...Economics essay: short guidelines BBA 2012-2013, D. Besson Topics: The topic of the Economics essay is to be chosen by taking in consideration your centres of interest and also your professional or next year(s) studying project. A priori, there are no restrictions in the kind of the subject. Any subject is acceptable, if not too broad (that would be impossible to treat in the limited scope of an essay) neither too specific (for the bibliographical references could be too difficult to find). Of course, it must be a topic in Economics, either micro (study of one or several firms in an industry in (set of) countries, for example) or macro (the Economic development of a market, of an industry, or an economic area). Some social phenomenons can be analyzed from an economic point of view (life styles and consumption; demography and labor market; for examples). Your subject can be linked with your dissertation topic (or, at today, the domain you consider you could cover in your dissertation), but of course it’s not an obligation. I remind you that you must submit me your topic for my agreement. Indicative length: It’s not easy to give a precise indication, as it depends of the subject. Some subjects need more long descriptions, and some other ones, more synthetic and/or more theoretical, require less length. As an indication, I can say that under 10 pages (around 3500 words) it’s impossible to make a good essay. More than 25 pages (9000 words) would certainly be too long for the quantity...
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...From the tutorials and lectures, what I have learnt is that economics is the study of how people choose to use resources. Those resources include the basic things like land, food, water, human resources and also include abstract things like time, space, experiences. The fact is that our resources are limited, that can be seen as scarcity of resources. However, people’s needs and wants are unlimited. So, the basic question is that how can our wants be as possible as much fulfilled with the limited resources? Firstly, we have to sequence our needs and wants, and then allocate them into the most efficient ways. These important choices relate to how much time we devote to work, study, and leisure, and also how much money to spend and how much to save. Furthermore, how to effectively integrate and use resources to produce goods and services, and how to vote for tax level and government functions. Regularly, humans appear to use their sources to enhance their well-being. Well-being consists of the gratification people benefit from the goods and offerings they select to eat, from their time spent in leisure and with family and network as well as in jobs, and the security and offerings furnished via powerful governments. From time to time, however, people appear to use their assets in ways that don't improve their prosperity. Despite the fact that the conduct of people is essential, economics likewise addresses the aggregate conduct of organizations and commercial ventures, governments...
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...Economic Essay China has a population of approximately 1.34 billion (World Bank 2012) which has been rising at a continuous rate. Chinas economic freedom score is 51.2 this therefore makes the overall Chinese economy the 138th freest in the 2012 index (heritage 2012). During Hu Jintao’s rein China has enjoyed a substantial industrial growth becoming the 2nd largest in the world after America (BBC 2012). In order to underpin the overall economic state of China I will divide my report up into three paragraphs which are entitled: the national output, the employment/unemployment rate and the fiscal policy. To address national output I will look at the subheading under two separate measures. Starting with Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Which in 2011 it was $7.30 trillion (World Bank 2012). The second measure is Gross National Product (GNP), this figure stands at $11.36 trillion (World Bank 2012). The GNP figure suggests that the Chinese population are very wealthy and the GDP figure suggests that the overall country is very prosperous. These figures can be compared to Japan which holds the third highest ranking. Japans GDP figure is $5.86 trillion whilst its GNP figure is $4.54 trillion. (World Bank 2012) The employment rate is measured by the percentage of the population that are in employment. It is usually contrasted against the countries unemployment rate which is the percentage of a population that is out of work. For China the unemployment rate is 4.1% (China Daily...
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...Supply and Demand Microeconomics and macroeconomics are both very similar and they both effect economic decisions made by people. Microeconomics focuses on the individual, or the household, and how they make financial and economic decisions. Macroeconomics focuses on the economy, and people, as a whole. It studies what society does financially as a whole. I read the exercise and I also watched the video, but this paper will focus on the video we watched about the apples and pears. There were several microeconomic principles presented in this video. One example of a principle of microeconomics is the increase in demand of apples after apples were said to cure cancer. This causes more people to want to purchase apples. This increase in demand increases the price as well, and the increase in price will cause the supply to go up to. The video also showed an example of how supply can shift as well. In the first example, there was a new invention that helps to prevent apples from disease. This helps the growers out immensely and they are now able to produce and sell more apples. This change in supply causes the supply curve of apples to increase to the right. This shift in quantity supplied causes the price of apples to drop. Both of these are examples of microeconomics. The decision on whether to purchase apples is up to the consumer, or individual, and is based on the price of apples or the benefits of apples. A consumer will always buy the cheaper product or they...
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...SESSION 2009-2010 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS SPRING TERM PROFESSOR K. BURDETT EC100 – ECONOMICS FOR BUSINESS ASSIGNMENT 2 This assignment is to be handed in to Room 5B.209 for surnames A-L and room 5B.211 for surnames M-Z BEFORE 12.00 NOON on TUESDAY 16th March 2010. Bring your registration cards. You will receive an electronic receipt. You should NOT hand in assignments to your class teacher. Please note that the University has a coursework deadline policy. Therefore, all assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a mark of zero. See page 14 of the EC100 - Economics for Business Handbook for details. Please make sure that your NAME and that of your CLASS TEACHER and CLASS NUMBER are printed clearly on the front page of your assignment. You should answer all questions in this assignment. Please write your answers CLEARLY and write within the spaces provided. CLASS TEACHER’S NAME:…………………………………………………………… (Block capitals only) CLASS NUMBER:………………………………………………………………………... YOUR NAME:……………………………………………………………………………. (Block capitals only) Answer all questions (5 marks each) Part 1 1. Distinguish between the following three types of preferential trading areas: a free trade area, a customs union, and a perfect (full) common market. There are three types of prefrential trading arrangements, a preferential trading agreement is an agreement whereby the trade between the signatories is more relaxed compared to the trade with the rest of the world. One...
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...It is important to understand the idea of ‘ownership and control,’ where the owners of a private sector company normally elect a board of directors to control the business’s resources for them. It is the shareholders who take the risks within the company and as a result, receive profits as a factor reward. Directors, whom represent shareholders, control the different aspects of the business, and managers control the day to day decisions, both receiving wages as a reward. Within large companies, managers may take over the role of directors and become divorced from the owners. However, managers do not necessarily maximise profits all the time, but managers who do not provide ‘shareholder value’ will not survive in the long run and nor will businesses the do not understand the significance of profit maximising. One reason why firms might depart from profit maximisation is that it is difficult for them to identify their profit maximising output, as they cannot accurately calculate marginal revenue and marginal costs. Often the day-to-day pricing decisions of businesses are taken on the basis of “estimated demand conditions” rather than a systematic calculation of a demand curve. Most modern businesses are multi-product firms operating in a range of separate markets. The amount of information that they have to handle can be vast. And they must keep track of the changing preferences of consumers and ever-evolving market conditions. The idea that there is a neat and single profit maximising...
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...Richard Smith BMGT 482 Socioeconomics Essay Professor Rick Schultz March 31, 2013 How Socio-Economic Programs Impact Contracting Small business plays an integral part of the US economy in job and wealth creation. The U.S. uses the procurement process to advance socioeconomic policies and objectives. As a result, the Federal government has a vested interest in ensuring the growth and health of small businesses by creating opportunities for these enterprises to get a slice of federal dollars through government contracts. Socioeconomic Programs originate from the Small Business Act created in 1953, which declares “it is the policy of the United States that small business concerns shall have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in the performance of contracts let by any federal agency, including contracts and subcontracts for subsystems, assemblies, components, and related services for major systems” (SBA, 2011). In 1997, Congress established a 23% goal for the awarding of federal contracts to small businesses. These programs, which include incentive, set-aside, and preference programs, give small businesses and small businesses owned by special minority and disadvantaged groups’ advantages in bidding on federal contracts. The following five types of socioeconomic programs require agencies to limit competition on certain contracts to qualified small businesses so that small firms do not have...
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...Economic Environment: Markets require purchasing power as well as people. The available purchasing power in an economy depends on current income, prices, savings, debt, and credit availability. Marketers must pay close attention to major trends in income and consumer-spending patterns. Marketers often distinguish countries with five different income-distribution patterns: (1) very low incomes; (2) mostly low incomes; (3) very low, very high incomes; (4) low, medium, high incomes; and (5) mostly medium incomes. Marketers must pay careful attention to major changes in incomes, cost of living, interest rates, savings, and borrowing patterns because they have a strong impact on business and PepsiCo is always aware of economic environment for Pepsi. Natural Environment: In the natural environment, marketers need to be aware of raw materials shortages, increased energy costs and pollution levels, and the changing role...
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...Economic Essay 1 Although the people of North and South Korea speak the same language, they have many different ideas and cultures that have developed after the two countries split apart. The market economy of South Korea has done a lot to improve the overall economy of the country, and the gross national product has been on the rise. The economy of North Korea has had many challenges, largely due to the self-reliant and closed economic system that they use. Overall, the government and economy of South Korea has been more prosperous and successful than North Korea. Much of this is due to the fact that in North Korea, they have a completely closed and centrally planned economic system which tends to inhibit their growth. The fact that South Korea operates under a democratic ideology, and has a capitalist economy seems to have given South Korea somewhat of an advantage. Because of their closed economic system, North Korea has refused to trade with capitalistic countries, and is only now showing more of an inclination to open communications up more even with South Korea. North Korea is one of the few command economies still standing. After the Second World War, the Korean peninsula was divided into North Korea and South Korea. North Korea, under the influence of the Soviet Union, established a command economy that emphasized government ownership and central government planning. South Korea, protected by the United State, established a market economy based upon private...
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...Institute of Economic Affairs Essay Competition Entry “Because of market failure and to prevent inequality, the government should finance and provide all healthcare.” Given this common view, whilst making some reference to methods of providing and financing healthcare in other European countries, discuss whether government finance and provision of healthcare is likely to maximise welfare? Healthcare is categorised as a merit good as consuming it provides benefits to society and to the individual consumer. For instance, immunisation against a contagious disease gives us protection and results in a private benefit as well as an external one, to those who are protected from catching the disease from those who are inoculated. However, few would want inoculation only to protect others. Therefore, the demand for healthcare will be less than the socially efficient quantity. Having great advances in new technologies, treatments and drugs improves our health service’s ability to supply, as well as encouraging demand to such an extent that demand substantially exceeds supply. Unfortunately, this creates long waiting lists and therefore a scarcity of beds available for treatment. If we privatised the NHS, it would allow prices to increase to show how much it really costs to supply. But obviously, this would be very controversial and cause immigration rates to drop. This could be seen as a bad thing for some, due to the fact that many are very productive and willing to work for...
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...Using the information in the data and your own economic knowledge, evaluate the economic case for and against governments attempting to influence how mobile phones are manufactured and used. (25) The government should intervene in the mobile phone market to correct market failure due to the presence of negative externalities. Negative externalities are detrimental third-party effects caused by the production and/or consumption of a good. A public good is a good provided free of charge to the consumer, by the government. A public good is non-excludable and non-rivalrous. A merit good is a good that gives positive externalities upon production and/or consumption. A merit good is non-excludable, yet rivalrous. The negative externalities of mobile phone production stem from the production and consumption of the service broadcasting masts provide. The demand for broadcasting masts is derived from the demand for mobile phones. Broadcasting masts are said to cause negative externalities in the form of health-issues, such as cancer (Extract F, line 7). Negative health effects are a drain on government resources as healthcare is provided as a public good by the government, in the form of the NHS. An increase in cases of ill-health will cause an increase in the demand for the NHS, costing the government and tax payers money which is finite and must be put to its best use. As the demand for mobile phones is highly inelastic (Extract E, Line 9), the demand for broadcasting masts is...
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...Australia and China have adopted different economic systems in order to cater for the society. The Chinese and Australian economies have many similarities and differences from Australia’s market based economy to China’s planned economy. Like all economies, they both face the problem of scarcity of resources, what to produce, how much to produce, who will produce. Both of these economies have adapted to changing the world in order to allow their economies to grow and develop. These similarities and differences include the economic growth and quality of life, the environment, employment and unemployment, distribution of income and the government role. Australia and China Australia have very little similarities in terms of economic growth and quality of life. Australia is a democracy and China is a one party rule socialist party. The quality of life also comes in the size and the population of the country. Australia’s area of 7,682, 300 sq km is 80% of China’s 9,595, 960 sq km, yet its population is 22 million which is only 1.7% of China’s 1.35 billion. For Australia’s GDP per capita is $43,000 ranking 10th in the world and China’s is only $7945 which is 98th in the world. Due to the extreme difference in the density of population and per capita income. Basically there isn't a lot of similarity except the large gap between rich and poor and for a few wealthy individuals who could afford the same luxuries. Employment and unemployment are one of the many similarities and differences...
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...Introductory Essay. I’m discussing “Prospects of the Eurozone” by Stephanie Balnkenburg, Lawrence King, Sue Konzelmann and Frank Wilkinson. In terms of a summary, the Journal suggests that general economic theory proposes that the European Union would benefit all memebers. That the crisis in 2010 was fisical in nature that it was the prolifery of governement spending in certain European nations that caused the crash; hence why the prospect of survival of the european union is being discussed in this journal. It discusses the belief of the ECB, that austerity measures are the only way that these indebted European nations are going to pay back what they owe and return to prosperity. The journal procedes to prescribe why this is incorrect using mainstream economic theory. I disagree with the statement that all countries in the European Union have benefitted from joining. Spain with the availability of cheap credit built a ‘housing bubble’. Between 2004 and 2008 house prices rose by fourty percent not so co-incidently Spain adopted the euro in 2002. It wasn’t just lavish spending in the private sector, 17 regional Spanish Governments have large debts of their own, a sum of thirty-six billion is needed to refinance their debts in 2012. (BBC, 28 September 2012) The availability of euros (credit) meant along with private investors, local government could also be more frivilous. In contrast to the view that the euro hindered economic growth in Spain, gross...
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...Patisy Salifu SAPAD133 Economics (ECF1110D) The Oil and Gas sector includes the oil and gas extraction industry as well as petroleum refining. The United States is the world's third-largest petroleum producer, with more than 500,000 producing wells and approximately 4,000 oil and natural gas platforms operating in U.S. waters. Together, oil and gas supply 65 percent of U.S. energy. The nation's 144 refineries process more than 17 million barrels of crude oil every day. Oil and gas production facilities include 16,000 establishments with a value of shipments of $134 billion. Natural gas is seen as a good source of electricity supply for a number of economic, operational and environmental reasons: it is low-risk (technically and financially); lower carbon relative to other fossil fuels; and gas plants can be built relatively quickly in around two years, unlike nuclear facilities, which can take much longer. (“Oil and Gas”, n.d.) Oil prices have risen while natural gas prices have soared. Using the supply and demand models, this essay analyzes the change in price from an economic point of view. The price of oil rose 1 percent Thursday as stockpiles declined and new indications that demand is rising in the U.S., the world's largest crude consumer. The price of natural gas soared nearly 5 percent to close at $4.46 per thousand cubic feet — the highest price since July of 2011 — after the government reported a huge draw in supplies...
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...Evan Mandery Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice • Why I'm Skipping My Harvard Reunion (A Call to Action) Posted: 05/06/2014 8:51 am EDT Updated: 07/06/2014 5:12 am EDT In a few weeks, the Harvard class of 1989 will be reuniting in Cambridge. There'll be mini-TED talks, a "Taste of New England Dinner," and a chance to sing with the Boston Pops, but I'll be spending the weekend coaching my son's Little League team and hanging out with my family. Reunions seem unnatural to me. I refuse to participate in the charade of pretending to be surprised to see a classmate, and when I'm asked, "What have you been doing?" as one inevitably is, I never know where to draw the line between "stuff" and the full, self-reflective version one might share with a close friend. I think too much detail implies an exaggerated sense of self-worth and is hence a greater faux pas than too little detail, so I've always hewed closer to the "stuff" version, but this runs its own risk of suggesting you don't think the other person is important enough to merit the full telling of your own story. It's a minefield and, in the social media era, one that's entirely avoidable. I've never been unable to locate an old friend or classmate online. It's particularly easy for graduates of Harvard, which maintains a great alumni website--it's where Facebook started, after all. Anyone interested in me can find my professional record on LinkedIn, family photos on Facebook, and many hilarious tweets. If one wanted...
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