S t u p i d$ HapPy

Hopefully it will be continued

2009-09-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Just Walking past by....

Well, i am going to write an explanation of Kinked demand since i cannot understand the book.(I know i am stupid-.-)

Kinked demand is one of the main theories which explain how oligopolists behave which indicative of price rigidity ( stickiness or stable) in oligopoly.

The two main points are :

If one firm increased its price, the rivals will not follows, therefore the demand will be price elastic, which leads to a fall in total revenue of the firm

If one firm decreased its price, the rivals will also follow to avoid a loss in market share, therefore the demand will be relatively inelastic, which will also leads to a fall in total revenue of the firm.

The kinked demand curve at P1 and Q1 means that there is a discontinuity in marginal revenue curve.

To sum up, the firms are interdependent on each other. Since it is very hard to rise or fall price, they prefer non-price factor competition in branding, location and ext.

New post

2009-06-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

heh heh~~
long time did not write DAILY blog...but i am sure, this is my daily blog=p
Finally, Finally i finished my economic exam today
I dun want to talk about how is it, it is just past
the same feeling of the ending of Easter course has come back.
Three months, I spent three months to finish the As level,
From know nothing until really interested on this subject
Big THANK YOU to Mr.Chris
How thankful i am that u had taught me, how blessing i am.
And how i wish u could teach me next year.
You funny, humor, old and childish man=p
i will continue to update the post while i am in China, please feel free to vist:)

Exams are really coming

2009-05-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

My first exam paper is sociology, which is next Monday. Therefore, i am going to write something about that on my another blog account.

Hope everyone will do well this time.

suicide

2009-05-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I did 10 questions wronf out of 34,
may i just go and suicide?
Good idea!!

Dont be happy,
i will still see you tomorrow even i go to suicide.

Economic exercise

2009-05-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

Answers to MCQ

1.b

2.c

3.b

4.a

5.b

6.c

7.a

8.c

9.d

10.c

11.a

12.a

13.a

14.a

15.d

16.d

17.d

18.d

19.b

20.c

21.d

22.??b?

23.a

24.a

25.c

26.c

27.d-.-

28.b

29.b.

30.c

31.b

32,a

33.the graph?

34.d

35.i think quantity demand is due to price factor and another is non-price factor.

Correct answers:

8.b

16.b

20.b

21.c

22.b

23.b

24.c

26.d

30.d

60 and 17

2009-05-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a very special day for two persons that i know

Mr.chris and Siyi

Tomorrow is their birthday!!!

Mr.chris is going to be 60(hahahahahaah) which surprised me when i found out and Siyi is going to be 17(-.- still very young) which remind me i am 19=_=.

Happy birthday to your!

May your life be even brighter as each birthday comes and goes,with new happiness unfloding like the petal of a rose .Have a wonderful birthday!

I hope everything is going well in Poland and every little wishes from Mr.chris will come ture.
I hope Siyi will performance very well in June exam and running well of her studies, get the results that she wants!

2009-04-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Carry on what i did yesterday

Cause of economic growth

component of AD in the short run
AS in the long run
could write with reference to all policies.

Achievement of supply side

economic growth
capital investment
low unemployment
advance technology manufacture
living standard
productivity
international trade position
wage

benefit of Budget deficit

government spending on capital investment that bring potential benefits in the long run
if increases in public sector such as health, education, it will increase labour productivity and employment.
A tool of demand management.Maintaining a high level of demand and keep unemployment low.

Cost of inflation

Menu cost
shoeleather cost
inflation cause inflation
fall in the money value
fiscal drag
uncertainty
inflationary noise
loss of international competitiveness

Import controls

tariff
quotas
embargoes
red tape

Homework

2009-04-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

The swine flu could be *good* for the economy because everyone is going to run out and buy cold medication and hand sanitizer - do you agree?

Answer(briefly)

No, i do not agree. Swine flu have more harmful effect on the economy.
Government have to increase it spending on the area of prevent swine flu such as provide more information, health centre, collect data, advertisements and so on. This would involve opportunity cost that government would decrease its spending on other area such as education, or it would put downward pressure on budget deficit.
Some area`s activities have to be shut down such as school, factory, shopping mail, the place where people usually are crowed. Since the industries are closed, it would decrease production. Especially on the tourism. People are likely not choose to travel at this period of time, tourist market would be greatly damaged on the top of recession. Some small tourism industries may even went bankrupt if the swine flu is going to be wide spread.There would have great impact on airline companies.
People would feel uncertain, they are less likely to go to shopping mail, pub,gym,restaurants, most importantly, much less consumption on pork although we will not get the virus by consuming pork, but it all matter on the way people think and feel. People feel much safe if they do not eat pork. Therefore, less consumer spending, AD shift to left since there would less trade activities.(diagram...)
However, all the effect are short run.After the flu is over, economy will start to recover.Since the swine flu have not yet be seriously wide spread, the impact would not be so seriouse at the current time.

Summary for Unit 2

2009-04-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

I am writing for the topic that i am weak at and the points normally i missed out or dun remember.

Capacity utilisation is the extent to which firms using capital goods.

Factors affect Saving.

Real disposable income
Interest rate
Age structure of the population
range of financial institutions
Confidence and expectation.
Government spending.(Welfare benefit that may discourage saving)

Factors affect Investment

Interest rate
capacity utilisation
Advanced technology
corporation tax
the current situation of economy
price of equipment

Factors of Government spending

The situation of the economy
the extent of market failure
wars

Cost of economic growth

Pollution(which would have a harmful effect in the long run),congestion
demand-pull inflation
People did not get happier as they get richer.
the profit may not be evenly distributed

Benefits of economic growth

lower unemployment
fiscal dividends
better standard of living, quality of the life
reduce poverty
accelerator effect of growth on capital goods
improve international trade position

Cost of unemployment

loss income
loss total output
increased government spending(opportunity cost)
fiscal cost
demotivating(long term out of employment)
social instability

points that i missed out

2009-04-28T11:28:00.000-07:00

Awww>.<...today we did a question related on government intervention to correct market failure, that`s the evaluate question i did yesterday, they are similar and i found out some of the points i missed out.

Black market which totally avoid taxation.
The cost of collecting and enforcing the tax could be significant
Taxes may lead to lower growth and therefore damage the economy
To be effective, such tax should be applied internationally.
By raising firm`s costs of production, it could leads to higher unemployment.

i will focus on market imperfection and write another evaluate question later on.

Using regulation to correct market failure.

Regulation is the legal restriction implement by government,such as banning chewing gum in Singapore, restriction on sales of demerit goods such as alcohol, tobacco and etc. There would be market failure as if it left to the market, it will be over consumption and production. People tends not to be aware of the harmful effect or negative externalities.(Diagram of external cost did not take into account) .

By restricting on the sales of demerit goods, people tends not to buy them as much as before if it work in fulls. AS would shift to the left, and AD contract. In the case of alcohol, the accident after over consume alcohol could reduced, less fighting and crimes after people get drunk which provide stability of the society.(could write one more examples)

However, the level of regulation to be set is difficult to measure, the setting level must be equal to the external cost which is extremely hard.If the regulation is too harsh, it would demotivate industries to work which may slowdown the economy. Or the regulation is too low, it would not have the necessary effect to correct market failure.There is black market that does not follow the regulation most of the times. And there are people taking the risks to break the law.The cost of the regulation to be put into action may be significant. Effective regulation need to be international.

Using tradable permits to correct market failure.

Tradable permits is a permit that allow the owner of the factories emit a certain amount of pollution , it could be sold or transfer to another polluter. Tradable permit is specially design for market failure caused by pollution.

Pollution level need to be strictly controlled, as too much pollution is harmful to environment, it would bring down our standard of living, it could cause diseases or even natural disaster.The factories produce without taking into account all the external cost.A tradable permit would achieve a desired environmental outcome with the country`s maximum level of permitted emissions.

However, it is hard to decide the number of permit should issued and the level of pollution the factory is allow to emit.It would be costly to have the permit to work,as it would increase the cost of production, it would damage the economy or lead to cost push inflationary pressure.There are always some people emit pollutant without a permit/ illegally.

Evaluate question 4

2009-04-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

Economists have proposed several different policies to solve the problems created by
negative externalities. These include taxation, regulation and the use of pollution
permits.
Discuss how effective any one of these policies may be in correcting the market failure caused by negative externalities.(12 marks)

Negative externalities is the when social cost is more than private cost of particular action .Normally, the consumption of demerit goods is accompanied by negative externalities.Such as the consumption of tobacco, alcohol and so on. It is information failure while the customer did not understand fully the harmful effect which resultd over consumption and production.(diagram)
By using tax,which is to put a higher tax on demerit goods, the supplier tends to produce less as the cost of production is high if the demand of the goods is price elastic. People tends to buy less since the price had gone up, in this case the tax is shared between supplier and consumer.(diagram)The tax would have much effect, if the demand of the goods is price inelastic, where although producer pass all the tax to consumer and they still buy it.
The tax would not be so effective, if there is an increase in wages, so people would have more disposable income and they tend to spend more and some of it will be demerit goods.It is hard to measure how much tax to be put on will be most effective. And supplier could provide misleading information that encourage more consumption.
And there is other negative externalities that caused by emission of CO2 which pollute the environment, in this case, a green tax would better take place, it followed polluter pay principle, an additional tax for extra pollutant.Tax might not be always the best and effective one, it largely depends on the current situation of people, elasticity and government priority

Up to date

2009-04-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

I need a up to date post for some reason, so i post it first, and i will carry on writing something about economic later on.

I had finished the yesterday post, and i am going to write some numerical facts about UK`s economy, i think it will be useful for the coming exams.

Lord Davies believes that companies should look east for a route out of the recession.

The sub prime crisis leads to banks collapsing, having serious problems and then moved into global consumer confidence deteriorating and across the world, global demand has fallen.

The UK economy shrank by 1.9% in the first three months of this year.
Manufacturing sector had fallen 6.9% which is particularly hard.

It forecast for 2009 as a whole is now for a 1.5% decline in GDP.

UK`s GDP had down 1.9% in the first quarter of the year.

Unemployment continued to rise,The Labour Force Survey measure suggests the trend rise in unemployment is around 60,000 a month and there is high increase number in claimant count.

Evaluate question 3

2009-04-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

What is Current Account Deficit and Government Deficit and do they have any effect on Aggregate Demand and Supply?

Current account deficit means the expenditure on abroad exceed the revenues generated from abroad.It consist of net trade in goods and services, net transfer and net investment.

UK kept having a net trade in goods deficit for few years, this could shows that there are higher demand on imports, which is a leakage to the economy, AD=G+I+C+(X-M), a downward multiplier effect(diagram), it would leads to AD shift inwards.As UK has a strong exchange rate, the price on exports are high , the consumption on exports would tend to be low, the supplier would more likely to turn to domestic market or close down which cause an increase in unemployment and an inward shift of AS.However, it still largely depends on other factors such as whether the demand for the goods are price elastic or income elastic. The current situation of the market and the size of the current account deficit.Net investment which means the UK investors gain profit , interest and dividend on their investment in other countries to UK.The transfer balance is negative as the British government is a net contributor to the EU budget,so there may left less government spending, which would have less welfare benefits to unemployment, AS shift to left.

A current account deficit appear, the government tend to use monetary policy to adjust exchange rate to boost the demand for exports. Provide better information for supplier to improve better quality of the exported goods.Import control to protect domestic market and boost the demand, AD shift to right. Deflation to decrease the consumption on imports.

Government Deficit is budget deficit where government spending exceed tax revenue. For instance, huge government spending into the bank to boost demand. A budget deficit means government have to borrow to finance , the borrowing may through government bond or issue debt for domestic or overseas. No matter how it borrow, there is a interest need to pay. A way to pay that is by having a higher tax, but in this case, a higher tax would damage AD and AS.However, it still depends on what the government spending is used for? and the size of the deficit as well as the situation of the market. If the government spending used to finance extra capital spending that leads to an increase in the stock of national assets or for expand supply side capacity such as education and training, better health care, reduce unemployment, subsidy , it would have positive effect on AS. If the government spending priority is on defense or education, it would have negative effect on AS and AD, as there is a time lag for people to be educate as skillful labour. If the economy is currently have stable economic growth, a small budget deficit will not affect much on AD and AS.Government could cut down interest rate to boost demand to rise revenue from indirect tax to correct budget deficit.

Specially for Mr. Chris

2009-04-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Mr.Chris

Hope you will have a pleasant and safe journey.

See you on Monday.

P.S Make sure you will come back safe and sound.

Evaluate question 2

2009-04-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Discuss how an increase in aggregate supply may affect output and inflation.

Aggregate supply is the total amount the producers is willing and able to supply at a given price over a period of time. How an increase in AS may affect output and inflation depends on the situation of the economy.
If the an economy is working at full capacity, an increase in AS would help to reduce demand-pull inflation and rise real GDP.(a diagram could be drawn) . Increase in AS is due to the lower cost of production in the short run, and increase in productivity in the long run. Inflation will take place if the increase in AD is faster than the increase in AS ( diagram).
If increase in AS is achieved by education and training in the long run, it is essential to the economy in the long run.
If the economy is currently having inflation, an increase in AS is likely to slowdown the inflation.
And if the economy is experiencing structure unemployment, increase in AS would reduced the unemployment, however, low unemployment is likely to lead to high inflation. (phillips curve)
If the economy is working under full capacity, increase in AS may not have effect on output and inflation.
All the aboves have to depends on how much the increases is. If the increase in AS is large, the faster slowdown on inflation in some case.But if the increase in AS matched with the increase in AD, it will increase in output without generate inflation.

Evaluate question

2009-04-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Evaluate the important to UK macroeconomic performance of increases in income per head of the population.

The macroeconomic performance is measure by the economic growth, low inflation, low unemployment and the position of balance of payment.

Increases in income per head of the population means that the average income of the UK increased, people have a higher purchases power.They would consume more goods and services if they are income elastic.so the consumer spending would raise, AD would shift to right.This could effectively help to reduce cyclical unemployment which due to a lack of aggregate demand. If UK is working under full capacity, AS would shift to right to meet the higher demand. (A diagram could be drawn). However, if UK is working near full capacity, an increase in AD is likely to cause demand-pull inflation. (demand-pull inflation diagram) .

There may not necessary right ward shift of AD. If the interest rate is increasing as well, people might even save more into bank to gain interests which might leads to a inward shift of AD. And other than consumer spending, there are government spending, investment and net exports which are the component of AD.If the UK market is experiencing inflation, a increase in income might even increase inflation.

If increased income did boost the economy, unemployment rate would be reduced. Industries would hire people to increase production and more firms would set up in the long run, structured unemployment could be reduced.

As people are consuming more goods, they would consume more imports particularly more goods if they are income elastic. UK has sustain net trade in goods deficit, this would results the deficit even larger and leads to bigger current account deficit.However, it might encourage more active trading between trading partner and give more opportunity to UK as a open economy.

Current account deficit and the effects on AD or AS

2009-04-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Current account deficit occurs when the expenditure abroad exceed the revenue from abroad. An current account consist net trade in goods and services, net investment and net transfers.

Current account deficits meant people might indicate people are spending more on imports, which is a leakage to the economy, a downward multiplier effect. As AD are made up of C+I+G+(E-M), AD would shift to the left .However, this might result supplier compete into exports market instead of domestic market since the domestic demand is low,thus AS might shift to right.It is for trade in goods, normally UK would have trade surplus in services , as UK`s promote high quality services especially in financial and business services. Which are supposed to be a injection to the economic and leads to multiplier effect that shift AD to the right. However, the net exports are deficits most of the time.

Current deficit might caused by net investment, while IPD( interest, profits and dividends) goes abroad more than come from abroad.People might not see UK a best place to set up firms and move to other country. In this case, AS would shift to left.

The net transfer might be negative, as UK government is a net contributor to EU budget. AD would shift to right as government spending is a component of AD.

Current account deficit might be mainly caused by high exchange rate, which result high price of exports and cheap imports. So according to law of demand, people tend to buy more imports than exports. AD would shift inwards if demand is elastic. For the factories that involved imports as raw material might take the advantage and increase output since the production is low. Thus, AS might shift to right.

If Current account deficit is result by the change in income for domestic or abroad. If the income at abroad is falling, they would reduce the consumption of exports which leads to AD shift inwards, but if it is income inelastic it would not have strong effect. If the income of domestic is raising, people tend to spend more and some of them would be imports if income elastic.Thus AD might not neccessary shift depends on the other conponent,such as consumer spending increased.

I think there are more to cover, but i just cannot think of>.<...

How does China Effect is having inflationary consequences for the UK economy

2009-04-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

The fall in goods prices and impact in inflation in the Developed World, is known as the China Effect.

The China Effect have caused lower price on clothes, electronics ,most of the goods UK imported from China. It keep UK price level cooling.In recent years, UK`s economy has been dependent on deflating imported goods prices. To some extent, we've been able to enjoy simultaneous fast domestic growth, strong consumer spending and low inflation, because the prices of manufactured goods have been falling each year. UK`s economic growth tends to be stable, potential productivity tend to be expanded in the long run.In the short run, China effect would have negative effect to AD since the people in the UK consumer more imports.

Increasing wages,increses AD, increased employment rate, increasing demand for exports ,such as English furniture and financial services. As more goods and services are demanded, UK would rise employment too, in order to supply sufficency exports. This would be a good sign to UK`s economy. However, with the incresing wage rate, some UK investor would move back to UK as the cost of production is now rising unless the increased wage is due to increased in productivity.

China`s exchange rate is undervalued, it has large difference with UK`s. Exports of China is competitive. It made a downward pressure on balance of payment current account.

With greater market opening after WTO accession, there will be the further prospect of industry trade, which will benefit UK to sell competitive products and services to China.

However, China Effect is not granuanted in the future, and the benefits we already felt and gain.Continued growth and global integration of China will undoubtedly be
of importance for the world economy.

I read through this, and i think it is quite uesful.http://www.finfacts.ie/finfactsblog/2007/06/waning-of-china-effect-will-result-in.html

Amended The impact on the UK of the China effect

2009-04-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

Since the balance of payment current account is surplus and it is increasing. This meant that China`s revenue from abroad exceed its expenditure abroad. Thus, UK must have contribute towards it=> a leakage to the UK `s economy. This leads to competive pressure on the exports market, especially UK. As UK`s exchange rate is high and it make exports less competitive=> trade deficit http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/ukTrade.pdf
In turn, the exchange rate of China is low, this benefits those industies in UK that use imports as raw material=> reduced the cost of production.

Consumer spending is high in China, some of the money could spend on exports, which come from UK=> injection to the economic. Since the consumer spending is increasing rapidly ( from 7.2 % to 9%), this could result UK`s AD shift to right, since the demand is now more.

GDP growth is raising at the speend around 10%,this whould most probably cause by demand pull inflation. thus UK`s investor might invest in China and gain interest, profits and dividends.

The manufacturing wages in increasing at a high speed. Some manufacture previously move to China might move back to UK, and generate employment and increase total output. Unless it is caused by the increases in productivity.

Interest rate is raising, the exchange rate would rise as well. However,Althought it is said to be undervalued,as it increased it would not make much difference on the price of exports and it will probably be absorbed by Chinese manufacturers trimming their profit margins and so will not be passed on into export prices. And UK`s exchange rate is much higher than China.

There is a huge amount in capital investment.this may spend one transportation and infrastructure and especially the Olympic game hold by China in 2008, this might increase the potential production of China. But what is the effect on UK for this particular increase?

wad i learn 2day

2009-04-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Negative equity is a term used in housing market,usually following a general fall in property prices, to mean that the market value of a mortgaged house or flat is less than the amount outstanding balance on the loan.

Giffen goods are very very inferior goods. when the price of goods rise, the consumption of the goods rise. This arise when there is no close substitute goods and the goods must constitute a substantial percentage of the buyer's income. Such as potato and meat for low income family.Potato are stable food for them, assume that they are buying a large portion of potato and some meat. when the price of potato increases, they would choose buy more potato and less meat since potato are basic need to them.

Accelerator is a small increases in demand leads to a bigger increases in investment.

Keynesian-style : an injection to the economic boost aggregate demand.(injection are exports, investment and government spending. leakages are saving, tax and imports)

factors affecting consumer expenditures: inflation, disposable real income, wealth, distribution of income, age structure, consumer`s confidence, interest rate.

Labour force survery is recored by interview.

Finally i finished the homework

2009-04-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

I had just finished my sociology homework. Just in timeT_T..tomorrow i have to go to school...HUH~~~~

Tough time start.

Daily daily daily blog

2009-04-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

daily blog, this is the words i hear and see most frequently since i came to UK. So, i am doing daily blog, daily blog is very important. Doing daily blog are essential for me. Therefore, let`s blog.

Economic problem is how to allocate scarce resources among the alternative ways.
This can be explain in the simple way, such as teenage, they have an limited amount of money like we do. But we want to buy many things. We have to make a desicion among the things that we want to buy. This is economic problem. People have wants and needs. Basiclly wants is anything we would like to have even though we may not have the resources to buy it. Needs is the products that we are willing and have the ability to purchase. Economic problem often occures on people endless wants.

Opportunity costs is when the (next) best choice which is forgone when the choice is made. public goods and private goods are economic goods which have opportunity cost. An simple example is, a car park is installed, the opportunity cost is an house or an shopping mall. As i am writing this blog, my opportunity cost is the time i could use for leisure. On the big scale, the opportunity cost of produing more consumer goods are capital goods, or vice versa.(an diagram could be draw)

producation possibility curves shows the maximum quantity of combination of two products. Producation possibility curves is very useful. It could show a country`s productivity, opportunity cost,allocative efficiency.

Today i didnt finish another workbook>.<.. i was doing mathematics and sociology. I will try to finish them by end of this holiday. It is so upset that holiday only left two days for meT.T. And thank you to Mr.chris for answering my question. Can i understand the excluability is on production and rejectability in on consumption? Thanks

Oh yeah!

2009-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

today i went to school and study together with Mica, i had finish one workbook which is market failure. I am going to send an email to Mr.BBT for the answer of it. It is happy to see many people leave comment on my post, unfortunately, they are not positive comment:-]

Daily = weekly right??heheh~~~~

I think i had mixed up excludability with rejectability, which are the characteristic of private goods>.< Dear Mr.chris, can you clarify for me, thank you so much. I know you are going to view my blog everyday to catch the chance to call me Mrsxxx.

Tomorrow i will go to school again, to finsh another workbook. Heheheh~~~~

Wish everyone have a good day!!

start to blog again

2009-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

I thought blog is a noun, however we are using it as a verb.
I will start to blog again daily since i had come back home from somewhere...heheheh~~~

I have found out that i have had some sociology homework to do just now>.<...well, i will done it before the deadline. and finish two economic workbook, enhance my weakest topic, government intervention.Finsh account before friday and do math during this weekend. Dear dear, i certainly need to work hard>.<.

Tomorrow i will post what i have done and check whether them are keep up to date.
And hello, Mr.chris. Long time did not see you, welcome me that i am back:)

Last day

2009-04-03T02:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day for Easter courseT.T

I will certainly miss every moment we had during this course, we have fun, a laugh, interesting lesson, cute teacher, friendly students, actively paticipate in the class, start from 6 am to another day`s 1am......

I would remember them in my life, i will remember those famous phrase " you may leave if you hate your parents", " oh, really? whatever..lol", "the problem of the size of current account deficit-.-", " your are an intelligent student, so , answer this question" and ......

tonight we are going to have dinner together>.<, i will take a lot of picture and upload here, i am feeling sad nowT.T... i hope we will have Easter course again next year with the same teacher which refers to pretty Mr.BBT...

Mr.chris, i want to say thank you for giving us your precious time to help us, and you run it free.
We love the lesson and enjoy them, thank you

Daily blog

2009-04-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

As you know, a regular daily blog means update blog everyday. However, it is hard to achieve in this week. We normally reach home at 1 in the early morning, and feel sleepy indeed. Therefore the consequence of such action would be edit the post which may be more relevant to economics in the late morning .

So, Mr. BBT, i will have my new post in the late morning today. However, I want to thank you for offering us such an interesting Easter course. I feel it is much more fun than school lessons even though the teacher is the same=p. I really enjoy the lesson:). Special thanks to you for making us lose weight by end of the course. As you notice, your Big Tummy is no longer so Big, it is a certainly good sign. heh~~~

It is very important to me as i found out that i became more talkative in the class. I am glad that i started to contribute my opinions.I hope you don`t feel it is a noise pollution. Big THANK YOU to you, dear Mr.chris.

Excited

2009-03-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today? yesterday? whatever, i started my lesson from 12pm on 31st, march and finished it at 00:45 am on 1st, April. i have never experience such a long lesson, thank you to Mr . big tummy to give me such a good opportunity to have a try. It is very fun indeed, but i would not like to try againT_T..

I had just finish my dinner? breakfast? whatever, this is my today? yesterday`s blog...good night......or good morning?

Credit crunch

2009-03-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Credit crunch is a reduction in avaiability of loans or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks.

Credit crunch is often caused by inappropriate lending which results a loss for banks and financial institutions. For instance, America banks allow those have poor credit history take mortages,which they were unable to pay.Banks often lending money to and borrow money from each other, thus, a lot of these loans that people were unable to pay had sold to many banks in the UK. As the results, many banks experience losses in term of bad debts and there are less money movement between banks, which cause a shortage of avaiability of money.

this link show how it was began>>>http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/05/northernrock.banking

This certainly affect the average man on the street, because banks and financial institution have to increases the fees and rates on loan, credit card, mortgage and etc to cover the losses, and tightening the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks to keep the bad debts low.therefore, it is hard for people to borrow money from banks.
This results several consequences:

A reduction in investment.
loss on confidence
reduce inflation
rise unemployment rate
increases government spending

Elasticity

2009-03-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

First of all, elasticity is the extent which the buyers and sellers respond to a change in market conditions.There are three types of elasticity,

price elasticity of demand
income elasticity of demand
cross elasticity of demand

Price elasticity of demand(PED) is the responsiveness to the quantity demanded due to a change in the price of the product.The formula is the change in demand in percentage / the change in price in percentage.

PED >1, it is elastic, which means that an increase in price will result in a reduction in demand.

PED <1,it>

PED = 0, This means that demand does not change at all when the price changes and the demand curve will be vertical .

PED = 1, infinity, an change in price will have the exactly proportional change in demand and the demand curve will be horizontal.

There are four main determinants for the PED for products.

the closeness of subsitutes

If the the number of subsitutes increases, the more closeness to the product, and the product is likely to become price elastic.

the expense proportional of the income

If the expense of the product only take a small proportion of the person`s income, even the price increases, there will not be much change in the number of quantity consumpted.

Time

There is a time lag between the price increase and the reponds of the consumer. which means if the price increases, in the short time consumer are likely to purchases it despite the increase in price.Over time, consumers find out more possible subsitute, the products are more pice elastic.

level of neccessity.

If some people think the goods or services are neccessary for them, then the products tends to be price inelastic.(tobacoo, fuel)

peak and off-peak time

The demand tend to be price inelastic at the peak time and inelastic at the off-peak time.

Income elasticity of demand, the responsiveness to the quantity demanded when there is a change in income.YED = change in demand in percentage / change in income in percentage.

YED > 0 it is an normal goods which will increases in demand as income rise

YED <0,>Cross elasticity of demand, the respondsiveness to the demand of one product when there is a change in price of another product. XED = change in demand of product in percentage / change in price of another product.

XED > 0, the goods are substitute.(competing goods)

XED <0,the>

Exchange rate

2009-03-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another currency.And most countries` exchange rate are determined by the market forces of demand and supply. Simply if demand for the currency rise, exchange rate rise whereas if the supply of the currency rise, the exchange rate fall.

When we talk about exchange rate, immediately we will link to interest rate and exports and imports.

Interest rate.

When interest rate increases, exchange rate increases as well. It is because when interest rate increases, people tends to save more to benefit from the higher interest rates in the bank account, as same as foreigners,they want to buy pounds to open an UK bank account to gain from the high interest rate, therefore, the demand of one currency increases, thus exchange rage increases.(Diagram of increases in demand for pounds)

Imports and exports

If exports are international competitive, the exchange rate of the country is likely to be high since the demand of pound is high and the supple of pound is low. In turn, when the exchange rate rise, SPICED, imports become cheaper and exports become more expensive. Or when the exchange rate fall, it make the exports more competitive, people tend to spend more on exports, thus is an injection to the circular flow, have a positive multiplier effect on the economy.( multiplier effect diagram).

Exchange rate are influenced by other factors as well,

rise income at home country

Therefore, people are tend to spend more, the AD is tends to shift right wards. At the same time, people will spend more on imports, the demand for other currency in increased, it put an downward pressure on exchange rate.

rise income at abroad.

It is just the opposite of rise income at home country.

Causes for rise in exchange rate.

current account deficit
trade deficit
increases in production( imports are cheap)
lower inflation(domestic market compete with imports)
Slower econimic growth( AD shift inwards)

Budget deficit

2009-03-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Budget deficit is when total governmenr spending exceeded total tax revenue .

Causes of budget deficit:

increasing goverment spending.

Government spending lot more mainly on health, education, transport and defence.

weaker economy

When the economy experience deflation, people have less confidence about future or afraid that may lose their jobs, they tend to save more , thus spend less and generate less indirect tax revenue. Unemployment will rise as there is less aggregate demand for goods and services, thus less direct tax are gernerated and goverment might spend more on Job seeker`s allowances. High interest rate tends to reduce aggregate demand, since it is costly to borrow and people are more likely to save money instead of purchasing, firms would not like to invest since the interest rate is high, Again, it reduced revenue from taxation.High exchange rate, SPICED, since the imports are cheap, people are more likely to spend on imports, thus less tax revenue.

Balance of payment

2009-03-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Balance of payment refers to the money come in and go out of a country. One of the macroeconomic policy objectives is balance of payment equilibrium. Balance of payment contain capital account, current account, financial account and net error. It is an important measure of the relative performance of the UK in the global economy.

Current account consist

Net trade in goods( visible trade, exporting and importing tangible products)

Net trade in services ( exporting and importing intangible products such as Banking , finance, Air travel)

Net investment income from abroad (British investment abroad, IPD come back to UK)

Net transfers

Current account deficit occurs when the country`s expenditure to abroad exceeded the revenue from abroad, as the result of sales of its exports , income and current transfers from abroad is being less than imports, income and current transfer going abroad.

Causes of current account deficit:

change in income at home and abroad.

If there is a fall in income abroad, the demand for the country`s export is likely to be reduced since people`s purchasing power is less.

Exchange rates.

If the exchange rate is high( such as UK), the exports would expensive, the price is less competitive, the imports would be cheap. therefore, people in the country would buy more imports , and people abroad would not buy so much exports.

Investment income.

An outflow of investment income, it occurs if the investment that the foreign residents made in the country earns more interest, profits and dividends than the investment made by the country to other country.

How to reduce current account deficit.

devaluation

deflation

investment

control income

tariffs

Current account surplus, when a country revenue from abroad exceed the expenditure abroad.It is all opposite of current account deficit, however, there is a important note to take into account.

Current account surplus may happen when the economy is in a recession, people in the country may not want to buy many products , including imports. Therefore, the firms find that it is difficult to sell the products, they may competing more vigorously in export markets.

Some theory

2009-03-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

Positive statement: how allocation of goods and services are actually determined, suggest other uses of economics, how distinct changes in laws and rules, other government intervention in the markets.

Normative statement :combine with positive statement, predicting the effects of change in rules, value judgment.

Equilibrium: the pressure for higher prices is exactly balanced by a pressure for lower prices, thus the current state of exchange between consumers and suppliers can be expected to persist.

( why balance of payment to called balance, i think it may because it need to persist?)

The equilibrium of demand and supply maximize the total gains from trade.

Mr.chris

2009-03-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that did not turn up sociology lesson yesterday, Mr chirs. i had fever, i felt no strength the whole day. I am really sorry.

Economy of scale

2009-03-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is what i learnt today:)

Economy of scale refers to the reduction in average total cost(ATC) as the business get bigger in size.

Internal economy of scale, whereas purchasing machines, materials to increase output.
External economy of scale(managerial), increase the specialised manager, move to an area where cheap labours are.
Financial economy of scale, borrowing money, take a loan.
Marketing economy of scale, by advertising and marketing.
Diseconomy of scale, the opposite of economy of scale, whereas a increase in ATC as the business get bigger in size.

A diagram about economy of scale, productive efficiency and diseconomy of scale can be drawn.

Economic growth

2009-03-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

Economic growth refers an increase in real GDP in the short run and expansion in productive capacity in the long run(expansion in potential output diagram). economic growth is one of macroeconomic objectives,they are emphasis on stable and sustainable economic growth whereas economic would growth countinue over time without endanger the future generation`s ability to expand productive capacity.
Economic growth can be achieved by matching trend growth whereas increasing AD meets increasing AS(Macroeconomic equilibrium diagram). By doing this can avoid positive output gap ( actual productivity exceed potential productivity=> inflation) and negative output gap ( actual productivity below potential productivity=>unemployment). However, it is hard to reach in practice.Most of time, economic growth by low and stable inflation.

The benefits of economic growth:

Better living standards
reduce in unemployment
reduce poverty
better status and power of a country in international organisation.

The costs of economic growth(when economic growth is not achieved by sustainable way):

pollution in environment.
stressful life.( works might require higher skill)
low quality of life.( ability to purchases car, but congestion might occur)

Consumer price index and retail price index

2009-03-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Consumer price index is a measure of changes in the price of a representative basket of CONSUMER goods and service. It is the main measure of inflation. That is if there is a rapid increases in CPI, high inflation would cause the economic unstable, and a reduction in purchasing power, the value of money falls.

Retail price index is used to adjusting pension and benefits to take into account of changes in inflation and frequently used in wage negotiations.It measures the average change in prices of consumer goods and services each month. If too much money chasing too few goods, RPI will increases, which leads to inflation indeed. Therefore, government might use Monetary police to correct it by rise interest rate, reduce money supply, increase exchange rate.

Is it correct? I am a bit confused with it

Inflation

2009-03-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Inflation is the sustain rise in price level , one of the main objectives of the macroeconomic performance is to keep low or stable inflation . There are two types of inflation, cost-push inflation and demand-pull inflation.

Cost-push inflation caused by increases in cost of production leads to rise in price level.( A cost-push diagram can be presented here).

When the cost of raw material increases, the prices of the products are increased for producer to protect their profit.As well as when the wages of labour increased or indirect tax on goods or services increased which they pass to consumers, the price level tends to increased .

Demand-pull inflation caused by the increases in AD ( AD shift to right)without any change in AS. A demand-pull inflation diagram can be drawn.)

When the economy is producing near the productive capacity, an increase in AD ( investment, government spending, consumer expenditure, net exports) will causes an increase in price level.For example, A fall in exchange rate, SPICED, imports expensive and export cheap, therefore, people will buy fewer imports while exports sells more, an injection to economy leads to multiplier effect(diagram) Or AD is increase more rapidly than AS( a positive output gap might be produced).

When inflation is high, unemployment is low, as supplier need to achieve high productivity to meet demands, so they might employ more workers.(Phillip's curve). However, nowadays high inflation might not reduce unemployment rate, it may because with the advanced technology supplier could use machines instead of workers.

The consequences of inflation

Menu cost, the cost of changing price due to inflation
A fall in value of money, each pound will buy less, the purchasing power of the money reduced.
shoeleather cost, the extra time and effort involved in reducing money holdings.
Administrative cost, to adjust account and negotiating with unions about wage rises.
inflationary noise, the distortion of price signals caused by inflation, which means that the market price do not signal the relative scarcity of products value.
random redistribution of income. inflation reduce the real interest rate( nominal interest rate - inflation rate), the borrowers gain more while lender will lose.
lose of international competitiveness. when a country`s inflation rate is above its main competitors, the goods and services will be less competitive as more imports will be bought and less exports will be sold.
uncertainty. people would be uncertain about how much they should spend and save, firms may be reluctant to invest.
inflation cause inflation. The experience of inflation can lead people to behave in a way which causes inflation to continue.if people expect there will be an increasing inflation, they tend to buy more goods which rise the speed of inflation.
Fiscal drag. people`s income dragged into a higher tax band as a result of tax brackets not being adjusted in the line with inflation.

The benefits of inflation:

Low and stable demand-pull inflation will cause economic to growth, since it bring a increase in real GDP, and firms are likely to invest to produce more output, thus unemployment rate can be reduced.

Cost-push inflation has more harmful effect to the economy than demand-pull inflation since it often accompanied with a fall in real GDP.

Deflation is the opposite of inflation, which is a fall in sustain price level. Whereas, reflation is a increase in aggregate demand only?????

Fiscal and Monetary policy (Demand-side policies) and supply-side policy are used by government to control inflation to be low and stable, thus to achieve economic growth.

Unemployment

2009-03-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Unemployment refers to people who are out of work but are willing and able to work.There are 7 types of unemployment.

Cyclical, unemployment due to a lack of aggregate demand.
Structural , due to the decline of industries and occupation due to the change in demand and supply.
Frictional, short term unemployment when people in between jobs.
Seasonal, vocational jobs due to a sudden demands for certain time of the year only
Technological , people lose their jobs because of the advance of technology.
International, the firms move to other country, because people decide to buy imports rather than domestically produced product.

The consequence of unemployment:

Loss in tax revenue. Basically, unemployment caused the tax revenue from income or goods and services being lower than it could be.
Lost on output. people who are willing and able to work but are unemployed, is a waste of labour resource, the actual output will be less than potential output.
Government spending. Government have to spending more on benefit for unemployment such as job seeker`s allowance. Therefore, other sectors of government spending (health, education etc) have to reduced.
Pressure on government spending. It is because when people are unemployment, they are more likely to suffer health problems and even crime. So government might have to increases their spending in these areas.
Costs of unemployed. An loss in income as they got less in job seeker`s allowance than wages. Unemployment might causes family break-up and etc.
Hysteresis. unemployment cause unemployment. The longer people are out of work, the longer for them to gain a job. They might have forgotten the skills to use for work, or left a impression to employer that he/she is not a good worker.

Supply-side policy

2009-03-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Supply-side policy main aim is to influence aggregate supply, achieve productive potential and help prevent inflation, decrease structural and frictional unemployment, increases a country`s tade position. Examples are following:

Education and training.

Government investment in education and training and ecouragement for indutries to increase their training, so the occupational mobility of labour and productivity should raise, thus AS shift right wards.

Encourage small firms

New, small firms generate employment and ideas to the market, government enourage them by charge them a lower corporation tax .

decreases direct tax

By deduce direct tax, that is reduce the tax on income. This certainly increses AD, and as well as AS. A lower direct tax might increase incentive to workers and firms. Since their income might increases more if they work over time, and workers to enter or re-enter to labour forces, thus increase in productivity. Firms might invest more as there is a cut in corporation tax.

National minimum wage.

This might encourage people to enter labout force.

Reduction in unemployment benefits

A reduction in job seeker`s allowance may force some unempolyed to seek for jobs more actively and some unemployed to accept low rate of wages. By doing this, the negative output gap is reduced, it move closer to full capacity. (A negative output gap diagram can be presented)

Reduction in trade union power.

This may incresese the efficency of labour markets and reduce the cost of employing labour, thus firms might employ more workers, as a result, output raise.

Privatisation

Privatisation refers to the public sector tranfers to the private sector. Thus, private firms will be in the best position to make decison what to produce and keep their price at competitive prices.

Deregulation

It is to removal of some rules , so that firms belief they will have greater freedom to make their own decisions and increase competition as new firms is easier to enter an industry. AS shift to right.

Monetary policy

2009-03-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

Monetary policy and fiscal policy can defined as demand-side policy, both seek to influence AD. Monetary policy include the rate of interest, money supply and exchange rate.
A low interest rate tends to encourage people to save less and consume more, and companies to invest more as it is cheap to borrow. If it is high interest rate, people in foreign country tends to place more their money in UK financial institution to gain high interest in return.Therefore, the demand for pounds increases, push up the value of pound, thus rise in exchange rate. When exchange rate increases, SPICED. Imports cheap and export dear. There is a likelihood to cause current account deficit ( money leaving the country exceed money coming into the country).In turn, Monetary policy can be used to adjust the position of current account of balance of payment.

Fiscal policy

2009-03-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

It is one of the three main government policies to achieve macroeconomic policy objectives. Fiscal policy refers to the tax and spending decisions of government. It main aims is to influence aggregate demand. Aggregate demand is made of consumer expenditure, investment, government spending and net exports. To increases AD by fiscal policy which is called reflationary, it can be done by reducing tax, or increasing government spending.
There are two types of tax, direct tax which is the tax on income and indirect tax which is tax on goods and services. Direct tax is also a progressive tax whereas tax at a higher percentage on income of the rich. Indirect tax which largely is regressive tax ( tax at a greater percentage on income of the poor) . By reducing these two types of taxation, comsumper expenditure tends to increase, as consumers might have more disposable income and buy more goods with the same amount of money in hand.
Government spending is made up of capital expenditure ( roads, hospitals), current expenditure (running of public services ), debt interest payment ( interest payment made to debts holder), transfer payment (money transfer from taxpayer to those received the benefits). By increase government spending, people might benefits from them in term of money or services and tends to have greater purchasing power, therefore, increase AD.When there is a rapid increase in AD, but aggregate supply did not increases the output at the same speed, government might use fiscal policy to reduce AD, thus prevent inflation.
When there is a budget deficit (Government spending is more than revenue of taxation), government may use fiscal policy to reduce budget deficit by reduce government spending or increase tax.

Ten questions and my answers

2009-03-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

1. Why does a 500 pounds tuxedo rent for 90 pounds a day while a 20,000 car rents for only 40 pounds?

MY answer: The 'life' of tuxedo is much shorter than car,it is easily run out of fashion while car does not. And the posibility of people rent a tuxedo instend of buy one is very high, it is because male do not wear tuxedo frequently and it might be not 'nice' if they wear it again in next ceremony or any party. Suppliers have to wash the tuxedo when customer return it to them, thus the cost is high. If any damage on the tuxedo, people will have to buy it, it might not seen to be a problem whereas people have to buy a 20,000 pounds car, people will use it with care. In general, people would rent a car for few days, but for tuxedo it normally would be only one night.

2. why do female models earn so much more than male models?

MY answer : Simply female models sacrifice much more than male models. Sometimes, female models are required not to wear cup on the T stage. The demand of female models is much more than male models, therefore, when there is an increases in demand, and the supply cannot meets the demand, the prices go up. Femaled models need to go to spa, have cosmetics to keep their beauty,therefore, the cost is high. last, the requirement to become a female model is much higher than male models.

3. Why might retailers deliberately hammer dents into their own appliances?

MY answer:I do not understand the question.

4. Why do the keypad buttons of drive-up cash machines have Braille dots?

Answer: It is for the convience of the blind people to enter the amount of cash they want to withdraw.

5.Why are child safety seats required in cars but not in airplanes?

MY answer :The rate of accident of airplanes is much much less than cars. In the car, parents or adults might not to able to have full attentions on childs, whereas, they could pay full attentions to their child.

6. Why are whales, but not chickens, in danger of extinction?

MY answer : chickens live in the land, people had figure out how to reproduce it mutiplitly, such as million by million, if not, i am wondering how the chickens form KFC, Mcdonald are produced.Now, there is an important point to consider. Chicken have financial values while whales does not. as the results, people concerned about chicken and not whales.As we know whales live in the deep sea, it is hard for human to trace them and keep an eyes on them. The pollution in sea also threaten them, and it is hard for human to built up an giant area to feed them.

7.Why is there a light in your refrigerator but not in your freezer?

MY answer: I really dun know, because i saw my friend`s have light in both refrigerator and freezer now.

8.Why do 24-hour convenience stores have locks on their doors?

MY answer : I believe 24-hour convenience stores would close when there is a storm or heavy snow. And sometimes it is locked when there is an emergency, or lock the door just for few minutes to arrange the stocks.

9.Why are newspapers, but not soft drinks, sold in vending machines that allow customers to take more units than they paid for?

MY answer : I never heard that before, i will check out with someone and answer the question.

10. Why are brown eggs more expensive than white ones, even though the two types taste the same and have identical nutritional value?

MY answer : I think the reason might be the hens does not produce brown eggs as much as white eggs do, so the brown eggs are seen to be scarce resources, therefore, the prices would be higher.

the place where my sociology hw is

2009-03-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

hi, Mr.chris, i had done one of my sociology hw, it is in my account but different blog. You click my photo, under My blogs, there is one called sociology, my hw is at there. :) Thank you very much for the revision packT.T...

Nonsense, "ignore me"

2009-03-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

No new post for today=p

doing first timer=x

homeworkT.T

2009-03-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write something about why there is so much homework and i cannot finish them, but then i decide i better do some homework, it is much helpful.

Demand pull inflation, which is mainly caused by an increases in aggregate demand. The factors are:

Increases in

income
expected income
wealth
population
confidence
goverment spending
productivity
forgein income

And a decreases in interest rate and exchange rate.

Cost push inflation is mainly caused by an decrease in aggregate supply. The factors are

An Increase in

cost
wage

And an decrease in productivity of product markets.

Ok, now i am going to learn all the diagrams>.<. Good night to everyone.

what will happen if a country printed money blindly

2009-03-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

The result is very obvious, it will cause Inflation.

The available resources of a country is limited. There is the equal amount of money to be balanced with the amount of resources. Example, a bottle of water cost 1 pound. if too much money printed, it may cost 5 pound to buy a bottle of water.

In a short run, the production capacity of a country is fixed, a sudden amount of money flush into market will results an increases in prices of products,which is actually a decrease in the value of money. It can be understand as an increases in income caused Demand pull inflation.

Increases in prices not always cause inflation

2009-03-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

The Phillips curve represents the relationship between the rate of inflation and the unemployment rate.
Inflation: a sustained rise in prices level.There are two types of inflation.

Cost push inflation which is occurred when increases in the price level caused by increases in the costs of production.
Demand pull infaltion which is occurred when increases in the price level caused by increases in aggrgate demand.

However, i want to emphasis one point that increases in price of goods and services may not cause Cost push inflation ( such as INCOME stay the same). It is because when there is an increases in certain products, when you purchases it, you will lose your ability to purchases another product since your income stay the same. Therefore, cost puch inflation will not occurre.

Cost push inflation occurres only when there is a continous rise in the general price levels due to increasing output costs. That`s a high cost of inputs lead to a fall in AS, AD remain consistent.

BUT, why i wrote about the phillips curve ?? i don`t know. T.T

Information of the requirement of university of sydney.

2009-03-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

First of all, being an international student. ILs is required, a minimum overall score of 6.5 and each sections should above 6.0
academic requirement of 3 or 4 subjects, minimum grades of A,A,Bs. ( I think it is a pretty high requirement)
Duration of Economic and commerce 3 years; Economic 3 years ; I only list those courses i am interested.

What do company report tell us?

2009-03-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

The company report provides an overview of the company, including a description, quick facts, stock activity summary, stock price history, financials, fundamentals, earnings estimates, analyst recommendations and statistics.Since we are studying economics, let`s focous on finance.

In the financial reports , it includes :

sales,
profit margin,
growth rate,
financial ratios,
cash flows
balance sheet. (a statement detailing all assets and liabilities of a business)
Ten year performance summary

Throught these statements, we can know how is the company performing.

Chapter 5 Economics` volcab

2009-03-04T14:45:00.001-08:00

Economic growth : in the short run, an increse in real GDP, in the long run, an increase in productive capacity.
Unemployment : a situation where people are out of work but willing and able to work.
Labour force : people who are employed and unemployed, that`s says people who are economically active.
Economically inactive : people of working age who are neither employed nor unemployed.
Deflation : a sustains falling in price level.
Balance of payment : money come in and going out of a country.
inflation rate : the percentage increase in price level over a time period.
Sustainable economic growth : economic growth that can continue over time without affecting future generations` ability to expand productive capacity.
Trend growth : the expected increas in potential output over time. it is a measure of how fast economic can grow without generating inflation.
Full employment : people who wanting and able to work can find employment at the going wage rate.

Economy is found everywhere

2009-03-02T11:04:00.001-08:00

After reading Mica`s post "why". i start to realise that economy is found everywhere. I went to Mc with her, i was also there, when Peter asked her ,

why you does not want to go to starbucks?
and both of us answered, being a student, Mc is better choice since it is cheaper.

i should make a self-examination, being an economic student, i should be sensitive to anything related to economy. My dad told me ,

the earlier you start doing, the earlier success you get.

Come, let`s start it now.

Chapter 4 Economics` vocab

2009-03-01T04:33:00.000-08:00

Aggregate demand : total demand of a country`s goods and services at a given price level and in a given time period.

AG = C + I + G + ( X - M )
aggregate demand = consumer expenditure + investment + government spending + ( export - import )

Consumer expenditure : spending by household on consumer products. ( clothing, food..)
investment : spending on capital goods. ( machines , office building..)
government spending : spending by central government and local government on goods and services.

Transfer payments : money transferred from one person or group to another not in return for any good or service.

Job seeker`s allowance : a benefit paid by the government to those unemployed and trying to find a job.

Trade surplus : the value of exports exceeding the value of imports.
Trade deficit : the value of imports exceeding the value of exports.

Consumer confidence : how optimistic consumers are about future economic prospects.

Average propensity to consume : the proportion of disposable income spent. It is consumer expenditure over disposable income.

Inflation : a sustained rise in the price level.

Saving : real disposable income minus spending. (real disposable income is disposable income after inflation.)
Average propensity to save : the proportion of disposable income saved. It is saving divided by disposable income.

Target saver : who save with a target figure in mind.

Dissave : spending more than disposable income.

Capacity utilisation : the extent to which firms are using their capital goods.
Corporation tax : a tax on firm`s profits.
Retained profits : profit kept by firms to finance investment.
Unit cost : average cost per unit of output.

Real GDP : GDP after inflation.
Gross Domestic Product GDP : total output of goods and services produced in an country.

Tariff : tax on imports.

Government bond : a financial asset issued by the centrel or local government means of borrowing money.

Aggregate demand : the total amount that producers in the economy are willing to supply in a given prices level in a given time period.

Privatisation : transfer of assets from the public to private sector.

Macroeconomic equilibrium : a situation when aggregate demand equals aggregate supply and real GDP is not changing.

Circular flow of income : the movement of spending and income throughout the economy.

leakage : withdrawals of possible spending from the circular flow of income.

Injection : addtions of extra spending in the circular flow of income.

Multiplier effect : the process by which any change in component of aggregate demand results a greater final change in real GDP.

Overheating : the growth in aggregate demand outstripping aggregate supply, resulting in inflation.

Output gap : the difference between an economy`s actual and potential real GDP.
A negative / positive output gap occures when potential output is above/below the actual output.
An country with positive output gap usually experience inflation.

I seriously think chapter 4 is more diffcult than the preivous.

How government intervention to correct market failure?

2009-03-01T01:11:00.000-08:00

Generally, there are FOUR methods to deal with market failure.

Taxation

some of the tax revenue is used to finance merit goods and public goods, such as education and health.

indirect tax is used to discourage production of demerit goods and others services that produce negative externalities. (However, most form of indirect tax tend to be passed on, in full or in part, to consumers.)

Polluter pays principle. green tax. where the polluter pays explicitly for the pollution caused. (it is hard to measure the exact amount of tax , as it is hard to estimate the cost of negative externality; again, the tax can be shared with consumers; the price elasticity of demand for many demerit good is inelastic; better quality information might be used to further reduce consumption.)

Subsidies

It is used to encourage production and consumption which is particularly relevant in the case of merit goods and products that generate positive externalities. Examples : rural bus subsidies, winter fuel payment for aged 60 and above. education and so on.

Regulation, standards and legal controls

eg, the use of demerit goods : restrictions on the sales of tobacco products and alcohol.

It plays an important role in reducing many forms of environmental pollution that would otherwise have been unavoidable.

Tradable permits

It is achieving a desired environmental outcome consistent with the country`s maximum level of permitted emissions

Chapter 3 Economics` vocab

2009-02-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

I will not tell you why i start making notes from chapter 3.

Productive efficiency : where production takes place using the least amount of scarce resources.

Economic efficiency : both productive and allocative efficiency are achieved. (Allocative efficiency is where consumer satisfaction is maximised.)

Free market mechanism : the system which the market forces of demand and supply determine prices and the decisions made by firm and consumers.

Information failure : the lack of information resulting in consumers and producers making decisions that do not maximise welfare. ( welfare: prosperity. 福利)

Asymmetric information : information not equally shared between two parties.

Externality : an effect where by those not directly involved in taking a decision are affected by the actions of others. [ such as the residents living along the flight path are affected by the noise.

Private costs/benefits : the costs/benefits incurred/accured by those taking a particular action.

Externality costs / benefits : the costs / benefits of the consequence of the externalities to the third parties.

Social costs / benefits : the total costs / benefits of a particular action.

Negative externality : the social costs is exceeded the private costs. [ Chewing gum ]

positive externality : the social benefit is exceeded the private benefits. [ Education ]

Merit goods : these goods have more private benefits than their consumers actually realise.

Demerit goods : goods have more harmful effect than their consumers actually realise.

Public goods : goods that collectively consumed and have the characteristics of non-excludability and non-rivalry.

Free rider : someone who directly benefits from the consumption of public goods , but does not contribute towards it.

Direct tax : taxes the income of people and firms which cannot be avoid.

Indirect tax : taxes levied on goods and services.

Polluter pays principle : like green tax, whereby the polluter pay explicitly for pollution caused. ( explicitly : exact, 明确地)

Subsidy : the payment from government to encourage production or consumption.

Tradable permit : a permit that allows the owner emit a certain amount of pollution, and if it is unused or partially used, can be sold to another polluter.