Group items tagged

This article talks about the tramendous increase in price of one resource after an earhquake. If there are only a few resources the price will increase as the demand stays the same or even increses.

The article states that less than 2% of the African forests are commonly accessible.The deforestation rate is 4 times higher than any other in the world. The resources of the land are not allocated very well. Most of the forests were privatized by big intercontinetal companies, and were cut down by them. Common access resources are becoming rare, especially forests.

I know this may be a very ridiculous selection, but it points out one very obvious and necessary resource that many rural and suburban Indians do not possess, namely, a toilet!! The fact the even toilets can be considered a scarce resource was interesting, and helped to cement the idea that literally everything can be thought of as a scarce resource. The opportunity cost can be thought of as the other public works that Indians won't get because the government has to spend money on toilets. This also shows an example of economic growth, as the basic livelihood and welfare of Indian citizens may now increase, thanks to improved public hygiene.

This article talks about the pollution of the water, and how most counties' water resources are getting more and more public since "one cannot own water". This is exactly what tragedy of the commons is. Since no one owns the water, people can do whatever they want there, without further (or a lot of) consequences. Also, it makes it harder for the government to regulate the resource in case of crisis.

This article talks a lot about the recent "fiscal cliff" that congress or some government branch put together to ensure that the two United States parties, the democrats and the republicans, tried to come to some sort of agreement on where cuts can be made to try and fix the deficit. What's interesting about this article, more than the content itself, is the site it links to which talks a lot about how individual cities are doing their part to try and fix up the country. The fact is, the US has gotten some very bad grades lately (whatever that means), so mayors and representatives are getting citizens to invest in projects that will cost a lot of money but will go a long way toward a better future. Fixing up public resources, like water ways and levies, is crucial to trying to build a better community, even if the effects are long term. This is probably the closest we'll see to a sustainable economy.

Although new jobs are created, there is no improvement on the unemployment rate, which remains at 5.4%. However this is a sign of economic improvement in Australia. And the 71,500 are just a start, more jobs were planed for February (9000). In 2011 Economists have predicted a resource boom, due to the monetary policy by the governor Glenn Steves. The bank has tried to boost certain sectors in the economy, however he kept the interest rates at 3%. That might cut into the current boom and slow it down. The main concern is on the value of the Australian dollar.

Even though there had been a rise in total workforce, unemployment has not improved and remained at 5.4%. Nevertheless, there are optimistic signs of economic improvement for Australia.

The article talks about topic covered already in the title, with some interest to the growth of industry of southern euro-zone countries and exacerbation of German and French production. So obviously, here I can refer to PPF where resources (also human capital) are being used more efficiently; here is the movement inside existing frontier or perhaps even outward shift with improved quantities and qualities of goods (especially capital). Nevertheless, economists still fear the euro-zone might fall in recession again if there are two quarters of consecutive fall (if the economy contracted). The market clearing price of many durable goods can be determined only to some extent, due to the presence of outside disturbance (fiscal and banking crisis - therefore always introducing new policies and bail-out deals). Another thing associated with the previous sentence and the article is the price mechanism (interaction of demand and supply) which allocates resources. Under unstable circumstances which are currently taking place in euro-zone, incomes are plummeting (falling GDP per capita) except for some particular periods of time when the economy meets actual growth, meaning that there is less demand leading to an inverse effect for producers. Normally, producers wish to supply more at higher prices, especially if income of people soars so they buy more of that goods. Therefore, higher prices do not present an incentive for producers to produce more. All the producers want to increase their producer surplus; but the trend is clear - towards maximized community surplus, since producers depend on consumers' utility.

This article for me was the perfect example to show how the human needs have trouble coexisting with the finite amount of resources present. Fred Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC Holdings said, "Countries such as China have seen droughts over many years. Now we see other parts of the world facing some water shortages, which is starting to impact the global price of certain goods."In this article it basically states the fact that some areas are running low on water and simply cannot keep up with the growing demand for food. Thus instead of having a balance the price of food increased at an alarming rate.

Venezuela has joined Mercosur, six years after first applying to join the South American trading bloc. This article showcases features of economic integration, in this case customs union, which is a free trade area where members establish a common tariff and agree to other trade policies with non-member countries. Well, this article is particularly valuable also because it gives you that well-known sense of economic reality as a genuinely different economic world than that described in the economic theory. Countries cluster together for a mutual advantage, however, as opposed to comparative advantage concept and other highly cherished theoretical reasons, it always comes down to natural resources as vital sources of geopolitical influence, for instance oil, which is abundant in Venezuela. This can reasonably be inferred from the following quote: "Brazil said Mercosur was "also positioning itself as a global energy power in renewable and non-renewable resources". In the end, the disadvantages of economic integration are given, highlighting the fact that in economics there are perpetual advantages as well as disadvantages (influx of cheap agricultural products, little influence in decision-making processes). But then again, the disadvantages have to be explained within advantages in order to grasp the holistic situation (e.g. influx of cheap agricultural products forces Venezuelan farmers to cut down on their costs and improve on efficiency).

China is the biggest steel producer in the world. However the demand for steel decreases and therefore the price decreased by 25%.

These days, with an economy recovering from a slight collapse and people looking to alternatives to gasoline and coal, a shortage of oil is not very good for the fossil fuels industry. Yesterday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced that oil prices would remain stable, even in these times of uncertainty. With all the negatives of oil (the pollution, the wars it has caused, the danger it can put workers at to obtain, etc.) demand has started to decrease. But, petrol suppliers can't just increase their prices like the supply demand curves might predict because they don't want to risk scaring the remaining consumers into thinking the price of oil will only increase as more of it is used up. This has left OPEC and all of it's members in a bit of a pickle.

I think this article strongly points to the demand topic of this week. It shows how the demand of cod has grown, but the prizes have not. This has now resulted in over fishing, and nearly no cod lives in the north sea anymore. Though, this is a problem. Fishermen, who still tries to supply the demand, won't believe the numbers.

the article is showing that the cheapest car in the market is sold for $8000 and nissan is now introducing a $3000 model. This is dangerous for the other car because it might take away many consumers. this article shows how the price of the car is lowered.

This article goes over the supply elasticities of many products seeing shortages after the hurricane in New York and New Jersey. It talks about the inelasticity of the PES for hotel rooms. The determinant for this is time period. More hotel rooms are needed, but they can't be built in a week. The article also talks about the price of gas, and how the demand for gas is almost perfectly inelastic, meaning that gas can be sold for a huge price. The article asks the question, should the scarce resources go to those who can pay the most for them, or those in line first? This goes with the moral question asked in the discussion of the reading.

This article describes negative externalities in the oil business. This is a global problem and definitely one of the most debated topics in environmental contexts. 'The climate changes are harming the earth, a lot of it is claimed to be caused by burning of fossil fuels. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a great example of the creation of a negative externality. The goal of getting more oil to fuel our lifestyle and make a profit for BP trumped any recognition of the massive economic and environmental damage that flowed from their blown out well. Is the cost of this mess going to turn up in the price of gasoline in the US? Probably not. Will it turn up in our tax bills? Probably yes.'

I found this article quite interesting as it explains negative externalities very well and gives examples to better understand it. It also goes on to state that one of negative externality that is very relevant to the article is the negative effects a product may have on the environment. It shows the reader that many gas companies are able to cut corners to make the product cheap and more desirable, but in the process it makes a mess of the environment. A popular example that they use to prove their point was the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill.

I bumped into this article as I was searching for negative externalities.The article describes negative externalities as general and in terms of oil spilling. As for that it also described the environmental issues and gaves examples from the Gulf of Mexico.

The article talks about how an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caused 11 injuries and 2 people missing. This is an expample of a negative externality, because now the company will have to pay for any health treatment the workers will have to take, and they will also have to use their time trying to find the 2 people missing. The company will lose money.

This article suggests a few correlations between big cities and housing productivity and productivity in output of tradable goods. Besides that, also externalities are mentioned as justifications to those corollaries. To put negative externality stated in the article more like economics, MSC = MPC +- externality ("congestion, blocked views") so this is an inefficient allocation of society's resources and therefore increasing demand for government's regulation on housing. Although there already is a large gap between firms' input in housing and housing costs, this bolsters the whole situation. As a consequence, people in big cities actually pay higher cost for housing than it already is.

This article discusses how there is a new law in Belarus that restricts the citizens of public use of foreign websites. "That would make it illegal for firms like Amazon or eBay to sell goods to customers in Belarus." This shows how the citizens in Belarus don't get the same opportunities to purchase things online as everyone else does around the world. The government is restricting public access of purchasing goods for the citizens of Belarus. Breaking the law has consequences "Fines for breaking the law range as high as 1m Belarus rubles ($120)."

I found this article very interesting, as it is the first article I have seen that mentions the correlation between having more people with higher education, and having a higher level of economic growth.

Increasing aggregate demand helps China, which is currently operating with a deflationary gap, to use its economic resources to a greater extent. The increase in real output is an increase in real GDP, so economic growth is currently in progress. However, the current situation is a very fragile one, according to the chief economist at ANZ in China: ""The current economic rebound remains fragile, and could falter with tightened monetary policy conditions." So it is now up to Beijing's monetary policy makers to sustain this economic growth...