ZIS IB Year 2 2013-14

Germany's low unemployment rate hides real hardship

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Half the Saudi population is under 25 years of age. this poses a great opportunity to expand the economy of Saudi Arabia, with the new idea that the young workforce brings with them. At the same time it poses a threat if the government does not accomplish the task of creating enough working spaces for the large group that will enter the labor force in the next 10 years.

Half the Saudi population is under 25 years of age. this poses a great opportunity to expand the economy of Saudi Arabia, with the new idea that the young workforce brings with them. At the same time it poses a threat if the government does not accomplish the task of creating enough working spaces for the large group that will enter the labor force in the next 10 years.

In this nes article it talks about the great problem that Spain is facing in the recession regarding unemployment. They do mention that even though unemployment has dropped from 27.2% to 26.3%.through this we can see that maybe some figures with regard to unemployment could be seasonal as the unemployment figures dropped during strong tourist season. Neverhteless most of the people without jobs have been unemployed for over a year which means that a lot of this unemployment is cyclic, which we can see as spain is in the middle of a terrible recession. Even though the Spanish economy is starting to experience slight profit and growth, they do experience long term issues in regard to the high youth unemployment that is at 56%.

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.

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Liam Henderson, the Administrator of the Office Price Administration and Civilian Supply, is looking to impose a price ceiling on cotton yarn. This was announced on May 18th. He will impose this price ceiling because the conferences with the industry were not successful in producing results.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission expects to include a temporary 3G price benchmark for voice and date service by mid-December of 2012. The secretary general stated that this price ceiling will apply to 3G operators running wireless broadband service on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum plus TOT Plc and CAT Telecom. This regulation will slash the pricing of 3G service by at least 15% from the current price which will largely benefit the consumers of 3G. However, the suppliers and telecommunications organizations will not be satisfied with this new price ceiling as they will be losing profits due to lower prices. As a result, less 3G will be supplied.  

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

Slowing of inflation in venezuela.

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.

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.

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.