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The above article talks about water-shortage in the parts where the European Union gets its soybean exports from which are used to feed the livestock. Europe used the soybean imported from Brazil, Argentina and the United States, however 57 percent of the imports are from regions that experience water shortage. Researchers say that the scarcity or the shortage of water resources which is one of the factors of production (natural resource) is due to changing climate and global warming. Moreover, this has in turn raised the prices of the dairy and meat products. Since water is a scarce resource especially in the areas where they grow soybean, it can limit the amount of soybean that is produced, in turn raising the prices. The climate change can even impact the weather patterns and eventually lead to droughts. Scarcity leads to the 3 economic questions as to who, what, how and where the products would be produced. As of  now Europe has to figure out an alternative to the soybean that they feed their livestock with and try to grow the alternative crop either in parts of Europe where there is sufficient water available to grow crops or even import it from other foreign nations. Another way is to efficiently use to the supplies of soybean when there is a shortage and use agricultural techniques that require very less water. The fact that water is a necessity and not a resource that we “want” , and this same resources is being depleted due to a natural cause leading to scarcity of that resource.

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Water scarcity half a world away caused by climate change could push up prices for meat and diary products in Europe by disrupting supplies of soybean, which is widely used as feed for livestock, researchers said Wednesday.

The European Union sources most soybean from outside the 28-nation bloc - mainly from Argentina, Brazil and the United States, according to an EU-funded study by Dutch-based NGO Water Footprint Network (WFN).

A beef producer stands in front of her cows during the International Agricultural Fair in Paris in this 2011 archive photo.
Credit: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

But 57 percent of soybean imports are from regions that are highly vulnerable to water scarcity, exposing Europe to possible shocks in supply, said Ertug Ercin, the study's co-author.

"The highest risk that the European meat and dairy sector will face due to climate change and weather extremes lies outside its borders," he said in a statement.

About two thirds of the global population already live in areas experiencing water scarcity at least one month a year, according to the United Nations.

The problem is set to intensify with global warming, which is expected to affect rain patterns and cause more frequent droughts, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.

Water in soybean farming areas could become insufficient leading to lower production and higher prices, which would push up costs of meat and dairy products in Europe, Ercin said.

Imports of other products like rice, sugar cane, cotton, almonds, pistachios and grapes could be similarly affected, according to the report.

"The EU's economy is dependent on the availability of water in other parts of the world for many crops," said Christopher Briggs, WFN executive director. "That makes it vulnerable to increasing water scarcity and drought."
Reporting by Umberto Bacchi, Editing by Ros Russell

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Europe's Farming Vulnerable with Water Scarcity

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Water scarcity half a world away caused by climate change could push up prices for meat and diary products in Europe by disrupting supplies of soybean, which is widely used as feed for livestock, researchers said Wednesday.

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We all know North Korea for its centrally planned command economy ruled by Kim-Jong-Un. He has a  general reputation for being secretive about the government decisions and is known as a “murderer” because he beheads anyone who crosses his word. North Korea is a command economy because it is their leader that takes all the government decisions on what to produce in the country, an advantage is that goods and services are provided for free to the people. In addition, North Korea is known as a hermit kingdom, any country which cuts off any contact with the outside world.  This article focuses more on the people of North Korea and its economy w hich has been depreciating since the 1990’s rather than focusing on the nuclear weapons they make. Due to the crisis, famine and the scarcity of food in the 1990’s, the economy of North Korea can now be compared to countries such as South Sudan and Somalia which are the low income countries. Being a command economy, the Public Distribution System (PDS) once served as a source for food and other resources, but when China started exploiting North Korea’s economic condition by demanding subsidies, the PDS started declining. It even saw its energy and fuel levels being depleted.

The most interesting fact is the the children in North Korea has one of the best healthcare and the best education. However, this progress in the status to becoming a middle-high income level country is only seen in the social development, whereas their economy is of an underdeveloped country. This article basically summarizes that North Korea needs an aid which helps nations such as these to “correct their course and lead them to a free market economy”.  At the end of the day, this is a political decision.

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been in the news a lot lately, with the DPRK testing new missiles and the United States moving a naval strike group off the Korean peninsula. The commentary almost always revolves around strategic issues, especially North Korea's nuclear programme.

In focusing so narrowly on the country's military and its leader, Kim Jong-un, however, the debate largely overlooks the North Korean people.

This has two major implications.

First, it perpetuates an image of the country that is not in line with reality. In fact, the younger Kim does not enjoy the kind of monolithic influence held by his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, or his father, Kim Jong-il. Power structures in North Korea began to disintegrate under Kim Jong-il and are now widely ramified. Security apparatuses are no longer under one single point of command; neither are military corps. This is something that the administration of US President Donald Trump seems to be oblivious to, but it should take into account when formulating policy.

Second, and most important, the world's myopic attention to Kim Jong-un precludes recognition of the nearly 26 million people that live in the country. They represent the true issue at stake, once the current regime - which is living on borrowed time - is gone.

Oddly enough, since the early 1990s the international community has accumulated a larger knowledge base on North Korean society than intelligence agencies have ever had on its military. Yet, most media insist on reporting obsessively on the latter. This is shortsighted.

The questions we ought to ask instead, if we are to understand where the country is headed, are: What is the current state of North Korea? What do we know about its society and economy? What kind of country will emerge once the regime is gone?

These questions matter, because with each crisis, the possibility of regime change or collapse becomes more real. With that, the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe increases, and neither South Korea nor China are well prepared to respond.

North Korea represents an anomaly, for both aid organisations and experts of international politics. But things are changing.

For a long time, the country may have deserved its moniker of the hermit kingdom. But today, after 22 years of humanitarian assistance and development, the DPRK is an aid-dependent country, stuck in a paradoxical situation. Its economy crashed in the mid-1990s and never recovered, while its social indicators went from good, to terrible, to decent over the last two decades.

The North Korean development indicators for children's welfare, as well as immunisation and education, are well above countries with a much higher GDP, but the economy does not reflect this relatively healthy development status. The DPRK produces very little of value, and its people find survival in the black market rather than state-provided jobs.

North Korea, in other words, has the economy of an underdeveloped country, with levels of social development of a middle-to-high income country. It is time to take a look at the country beyond military parades.

Upon the demise of its first leader, Kim Il-sung, in 1994, the DPRK faced a combination of domestic and international factors that negatively affected all sectors of society and state institutions. External circumstances included the loss between 1991 and 1993 of its main allies and economic partners, the Soviet Union and China. In addition, in 1993, China started to demand payments at regular market rates for oil and fuel, which had until then been provided at very low prices and constituted the main source of energy for the DPRK.

In this rapidly changing international scenario, the DPRK, which had become heavily dependent on subsided trade with its former communist partners during the Cold War, found itself with no economic safety net. At the same time, the country was hit by a series of droughts and floods, along with a sudden shortage of energy sources. This devastated an agriculture system almost entirely dependent on chemical fertilisers and mechanised irrigation.

With diminishing amounts of food, the effectiveness of the Public Distribution System that regulated the allocation of basic goods decreased gradually, forcing the population to seek alternative means of subsistence. Housewives, factory workers, doctors, nurses, teachers and students alike had to fend for themselves in order to secure food and heating material during winter.

The crisis caught many North Koreans by surprise, and it was aggravated by economic mismanagement. It should be noted that the Public Distribution System did not collapse altogether, but the degree of functioning of the system varied between different provinces. Between 1994 and 1998, GDP declined by almost half. This, in combination with the progressive dysfunction of the PDS, severely reduced access to food, medications, and primary goods, leading to a famine and to the general deterioration of the population's ability to withstand further calamities.

Today, it is safe to say that, in effect, China runs North Korea's economy. Chinese currency is widely used in the unofficial markets that have mushroomed around the country since the crisis of the mid-1990s.

China gets the lion's share of trade with North Korea and provides the bulk of its food and energy. Luxury items, if and when they manage to come into the DPRK, do so from across the border region of Yanbian or Chinese ports.

To be sure, North Korea does have a few economic niches, but these too are largely influenced by China's presence. The DPRK's significant mineral resources are almost exclusively exploited by Chinese companies, and Chinese visitors make for the majority of customers in North Korea's trade fairs and Special Economic Zones.

In other words, simply by looking at the economy of North Korea, one could surmise that as long as China is there to support it, the country could muddle along with no substantial changes for a very long time. A look at North Korean social indicators, however, offers a different perspective.

The key indicators of a country's state of health and future prospects are its social statistics, particularly those on demographics. According to combined data from the Central Bureau of Statistics in Pyongyang, the World Bank Institute, and the UN gathered in 2008, and data by UNICEF gathered in 2014, the DPRK's average population growth rate for 1990-2004 was 0.9 percent, or equivalent to that of upper middle-income countries. The same data provide trends for 2004-2020 that place growth at 0.4 percent, or equivalent to that of high-income countries.

At the same time, North Korea's birth rate dropped to 16 per 1,000 people in the late 2000s - the level of middle-income countries - whilst the fertility rate is slowly approaching the levels of most Western countries. It sits between parity - two children, which is the minimum requirement for a population to continue replacing itself over time - and one child or none per couple, which is deemed not enough to avoid extinction in the long run. The latter is where Germany, Italy, and most EU countries are at present.

What does this mean for the future of North Korea?

If we read population increase as an indication of economic and social stability, the DPRK looks further removed from the so-called "failed states" it is often compared to - like Somalia, Yemen, or South Sudan - which are all on the verge of famine (or, in the case of parts of South Sudan, already experiencing it). North Korea is in fact undergoing the same "cradle crisis" that characterises advanced countries, from Japan to Germany.

However, the same statistics, viewed from the standpoint of overall death rates and infant mortality rates suggest the DPRK is right there with low-income countries. Its average death rate is as high as 11 per 1,000 people, and rates of infant mortality that have not yet fully recovered from the 1990s crisis.

This has a number of implications: North Korea doesn't have the problems that South Korea has at the moment, with an increasingly aging population placing stress on the social welfare system. As a matter of fact, the DPRK welfare system has been simply downsized and slowed to a minimum since the 1990s. Today, North Koreans live on average six to eight years less than South Koreans and about nine years less than the Japanese.

In Malthusian terms, this means that the government has less to worry about in the short-term. Considering the chronic economic stagnation, most North Koreans alive today could well get old before they even have a chance to elevate their economic status.

At the same time, with a slow but steady recovery from the famine and the crisis of the mid-1990s, the DPRK seems to have reached a level of relative social comfort at which most middle-to-high income countries stop having enough children for the maintenance of native population. At this stage, they will slowly begin to fade out unless they adopt open immigration policies - an option that is unpopular in South Korea and Japan, and next to impossible in the DPRK.

If the trend continues - and the figures from 2008 and 2014 suggest it will - North Korea may one day run out of people to maintain its workforce. That would be one more reason for the regime to push towards reunification. While its rival state south of the demilitarised zone is also growing older, it is still twice as populous, and immensely richer by comparison. Still, if nothing changes at the economic level, any effort of reunification will require the equivalent of a mini-Marshall Plan for the entire peninsula.

This is the real North Korean conundrum: The country has faced challenges it is hard to imagine any other regime surviving: famine, floods, droughts, economic collapse, energy shortages, sanctions, and leadership changes. This has left a North Korea that is a mass of contradictions.

Few consider that the country making headlines for its nuclear technology has a basket case economy, but also one of the highest literacy rates in the world. There is no other country with such low economic indicators that can at the same time build and at test nuclear devices and achieve universal literacy, while still being aid-dependent.

To explain the North Korean anomaly, we have to look at the nature of aid itself with three key questions: What is aid? Why is aid provided? Is it accomplishing what it is supposed to?

From an economic perspective, we can think of aid as a measure of socioeconomic welfare, like the one used for families and individuals, but on a much bigger scale. Welfare policies are supposed to work as a safety net in times of emergency - fostering growth and preventing recession when families and individuals go through hardships. At any rate, welfare is conceived to be a temporary measure and aid doesn't come for free.

Aid represents an extension of foreign policy from donor states to recipient nations. Donors and international organisations expect recipients to correct their course and adopt policies that move them towards a free market economy, and adherence to international treaties on human rights, environmental protection and sustainability.

North Korea has become chronically dependent on aid since the mid 1990s. Yet, it has remained impervious to outside pressure for change. When it shows any degree of compliance with international norms, it does so only in fields where its interests converge with those of international organisations. Education and environmental protection are two examples.

On the other hand, North Korea has no relationship with global economic bodies like the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. It makes no concessions on the issues of nuclear proliferation and allows no inspections from human rights organisations. But its population does require foreign assistance in order to survive.

The socioeconomic emergency that swept the country between 1995 and 1999 was rooted in a combination of political, climatic, structural, and geopolitical factors. By 2005, the government declared the food emergency to be over and asked a number of NGOs - but not UN agencies - to leave. Nevertheless, the country has continued to rely on foreign assistance, just as the UN agencies at work in the DPRK kept monitoring a situation that requires periodical emergency assistance, year in-year out, in combination with development programmes.

If North Korea were a family, or an individual who has been in need of aid for 22 consecutive years, would this be considered normal? It's unlikely. Yet, aid needs to reach the people of the DPRK on a yearly basis or a new humanitarian emergency may break out, according to the UN.

There is a consensus among humanitarians that as the North Korean people have no say on their government policies, they should not be the ones suffering the consequences. Therefore, the international community has responded with aid. However, a look at what North Korea has become since 1995 reveals that aid has not made North Korea strong enough to stand on its own.

This is the most pressing problem with North Korea, aside from its periodically aggressive military posture. The country needs aid because what once was a functioning infrastructure for a command economy, in which the state plays the primary role, has ceased to exist. More than this, it needs important economic and political reforms. Currently however, North Korean politics withhold economic restructuring and growth. At the same time, aid agencies and donors tend to look at technical issues and do not tackle the lack of political decisions that could steer the country away from perpetually looming humanitarian disasters.

Aid has been invaluable in pulling the country out of the humanitarian catastrophe of the mid-1990s, and it has helped North Korea maintain decent levels in development indicators such as health and education since then on. But aid cannot help the country provide a decent standard of living on its own for its people. That can only be done through political reform.

The real political story about North Korea today is that the "Stalinist fortress" - the impenetrable polity devoted to hardline communism - is no longer Stalinist, nor a fortress. North Korea scholars and South Korean government experts concur in saying that Kim Jong-un holds a fraction of the power that his father and grandfather wielded.

The elites that have emerged from two decades of black market activity are aware that there are only a few obstacles to a reunification that could see them prosper, while lifting millions of North Koreans out of poverty. These factors are their "political guilt" (for they contributed to keeping the country in a state of repression over decades), and the risk of losing whatever wealth they have accumulated.

If the United States and South Korea could agree to leave some of these families in power, providing them amnesty, they could ask in return for a soft removal of the Kim family, and open the door for a gradual economic rebuilding of the country. Financial incentive, or the lack thereof, in North Korea is the key issue. The average annual income in North Korea is a little below $1,000. In the South, it is over $30,000. No amount of foreign aid can ever bridge this difference.
(TOP PHOTO: Agriculture in North Korea relies heavily on manual labor with few machines in sight. During harvest season, students and pupils are often drafted in from cities to help bring in the crops in time before the autumn rains. CREDIT: Devrig Velly EU/ECHO)

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The real crisis in North Korea is not the one you've been hearing about

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been in the news a lot lately, with the DPRK testing new missiles and the United States moving a naval strike group off the Korean peninsula. The commentary almost always revolves around strategic issues, especially North Korea's nuclear programme.

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Article Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2017/06/01/new-york-film-industry-to-an-oligopoly.html
The film companies in New York have been rapidly expanding due to an element of oligopoly that plays in among the 4 studios, Silvercup Studios, Kaufman Astoria, Steiner Studios and Broadway Stages.  There have been demand for soundstages in general for performing arts and at the same time there is a shortage for these stages as well. There is a small trace of collusion seen here among the studios because they do not want the EDC to build more sound stages. The reason for this is that want to maintain this shortage of sound stages for the simple supply and demand. When there is a lack of supply and higher demand,prices for these lands increases and in turn benefit the studio companies. This is an example of collusion because there has been some sort of planning between the 4 studio companies to not lend too much the sound stages so that this can create demand. They have been working together reduce competition. Furthermore, this is an example of an oligopoly because there are very few sellers that control a large market share. The element of oligopoly can be seen when Patchett says “if we don't have more space , they can charge more”, (Noto,2017). The control of prices are also in their hands  since they have the sound stages and people are in need of them.

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The above article is about a Nigerian labor union that were on a strike against the Exxon mobil Management. They ordered for a “shutdown of all the facilities of Exxon Mobil Corp in the Niger Delta”.  The labor Union had number of strikes before over the issue of dismissal of oil industry workers. In order to address this issue as a national problem, the industry workers had to form a labor union  so that they could negotiate with the officials. This was similar to the factory workers in the 1800s who experimented with ways they could negotiate with the businesses, as mentioned in the textbook. This article mainly focuses on the recent protest which was about “sacking of 150 workers in December” and out of the 150 workers, 82 were PENGASSAN members, which refers to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria. However, the problem here was that this strike did not have any impact on the production in the industry which lead them to suspend the strike. In fact, the strike they had the previous year helped in limitation of loadings which was one of the things that they wanted. Furthermore, the negotiation with the ExxonMobil Management is still continuing and the union workers do not want to be identified, as mentioned by an industrial arbitration panel, which is a third party that helps in coming up with a verdict that is favourable to both the business and the labour union. In conclusion, the strike was a success for the union workers because there were times when the production of the company was low which is a form of work stoppage.

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(Adds trade union comment on nationwide strike)

YENAGOA, Nigeria, May 20 (Reuters) - A Nigerian labour union that had called for the shutdown of all Exxon Mobil Corp facilities in the Niger Delta has suspended its strike at its Rivers state branch in the oil production hub, two union representatives said on Saturday.

Reuters had been unable to verify independently whether members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) had shut the company's facilities in the region on Friday, and oil industry sources said there was no impact on production.

"The strike has been suspended," said Chika Onuegbu, who represents PENGASSAN in Rivers state.

Onuegbu and a senior PENGASSAN official, who also said the strike in Rivers state had been suspended but did not want to be identified, said the move followed a ruling by an industrial arbitration panel.

PENGASSAN'S chairman in the Port Harcourt zone, Azubike M Azubike, later said the industrial action had not been suspended elsewhere in the country.

"The strike is still on nationwide, especially in Exxon Mobil facilities across Nigeria. We are still talking with Exxon Mobil management," he said.

Nigerian labour unions have held a number of strikes in the last few months over the dismissal of oil industry workers.

The latest industrial action was in protest at the sacking of 150 workers in December, of which 82 were PENGASSAN members.

Strikes by Exxon workers in Nigeria at the end of last year did affect output, delaying loadings by weeks.

(Reporting by Tife Owolabi, Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha; Editing by Dale Hudson, Bernard Orr)

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UPDATE 1-Nigerian oil labour union suspends Exxon Mobil strike in Rivers state

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(Adds trade union comment on nationwide strike) YENAGOA, Nigeria, May 20 (Reuters) - A Nigerian labour union that had called for the shutdown of all Exxon Mobil Corp facilities in the Niger Delta has suspended its strike at its Rivers state branch in the oil production hub, two union representatives said on Saturday.

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Article Link:https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska/articles/2017-06-09/nebraska-recognized-for-helping-unemployed-find-jobs

Unemployment  is one of the economic challenges that we face today in the world. Unemployment happens when a part of the labor force is jobless or is searching for work. Recently, the Nebraska department of Labor received two national awards for programs that help promote employment and the system that it uses to insure unemployment. The national average for unemployment in US is 4.4 percent whereas in Nebraska it is less that 3 percent. The 2016 Full employment Best Practices Award was received for the state’s interaction with unemployed people and for their use of variety of technological tools that help people find work. Furthermore, the reemployment program that Nebraska does helps the employers widen the options for residents. Nebraska really deserves that award because of their efficiency to implement the programs and technological tools and creating employment for the people. But even in a developed economy, to some degree there is always unemployment due to the changes in the business cycle. In Nebraska, there is an efficient use of human resources, thus helping the economy grow.

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Accompanying Article: http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/demonetisation-the-long-and-short-of-it/

The above article is about the decline in one of the economic indicators of the status of economy in India. In the article, the Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blames the current PM Narendra Modi on the sharp decline in the GVA or the Gross Value Added due to the demonetization that had occurred last year. GVA is the “measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy”, (Wikipedia). It usually accounts for the output and does not include the intermediate consumption, (Wikipedia).  According to the statistics, the GDP has been slowly going down since the last year, the former finance minister says the banning of 500 rupee notes and 1000 rupee notes were all of a sudden and strongly supports Manmohan Singh. Even though the goal of demonetization was to trigger the growth of the economy, what it ended up doing was to slow the growth. Demonetization was announced on all 500 and 1000 rupee notes in order to ban the counterfeit of cash and circulation of black money which could have been used in the underground economy. This article is directly related to the course content because of the statistical measures that are taken in a nation in order to track its output of goods. The consequences of a slower GVA include decrease in the chances of  investments in new businesses, construction industry and in capital goods. Since the GVA has fallen from  0.7%  to 3.8% in a year, it is the jobs in the construction industry that is being affected the most since it is the largest industry in the country. In addition, it is also affecting the jobs of the youth.

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New Delhi: Expressing concern over the decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fiscal 2016-17, former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the slump indicates that India`s economic growth slowed down sharply primarily due demonetisation.

"India`s economic growth has slowed down sharply, driven primarily by the notebandi announcement of November 8 2016. Gross Value Added (GVA), a true sub-measure of economic activity, has also experienced a steep and sustained fall," Singh said in a statement.

He further said that the private sector investment has collapsed and the Indian economy is running on just one engine of public spending.

"The GVA growth of industry has fallen from 10.7% in March 2016 to just 3.8% in March 2017, a decline of nearly seven percentage points of growth," he said.

He added that the most worrisome aspect of all this is the impact on job creation, adding that the jobs have been extremely hard to come by for the youth of the nation.

"The construction industry which is one of the largest employment generators in the country has suffered a contraction. This implies loss of millions of jobs for the nation`s workplace," he said.

Following the release of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Gross Value Added (GVA) figures for 2016-17 showing sliding of the economy by 1.3 percent, former finance minister P. Chidambaram on Friday trained the guns on the Centre for ridiculing the suggestions of Dr. Manmohan Singh.

"The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has released the GDP GVA figures for 2016-17. Finally, the bluff of the Government is called.

The economy was slowing down in the middle of 2016 and we had cautioned the Government that unless it takes corrective steps, the economy will slide further. Instead of taking corrective steps, the Government decided to demonetise high-value currency.

Suddenly, without any warning, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 were declared legal tender and something like Rs. 14.5-15 lakh crore was pulled out of money supply," Chidambaram told ANI.

According to statistics, the GDP slowed sharply to 6.1 percent in the three months ending March 31.

The GDP was 6.1 per in the January-March quarter, the immediate three months after the demonetisation was announced on November 8, 2016.The data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed that the Gross Value Added (GVA) slipped sharply to 6.6 per cent in the last financial year ended March 31, from 7.9 per cent growth in 2015-16.

The demonetisation seems to have impacted the Gross value added (GVA) in the third as well as fourth quarter of 2016-17 which slipped to 6.7 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively, from 7.3 per cent and 8.7 per cent.Almost all sectors, with the exception of agriculture, showed decline in the aftermath of demonetisation.

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Manmohan Singh attacks Centre over ''GDP slump'', blames demonetisation

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New Delhi: Expressing concern over the decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fiscal 2016-17, former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the slump indicates that India`s economic growth slowed down sharply primarily due demonetisation. "India`s economic growth has slowed down sharply, driven primarily by the notebandi announcement of November 8 2016.

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Article Link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/07/kansas-republicans-raise-taxes-rebuking-their-gop-governors-real-live-experiment-in-conservative-policy/?utm_term=.64ebcd867f65

Accompanying article:https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas/articles/2017-06-06/kansas-governor-promises-to-veto-budget-fixing-tax-hike

Kansas City had lately experienced impacts that had lead to cutting the  education spending, depleting its reserves, cutting the highway fund money and  raising  its sales taxes. These impacts were caused by the deep cuts in taxes which was primarily a “live experiment” conducted by the Governor Sam Brownback, during his early administration, (Ehrenfreund,2017). However, his live experiment did not do what he promised it would do. This discretionary fiscal policy issued by BrownBack of cutting taxes and increasing consumer spending promised it would “spur economic growth”, (Ehrenfreund,2017). On top of these tax cuts, Brownback also eliminated taxes for people starting small businesses. This way, many people in Kansas pretended to be in a small business so that they do not have to pay taxes. Since the time of the issuing of this policy, the Kansas economy has been lagging behind other parts of the nation. Earlier this week, the lawmakers of Kansas overrode governor’s veto for a tax increase, which then makes the bill a law.  The votes were first 84%, but the votes went up to 88% which then made the decision final for a major tax increase in Kansas. By increasing the taxes,it can look for a “$293 million increase in education funding for over two years”, (US News,2017). This way, Kansas can get the economy back  on track.

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Kansas lawmakers override veto of tax increase

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The bill is expected to raise $1.2 billion over two years by repealing or rolling back past income tax cuts championed by Brownback. The tax increases will take effect in July.

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It was learned during the course that China was transitioning to a market economy, but this was true only for the Special Economic Zones that were in certain areas of China such as near the coasts. These Special Economic Zone or SEZs were the areas allotted in order to promote foreign investments and these areas had economic laws which are different from the normal laws. Since only certain areas of China are really transitioning into a market economy, the rest of the region is still a command economy. The article above talks about how China is not qualified enough to become a part of the World Trade Organization. The US had set forward to test China’s credibility of becoming a part of the WTO, with certain questions that determined the currency exchange rates, wage rates, allocation of resources...degree of government ownership and control of means of production”, (Buxbaum,2017). The CPA say that it has been hard to set the exchange rates for the renminbi due to the control from the capital. Moreover, the evidence of being a command economy can be seen from the state ownership, government control on the economy and output decisions and  restrictive investment regime. This article clearly related to the course content because of its relation to the Chinese economic regime and how it is trying to let in foreign investments such as McDonald and Starbucks. An opportunity for the Chinese economy to grow is by limiting the government regulations, by opening up international trade and by increasing the social and economic mobility by increasing the income brackets of the citizens. This could be done by providing them with more freedom to do investments.

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The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) urged the International Trade Administration (ITA) to find that China is not a market economy for purposes of applying US trade laws in countervailing duty and antidumping investigations. The ITA initiated the inquiry as part of an investigation relating to aluminum foil imports from China. The question is important for the appropriate determination of countervailing duties or antidumping duties (CVD/ADD) to apply in order to neutralize the impact of any foreign subsidies.
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US law sets forth as six part test to determine whether a country is a " nonmarket economy country. " Questions include whether the market or the state determines currency exchange rates, wage rates, allocation of resources, prices, output decisions. US law also requires a determination as to the extent to which joint ventures and foreign investments are permitted and the degree of government ownership and control of the means of production.

"China is guilty of being a non-market economy by its own behavior," said Dan DiMicco, CPA Chairman. "They have ignored the obligations they themselves committed to when they joined the WTO. The WTO has proven itself incapable of holding China accountable. They must not be allowed to continue flaunting their trade mercantilism."

CPA's official comment stated that China's continued capital controls and "trade ranges" for currency transactions prevent the market from setting exchange rates for the remnimbi. Wage rates are not set by bargaining between labor and management because labor abuses are rampant, freedom of association is denied, and workers are not allowed to strike.

China's foreign joint ventures and investment regime is are the most restrictive in the world according to the OECD, belying government promises to relax those rules. Foreign companies are prevented from establishing facilities in China without government approval and without forming a joint venture with domestic firms.

State ownership and control of the economy predominates. According to one estimate, there are some 150,000 state owned enterprises (SOEs) in China. Most significant are the largest SOEs, which dominate many key industries including oil and gas, telecom networks, banking, and others. SOEs hold an estimated 40 percent of Chinese assets and employ some 20 percent of Chinese employees.

Government control over the allocation of resources and price and output decisions is strong. China steers resources to SOEs and state influenced entities starving the private sector of resources. Pricing and output decisions are determined more by state influence than market forces.

Other factors showing the weakness of market forces include China's intentional disregard for intellectual property rights, China's Five Year plans to govern the economy and their Made in China 2025 program which is designed to increase self sufficiency while restricting import dependence.

"There is one key question for any special interest lobbyists arguing that China is a market economy," said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. "That question is - If the US implemented the Chinese model in our country, would you conclude that we remain a free market economy? The answer has to be 'no'."

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The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) urged the International Trade Administration (ITA) to find that China is not a market economy for purposes of applying US trade laws in countervailing duty and antidumping investigations. The ITA initiated the inquiry as part of an investigation relating to aluminum foil imports from China.

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Article Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/09/28/budgeting-millennials/16272309/
Did you know that tracking your expenses and creating a personal financial budget could actually save the economy? Well, it surely can!
A personal budget basically tracks the amount of money you spent and how much you can save for future purposes. According to an article in USA today, it could actually help in shaping the “country’s economic future”, (Davidson,2014). In fact, this article mainly focuses as to why the 20’s people are not able to maintain a personal budget. The first challenge they are facing is about the jobs. The 20-somethings need a proper full time job which they are not able to find. After the economic recession,  the new graduates  had a very hard time finding jobs, some got part time whereas some were underemployed which made it even harder to have a “consistent budget”,  (Davidson,2014). A Stanford Graduate Lucy Spitzer talks to Nerd wallet and says that she spends most of the money that she gets from the part-time job to go out with friends so that she can cope up with the stress thinking about future. One of the consequences of hanging out with her friends and not keeping savings would be the difficulty to keep a balanced budget. Keeping up with their friends and becoming socially active is also one of the challenges that the young 20s face when trying to keep a personal budget. Arguably, most of the people in the young generation do not know much about personal financing, until it was taught in their curriculum or was discussed at home with their parents. Since the future of the country depends upon the savings and budgeting of the young generation, a practical solution to face these challenges would be to have a proper plan to save some money every month. Saving about 20% of your salary every month, or enrolling in an automated savings plan via a bank would help in reducing “financial missteps” and can save money for the future, (Davidson, 2014). Here is a video that educates you about some ways to save money.

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The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policyt

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The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policyt

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UK’s economic condition have been harder to predict due to Brexit and how it is going to affect the British economy. The governor Carney also talks about how there is a lot of pressure from the labor market and how “automation can affect the jobs in the future”, (CNBC,2017). He also talked about how the interest rates would be on a hold at 0.25% due to these uncertainties, during the regular monetary policy meetings. Furthermore, sudden changes in monetary policies might have a severe impact on the economy due to the instability it has. The uncertainties in the election lead to a depreciation of pound sterling . This way, in order prevent their currency from weakening further,the government raised the interest rate thereby issuing a contractionary monetary policy. This type of monetary policy is issued when the currency is weakening and the government is trying to prevent an inflation to occur. It basically reduces the money supply. Therefore, by keeping the higher interest rates on hold, the government can maintain the supply of money and reduce inflation.

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Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, gave a press conference in London following a routine monetary policy meeting at which it was decided to keep interest rates on hold at 0.25 percent.

With the U.K.'s snap election in June looming and amid ongoing uncertainty as to how Brexit will affect the U.K. economy, Carney discussed how his monetary policy decisions are intended to weather potential storms.

He also spoke about the U.K.'s pressured labor market and how automation could impact jobs in the future.

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BOE's Mark Carney on monetary policy, elections and Brexit

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Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, gave a press conference in London following a routine monetary policy meeting at which it was decided to keep interest rates on hold at 0.25 percent. With the U.K.'s snap election in June looming and amid ongoing uncertainty as to how Brexit will affect the U.K.

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Article Link: http://www.sharecafe.com.au/roger_m.asp?a=AV&ai=44319
The healthcare companies in the world are taking advantage of the demographic trends we have of right now. One of the first trends is that “we are living longer” and the baby boomers added to it. The fastest growing part of the population are the old age population which are basically the baby boomers. First reason as to why we are living longer is because we have efficient healthcare, we have technologies that help us treat disorders and diseases. The graph (figure 1) below shows the change in the population between 2010 to 2030. The growth is predicted to become 75% from 2010 to 2030 which is relatively a big jump for an elderly population. When comparing Western Europe with United States, the population pyramid for Western Europe looks wider at the top than USA where they had somewhat a bee-hive shaped pyramid but with lesser of the working population and more of the elderly dependent population.  If this trend continues, it is the health care companies in those countries that would benefit from treating elderly people. Due to the growth of fast food restaurants in developed countries due to foreign investments, people are also becoming heavier, (see figure 1 - second graph). According to this chart below, there is a steady increase in the obesity rates among the people in Mexico, Australia, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Korea, Switzerland, England and USA. These graphs show a negative growth which means that there are disadvantages of have an aging population. These cons help the health care companies to launch new services so that it can keep the demand growing. Additionally, older people have savings and since they do not spend much on goods, this will benefit the economy due to low inflation rate. Last but not the least, most of the aging population can contribute to the society if they are in good health conditions.

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Before taking this course, I was uneducated about the policies that government use, the importance of international trade, and even the simple concepts such as supply and demand. This course has helped me understand these concepts and helped me apply these in real life. Economic concepts are used everyday, even a small purchase that one makes at the stationary shop above the school involves the supply and demand. For instance, the availability of hooks that we hang curtains on is very few compared to the ones in Apita in City plaza. Since the customers that usually buy products from the stationary shops do not demand for hooks and would rather prefer more of what is used for paperwork. Whereas the supply of hooks in the Apita store is higher because that is where people come  to shop for grocery and other household items which included hooks.

Imperfect competition is seen in Mong Kok and many other shops in Shamshuipo as they sell the same products in every shop, but the sellers know that there would not be limitations in the profit since they know their products are demanded more due to many sellers and buyers in the market. Sometimes you do not see the same seller another time due limitations in barriers to enter and exit the market. Likewise we do not see similar products in two products due to the monopolistic competition The owners of these restaurants  have the control over choosing the product, making it different from its respective competition using slight changes, but they have limited control over prices.

Looking at life from an economic perspective has helped me understand newspaper articles that talks about issuing monetary policies, fiscal policies, tax cuts, unemployment, stock markets and many more issues. Hailing from a country where the currency rates are decreasing rapidly, the concepts of currency rates, interest rates and the policies which are issued according to where the country stands economically, has been a great way to understand India. While using the currency exchange rates, it can be found out that 1 USD equals to 64.48 INR according to today’s market rate. The currency exchange rates are going up, the value of the currency is weakening and inflation rates are going up. According to that, the government of India must take the respective contractionary monetary policies to bring the economy back on track.

In addition, the concept of international trade and how much it actually plays a role in our life can be seen while living in Hong Kong. The reason as to why we have so many international brands for clothing, shoes, bags, cosmetics, food companies is because of international trade. Hong Kong is known for its economic success and it has had this success since the country allowed for foreign investments which helps in bringing money into the economy. Lastly, there certain economic responsibilities that I have to fulfill as an individual such as contributing to the economy  being one of them. While researching for an article for the concepts that we learned in personal financing budgeting, I came across a fact that even savings from individuals in the economy can be the one of the only dependant factor for an economy to grow. This way, it becomes my responsibility to help in the growing of the economy by having a financial savings plan which can both country and myself.

These are some of the ways in which CIE3M course has helped me understand the world better using the economic concepts and viewing it from an economic standpoint.

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YouTube (18 Mar. 2016.). Teenager Savings Accounts | Nationwide Building Society. YouTube. Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKgQ4pKVkGo>

Peter Buxbaum (19 May 2017.). China is Not a Market Economy, CPA tells Government Agency | Global Trade Magazine. Global Trade Magazine. Retrieved from <http://www.globaltrademag.com/global-trade-daily/china-not-market-economy-cpa-tells-government-agency>

Contributors. Companies Benefiting From Demographic Trends - Commentary. Sharecafe.com.au. Retrieved from <http://www.sharecafe.com.au/roger_m.asp?a=AV&ai=44319>

USA TODAY (28 Sept. 2014.). Why budgeting is hard for young 20-somethings. USA TODAY. Retrieved from <https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/09/28/budgeting-millennials/16272309/>

Cnbc.com Staff (11 May 2017.). BOE's Mark Carney on monetary policy, elections and Brexit. CNBC. Retrieved from <http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/watch-boes-mark-carney-on-monetary-policy-elections-and-brexit.html>

Max Ehrenfreund, Max Ehrenfreund (7 Jun. 2017.). Kansas Republicans raise taxes, ending their GOP governor’s ‘real live experiment’ in conservative policy. Washington Post. Retrieved from <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/07/kansas-republicans-raise-taxes-rebuking-their-gop-governors-real-live-experiment-in-conservative-policy/>

Darian Somers. Kansas Legislators Repudiate Governor by Overriding Tax Veto. US News & World Report. Retrieved from <https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas/articles/2017-06-06/kansas-governor-promises-to-veto-budget-fixing-tax-hike>

YouTube (6 Jun. 2017.). Kansas lawmakers override veto of tax increase. YouTube. Retrieved from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8PoDD42qaU>

Darian Somers. Nebraska Recognized for Helping Unemployed Find Jobs. US News & World Report. Retrieved from <https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska/articles/2017-06-09/nebraska-recognized-for-helping-unemployed-find-jobs>

Pwc. Demonetisation - The long and short of it | Forbes India Blog. Forbes India. Retrieved from <http://www.forbesindia.com/blog/economy-policy/demonetisation-the-long-and-short-of-it/>

Our Team (6 Jun. 2017.). Manmohan Singh attacks Centre over ''GDP slump'', blames demonetisation. Zee News. Retrieved from <http://zeenews.india.com/india/manmohan-singh-attacks-centre-over-gdp-slump-blames-demonetisation-2012605.html>

Contributors Faq (20 May 2017.). UPDATE 1-Nigerian oil labour union suspends Exxon Mobil strike in Rivers state. Business Insider. Retrieved from <http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-update-1-nigerian-oil-labour-union-suspends-exxon-mobil-strike-in-rivers-state-2017-5>

Anthony Noto (1 Jun. 2017.). De Blasio official likens N.Y.C.'s film industry to an oligopoly - New York Business Journal. New York Business Journal. Retrieved from <http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2017/06/01/new-york-film-industry-to-an-oligopoly.html>

Gianluca Spezza (18 May 2017.). The real crisis in North Korea is not the one you’ve been hearing about. IRIN. Retrieved from <https://www.irinnews.org/opinion/2017/05/18/real-crisis-north-korea-not-one-you%E2%80%99ve-been-hearing-about>

Umberto Bacchi. (30 Apr. 2017.). Europe’s Farming Vulnerable with Water Scarcity. Climatecentral.org. Retrieved from <http://www.climatecentral.org/news/europes-farming-vulnerable-with-water-scarcity-21403>
XE Currency Converter. INR per 1 USD - Past 24 hrs. Xe.com. Retrieved from http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?From=USD&To=INR
Economics Picture. (22 Mar. 2016.). international-economic-law-1600x600.jpg (1600×600). Econ.gatech.edu. Retrieved from https://econ.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/international-economic-law-1600x600.jpg