ZIS IB Year 2 2013-14

In an attempt to impede on music and film piracy, the Dutch government will implement a tax on smartphones, laptops, and mp3 players (among other devices) as of January 1st, 2013. The tax will be based on the storage capacity of devices, allowing anything from empty CD-ROMs to set-top boxes to be taxed. A maximum fixed levy of five Euros will be placed on devices, some only with a fixed levy of one or two Euros. Thus, the producers and consumers of smaller, less expensive devices will feel the effect of these fixed levies more than those of laptop and smartphone producers for example, as the fixed levies will be a larger proportion of the price for cheaper products. The tax revenues will be distributed among the affected industries. 

Slowing of inflation in venezuela.

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.

Floods have destroyed of up to 7 million tones of rice in Thailand, and therefore greatly decreasing the supply. Many of the farmers will greatly suffer due to the fact that they get half as much income as they normally would. Due to the supply shock of rice, the price raised a little bit. There is a supply shock in rice in Thailand and therefore the supply curve shifts to the left, increasing the price and decreasing the demand. As the price is higher for every quantity supplied, the producer have less incentive to produce more as they have a smaller profit margin and therefore they decrease production. At the same time, the demand will decrease as the price is higher.

In Malaysia, 14 items have been put under a price control scheme until November 17th. There are certain pink tags which must be displayed on products to help differentiate between them. There are large fines for traders who do not comply within the rules.

The government in the Philippines will impose a price ceiling on essential drug products that are overpriced. This was announced by the Department of Health (DOH). Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that the President is to sign an order that covers the lowering of prices on six or seven drugs. The firms refused to cut the prices in half, but the DOH recommended for price reduction. Overall, the prices were cut by about 30 to 35 percent.

India is looking to expand the price controls they have on drugs. This would apply not only to generic medicines, but also to patented drugs. Drug companies fear this decision, as they feel that India is not protecting their intellectual property enough already. The secretary of India's Pharmaceuticals Department, Kalha, states that they need to make expensive drugs available/affordable to the poorer citizens. Bayer AG and India are in a patent conflict. India's patent authority required that the German company, Bayer, issues a license, which allows Indian generic- drug companies to sell a less expensive copy of Bayer's patented cancer drug, Nexavar. The reason for this order was due to the expensive prices of the drug and India's Intellectual Property Appellate Board are arguing the case and expecting a ruling very soon. With the price controls on the drugs, the poorer citizens would have a fairer chance and curing their sicknesses, as they would be able to afford the medication for it. So far India has 74 set prices on generic medicines but is wanting to increase this number to 348. This high amount of price control has not been seen since 1979! The Indian government believes that the prices of drugs shouldn't be driven by market forces but should be regulated instead. However, so far there are no formal regulations to the plan of the price controlling yet, as the government is still deciding of final opinions. By restricting the prices of drugs, foreign pharmaceutical companies might become upset. Tapan Ray, the director general of the Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers (internationally based) of India spoke: " any price control in that area will stifle [research and development] initiatives seriously, adversely affecting patients' interests in the long run". Novartis is a Swiss drug maker and it has been fighting for a patent on its cancer drug, Glivec, in India. In 2006 India rejected Novartis' patent application, and since then Novartis has been fighting