of oil in the world. As the middle east supplies most of the world with oil, the recent demonstrations in Libya and Egypt, and the sanctions on Iran are causing oil prices to rise. The threat of higher prices due to the fact that only a few countries control the limited oil supply in the world is causing increased pressure on the United States to release their oil supplies.

I like how you identified that all of this forces the U.S. to consider releasing their oil supplies. Some problems with this are that it is currently not possible to do so in the areas where oil is most abundant. After the B.P. oil spill, the current administration put a time ban on all off-shore drilling and new construction. If this ban were to be lifted, companies like B.P., Shell, and Marathon would begin constructing new refinement plants and drilling facilities immediately, which would significantly reduce the price of oil at home. When some people here this, their inclination is to say "the government has good reason to do this, look at what happened in the gulf, it is better to ere on the side of caution," but the sad thing is, these companies have put forth revised safety plans as well as contingency plans that have all been approved, but legally, they can do nothing. The companies own the land / water as well, which in my mind makes the fact that they are prohibited to build on land that they own that has never been part of a reserve or park seem a tad bit anti-constitutional, but until the piece of legislation is overturned, prices will continue to rise.

American president, Barak Obama enforces trade laws to maintain their countries products and services . This news seems like there's going to be big conflict in between two countries, United States and China.

As you all know water is a necessity for us to survive in this planet, but sadly it is available to everyone as freely as it is to some people. According to the United Nations, by the year 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries with absolute water scarcity.

I quite interested in the article because water scarcity is one of the most serious problem around the world. Scarcity is increasing rapidly form day to day and it will destroy the world if it keeps going. So Your explanation of article is short and very clear it is like a brief summary in 2 sentences.

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.