Group items tagged

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.

India's economic growth has exceeded expectations. India's GDP increase by 7.4% which was more than expected. The manufacturing sector that needed to improve grew by 9.4% which helped increase the country's GDP. Trade, hotels and transport, broadcasting, and professional services sectors all saw increases. India's economic growth and increasing GDP shows that the country's economy is getting stronger.

It is estimated that the Indian economy will grow between 8.1% and 8.5% in the 2016 financial year. Trade, hotels and transport & communication and services related to broadcasting, financial, insurance, real estate and professional services and manufacturing have registered growth over 7%. It indicates that although India majorly focuses on primary and secondary industries such as agriculture and manufacturing , the tertiary industries such as the services industry have been largely boosting the economic development in India.

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 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.

In economy we always say food is always inelastic, diaries such as cheese, cheese, butter are considered necessity for people and the price should be inelastic with PED less than 1. As time is changing, the raise of price will cause less revenue, it's not as inelastic as it use to be. The government use to be the biggest clients and they have control over the elasticity of the product, which they aren't any more. There are also a lot more alternative to fluid milk as well. This is also relating to the FDA's view on butter, it use to be vilified and now it seem to be the best product available, people are buying butter, but as the price increase, they buy a little less. We see this change in restaurants as well, McDonald's are moving away from cheeseburger and pizza restaurant are putting less cheese on their product.

I think this shows how time also has an effect on elasticity. In the past dairy has been typically seen as an inelastic product but it is now viewed as an elastic product. There have also been growing amounts of substitutes to dairy products especially milk product substitutes.

This article looks into the reasons while dairy demand has become more elastic in recent years. In the past, demand for dairy products was fairly inelastic. However, that has changed. In the past, the US government purchased a large amount of dairy products which kept prices stable but that is no longer the case which has caused prices to destablize. Additionally, there are now many alternatives to fluid milk with more stable price. As a result, it has become the most elastic dairy product. Butter and cheese are less elastic. The article also mentions that restaurants and fast food restaurants drive the fluctuation in dairy demand.

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.

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.

Amid growing domestic issues, such as corruption and political instability, Mozambique continues to suffer from a lack of foreign direct investment and economic growth despite promising offshore oil deposits. Highlights domestic factors that influence economic growth and development.

This article discusses the problems with China's economy and what needs to be done to resolve these issues. In China economics and politics are very closely tied. This is due to the fact that China's authoritarian leaders are largely in charge of the economy and must deliver economic prosperity in order to stay in power. However, industrial production has fallen, fixed-asset investment and retail spending has slowed, and home sales have plummeted. This has caused concern among Chinese leaders. While there was once a consensus in the West that authoritarian politics were beneficial for the Chinese economy, this is becoming increasing questioned. For the past several years, the aim has been to "rebalance" the Chinese economy by avoiding over reliance in fixed investment and imports as well as greater reliance on domestic consumption to drive GDP growth.

Singapore is a robust economy with a sound political system and yet very fragile as it is very dependant upon global forces of wind. Politics in Singapore is almost like Board of Directors of Singapore Inc. The Scarcity of land, combined with high cost of living and ageing population & increasing the healthcare costs are real issues facing our country. The Economy is faced with tough global pressures, cheaper hubs of production in the neighbourhood. Singapore has to reinvent every few years. Value addition was the key in the past few years but now that is not enough. Value creation in the economy is the new need and our politicians know that and doing their best to drive strategic initatives to set up Innovation and Research hubs and also trying to become Startup Capital of the East.

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 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.

With the lower prices less oil production falls. The lower prices also leads to less capital into the market and smaller companies with loans will struggle to pay back due to less revenue and profit. Some may have to declare bankruptcy. It is almost impossible to increase prices, because then other firms will offer cheaper oil and win your customers. The PED of oil is close to infinity and the XED between the oil of two different companies are a very high positive value

This article although an opinion piece is made up of many subtitles, the one I chose to focus on is Roosting chickens and Fed Bashing, It talks about how Druckenmiller keeps predicting economic dooms due to rising interest rates since he closed his business. Personally I feel this is like the quote we got that says, "looking at statistics...to save himself from having ignorance foisted on him", this article is about Krugman using his on look on statistics to see if Druckenmiller's predictions are accurate since some can say they were and others can say they weren't. Krugman gathers his knowledge from past experiences with 2008 crash and The Great Depression; with my own knowledge of the Great Depression and things that contributed to it's solution this drives me to say that government intervention and spending are what's needed to fluctuate the economy ( hence why people argue WWII was the real solution to the Depression due to it's massive spending).

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

This article speaks about the increase in demand for organic food. I find this article really interesting as it speaks about how tastes and preferences, one of the determinants for demand pushes for this increase of availabilty in organic products. As evidenced by the article , consumers are now more conscious of what they eat and are adopting a healthier lifestyle. This information is really beneficial as not only can the organic food industry increase its sales , but all other industry related to health and fitness such as production of vitamins , fitness programmes , exercise machines can also react to this trend and increase their supply to meet the consumer's demand. It is also mentioned in the article that organic tea and coffee were highly in demand in 2014. Hence coffe cafes such as Starbucks and Coffeebean can also increase their sales if they react to the health conscious trend by introducing organic beverages in their stores. To conclude , it is important for producers to study the trends of consumers so that they can react accordingly in order to increase profits or avoid losses.

China is known for being a very populous state and the leading commodity producer, as a matter of fact American trade with China is considered one of the largest trading markets. So it would be expected that China's depreciation is affecting so many countries. The Mexican peso dropped by 1.1%, and the Colombian peso by 1.3% . This means their the amount of Chinese money that could be exchanged with just one of that country's peso has decreased. Economists are blaming it on falling oil prices and weak economic data. This was foreseen depreciation was foreseen as oil demand was already decreasing and investments into China were low so as preparation Colombia has raised its lending rate. This could work and help combat the inflation that has been caused because it would influence trade and investments. This is all in hopes that the exchange rate will rise again.

The exposure to second hand smoke during childhood destroyes their arteries and can lead to heart and lung damage . This smoking in parents causes lung cancer and premature death fron conditions such as heart strikes and high blood pressure. It is recommended that these parents stop smoking in order to help make the future of their children better. This consumption of cigarettes causes a negative externality as the children are affected in the near future from second hand smoke. These children whose parents smoke are more likely to smoke as well which continues the cycle of negative externalities of the co sumption of cigarettes.

This is a perfect example of negative externality of consumption. By smoking in public places, the consumer is creating negative externalities, in the form of passive smoking, for non-smokers especially children. When individuals smoke cigarettes, they are compromising their own health as well as the health of those around them who inhale the smoke. I agree with the point that another external cost can be younger children being influenced to smoke following the habits of their smoking parents. This is why cigarettes are considered as demerit goods as they cause significant negative externalities , and these are the goods that the government would like to limit consumption. Individuals may not be aware of the external costs arising from the consumption of the good because of lack of information or myopic behaviour. For the article mentioned above , it is crucial for the state to take on a paternalistic role and curtail consumption

The Nigerian government must diversify the economy if the country is to survive falling global oil prices, said World Bank VP and Treasurer, Arunma Otteh. She said that Nigeria ranks 152 out of 188 in the HDI, and ranks below the average for sub-saharan Africa. Life expectancy in Nigeria is 53 years, 8 years lower than Ghana and 21 years lower than Brazil. Nigeria also ranked 136 out of 168 most corrupt countries in Transparency International's 2015 report. This affects the flow of FDI to the country. Nigeria's rapid GDP growth over the past decade hasn't translated to strong human development or competitiveness. Nigeria can no longer only depend on oil, which not sells for as low as $26/barrel which accounts for 95% of the country's foreign exchange.

This article highlights how the GDP is not the only factor in measuring the development of a nation, but how corruption and business confidence can play a role. This is seen by the decreasing oil prices, which has affected the Nigerian economy greatly.

Sep 9, 2014 17:14 UTC SEATTLE--(Business Wire)--A Seattle-based firm that steadily created one of the largest hospital systems in Southeast Asia and India today announced plans to invest another $150 million to expand its network to 34 hospitals and one clinic by 2018.

This article relate to our topic of supply and demand because a firm is investing many to create hospitals close to where people live and work. This is important because since many people living in one area does not have transportation, they have a high demand for close by hospitals. The resources (investments) were allocated accordingly to achieve its aim.