Skip to main content

Home/ IB Economics SL LG/ Group items tagged of

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Jean Eric

Oil Spills, global warming and negative externalities - 3 views

  •  
    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.
  • ...1 more comment...
  •  
    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.
  •  
    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.
  •  
    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
Yingnan W

the time for the carbon tax - 4 views

  •  
    this article talks about if we are going to have carbon tax as the increasing of using resource such like fuel by the companies, and the companies made a lot of pollution, it give us a negative externality as a whole. all the people on earth has a bad effect by the pollution, increasing of the carbon is one of the thing companies made, in order to stop companies from keeping producing carbon, let's think about put the carbon tax.
  •  
    i really like this article as it focuses on the fact of global warming. Also its a new point of view to stop Global warming which could be very effective as they would raise alot of money, to use in the further research of non polutent enegery sources. What they havent realised in this article that Methan has a ration 20:1 to carbon in the field of damage causing global warming and although you dont think there is a lot of methane in the world there is. Every decomposing organic material releases methane and just think about all those decomposing plant matter at the bottom of dams with a huge accumulation of methan waiting to be released.
  •  
    i really like this article as it focuses on the fact of global warming. Also its a new point of view to stop Global warming which could be very effective as they would raise alot of money, to use in the further research of non polutent enegery sources. What they havent realised in this article that Methan has a ration 20:1 to carbon in the field of damage causing global warming and although you dont think there is a lot of methane in the world there is. Every decomposing organic material releases methane and just think about all those decomposing plant matter at the bottom of dams with a huge accumulation of methan waiting to be released.
Caitlyn S

Ending the Oceans' 'Tragedy of the Commons' - 0 views

  •  
    Oceans are one of the Commons, and as any other commons, it becomes overconsumed. Fishers all around the world keep devastating populations of the fish. To prevent overfishing, pollution and other human impacts, leading international marine scientists are proposing radical changes in the governance of the world's oceans. They carried an experiment in Chilie, and based on it, scientists state that they would be able to help to reverse "the tragedy of the commons". Problems in Chilie made people be open to new arrangements, scientists and fishers began working together to improve the situation with fish. By working together for some years, scientists became able to reveal about fish stocks and and the surrounding marine ecosystem. The new laws gave exclusive ocean territories to local 'artisanal' fishers, and excluded the big industrial fishing fleets, which had their own exclusive fishing zone. Scientists and small fishers then worked together to understand and rebuild the shattered fish stocks in their zone, leading to a shared vision and voluntary agreements on how to manage them.
  • ...2 more comments...
  •  
    This article talks about an experiment made in Chile. The use given to our oceans are no good, the article encourages huge changes in the governance of world's ocean to save them from pollution, over-fishing and other impacts made by the humans. All of these factors affect the marine ecosystem in a drastic way, now the levels of fish are decreasing as it says in the article "There was a general recognition that Chile's fish stocks were in trouble," says Professor Carl Folke. This has led to some fisheries to collapse leading the Chilean government for being responsible to take actions.This serves as an example of what's happening in the world today and for facin this problem he suggests that "You need a shared recognition that something has to be done, you need a good understanding of the marine ecosystem and how to regenerate it, you need a strong rapport between scientists and fishers, and you need a political moment when sweeping changes can be brought in." This problem needs to be faced responsibly otherwise there will be almost no fish stocks in the future, treating our commons well is important for us humans as this affects goods that are importand for living.
  •  
    Leading international marine scientists are proposing radical changes in the governance of the world's oceans to save them from overfishing, pollution and other human impacts. "Marine ecosystems are in decline around the world. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers of degradation. Fishers and scientists had been working together on the problem for some years, trialling new co-operative models for fishery management, based on that science can reveal about the state of the fish stock and the surrounding marine ecosystem." The result is a national system of marine tenure that allocates user rights and responsibilities to collectives of fishers. The research indicates the key to managing fisheries depend on creating agreements that are both voluntary and flexible enough to cope with changes in the ocean environment, leading to fisheries that are both ecologically and socially sustainable.
  •  
    I find this article particularl interesting because due to a political change in Chile, it has now effected the common resource tradegy of the Oceans. It has reduced the over fishing in Chile, which has let the fish start to regenerate. The research has found out that the key to managing the fisheries depends on making decisions flexible enough to cope with the changes that the ocean goes through.
  •  
    I find this article particularl interesting because due to a political change in Chile, it has now effected the common resource tradegy of the Oceans. It has reduced the over fishing in Chile, which has let the fish start to regenerate. The research has found out that the key to managing the fisheries depends on making decisions flexible enough to cope with the changes that the ocean goes through.
Jina K

Fall in imports curbs Lebanon's balance of payments deficit - 0 views

  •  
    The fall of imports have reduced Lebanon's balance of payments deficit from $1,932.1 millions US dollars to $675.2 US dollars. Movement of imports and exports are the most significant variable affecting the balance of payments. The slowdown of Lebanon's economic activity results in lower imports and therefore lowering the deficits in the balance of payments. Imports to Lebanon is usually higher than its exports, but this had changed in 2013. Lebanon's exports of banking, educational and health services have increased. Deposit inflows had increased by 11 percent compared to last year. This article clearly relates to the Balance of Payments. Here, Lebanon's movement of goods in and out of its country pay a major role in determining the Balance of Payments. Obviously, these imports and exports are a part of the current account, which includes the balance of trade in goods (visible trade balance) and balance of trade in services (invisible balance). Lebanon sees an increase in services, which means that there could be an improve balance of trade in services.
Jina K

Price of over-fishing: one tuna sells for £1m - 3 views

  •  
    The ocean is one example of a common access ground. It's not exactly owned by anyone. The ocean is being explored more and more everyday. One way is through fisheries. The rapid increase in demand for fishes has led to the sudden decline of the fish populations. Take Bluefin tuna as an example. The increase in demand for tuna sushi has led to a huge depletion worldwide for the past 15 years. This has also led to an increase in price as the populations are becoming more rare. A Bluefin tuna once sold for more than £1m at a Tokyo auction. It is said that most of the tuna caught are shipped to Japan for consumption. Since the ocean has international access, coming up with regulations need to be communicated among many countries. 48 member nations of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic came out and voted to maintain strict catch quotas. This relates to the tragedy of the common. Anyone can access the ocean and catch as much fishes as they like. They only take into account the money they can gain from catching more tunas. This shows a lack of consideration of the generation where some are only concerned about themselves. Without strict regulations, the population of tunas may become extinct in the near future.
  •  
    It is a very interesting article because many people doesn´t know about the problem with the fish population. We are depleting all the oceans and we don´t think about the consequence of our acts. The problem is that we are really selfish because no one care about the future generation. We will leave them a completely depleted world (this idea is very present in the film Avatar) However it is very difficult to control the people from capturing too many or too small fishes or other animals. It is a tragedy of commons because it is the depletion of a shared resource by individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one's self-interest, despite their understanding that depleting the common resource is contrary to the group's long-term best interests.
Mariya L

Elite schools head east as Asia's education market booms - 0 views

  •  
    This article disclose a description of the situation about education in Asia. There are a lot of kids who want to get an English-language education in countries like USA or UK, but they would like to stay closer to their families, because not everybody can easily leave home and go to foreign country alone. Because of the high demand for schools that give international-level-education in English, there are more and more schools like that. But still I think supply of that type of education and schools is miserable, and that might be one of the reasons why the prices are so high. For example, in Kazakhstan we have a British school - Haileybury. It has an IB program as well as Riverstone International School does, the one that I go to. But! Riverstone is situated in Idaho, USA, and charges about $15,000 for one year of High School. Haileybury - aroung $32,000. The reason why I mentioned the location of Riverstone is because of the huge difference between being in US and Kazakhstan. Staying here in America helps to study English and understand cultural difference, being back in Kazakhstan, helps to stick to your family, but one will never fully undestand that international tone and go beyond certain level of English. Plus the prices are very different even if we would add tickets, insurance, etc, to go to America is even cheaper and has more benefits and positive sides. So in the conclusion, I just want to say that these type of schools is demanded by a lot of Asian (and not only Asian) students, but can be afforded only by affluent middle classes. Thus I hope there would be more supply of that type of schools, which led to competition between schools and cheaper prices (or our education system will change and we will have one standard system everywhere).
Tisha D

Euro Crisis - 2 views

  •  
    This article is about the ongoing European Economic Crisis. A decrease in number of jobs and increase in population has led to higher rates of unemployment than ever before. Due to the high unemployment, lesser people are paying taxes as well. So the tax revenues for the country is falling too. Hence they cannot extricate themselves from the debt either. Two of the worst affected countries are Spain and Greece. However countries like Germany and Austria were not affected that badly. Initially in Germany retails sales went down, but since unemployment didn't increase tax revenue wasn't affected. For example the state of Baden- Württemberg pays 49% of the income for taxes.
  •  
    Like you said one of the most affected countries is Spain where the situation is really bad and the unemployment is really high. There are a lot of things that contributed to this situation, the people spend more than gain, the banks didn´t work properly, the government didn´t intervened… The reasons that many people don´t pay the taxes is because they don´t have nothing and the inequality in Spain is a big problem now. The standards of live of a lot of persons are bad; there are families that live on the grandfather's pension. The people are angry and blame for everything the government.
  •  
    This article talks about how the euro crisis is effecting the unemployment level severly. It states that due to the record new high level of unemployment since 1975 at 11.6%, at a rate of 11.7% now, less people are paying there taxes. This causes the governmnet to have less of a budget nad therefore it cant subsidize as many companies as it originally wanted to further increasing the crisis. What the governmnet needs to do in this case in lower the taxes so a larger amount of people can afford it and therefore more people would pay tax increasing the governments budget and therefore increasing subsidies
Mariya L

Expo 2017: Kazakhstan Promotes "Green Bridge" Future Energy - 0 views

  •  
    This article talks about an international event that will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan in 2017. Kazakhstan expects three to five millions of visitors. Such event will beneficially affect the economy of the country. It will not only result in an economic growth, but will possibly lead to a significant boost in economic development. The topic of the Expo 2017 is Future Energy. Such topic will lead to the development of the sustainable ways of using energy. Using sustainable ways in the first place for Kazakhstan would mean using approaches that will decrease the air pollution. Decrease in air pollution can be considered as an improvement of the quality of life and improvement of the welfare of country. In my opinion, Expo 2017 is a very important event for Kazakhstan as well as for the rest of the world. It will significantly impact the economy of Kazakhstan. Preparation part is one of the main stages of the Expo. It will create a lot of new jobs, due to constructions that will be held in Astana.
Mariya L

Emerging markets' growth slowing, HSBC PMI report says - 2 views

  •  
    In this article the author talks about the slow down in the economic growth of 16 leading emerging markets. Earlier compare to the Eurozone countries, UK and the US, the economic growth of those 16 countries was far higher. After this short period of stagnation, the world economists ask whether the growth, which depends a lot on exports, will increase or not. It weather will "wobble along, buffeted by worries in the developed world"; or temporary stop and then "bring back the days of the strong growth". Right now, the world economy is in the state of the recovery, in the past it went through the recession that started in 2008 and the trough. The fall in indicators mostly stopped, and the economic health very slowly continues to recover from the past.
  •  
    "The index covers 16 leading emerging markets, including India, Brazil and China, which all saw their rate of growth fall. Rates of economic growth in these countries have been far higher than in developed nations, often coming in at about 10% a year." I think that the author is trying to say that Brazil in China have the highest rates of economic growth and not UK and the US. The exports in these two countries are very important; China is the country which more products export in the world. Their economic growth is slowing because of the recession in the other counties where the consumption has decrease and the people try to save money so the imports of products from China is not so high as it would be in a period of economic growth in all the world. I think that only in few countries the economy started to recover from the recession, in most of the economies are in stagnation. This suggest us the probably the worst part of the recession is behind us and the economies will start to recover, however these fluctuations in economic activity do not follow a mechanical or predictable periodic pattern so we can´t be sure when the recovery will start.
Paul J

Chile Peso Lures Deutsche Bank on Trade Balance: Market Reversal - Bloomberg - 0 views

  •  
    This article is ripe for examination as it presents the point of view of many different nations. The primary focus in the situation in Chile, put it allows us to see the perspective of a major currency trader (the AG) as well as the perspective of China, Chile's major trading partner. Moreover, we get to see the rational behind the valuation of currency, in this case related to commodities.
  •  
    I enjoyed this article due to the fact that it was in a different light. Most of all the other articles are written in negative aspects but this one looks at the positives of how the Chilian peso is going to recover. It also shows us how important exports are to certain countries as they depend on them, in this case copper , to stabalize the economy.
Jina K

McDonald's Sees Sales Drop First Time in Almost 10 Years - 0 views

  •  
    This article relates directly to the concept of income elasticity of demand and cross elasticity of demand . McDonald's monthly sales fall for the first time in almost 10 years. Its revenue fell by 1.8% last month. This happens because of the various reasons. One results from the unstable economy. People are more cautious about spending their money. A lot of people choose to "eat in", simply because they cannot afford it. This applies a lot to the younger consumers, who have been facing unemployment. The company has also been affected by Europe's economy since the market of Europe counts for 40% of the company's revenue. European economy has been facing recession. There has been a tremendous amount of unemployment, which means a decrease in the general population's income. This directly relates to income elasticity of demand. As income falls, the quantity demanded for products fall as well. In this case, people choose to eat at home to be more frugal. I believe this contradicts a little to the idea of inferior goods. McDonald's may be considered as "inferior goods" to the majority. It is often said that as income decreases, inferior goods will likely benefit from it. However, in this case, McDonald's do not. People choose other alternatives instead, which is eating in. So it is just not McDonald's that has been affected, but a lot of other restaurants and fast food chains too. Furthermore, fierce rivals have also came up with strategies to out compete its competitors. For example, Wendy's Co. has decided to upgrade their menus and offer discounts. This relates to cross elasticity of demand. Obviously, as other rivals offer discounts and as well as an upgrade on their menus, consumers will shift to consuming those products that are slightly cheaper.
Kyuhwan L

How to Know When to Tax and When to Spend - 1 views

  •  
    I really found this article interesting because it explains the strategy of taxation that aligns with the business cycle. It explains that during times of economic hardship, a recession, then government should increase spending to first "soft blow for businesses and average working people," but to also stimulate the economy and move on to recover. This is reflected by the Keynesian theory of economy, where the government intervention is necessary to put the economy back on the right track. On the other hand, the government should relax expenditure and slightly increase tax to pay off deficit. This strategy is also supported by history, where the article gives examples of past U.S. presidents and government decisions during different times of the business cycle.
  • ...1 more comment...
  •  
    I agree with you that this article is very interesting. Like you said before it reflect the Keynesian school of economics. However, there is one problem with these theory, you don´t know if the government intervention are helping the economy or not. It is impossible to state which theory is better or if the economy work better with government intervention or without them. To investigate which one is better you would need two identic economies (this is impossible) in recession and intervene in one economy and in the other don´t make any intervention and expect that the market forces will solve the problem. "This strategy is also supported by history, where the article gives examples of past U.S. presidents and government decisions during different times of the business cycle." However the business cycle doesn´t affect all the economies in the same ways. For example the Spanish government is making a lot intervention but the economy is not recovering. On the other hand the biggest problem with the government interventions is that you can´t be sure in 100% about the effect of the intervention. You can study a lot the economy and prepar the intervention for months but you will know the result after the intervention, and the result may not be positive. The other problem with the government interventions is that many of them are not popular and many governments won´t risk losing popularity.
  •  
    I agree with what Andrzej said about the fatc that we don't what are the best ways to help the economy, either making a goverment intervention or not. The problem is that none of this policies are 100% efficient and the example that Andrzej gives us about the Spanish government shows us how sometimes intervention doesnt recover the economy.
  •  
    I agree with what Andrzej said about the fact that we don't what are the best ways to help the economy, either making a goverment intervention or not. The problem is that none of this policies are 100% efficient and the example that Andrzej gives us about the Spanish government shows us how sometimes intervention doesnt recover the economy.
Tisha D

Balance of Payment deficit drops in Egypt - 0 views

  •  
    This article is about the drop in balance of payment deficit in Egypt in 2012. Balance of payment deficit is when the import of goods and services exceed the export of goods and services. A bank of the country says that such a situation has occurred because of the large number of Egyptian laborers working abroad, especially in countries in The Gulf. We know that in theory, the balance of payments should equal 0. Although balance of payment deficit dropping is a good thing, economists still say that this is still a pressure on the Egyptian government and they will have to strike a deal with the IMF.
ZhengYe J

Windows Phone 8 pre-orders said to start October 21 - 0 views

  •  
    I think we will see the change of the market of smartphone through the windows phone is about to start to pre-order. Windows phone is one of the biggest competitors of Iphone over the world. In this case, the supply of the smartphone increases. And I believe the demand or price of iphone is going to chance because of it, after people consider about the oppotunity cost of either buying iphone or windows phone.
  •  
    Yes I do agree with you that the "windows fones" are going to create a huge competition with the apple iphone and i think this is a positive aspect to the phone market because now the iphone will probably not dominate the phone market anymore and it's price will drop, making it more availible to people. Also this is a positive aspect that there is competition because it will lower the prices of telephones in generally making it more availible to everyone. Adding to the competotion aspect, it will force the to companys to finance their reserch even more, to try and beat their opposition, which will improve the technology of telephones of our day!
Mariya L

Micro irrigation answer to depleting ground water level: Sharad Pawar - 0 views

  •  
    This summer I've been in India, and it's one of the reasons why I found this article interesting. The humidity level in India is incredible high, you easily can feel that when you are outside of the room that has conditioner. But despite the amount of humidity, Indian nation has that huge problem with water. I didn't see Indians using water too much, that's why it seems weird to me that Indians can have scarce of water. Thus after that article I noted how often we hear about water scarcity. Last year I heard about the disturbance of ecosystem of one of the rivers (because of the producing electricity) here in Idaho. So I think it is topic that we hear everyday, but most of us hear, but don't listen. I hope this little article will draw your attention to the water, as it did to me, and you will begin to think and care about scarcity of not only water, but scarce of other things that are habitual for us, that we don't even think that they might be finite.
Jina K

Apple shares close at new high on iPhone 5 pre-orders - 1 views

  •  
    The increase demand for iPhone 5 causes the Apple shares to close at almost $700. The firm receives two million pre-orders. Most iPhones will be delivered to stores later this week, but some orders may be delayed. An estimate of up to 50-60 million iPhones could be sold by the end of the year. However, the soaring demand causes concerns for the firm, as they may not be enough products to meet the consumers' demands. This could potentially delay the delivery of the products. I chose this article, because I think it relates a lot to the idea of scarcity. Though it may not be the biggest concern that could affect people's lives tremendously (not as much of a concern as problems like shortage of food or water), but it tells us that mass resources can become scarce very easily as a result of high demand for it. This can easily connect to the fundamental concept of economics. That is supply and demand. As a result of high demand for the products, the quantity that can be supplied by the market may not satisfy the consumers' demand. This is also an example of human 'wants.' Most people don't need an iPhone, but because of their 'wants,' they want to get one for themselves. You can see that human wants are infinite and that resources are finite that will eventually become scarce. This could potentially add value to the iPhone 5 if the products become scarce. Bibliography "Economics Basics: Supply and Demand." Investopedia - Educating the World about Finance. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. .
Mariya L

Japan Trade Deficit Widens as Imports Surge - 1 views

  •  
    Japan's trade deficit increases in October as increase in imports exceed increase in exports to the US and China. Over the past years, weakening yen has helped promote exports, but also increases the cost for imports. The increase in cost for imports, such as crude oil, helped widen trade deficit. This shows the relationship between the current account and the exchange rate. Japan is currently going through a balance trade of goods and services deficit. This results in downward pressure on the exchange rate of the currency as there is an increase in the supply of yen due to increase in imports.
  •  
    This article focuses on the trade deficit of Japan. Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled in October, as growth in imports outpaced robust increases in exports to the U.S. and China, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday. There are several factors that led to trade deficit. Firstly, the weakening of the yen over the past year had its significant impact on imports and exports. After meltdown of the nuclear power plant in 2011, Japan has faced loss of the generation capacity, therefore forcing Japan to import natural gas and oil. Overall, weakening in the Japanese yen over the past year has helped exports, but it has also increased the cost of imports.However, the exports are not as stable as they could be. Slowdown in economic growth of China has led to decrease in demand for Japanese exports.Overall the article talks about the details of the trade deficit of Japan.
Tisha D

Kids go Hungry due to Political Unrest - 0 views

  •  
    Following the recent government unrest in Yemen, the presence of terrorist groups in the country and the ongoing economic crisis the country is facing serious issues with food and hunger. The country depends solely on imported food due to the unavailability of arable land, but due to the lack of funds the government is not able to do so. The country is already in a weak state due to the fall of the government and presence of Al- Qaeda occupied regions in the country. The country has also been hitten hard by the global increase in fuel and food prices Due to the excessively high prices 5 million people or 22% of the population that mainly consists of the poor economic section cannot feed themselves enough or go hungry to bed on most nights. Yemen is the third country in the world to have the largest number of malnourished children. Most of these kid's parents are landless labours, so they cannot grow their own food and because of the high prices, they cannot afford to buy it either.
Seyeon O

The Economy's Being Blamed for the Decline of Pet Burials - 0 views

  •  
    Income Elasticity of Demand This article explains about pet burial business suffering because of economic recession. The business' revenue dropped from "$47.7 billion" to "$45.5 billion" within one year in the United States. The article claims, its' revenue dropped because of recession. This article is good example of how knowing Income Elasticity of Demand (YED) can be used to predict the economy of the country. Considering pet burial is luxury good, it has very high YED. The decrease in quantity demanded of the product indicates the general income of the country decreased.
Mariya L

The Importance of Income Elasticity in Decision Making - 0 views

  •  
    This article presents a very good explanation what is income elasticity and how it may affect producers choices and sales. The article includes four main parts: types of products, types of customers, product life cycle and determing income elasticity. In the section "Types of products" author points how small businessses and luxury items' producers are affected by people's income, and how can they improve sales. Second section talks about targeting of the customers, for example some companies may focus on people with high-income, so consumers are not sensitive to the changes in price. Product Life Cycle section talks about aging of the product and appearing of the substitutes, and the ways of overcoming that problems, attracting consumers. And the last part of an article describes how to determine an income elasticity of demand. It is a good article that helps to increase understanding.
1 - 20 of 262 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page