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Jina K

House prices fell for third month in a row in September - 0 views

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    House prices in the UK have fallen for the third month in a row. Although the government has supported in mortgage borrowing, but the consumer's uncertainty surrounding the economy and their ability to afford the houses still causes the decrease in price in the market. The increase in demand is believed to be driven by seasonal factors compounded by the Olympics. It is believed that the house prices will continue to decrease slowly over the remainder of the year. There is also the first decline in supply in September after seven months of growth. I think this article fits perfectly under the topic of demand. The basic law states that as price falls, the quantity demanded of the product will usually increase. However, this does not fall under the basic law behind the demand curve, but it indicates that price of houses have fallen as a result of an increase in demand. The Europe's economy isn't doing very well at the moment and it causes more hesitant in how they consumers choose to spend their money. Price may be low, but they may choose to spend their money elsewhere. This does, however, support the supply law. As price falls, the quantity supplied is dropped. Suppliers wouldn't want to produce or supply to any products that isn't very well demanded.
Mariya L

Housing to drive economic growth - 0 views

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    According to the article economy finally passed the recession and now demand for houses rises again. Near record low mortgage rates, rising home prices and a drop in foreclosures have combined to bring buyers back to the market. Right now the supply of houses is very low, there is nothing to sell, while the demand keeps growing. That change won't lead only to increase in jobs in the housing sphere, but also in the furniture, appliances, and other manufactures. But despite that fact, economists still predict only a modest rise in the overall economy this year.
Kyuhwan L

British tax-the-rich scheme runs into trouble with non-wealthy 'rich' people - 0 views

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    In this period of economic uncertainty around the globe, Britain is proposing a tax similar to other parts of the world, where taxes on the rich are placed. As the article has mentioned, this tax sounds great on paper, but history has proven that the plan needs some amendments. Taxing the rich sounds like a suitable idea for many, but troubles start to arise when the "non wealthy 'rich' people" are affected as well. Due to the rising house prices, even little house would be "considered mansions and whacked with heavy tax increases." Houses that cost 1 million pounds are considered mansions, but it is not uncommon due to the anomalies of the British house taxing system. As a result, a low, yet fair taxing system must be put to place to satisfy both sides of the party.
Jina K

Foreigners taxed out of Hong Kong property? - 0 views

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    Hong Kong government has decided to impose 15% excise tax on property in Hong Kong that is bought by foreigners. This is a difficult measure for many foreigners wishing to purchase houses in Hong Kong. Some foreigners that has been around for several years are also not feeling as happy as before. Some clients are also thinking about leaving. The government primary reason is to protect its economy from inflating property resulting from foreign investments, low interest rates, and limited supply of housing in the market. Clearly, this situation is related to the topic of excise tax, or specifically, ad valorem tax- fixed percentage is charged on a particular good. This has led to an increase in price, which leads to a fall in demand from foreign investors that wish to invest in Hong Kong properties. This shows that properties are in fact elastic products, but government is able to impose tax since it does not affect the producers dramatically and it does not affect the majority of the consumers. Only foreign investors are affected. Realtor can still generate sales from local investors.
Jean Eric

Oil Spills, global warming and negative externalities - 3 views

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    A negative externality is a cost incurred by a comapny or a party that did not agree to whatever action caused the extra cost. This article discusses the negative externalities that we incur when we use fossil fuels etc. The cost of production and damage caused by the use of fossil fuels is not included in the price we pay for 1 gallon of gasoline. This is the negative externality. A lot of the government involvement in the private sectors is actually aimed at reducing such negative exteranlities concerned with environmental pollution. Several companies also try to reduce externalities by introducing policies. For example, SAP AG has policies that its employees cannot buy cars that have carbon emissions beyond a certain limit.
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    A negative externality is an action of a product on consumers that imposes a negative side effect on a third party. Many negative externalities are related to the environmental consequences of production and use. for example the emmisions of green house gases. in this article it explains that when i company creates negative externalities neither the company nor the consumer pays for them so there the government has to step in to stop it by ptting regulations which increases the cost of the comapanies decreasing the negative externalities. but national companies complain because they say if regulations are set they cant compete with international firms like in china where there are no regulations for fuel negative externalities. for example a negative externality was the gulf of mexico oil spill where BP oil prices didnt rise to clean up the mess but the taxes did.
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    Your article is very interesting. In the end the writer talks about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, two weeks ago or something like that I read that BP (they were the owners of the deepwater Horizon) will pay $4.5 billion in fines and other payments, the largest of its kind in US history. It is a lot of money but how can we estimate the value of million animal life's and the destruction of a big part of the Gulf of Mexico. The worst is that we could avoid it because the BP company saved money in the security systems in these Deepwater. I think that after this disaster the government should check all the deepwaters in order to reduce the possibilities of new cases.
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    A negative externality is an action of a product on consumers that imposes a negative side effect on a third party. Many negative externalities are related to the environmental consequences of production and use. for example the emmisions of green house gases. in this article it explains that when i company creates negative externalities neither the company nor the consumer pays for them so there the government has to step in to stop it by ptting regulations which increases the cost of the comapanies decreasing the negative externalities. but national companies complain because they say if regulations are set they cant compete with international firms like in china where there are no regulations for fuel negative externalities. for example a negative externality was the gulf of mexico oil spill where BP oil prices didnt rise to clean up the mess but the taxes did
Kyuhwan L

Canada's economy lost 21,900 jobs last month - 4 views

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    Canada's economy seems to have taken a hit as housing, jobs and exports fell. First there was a 21,900 jobs loss in January plus a 58,000 decrease in Canadians looking for work. In addition, exports fell 2.1%, exports to the US alone dropped, 4 points and imports fell as well. Furthermore a 19% reduction in the housing industry topped Canada's misfortune these past 2 months. Many Canadians are questioning the actions of the conservative government as economic growth is slowing to a crawl.
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    I think that you have chosen a very nice and interesting article because it's related to our actual topics. Is a good example about the importance of the exchange rates in the exports. If a country's exchange rate becomes stronger, then this makes the country's exports relatively more expensive to foreigners. According to the law of demand, this will cause the quantity of exports to fall. Another think to highlight is the increase of the unemployment rate, this will probably decrease the consumption because However, if people expect economic conditions to worsen then they are likely to reduce their consumption today in order to save for the future. In brief i think that it's a great article to talk about the aggregated demand, macroeconomic and the monetary policies.
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    I find this article particularly interesting because i never knew that Canada was suffering so much from the recession. Since it states in the article that 21,900 jobs were lost means that the household cinsumption must be very low a resulting in a low agregate demand, and since the agregate demand is low firms gain less proffit and therefore have to cut costs which in this case would be workers.
Mariya L

What goes up must come down - 1 views

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    This article clearly shows the way law of supply and demand works: "The best way to get oil prices down is to let them go up. It's happened many times before. For one reason or another, the demand for an item begins to heat up, driving its price higher." Thus, later people refuse to buy that items, so the prices go down. Also it says about another example of the law of supply and demand - housing. Seven years ago in Kazakhstan one house could cost about 1,000,000$, but then suddenly prices went down till about 400,000$. As they say in article that situations call bubble, when prices tumble just as quickly as they rose - if not faster. So I think, it is a good example for the chapter 2, where you can easily understand the way demand works and how it affects the prices.
Andrzej Z

Market Equilibrium? - 0 views

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    It is an opinion article about the real-estate market. This article explain how the people investigate this market to make prediction about the homes prices. " if the inventory of homes available for sale is greater than the number of homes sold in a year, it is probably a "buyers market"; conversely, if the inventory is less than the prior year's sales, it can be considered a "sellers market". This is based on the basic economic theory that when supply exceeds demand, there is downward pressure on prices; and when demand exceeds supply, there is upward pressure on prices." You can find information about what type if homes the people need in Florida USA. Somes places have an excess of single family houses avaible for sale, but they they are shortage of condos and villas. In other places the situation is reversed.
Jina K

Venezuelan Government to Control Rent Prices - 1 views

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    The Venezuelan Government has announced price controls on housing rents and with prices of medicines also underway. Many basic goods have already been under price controls as a result of inflation. The government has decided to put rent prices under control in order to protect consumers from high prices from landlords. Furthermore, with price controls on medicines, the government hopes to ensure that medicines will be accessible to all. Many producers have claimed that the price controls create a lack of supply. On the other hand, small and medium businesses seem to benefit from this through economies of scale. Lower prices allow producers to producer more for a cheaper price. However, government assured that the price control was throughly evaluated, so that it does not affect the supply. This relates directly to our topic of price control. In this case, government puts price controls in order to protect consumers from being exploited by producers. We can also notice that government intervention through price control does not always receive positive feedbacks from all parties.
Mariya L

Australia adds 71,500 jobs, the biggest jump since 2000 - 0 views

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    In this article author describes the main news - new additional jobs and overall improving economic state of Australia: "Full-time employment jumped by 17,800 and part-time employment was up by 53,700." The total workforce has been increased, altogether, it served as a sign of the improvement in economic conditions of the country. To keep the growth at the same level, the monetary policy has been eased up. Previous rate cuts are beginning to have a positive effect on the economy. The housing market shows some improvement. But the strength of Australian dollar is the main source of concerns: "The Australian dollar jumped by more than half a cent to $1.036, as traders became less hopeful that another interest rate cut was on the way."
Caitlyn S

In This Recovery, the Rich Get Richer - 2 views

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    The article discusses how during recessions, the rich become richer and how the businesses cycles still disadvantage the poor and benefit the rich. During recessions, income inequality increases and favors those who are wealthy. As unemployment rises, many people see a significant decline in their income and saving abilities. They are no longer able to afford common resources. For example, people will need to sell their business, houses… This leaves the rich buy up such resources for a cheaper price. This is what keeps the rich constantly "on top" and the poor even poorer. There is a chart which really illustrates this statement put forth by the author.
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    I think it's funny to see how rich people can get even richer during recession.
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    This article talks about how the top 1% doesn't get affected by recessions and actually gets richer while the poorer get poor. This came as a surprise to me as I thought recession always had a negative effect on the incomes of the population, but obviously this isn't true. The article states since the recovery period of 2009, the bottom 99% of workers incomes decreased by 0.4% while the top 1% workers income raised by 11.2%, an enormous amount during a recession. In my opinion I think this might be because of the increase in black market activity during a recession, due to the fact that the richest people in the world have earned their income, one way or another, through illegal activity.
Jina K

Real wages fall as inflation heads for 3pc - 0 views

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    UK expects an increase in the Consumer Price Index to 3pc by June 2013 and to remain above 2pc until early 2016. In comparison, wages are only expected to rise at an average of 1.5pc. This will put more pressure on household as they have already seen a higher cost of living, which has risen four times more than wages. The recent increase is a result from petrol prices and energy bills. The bank's aim has been at 2pc, but the Chancellor may change the mandate. Another interesting point is the Chancellor may change the target inflation measures to CPIH- includes housing costs- and RPIJ, which is an alternative way of calculating retail prices. This article obviously relates to inflation rate. We can see the use of CPI as a measure for inflation rate. We can see that inflation rate does affect people with high cost of living and also people which has fixed income. Here, although many people does not have fixed income, they are still affected by the inflation due to the slower increase in the wages. We can also see that in order to reduce inflation, it does not only involve the government, but also the banks of those countries.
Jina K

Central Bank of Russia is to further cut interest rates - 0 views

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    Central Bank of Russia will continue to cut interest rates to 8% at which central bank lends to commercial banks. This target is to be completed in early May. This action is done in the hope to boost Russia's economy after a slow down. In addition, inflation rates are beginning to decline. Lower interest rates will lower costs of saving and thus encourage people to invest or get a loan to consume goods such as houses. This will move aggregate demand outwards and as well ad economy's potential output. This, in turn, will encourage economic growth. As such, this method can be classified as a part of an expansionary monetary policy or reflationary policy.
Jean Eric

What's Worse: High Unemployment or Inflation? - 0 views

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    Article basically discusses whether unemployment or inflation is worse. The overall message i get is that unmeployment is worse for many more reasons that inflation. one of them would be that if parents have no money to spend on the colleges of their children then they wont get a very good education, and as those children are the future of their economy then the work force would be lower than usual which has no upside to it. Where as inflation has positive sides like housing prices raise, debt becomes more manageable, wages increase etc, so since unemployment has no upside it would be more economical to prevent unemployment than prevent inflation.
Jean Eric

It's the Aggregate Demand, Stupid - 0 views

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    Currently the Obama administration is talking about finding new ways to create jobs and stimulate growth. However, it has proved to be unsuccessful, as the only policy that will really help is an increase in aggregate demand. The article explains that aggregate demand simply means spending: "spending by households, businesses and governments for consumption goods and services or investments in structures, machinery and equipment." At the moment, businesses should not to invest because there is lack of consumer demand. The federal government could increase aggregate spending by directly employing workers or undertaking public works projects yet this proves to be difficult. The author explains that the most important thing is for policy makers to stop focusing on debt and attempt instead to raise aggregate demand.
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    THis article talks about how the recession has effected America and what America really needs is an increase in aggregate demand. That is the increase in consumption, investments, exports etc. They say that a direct solution to increase aggregate demand would be an increase in aggregate spending by employing citizens in public projects controlled by the government and if that isnt enough then its all up to the citizens. It then talks about how consumer confidence significantly effects spending. that is if house holds feel that they are rich, then they dont feel the need to save and as a result of that they spend the money they were going to spend and vice versa.
Andrzej Z

Wallet woes: students see 3.7 percent increase in prices - 0 views

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    It is an article about an increase of 3.7 percent in the price of goods purchased by K-State students from 2011 to 2012. In this article you read about elastic and inelastic products like gasoline or tuition. The Tuition has experimented the biggest increase, although the rate at which it increases has slowed a bit. This index created a decade ago by the KSU Economics Club, shows annual price changes in the items and services purchased by students in the Manhattan area. Items on the list include gasoline, groceries, tuition, beer, housing, textbooks and movies. Since 2002 the price increased in 85 percent. The Internet has suffered the biggest increase. The price of textbooks has decreased in 2011.The causes of inflation can often be linked to legislation and the actions of the government, which often have an indirect effect on the economy.
Jina K

B2.2 trillion infrastructure bill 'still alive' . - 0 views

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    The 2.2 trillion infrastructure bill in Thailand has been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and is waiting to be submitted for royal endorsement as soon as the Constitutional Court rules on its legality. If passed, the mega-project will improve Thailand's transport infrastructure, which includes high-speed trains and double-track railways. This development is a part of a physical capital factor, whereby the government aims to improve the social capital that is shared among the people in Thailand. Improved in transport will improve the welfare of not only the capital part of the city, but also the rural part of the city. This will ease the transport system of goods across the country and will create employment. Moreover, it can also promotes tourism.
Jean Eric

Dollar down vs. euro, pound ahead of debt limit - 0 views

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    the U.S. dollar edged down against the British pound and euro on Wednesday as a House vote on a Republican bill to reopen the government and lift the debt limit was cancelled, and Senate leaders resumed talks. The euro rose to $1.3551 from $1.3528 late Tuesday, and the pound advanced to $1.6013 from $1.5997. This article is a perfect demonstration of the currency war and the debt crises where the USA desperately tries to raise the debt barrier as depreciation of the dollar still occurs.
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