Greatest Economy Presentation Reflection April 13, 2010

Our presentation was extremely good. We got the best grade in our class, bar none. We had some issues with our presentation due to the lack of complexity and communication, which we could have improved through preparation beforehand. However, we are satisfied with our efforts and regret nothing.

Our Presentation

Data Response Reflection March 30, 2010

I guess today is the day that I get to pat myself on the back and congratulate myself. This is without a doubt my best IB HL Economics evaluation type of assignment since the offset of this course. I managed to get a total of 33 out of 34, with a perfect 14/14 in the Diagrams and Definitions section and a 19/20 in the Data Response section. I remembered all the definitions due to thorough review and astute recollection during the test. Perhaps I was lucky that the Theory of the Firm diagram I had to know was perfect competitions, which is arguably the most simple of the lot. However, I choose not to discredit myself in my clearly transcendent attempt at this evaluation. The one point I lost was, as stated earlier, in the Data Response section. However, the point lost was not in the evaluation, which I completed thoroughly. The point I lost was on question C, regarding the lack of an imposition of taxation of airline fuels and its relationship with profits. I was meant to include a Theory of the Firm diagram that presented marginal cost not equalling marginal revenue due to taxes, and how that would result in lower profits, but I included an indirect tax diagram instead. I will need to read these questions and think of how best to answer them in the future. However, I’m quite impressed with myself in this case.

Market Failure/Externalities of Elderly Care; Voicethread March 7, 2010

I was really prepared for this and totally had a script

http://voicethread.com/share/967331/

Give me STRIPPERS, or give me DEATH! February 28, 2010

This can lead to rape

According to this recent article my the free market mogul, the Texas government considers strip clubs to be a negative externality. The negative externality in mind is that strip clubs supposedly propagate in objectification of women, and even promote domestic violence towards them. This is very well founded I suppose, as strippers are seen as objects of entertainment by their patrons, and this brews intense disregard for the *ahem* greater sex. Furthermore, supporters of the idea that strip clubs are a negative externality claim that many serial rapists and killers have problems with pornography and frequent strip clubs. This claim manifests into the suggestion that pornography and strip clubbing and murder and rape are correlated, which is not completely unfounded. Granted, many of these ornery folk are clinically insane due to indoctrination by the unholy instituions being mentioned. However, one can argue whether or not this supposedly large negative externality is as potent as it seems. Texas believes so, and is therefore implementing a 5% tax per patron at strip clubs. The author of the article seems to disagree with this motion, making a juicy argument for the contrary. Congress claims that most, if not all, serial rapists are strip club patrons. The author suggests that every single 9/11 terrorist was Islamic. By that logic, he claims that the government should tax all who practice Islam. This makes the former argument almost invalid. Regardless of the severity of the negative externality and what the government should do, we can agree that there is a negative externality, as in the graph below.

Drinks & Music is crazy February 15, 2010

Schoolies are an absolutely wonderful time of year where Australian barely legals go partying after finals. Partying includes drunkenness and drinking and drinks. Of course this results in externalities, or third party effects not taken into account by market factors. the externalities in this case are mostly health related issues, as the liberal media says that alcohol is bad for people. Furthermore, a large number of the little people can be hurt by the unseen costs of alcohol abuse. Alcohol promotes rowdiness, public obsenity, and a stepping stone to drugs, which all ruin the nights, and thereby sleep, of locals near the parties. Furthermore, the entire reputation of Australia and its youth is ruined by these socially deplorable acts. This is like how everybody hates Kobe Bryant since he raped a 19 year old maid.

Getting crunk with a suit

The boys in blue must deal with the public drunkenness as this leads to crimes of passion, stupidity, and “yo dude hold my beer and watch this”. The police are similarly ruined when it comes to trying to get rest and relaxation. Some steps have been taken to try and combat the problem. First and foremost, a Schoolies organization of adults has been founded that attempts to monitor and babysit the kids during their binge. This is perhaps the best solution, because as an adult in the video widely remarked, kids will have fun and drink. As an extreme solution, perhaps the government could raise the legal drinking age to a point above the age of most students, in order to prevent the students from legally binging. This would effectively reduce the publicity of the event, as kids wouldn’t be able to abuse alcohol for fear of the Five-O. This would work definitely, maybe.

There are also problems with noise pollution. People are constantly blasting movies and televisions, and their neighbors are suffering because of this. The negative externality, or spill over effect, is that these people are unable to sleep. Therefore, they are unable to work productively, leading to societal problems all around. Because the people are being so negatively effected by the noise, a police patrol system has been set up.

Polluting the world; one half-dollar at a time

This is a negative externality on them as well because the police have to make warnings and extra stops. This is a negative spill over on all of society because there is less law enforcement available to deal with more potent problems. The only positive thing about noise pollution is that there is a potential for jobs to be created in order to get rid of the problem. This would, however, be paid by taxdollars or fines, another negative effect on society.At the time, the solution for noise pollution is the police seizing the problematic property of individuals who are repeatedly causing problems. Another possible solution would be to tax repeat offenders, or perhaps fine them. These fines and taxdollars can be used to pay for the noise patrol as well as to possibly sound proof areas and homes for people who don’t want high levels of noise.

Get the NAACP on this February 10, 2010

Price discrimination. The words let hatred ring like a buckshot, but not just yet; first we must understand the nature of the threat.

Price discrimination is simply a situation in which different people are given different prices based on whatever reason. Examples could be gender, age, income level, you name it. Even offering someone lower prices because of a special membership or coupon is price discrimination. We all experience it. Perhaps on would notice that as a student we get decreased prices at movie theaters and other venues. As foreigners we may get hit or hurt by price discrimination. I think we all manage to accept price discrimination as okay, but even we are sometimes surprised by it. A wonderful example could be seen when me, a handsome young Korean, and a Mexican-Phillipino all went to Osaka on a very eventful evening. The handsome young Korean boy and I ate at a curry shop at a place near Yodobashi Camera. Interestingly enough, when preparing to pay, we noticed a sing that said “Foreginer Minus 200 Yen”. This is an interesting example of price discrimination because it occurred at a restaurant, which is a place that usually offers a fixed rate for everyone.

Price Diiscrimination; The crayons are doing it wrong