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This article shows that a limited liability company named Linn Energy had their stocks lose value heavily, as well as a massive revenue decrease. This happened because of the oil bust, which was a massive decrease in demand for oil. Since the oil demand was becoming elastic due to the fact that it was a necessity for which alternative methods had been or started to be found (coal, solar energy, etc.), there was not much that could be done about the decrease in demand, which in turn took a toll on Linn Energy.

The oil bust definitely would cause a decrease in demand but it would also cause a decrease in supply because a bust is a "decrease in economic growth and production." I however have to say that u probably misunderstood the concept of elastic and inelastic. Oil demand would be inelastic because oil is a product that is necessary for a lot of human activities and since it is a necessity, demand would be inelastic and not elastic.

One of the main things we talked about or that stood out to me was how the income of the indivisible affected demand of a good and it seems we all came to a consensus that luxury goods are most affected by changes in income. In the article a BMW car company speaks out it's total revenue has been decreasing as the economy is slowing down . Over the past 5 years China has been experiencing periods of economic downturn and car sales were declining drastically people were even canceling orders, however, increased government action led to a period of economic growth in the third year which increased sales by 4% or so. But things slowed down again this year and Song ( an owner of the company ) talked about how he had to cut prices even further from 4%- 20% just to increase consumer demand even though it only made a slight difference because people's income have decreased they can't spend as much money as they used to on luxury products such as BMW cars or multiple cars, they are now focused on saving money.

I agree that the demand for luxury cars has declined as a result of decreased economic growth in China. Shares of some luxury car companies have dropped by more than 30% in the last year while shares of an inexpensive compact car manufacturer have increased more than 20%. The demand for luxury cars is very elastic. These cars are a luxury, not a necessity. Luxury goods take up a relatively large proportion of income and are used over a long period of time. There are a relatively high number of substitutes for luxury goods. In China, customers are choosing to purchase inexpensive cars rather than luxury vehicles in order to save money.

This article speaks about the Supper Bowl and how it is inelastic. Because the quantity demanded for seats is inelastic, they decided to increase the price to gain more revenue. This is strange because this seems to be a luxury item more than a necessity, but I guess some see it as a necessity.

this article talks about how NfL owners price there tickets inelasticity so they put their tickets cheaply so they can fill up the stadium. Owners know that they will take a hit in ticket revenue but make up the difference with complimentary goods that are sold in the stadium.

It's interesting how the teams take advantage of elasticity. As Ricardo said, the owners expect to make a loss on the seats with lower prices, but also expect to make it up with the purchase of complimentary goods. Because of elasticity, the decrease in the price of seat leads to higher demand and the stadium is filled up. As a result, revenue for complimentary goods also increases, leading to more revenue overall.

Raise in market price of soda in Chicago is discussed. Will it result in an increase in revenue and reduction in consumption? The PED suggests so. A similar policy was introduced in Mexico, and the soda there had a PED of 0,6, making it inelastic. Will the same happen in Chicago? Demand, elasticity and the PED are discussed in this article.

How exactly has this affected the elasticity? You should elaborate on price and its relation to demand and the PED. I agree that the raise in price would increase revenue and reduce consumption. However you contradict your previous point by stating that soda will become inelastic. I don't agree with you because soda is not a necessity and it is not healthy so if there is a raise in price and PED which will cause demand to decrease meaning it is elastic.

This article looks at the Elasticity of Demand and Supply for oil. The increased costs of the production and higher prices are not leading to a fall in demand, but instead a fall in the elasticity of demand.

This article fits in my opinion very well to the topic of elasticities. It deals with price elasticity of both supply and demand for oil. The author is concerned with the increasing inelasticity of supply: "reserves we're now exploiting are not only more expensive to develop, but they also take much longer between the time the first well is drilled and the when the first oil is produced". There's also a graph in the article which shows the constant fluctuations of both supply and demand for oil, and how the American oil supply struggles to adjust itself to American demand for oil.

This article addresses the changes that have occurred in the oil market over the past ten years. The author claims that changes in the demand of oil have increasingly been playing a role in maintaining the supply/demand balance. He argues that these changes will be burdensome to our economy unless the demand for oil is made more flexible. According to the article, there is not a shortage of oil. Today, due to rising oil prices, we are able to exploit oil reserves which were previously too expensive to exploit. Since these new oil reserves are more expensive to develop and take longer to access, the time it takes for oil supply to respond to changes in price is increasing as well. This means that "...the oil is becoming less elastic..." meaning that "a large change in price produces a small change in supply." In regards to the elasticity of demand, "the elasticity of oil reflects the options we have to using oil for our daily needs." Our ability to reduce oil consumption is fairly limited in the short term, but increases over the long term. However options for reducing oil consumption over any time period are often inconvenient. Reductions in demand due to high prices can be called demand destruction (a permanent move down the demand curve toward reduced demand) which can be detrimental to the economy. This is why people such as the media and politicians wish to have supply adapt to changes in demand instead. However, "there are also limits to the ability of oil supply to adjust." Oil is not easily accessible. Because oil supply has become less elastic, prices has had to become more volatile to force market adjustments. The author concludes by suggesting ways that the elasticity of oil demand can be increased and the pain of demand destruction decreased.

This article describes how the Indonesian economy swung from a deficit in balance of payments of $160 to a $50 surplus. The imports of the country fell significantly, resulting in a decrease in deficit of the balance of trade in goods and services, which has been a factor in the swing in balance of payments.

The Russian recession has caused sales for luxury goods to drop. Many companies that sell luxury or tourism goods have seen the demand for their product significantly decrease since the recession. This is because these products have a negative income elasticity so as income decreases so does the demand for these products. The demand for tour groups and hotels has also decreased because of the recession. Since all of theses products have a negative elasticity once the income of the buyers in Russia decreases then so will the demand for them.

This article discusses the impact of the Russian recession on demand for luxury goods. The recession has decreased the income and spending power of many Russians which has resulted in a decrease in a demand for luxury goods (clothing, jewelry, etc.) and services (airfare, hotels, etc.). The demand for luxury goods is very elastic. This is because luxury goods are not necessities and consumers can survive without them. These goods often have a reasonable number of substitutes. They also require a relatively high proportion of income to be spend on them and are used over a long period of time. The Russian recession has impacted firms across the globe but especially in Europe where Russian consumers account for a large percentage of customers.

This article discusses a topic the book made fun of in this week's chapters. When describing inflation, the book makes a snarky remark about how a fraction change in percentage of unemployment is considered "news". There are a lot of uncertainties concerning unemployment, because it is difficult to measure the amount of unemployed people, due to different definitions of unemployment and because of hidden unemployment, yet these news agencies give values with such high accuracy. The article does describe how unemployment has decreased in various parts of Europe, which can be linked with higher living standards for some.

This article illustrates two economic terms, the business cycle and consumer confidence. The UK economy is currently going through a boom phase, suggesting inflation is rising. This may seem good now, but higher inflation causes less competitiveness for exports, which will lead to a recession phase. It's the business cycle. The article also describes how job opportunities went up, which is likely to cause consumers to consume more, because they are expected to get a raise or promotion soon. This adds to the boom even further. Knowledge of this makes it easier to make economic decisions and explaining why events take place like they do.

This article discusses the need for the US economy to become more sustainable and the role of the American government in this process. The author argues that the private sector can't make the transition from a waste-based economy to a renewable one by itself. He believes that a public-private partnership is necessary. The article claims that the private sector has a more important role in the transition because it produces the goods and services that are depended on today. However, the government can implement rules to ensure that economic activity does not destroy the plant. The government can fund basic science needed for renewable energy and resource technology and uses taxes, government purchasing power, and other financial tools to steer private capital toward investment in sustainable technologies and businesses. The government can also invest in sustainable infrastructure, regulate land use, work with private or state organizations, measure society's progress toward sustainability, and transfer sustainability technologies to the developing world. It is the belief of the author that sustainability issues cannot be addressed by the private sector/free market alone and require government action. The future of the nation and the plant depends of the government's role in a transition to a renewable resource based economy.

A thriving black market has cropped up after the NSW prisons smoking ban On the black market cigarettes can cost $300, up from $28 before the ban Prison sources claim that 'an inmate fight broke out over cigarette butts' The ban on smoking in NSW prisons has reportedly led to a thriving black market, where a packet of cigarettes can go for as much as $300, while matches and papers can fetch a staggering $90.

This article has to be about the negative externalities of consumption, as it involves smoking. It affects not only the ones smoking but the others as well. Banning it in a prison can help in bringing the MSC equal to MSB. This also wont affect the tobacco industry as there is still comsumption taking place outside the prison. Banning it has a negative step, which is the creation of the black market. Prisoners are even fighting for cigarrete butts. The government / the prison authority should take a step in taking the ban away and but also making it difficult to obtain cigarettes, to avoid such brawls.

I agree that the negative externality involves non-smokers in the prison getting affected. You suggest that the ban should be taken away, wouldn't this still lead to more people smoking and causing even more second hand smoke to affect the non-smokers? This wouldn't help the situation I believe it would make it worse instead.

A trend is shown where global interest rates gone "relentlessly downward over the past few decades". The rich are getting richer, leaving the rest of the group with less wealth. In addition to that, the rich have a "lower propensity to consumer", this has caused the aggregate demand to fall. It has been noticed that central bank rates have also "trended progressively lower". A conclusion has been made in the article that "as long as wealth and income inequality continue to widen, there will be a savings surplus."

This article focuses mainly on opportunity course. It's been established that opportunity cost is the cost of doing something rather than another. In this case the author focused on a student's decision to attend college and for how long. At least everyone has been through the phase where they looked at the price it costs to go to college but few go deep into things such as life, transport etc. There are others who decide to take a year off and travel; the opportunity cost in this is the education they could've been getting so they could stay on track and the money they wasted to travel which they could have used to further their studies or life needs. The author brought up a book by Laurence Kotlikoff in which he invented 4 kids and made them choose different life patterns. I felt this was smart because students can see how the choices they make now could impact their life later on. As expected the child who stayed in school to become a doctor made a lot of money, however, student loans and all other expenses leaves them with as much money as the next middle-poor man. Then again the other child who became a plumber and skipped college makes money but has no student debt. This is not to say that they are better off but it's just to clear the stereotype that the longer you stay in school the better off your life will be; there are many factors that play into it.

Dairy prices have seen a drop lately because of high demand farmers increased the number of cows that produce milk, then again dairy is a primary product and as we learned this week, there is only so much a population can consume of a primary good, and too much supply with an un-proportional demand calls for a decrease in price in order to form another equilibrium.Although the PED for milk is inelastic, it's still a limited primary good and the supply of this having increased creates high PEs especially since season does not affect cows.

The article relates to opportunity cost and how each choice holds a negative and positive trait. In the article they spoke of soft money (paper money) and the use of species (such as gold and silver). The positive effects of soft money is that it is cheap to produce and doesn't require much material. However. The issue with soft money is that since it's so inexpensive people believe that it will cause inflation to soar. Species are valued because they are hard to find and require a lot of labor to get (more money). Taking a lot of time to retrieve and to mold into coins takes up more energy. A new idea that came to mind is digital currency. Depending on how it is used it can become a great asset or a hindrance. Overall, there are many opportunity costs all holding good and bad qualities, but the greatest is the one that benefits us overall.

The price of coffee has been going up and will keep at it but this doesn't seem to affect demand as demand is still increasing. Now quality is not affected by price. These can be based on the fact that the product is addictive and not many substitutes will suffice. Some even think of it as a ritual every morning.

I agree that coffee is inelastic because it is typically contains caffeine which is an addictive drug. People are addicted to coffee and depend on it as part of their daily lives. They cannot function without it, or are at least unwilling to. Therefore, consumers will continue to purchase coffee despite rising prices. Coffee drinkers also enjoy the last of coffee and are not willing to switch to other caffeine filled drinks such as tea or soda because they are not close enough substitutes. In fact, coffee consumption has actually increased despite rising prices. Consumers will not change their tastes unless prices become drastically higher.

i agree with the point that the change in qunatity demanded is not very significant. This is due to the fact the coffee is a habit forming good and addictive to most coffee addicts. However it also depends on the proportion of income spent on the good. Coffee prices can range from being dirt cheap at hawker centres to expensive at cafes like Starbucks. Hence even if the consumer is not a coffee addict, and only a small proportion of income ( if it is 'insignificant' ) is spent on the good, then a change in price will not affect the spending behaviour ; demand is price inelasic

Foreign unemployment fall cuts jobless rate Published on: 10 Apr 2015 09:23 CET Facebook Twitter Google+ reddit Switzerland's official jobless rate fell in March to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent in the previous month, driven by a drop in foreign unemployment, according to government figures released on Friday. The decline marks the first time since June 2014 that the rate has fallen in a further indication that the Swiss economy is so far weathering the rise in the value of the franc, which forecasters have said will cut growth this year. The percentage of foreigners registered as out of work tumbled to 6.7 percent from seven percent, while the rate for Swiss citizens remained unchanged at 2.3 percent, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) said in its monthly report. The number of unemployed registered in regional job placement offices in March dipped by 4,813 from the previous month to 145,108, Seco said. But the jobless rate last month remained above the 3.3 percent level in March 2014. The rate declined or remained the same in all 26 cantons with the canton of Valais recording the biggest fall, from to 4.6 percent from 5.4 percent. Neuchâtel registered the highest rate (5.7 percent, down from 5.8 percent), just ahead of Geneva (5.6 percent, unchanged). Obwalden had the lowest rate at one percent, down from 1.1 percent. Unemployment in Zurich, Switzerland's largest job market, remained unchanged at 3.6 percent. The impact of the strong franc may not have yet affected the Swiss job market but observers believe that unless the currency weakens, jobs cuts can be expected. In January, the Swiss National Bank abandoned a policy of maintaining a euro floor of 1.20 francs and foreign exchange traders immediately bid up the value of the franc. On Friday, with uncertainty about Greece's finances lingering, the euro was trading at around 1.04 francs, making life difficult for Swiss exporters selling products into the eurozone, the biggest ma

According to this article from the Deloitte University Press, the length of recovery has little to do with the probability that a recession might occur. Dr. Daniel Bachman claims that modern business cycle thought and recession data suggests that business decision makers should look elsewhere to gauge where the economy is headed. Since WWII, the average US business cycle expansion has lasted 56 months. The last three expansions have been exceptionally long and the current expansion is already longer than most of the expansions in the 1950s-70s. Therefore, it is possible that something such as a the role service in the economy has changed but the sample is small and the uncertainty is high. In fact, most economists who study business cycles do not view them as cycles. The world's first industrialized economy, the UK, suffered banking panics in 1825, 1847, 1866, and 1890 and the fact that a crisis appeared every 20-25 years suggest that there was some form of regular force at work in modern economies that lead to a cycle. However, as economists began to use statistical techniques, they discovered that the cycles in the data were probably illusions. As, a result, economists have mostly rejected the idea of business cycles repressing an inherent, regular feature of the economy. Instead, they view the economy as experiencing random shocks, both positive and negative.

This article describes how the events in Paris affected the economic growth. This illustrates how more factors than taxes and employment can make a difference in level of economic activity. A decrease economic activity might cause the government to intervene by reducing the interest rate, creating incentives to increase consumption. A demand-side policy like this could help the economy get back on its course.

GDP growth starts here. I chose this article because of one of the TOK questions we had this week it brings up education. Well this article talks about how education can lead to economic growth in many different ways. It doesn't just build up one sector it affects multiple, an interview has shown that people will need more than a high school education if they want to find a suitable job. If education standards increase so do income, technology , jobs all leading to an economic growth and I feel that this is actually even better because since it creates new things there is not chance of people losing jobs so employment is not at risk and as for inflation it will increase in the short run but level off.This research was done by Wössmann.

Overwhelmingly, more economically developed nations are states with a well-educated workforce. There is a clear and strong correlation between the educational attainment of a nation's workforce and economic productivity. Nations can build a strong foundation for economic success and shared prosperity by investing in education. Nations can increase the strength of their economies and their ability to grow and attract high-wage employers by investing in education and increasing the number of well-educated workers by improving the literacy rate. Investing in education is also good for the long run, since employees with higher incomes contribute more through taxes over the course of their lifetimes. Hence it can be concluded that investing in education , will definitely boost GDP maybe not in the short run but indefinitely in the long run.