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I have chosen this article because it is really related to our current topic of economic development. It is an article about how the change in the Indonesian law will allow the government to impose import substitution and thus reduce the reliance of the Indonesian economy on the imports from foreign countries. This may be very positive for the Indonesian economy because it will force domestic producers to be more efficient and employ more factors of production, what will probably lead to economic growth and decrease in unemployment.

With the implementation of the newly approved Industrial Law, Indonesia will have a strong legal base to promote import substitution as well as downstream industries in efforts to reduce the manufacturing sector's heavy reliance on imports of components and machinery. With the new industrial law the manufacturing sector was expected to grow by up to 6.8 percent and create 400,000 new jobs in 2014. The import substitution will have a profound effect and help the economy grow and develop.

This article is of great interest to us for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it is filled to the brim with information regarding the need for import substitution, providing us with a real-world example in Pakistan. Also, it is important because it discusses debt and the looming possibility of defaulting on debt, which is something that has become a hot-button issue in the US economy as of late, given the importance of the debt ceiling.

Samsung and Apple are the most popular companies producing highly desired products, but it seems that Samsung has took the lead. The cross elasticity value of each respective smartphone is high and positive, making them close substitutes for one another. With the high cross elasticity value, the sales for each product is sensitive to one another, making the market fierce.

This article is very interesting, Andy. I find it amazing how blackberry has almost completely dropped off the face of this planet! Its all about samsung and apple now. Since the Iphone 5 came out, I am guessing that the demand for Samsung phones has dropped!

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.

Royal Mail has recently spiked their prices. This has resulted in a large decrease in number of stamps bought. A fall of 9% of mails have been sent with Royal Mail. They are certainly testing the elasticity of demand curve, but are they just putting themselves out of business? This article relates perfectly to price elasticity because this company, Royal Mail, is testing the elasticity of the market. They are taking a big risk, because if the elasticity is high, they may go right out of business. There are many free substitutes for sending mail, like E-Mail, Texting, and Social Networking. In my opinion, I think it is quite bizarre of Royal Mail to spike their price knowing that their demand has gone down. It will be interesting to see if they lower the prices again!

Scottish Power has announced a price rise in the gas and electricity bills by 7%. The firm has 2.3 million customers and the average yearly bill will increase to £1,271. The rise is said to be caused by an increase in costs for transporting gas and electricity. Other energy firms have also raised prices. The demand for the product, electricity and gas, is definitely inelastic in this case, since electricity and gas are necessities for the people. People will still need electricity regardless of how much price has increased. Demand will remain the same. All the energy firms are also raising costs, so the consumers have no substitutes. They have to endure to higher bills to come.

Apple, in the past, has been notorious for setting high prices for its products. Its beautiful, expensive products were, however, sought after by many, yet with it's new product, the iPad mini, Apple is starting to make products that are not only highly-desirable, but at the same time, less-expensive. Apple products are price elastic because it is not a necessity and there are a myriad of substitutes. Apple is well aware of this information, and as a result, is lowering its prices to take advantage of price elasticity and the law of demand. As the title states, "Its all about price elasticity" and the iPad mini, with its reduced price will be competitive in the tablet market.