This article discusses how the Ukrainian president vetoed a trade deal with the European Union. This trade deal was an opportunity for trade creation in the EU, because the EU bloc would have been expanded. The EU claims that the trade deal would have boosted the Ukrainian economy by 6%.

The Nigerian government is trying to protect its local industries, and to do this, it is planning to implement more flexible trade policies. For example, the article talks about how for one period, tariffs will be capped at 4% rather than 2.5%, this gives the government more flexibility, so that it can adequately judge the needs of its industries.

A South African Politician has raised the tariff on chicken imports in South Africa. This is a pretty textbook example of tariff implementation as its goal is to support the country's "bleeding" chicken market. Since the tax has been raised by 8.75%, it is an ad valorem tariff.

This article mentions how Japan's monetary policy has led to the weakening of its currency, the Yen. In other words, this is an example of monetary policy leading to inflation. To do this, the Japanese likely decreased interest rates too much, or increased the supply of money too much. Both of these are the result of loose monetary policy, and were attempts at expansion.

This article talks about how the government is aiming for a federal budget surplus this year, and how the government needs the states to ease fiscal policy to do so. The goal is more public spending.

This article discusses steady economic growth in Uganda, namely 7% over the past 20 years. This has all been under the rule of Uganda's NRM party. In light of this week's discussion questions, this article does mention a cost resulting from the economic growth. That is that Uganda is now increasing its defense industry, which means increased violence.

France was one of the last European countries to really feel the effects of the global recession, but now unemployment is increasing. The labor rules in France apparently make it difficult to fire workers, but the French president and worker's unions are working together to draft new legislation that can assist the firms in France by giving them more flexibility.

This article highlights how certain macroeconomic indicators in India are suggesting that the Indian Economy may be recovering from a "valley" in India's Business Cycle. Aggregate Demand is increasing due to the increase in consumption (the article specifies tourism and domestic air travel). Furthermore, "foreign trade related indicators" have increased hinting at an increase in the aggregate supply of India as well.

The Russian Economy is facing a decrease in economic growth, largely in part due to its inflation, and dependence on oil production (which accounted for 50% of revenue last year). In the future, with oil reserves depleted, the oil production will not be able to produce as much, and aggregate supply will be down. This poses a problem for Russia as the supply curve will shift left.

This article highlights cuts in government spending in the US, specifically on airports and airlines. We know that government spending is a major component of aggregate demand. If government spending goes down, it is likely we will see a shift left in the aggregate demand. This is the result of about 10% fewer workers at any given time in the air transportation industry around the country. The article specifically highlights that this includes air traffic controllers as the decrease in them most affects consumers.

This article talks about a planned cut to the EU's seven-year budget of about £30bn. Considering the EU to be a macroeconomy, the government is cutting its spending. This decreases that part of the flow of income.

This article talks about the increasing need for oil to be imported by China. We learned that imports are leakages from the Circular Flow of Income, and that if leakages outweigh interjections, then income will fail. However, this being China, I believe the income for China will not be greatly affected because China is one of the biggest exporters in the world.

Just like overfishing in the sea, over-hunting on land is a tragedy of the commons. The tiger population in the world is endangered. However, it is now on the rebound as a result of the implementation of harsher legislation in some of the more prominent countries with tigers. This is an example of the ability of recovery.

Diwali is a big holiday in India, and according to a recently released study, last year experienced the highest noise pollution levels recorded on the day. Noise pollution is a negative externality for the production of fireworks and such products. The noise pollution is damaging to society because it detrimental to hearing, so more of society will have to pay for hearing aids or surgery. Also, the government will have to make the country more accessible to the hearing impaired.

A policy for the price control of certain medicines was approved by India's cabinet this week. The goal is to make medicine more affordable than it already is to the poor (producers argue that there is already sufficient competition in the market to keep prices low).

This article shows an example of an excise tax that has been damaged firms. A new 2.3% ad valorem US excise tax on medical devices, is, in my opinion, a mistake. 1,170 jobs were cut from one company as a result, and production will be down. This means that fewer devices will be made at a higher price, and furthermore means that fewer of those who need the devices will be able to purchase them, and they will get them at a higher price.

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 talks about the risks of lowering prices in hope of increasing demand. It mentions the effects of price elasticity on this as well, it states, "If we assume the products' price elasticity is at the lower end of that range [...] then price promotions become even riskier". This is because it requires a big change in price to get even close to a substantial increase in demand. If the change is not huge, the effect on demand will be negligible.

Felix Baumgartner from Austria recently jumped from 128,000 to simultaneously break the sound barrier, and world records. To get there he rode in a 55 story balloon with around $100,000 worth of Helium gas. This is an extremely large one-time purchase, and I would think that it upset the market equilibrium by a considerable amount.

This article relates to demand, because it highlights one of the biggest advertisement opportunities for the monopolistic competition market that is the automobile industry. This market has monopolistic competition because the products are not identical, and the makers have the ability to influence prices. It is easy for firms to enter the market, and there are a lot of car-makers out there. Therefore, advertisement and recognition is key. This is a great example of advertisement.