Economics contextual examples

[King112]

Hey guys,

Seeing as the exams are drawing closer, for the May 2015 candidates as well as everyone else, I thought that we could start having contextual examples here. By that, I mean certain questions, such as 'Explain using Supply and Demand, how producers and consumers benefit from subsidies" require us to have context.

I thought this thread could become a place where we put examples of various Economic things (monopolies, subsidies, taxes etc).

That way, we help basically everyone.

 

I'll post a few examples:

YKK produces 7 billion zippers a year, and has a 90% market share. Eg for Monopoly and can be used for economies of scale.

 

The UK offers subsidies to wind farmer owners get a 115,000 pound subsidy for every job they create. Eg for Subsidy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/windpower/11224262/Wind-farm-owners-get-115000-subsidy-for-UK-every-job-they-create.html This URL is for the subsidies.

 

So, lets help each other out by posting stuff here?

Cheers,

King112

[iwonder]

I love this thread. Please people join in, contextual examples are super useful to know. Anyhow, here's what i got so far:

 

Sustainable development

German has had a sustainable development strategy since 2002, has invested in renewable energies and is environmentally concious. Also, it is expected that as world demand for renewable energy increases, Germany will experience economic growth due to its previous investments, thereby validating the belief that green strategies can lead to economic growth.

 

Unsustainable development:

2011-Canada backs off from the Kyoto protocol goal of 5% emissions. It has also been a jerk as far as tar sands are concerned, generating a lot of CO2 (search for Alberta sand tars). Due to this, it's bee loosing forests, glaciers, the sea level rose and weather patterns have changed.

 

Cap and Trade system

California, 2012-2014. The state has made 2.27 billion dollars through state auctions of the permits and the CO2 emissions are expected to fall by 80% by 2050.

 

Corporate and social responsibility- Ikea (just look it up)

 

Structural unemployment

Newspaper industry has been in decline ever since internet sources gained momentum. There are many examples of unemployment of course, but this one sounds informed which is presumed to be positive.

 

Deflation

Hong Kong- 1997-2004. Asian currencies devaluated during that period but Hong Kong was pegged to the dollar, so only the price of domestic products fell. This lead to a dramatic worsening of the balance of payments which resulted in a recession worse than the one the other Asian countries experienced during the Asian Crisis.

 

Unequal distribution of unemployment: (these statistics are for the US)

2013 unemployment rate by race: 6.5% white, 13.1% black, 5.5% asian

2014 unemployment rate by age group: (16-19) 19.6%, (20-24) 11.2%, average=6.2%

 

Business cycle

Refer to Greece, 2008- recession, 2015- apparent recovery,  up to 2008 boom, then downturn

 

Cheers.