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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 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 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.

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

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.

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.

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).

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

To battle China's decreasing economy government has decided to increase it's tourism sector hoping the increased revenue can help the economy as well as boost domestic spending. If society itself does not spend how is it expected to generate profit. However in order to make sure tourists know of the new sector they are creating advertisement would have to be paid for or else there could rise the possibility of a market failure that occurs with positive externality of production

(The number of the affected...) NEW DELHI: Water scarcity will worsen across the world, and particularly in countries like India, as a result of unchecked climate change. Some 500 million people could be subject to increased water scarcity - even if global temperature increase is limited to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

(The number of the affected...) NEW DELHI: Water scarcity will worsen across the world, and particularly in countries like India, as a result of unchecked climate change. Some 500 million people could be subject to increased water scarcity - even if global temperature increase is limited to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

This article relates to our topic because as we can see scarcity of water is everywhere, and not just in India. Being from India I thought it was interesting how this topic could relate to India. The article also states that more demand there is the more scarce water is going to be. One of the major factors in that would be population growth. I think that is important in water scarcity.

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.

This article discusses the sugar market in the U.S. On average, U.S. consumers pay twice as much for refined sugar as the rest of the world. This is largely due to sugar policies in the United States. In America, the federal government offers loans to sugar cane and beet processors who are to pay sugar growers a minimum price set by the USDA. The idea is that processors will obtain a market price for their sugar that is sufficient to pay back the loans. However, the loans are "non-recourse," meaning that if the market price of sugar declines, processors can forfeit to the USDA the sugar they put up as collateral. In order to prevent sugar processors from offloading sugar onto the USDA and to protect processors from lower-cost foreign competition, the federal government has imposed a two tier system of tariff rate quotas. It also restricts the total amount of sugar that domestic processors can sell by setting market allotments which are designed to drive up the price by creating artificial scarcity.

Developing economies have been trying to figure out what makes them so behind and the answer came out to be education. But education type can't be the same world wide as each place is the same and so are the focuses on the lucrative sectors ( some could be agriculture some manufacture). In one Indian village although the school had to show government they were keeping up with it's regulations they didn't have to show the parents so for five years parents would keep their kids from farm lands and let them go to school only to find out there was no change. Places like this would not benefit from education types such as that in the U.S they need one that conforms to their own styles. In Brazil another school enabled a method that the money follows the child, because if a teacher has no interest in children it doesn't matter how much you pay them the quality of education will not increase. Once the Brazilian school figured that out they were able to increase quality of education and score highest in PISA maths test 2003-2012. Economic development in education is all about quality and quantity of education; quality of the institution, teachers etc.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

In the United States, many Americans are finding new jobs. However, most employers are not willing to provide significant pay increases. Recent data, reals that unemployment currently is at a 7 year low but the pace of job growth is slowing. This provides conflicting signals about the country's economic momentum. The unemployment rate has fallen to 5.1%. With such a low rate companies should be competing for workers. However, was have remained flat. Workers are seeing new buying power because prices have been slow to rise and consumer prices have held steady this year partially due to falling commodity prices. Job growth and inflation are linked. As more people get jobs and receive raises, prices increase. At some point, as the labor market tightens, it provides upward pressure on wages and inflation but how long it will take US economy is to that point is still being debated.