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Google has struck a deal with the FTC about their current antitrust lawsuit. Google currently has a major monopoly over the internet market. As a result of the deal, they have to change the way they do business in order to ensure that competition is more fair.

Another merger that was going to and is in the process of happening is one between Corona beer and Budweiser. Both brands wanted to merge and this is obviously already in an oligopoly market therefore they would account for nearly 46% of sales. However this has been met with opposition, with appeals from the government.

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 is a fairly recent article that talks about international trading. Particularly, it talks about a free trade agreement that will soon be finalised between countries that could potentially represent 1/3 of global output. This free trade agreements seeks to reduce barriers in some countries allowing for easier trade and aims to increase the share of knowledge between the countries, trying to make the knowledge similar to a perfect competition scenario. However this agreement may lead to the alienation of power-house China, a heavily influential country that had not been invited to join the agreement. this could have potential backfires such as trade embargos, but for now we will have to wait and see.

The current Prime Minister of Australia, Toby Abbott, is currently negotiating with China to potentially open up free trade between the countries. Australia hopes that an agreement will be reached as he plans to travel to the country in early 2014. The goal of opening free trade would be to not only strengthen the relationship between the two countries but also to allow greater economic growth to occur.

As a result of refinery troubles in Southern California, gas prices have hit record highs (some parts of L.A. reaching 5 dollars for a gallon of gas). The demand for gas remains constant (people in L.A. have a strange affinity with their cars) however, the demand has dropped around 2.5%. People have been griping about the price increases, but as people cannot live without their cars, they have no choice but to deal with it. The supply is limited and therefore the price increases.

This is an interesting article about the contract that is now up for grabs to decommission nuclear waste. Nuclear waste is a great example of negative externalities, as it is a negative by-product of production, and, as can be seen in the article, it is quite hard to get rid of, and quite expensive as well.

This is an article on Healthcare in the USA and it talks about how the government spends their money and how they might spend in the future. The article also talks about some changes that may save up to $1 trillion in the next 10 years.

This article deals with the delicate balance between inflation that is too high or too low. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, James Bullard, argues that the current inflation rate (1.3%) may be getting dangerously close to reaching deflation. Although the unemployment rate has remained higher than 7%, the inflation rate is well below the comfortable 2% goal kept by the Federal Reserve. If the issue becomes preventing deflation, the "Fed" should instead use policies to increase the money supply rather than adopt "tight" money supplies that slow inflation and economic growth.

Telecom, Vodafone and Telstra have announced a deal to build a new undersea telecommunications cable between Auckland and Sydney, which should dramatically increase the amount of internet data able to be sent to and from New Zealand. The total cost of the cable is expected to be less than US$60 million ($70.9m).

This article talks about an earthquake and the lack of water available.This article essentially talks about how the demand for water was high but the price remained therefore people with more use for the water werent able to get the resource; it; some needed it for baby formula whilst others for cleaning dishes. The writer argues that if the price of the water was raised, as it was scarce, then people with higher priorities wouldn't mind spending the extra money. Economist Eric Cramption then dismisses an argument against price allocating resources; the poor would get poorer. . 

I remember stumbling upon this article a couple of months ago and now i realise its relevance. The UAE is investing $5bn to Russia to improve its infrastructure which will not only benefit Russia and its citizens, but also leads to remittances back into UAE. This also leads to economic growth in every aspect for Russia, so it is mutually beneficial.

This article is just talking about an event in late 2013 about obama who was hoping that the "trade-promotion authority" agreement would be passed by congress giving confidence to some of the producers.

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.

This article talks about the steps being made towards free trade between Asia and Australia.

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.