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This article describes the effect of price ceilings on goods in Asia. Most countries in Asia have set caps to petrol prices and only seldom raised these. Commentators argue that if price of petrol does not rise with the price of the crude oil in the world, consumers in Asia (where the price for petrol is low) will use up so much that the price of petrol will increase too much and harm the economy rather than help it. In China foods have been monitored as well. Price have a ceiling and if this is to be raise the company must seek approval of the government. This is only a temporary answer to the problem of keeping prices low.

The Australian government needed, as many other governments do, more revenue. They decide to implement a carbon and mining levy tax. The carbon tax forces firms to pay 23 australian dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide, shifting supply to the left, as carbon dioxide produced forces tax on the firms as well as encouraging them to leave less of a carbon footprint.The mining levy tax, puts a direct ad valorem tax on firms who gathering iron and coal. These taxes have allowed for worker's taxes to be decreased, therefore shifting the tax burden from workers to firms that are enviromentally harming.

We see in the chart that in developing countries arms are considered a normal good. This is apparent as the number of sales is at its lowest in 2007, 2008, and 2009 - the time period of the late financial crisis. Incomes decreased and therefore also government expenditure. So since the governments had a reduced budget, they were forced to purchase fewer arms. However, once the global economy started to recover from the crisis, incomes rose again. Thus, governments were able to spend more on arms again (which we see in 2010 and 2011). This is a good example of how income, a non-price determinant of demand, can influence the demand on a good. Another non-price determinant of demand is government policy. The article states that Saudi Arabia was the developing world's biggest arms buyer in 2011, with deliveries of $2.8 billion - an unusually high number. Therefore, there must have been a change in Saudi Arabia's government policy; otherwise they would not suddenly be buying more arms. So now we see how government policy influences demand on arms. 

Stay in school.  There's long life and money in it.

Mario Monti, Italy's prime minister stated that the richer population of Italy, the ones who own multiple large motoryachts, are the ones that happen to not be paying taxes. He states that it is a struggle to confront tax evaders, and that it is "like a war". The tax evasion causes a large gap in Italian stretched public finances. These boat owners are seen as the ones who do not pay their share, mostly because the paying of boat taxes depends on its size. Between 10-12 meters, €800 are required, 20-24 is €4,400 and anything above 64 meters is €25,000. Obviously, having to make these payments do not please the boat owners, and unsurprisingly, they have fled to more welcoming harbors, where getting a spot costs much less. Many of these flee to Croatia or Corsica, which causes business in many Italian harbors to drop by a lot, specifically 50% in Rome's marina Ostia.

The price of maize has risen this year due to lower yields which will reduce this year's crops to less than what was originally expected.. The problem being created, is that this year's food price index of maize is above of what it has been at the same point during the years 2008 and 2011. Now it is feared that the same thing might happen to America's soya bean harvest, and with this it would have a huge impact on livestock farmers, which are already starting to have trouble with their harvests. The worry is now that, just like maize, the soya beans will become higher priced and with this less people would be able to afford it. But not only would it affect the soya beans, that would simply be the beginning; next would be the meat and then a wider food-price problem could be underway. Therefore, society is worried that this wave of pricing food higher than other years due to worst crops might not only affect the agricultural economy, but would expand into all of the food market, making less people be able to buy more food.

The article Supply, Not Demand, to Blame for Pullback in May Home Sales addressed the issue of a lack of supply being the cause for the recent decline in house sales. In May, 1.5% of sales had fallen and the decline of properties is usually associated with the lack of demand. However recently, demand has been exceeding supply. A lack of supply leads to a left shift of a supply curve (price of houses and supply of properties) as there is a decrease in supply. The determinant of this shift is caused by productivity. Productivity is the input vs. the output; firms wish to minimize input to gain the greatest output. In this case, productivity has decreased as the input is not being met to meet the maximum output therefore leading to a lack of supply. It also relates to the basic economic problem of scarcity and that the resource (houses) is scarcer than before which affects the production therefor the supply of the good. However economists predict an increase in the supply of goods, despite these recent developments. Perhaps this lack of supply, this left shift of the supply curve was caused by a supply shock.

The happy news is that the American economy is producing more jobs and the unemployment rate is continuing to fall. The less happy news is that, in the words of economist Gary Burtless, this is happening "at a heartbreakingly slow pace." This is how the article starts. According to Burtless, employer survey show that payroll have been rising about 190,000 a month, fast enough that we would expect unemployment to fall. However, the article states that it would take about 5 or 6 years to reach unemployment. Futurists envisioned a world where the wealth produced by an economy required few laborers. The truth is that in the plant today, the rich are richer and everyone else is living with less.