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Singapore's labour productivity- defined as average output per period of time- fell by 2.6 percent in 2012. This includes the manufacture sector, construction sector, and service sector. Only the information and communicators sector show a positive increase. Labour productivity has been decreasing continuously. In the fourth quater of last year, labour productivity fell by 2.5 percent, which is the fifth consecutive quater showing a decline. The numbers attribute to the slower economic growth in the past two years. The government has been trying to increase productivity in certain sectors that see the most potential increase. Not only that, nominal wages- wages not yet adjusted for inflation- shows a 2.3 percent increase. Unemployment rate is 2%. The article can be related to aggregate supply. If labour productivity sees a decrease, it is likely that aggregate supply falls as well since labour is one of the factor of production. If the country sees a fall in its output then this suggests a decrease in the growth of the economy or may even reflect in the country's GDP value. Not only that, an increase in wages will also increase firms' cost of production, and therefore contribute to a fall in aggregate supply. However, on a good note, its unemployment rate is at 2%, which is considered as quite a good rate. This may suggest a quite full working capacity of the economy.

If aggregate demand were to expand, would there be sufficient spare capacity to allow aggregate supply to expand to meet the additional demand? This is the question addressed by the podcast and article below.

This article shows how the environment can influence the aggregate supply in the economy. The article states that heat stress from global warming may be having an impact on outdoor work productivity in hot regions like northern Australia, Southeast Asia and the southern US. And the calculation tells us thatin temperate regions, people work continuously, but in the hottest places, the working day is split between 80% work and 20% rest. Therefore, people and government should pay attention to the environment problems nowadays because it will lead to a change in nation's GDP. And economists also should consider environment as a determinant of aggregate supply.

This article talks about how global warming is causing a decrease in work productivity, which would lead to a decrease in production. It states that in the hottest months of the year, labour capacity decreases by around 10%. They estimate that by 2050 the temperature would have risen by 1.8 degrees. At this temperature labour capacity would decrease by 20%. So overall this could have huge effects on the economy as production will decrease, and therefore there will be over aggregate demand. this then would cause inflation.

The cement company Lafarge, says that UK faces a 200 million tonnes shortfall due to slow planning procedures. There is an extremely high demand currently in the UK. If this continues or increases, then the countries capacity to supply will begin to decline after 10 years. Out of the 200 million tonnes, only 60 is recyclable which leaves the rest to be extracted from primary sources. Since the procedure to quarry materials from primary sources requires authority permission, the process is very slow. This slow process is going to create the shortfall says Lafarge.

This article talk about the price of a gallon of 95 octane will increase 22 cents to $4.54. The price of 91 octane will increase 20 cents to $4.16. Diesel prices will go up 15 cents to $4.08. I´ve found this article and I think that is related to our actual topic aggregate supply because an increase in the price of the natural gas will have an impact on all industries, as oil is widely used in a lot of production processes. This will lead to a shift of the aggregate supply curve because the factors of production will be more expensive and at higher level price the producer will reduce the total amount of goods and services

This article talks about the possibility of deflation in the US. Deflation would be a problem for a number of reasons: first, deflation would make it more difficult to engineer an economic recovery; second, deflation could result in a "death spiral" like what happened (according to one interpretation) during the early 1930s. This article suggests that unlike times of good economic state, the policy that should be taken during a crisis should be decreasing supply instead of increasing it, this would be the easiest way to stop deflation.

This article talks about how the government is trying to Real GDP of the country by lowering the taxes on exporting oil prices. By doing this the governmnet has enevitably increased the Real GDP because siince the oil firms FOP cost less they can now supply more oil, also the price will rise from 42$ per barrel to 70$ per barrel meaning that the oil firms will even make more of a profit. Again since the taxes have decreased it will cause foreign investments in the oil industry of Argentina since they just discovered that Argentina is setting on one of the biggest oil deposits. so overall, the long term aggregate will shift to the right, an increase in the real GDp

Argentina has devised a new system of export taxes on oil shipments that will cut taxes, as the government seeks to encourage investments to revive production. The change means energy companies will receive $70 per barrel of exported oil, up from $42 previously. Argentina controls the price of oil exports in order to guarantee domestic supply. The reform means that the state will only retain the difference between the market prices, meaning increased revenue for oil companies that export crude. The long run aggregate supply is expected to shift the right, an increase in the real GDP.

This article talk about how the Anti-japanese riots in China attack Japanese suppliers. If you take Japanese cars, people in China will be less likely to buy a Japanese car, because due to the riots, they will be assaulted and destroyed. This will lead to a decrease in the aggregate supply of these cars in China, since suppliers know that people will be less likely to buy these cars during the riots.

What this article talks about is the two points of view, which are completely different in nature, to why the US economy is failing. The one point of view is that there is too little aggregate demand and an excesive supply of wasted potencial. The other view is that there is too much government intervention. It talks about how the recession has effected investments and aggregate demand and therefore decreased the average wages of the country. The article states that a solution to the problem would be the fiscal policy where the governmnet would lower percentage taxes in order for the rich to start investing again. This would then promote the recovery of the economy.

It is an article about the recession and unemployment in Spain. The unemployment is a very serious problem in Spain because the rate of unemployment is about 25% or more so is a lot. This article report that the Spanish situation is stabilizing but we can´t assume that is the end of the recession and the start of the new business cycle. The business cycle is the periodic fluctuations in economic activity measured by changes in real GDP. Output cannot continue to fall for ever as there will always be some people with jobs to maintain a given level of consumption, foreigners will demand exports, governments will continue to spend by running budget deficits, and people will be able to use savings to finance their consumption. Additionally, the low demand for money for investment will result in lower interest rates. Thus, aggregate demand will pick up, the economy will enter the recovery phase, and the cycle will repeat itself. So after the recession the national economy of Spain will suffer an economic growth, the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time will increase.