Unit 1 Micro: Buffer Stocks (Revision)
A revision presentation on buffer stocks as a form of intervention in markets where prices, revenues and producer profits are volatile
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: India’s Rice Revolution
Raising productivity and sustainable yields in the farm industry is a crucial component of the development/growth agenda in India. Here is a case study from Guardian Global Development of progress in achieving this aim.
econoMAX - White Gold
In this article, Mark Johnston examines features of the New Zealand dairy industry.
read more...»econoMAX - Banana Wars are finally over!
Andy Reeve explains that a 20 year trade dispute between the European Union and 11 Latin American countries has finally ended, with a historic trade agreement. The agreement was signed in front of Pascal Lamy, the Director General of the World Trade Organisation. The agreement was originally made in 2009, but has taken three years for all nations to ratify.
read more...»Sweden issues international garlic smuggling warrant
This has to be my new favourite story, and it will work particularly well for A2 but for AS too, with elements of micro as well as macro.......
Did you know that China produces 80% of the world's supply of garlic?
Did you know that in 2001 the EU introduced a 9.6% duty on imported garlic in order to protect European growers?
Did you know that police in Britain, Ireland, Austria and Poland arrested smugglers for illegally importing at least €3m worth of garlic into the EU last year alone?
read more...»
Unit 4 Macro: Land Grabs and Development
Land
Grabs have become an important and controversial issue
in development economics in recent years.
Unit 4 Macro: Fair Trade and Development
The Fair Trade movement now covers over 650 producer organisations in more than 60 countries
Demand & Supply in Action- Potato Harvest
The BBC have just put on their website an excellent video for AS Microeconomics. It's looking at the poor potato harvest and how the bad weather has caused prices to start rising significantly. Read on for the video.
read more...»The Nutella Tax - a tax on negative externalities
Those of you who felt angry or let down by the recent proposals for a Pasty Tax, or those that have been imposed on static caravans or toasties (turning the mighty Subway in to a new lobbying organisation) in the UK should spare a thought for the poor French citizens who are potentially about to have a new surcharge placed upon Nutella - that famous hazelnut and chocolate spread.
Unlike the previously mentioned British taxes, which were imposed or proposed to generate revenue or close apparent loopholes, this tax has been put forward for market failure reasons. The tax, of course, is not directly on the brand but upon one of its main ingredients - palm oil. The proposed increase by the French government is nearly 300%. The French are arguing that palm oil is a product with negative externalities - poor for the health of its consumers and a large burden on the health system. There is also a claim that the high production of palm oil in South East Asia has resulted in large-scale deforestation.
Read a short article on the issue at the Huffington Post. The cost of your morning crepe in Brittany may be about to increase!
Unit 4 Macro: Lewis Turning Points
Lewis turning points are the defining feature of Arthur Lewis’ Dual-Sector Model, devised in 1954.
Unit 4 Macro: Agri-Chemicals and Infant Mortality in India
Using agrichemicals is directly correlated to infant mortality in India. This is the central finding of research presented by Nidhiya Menon (Associate Professor of Economics, Brandeis University) at the International Growth Centre’s Growth Week 2012.
Unit 4 Macro: What Is a Natural Resource Curse?
Unit 1 Micro: Difficult Times for UK Farmers
Environmental Economics: Water Scarcity
By 2050, the world’s growing population will use 55% more water in their homes, to grow food, and to produce electricity and manufactured goods. To ensure enough water to meet this demand, we will need to stop wasting it and find new ways to make sure there’s enough to go around.
The world’s demand for water will continue to grow in the years ahead because of a rising global population and changing lifetsyles and wealth. More people using more and increasingly polluted water represents one of the most severe environmental, economic and humanitarian challenges facing the world. Here are some video resources on the issue of water scarcity.
read more...»Environmental Economics: Natural Capital
There is growing interest among policy makers about the importance of protecting and enhancing natural capital to support sustainable growth and development. I have put together a selection of recent news video resources on natural capital that might be useful for students and teachers who are new to the idea and who might want to look at it as part of their study of environmental and development economics.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Erratic Energy Supplies Threatens Indian Growth
This news video report from the Wall Street Journal is superb in highlighting the economic consequences of the chronic shortages of energy and fuel in the fast-growing Indian economy. The focus is on a newly opened coal-fired power station (note the investment in it from Hong Kong and China) which has already had to close dow production twice because it has run out of coal supplies.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Climate Change threatens South African tea exports
Production and export of a caffeine-free tea produced in a tiny part of South Africa is threatened by the impact of climate change which is causing increased variability in rainfall. This short news piece illustrates the challenge of climate change and the importance of the crop of a unique tea called Rooibos which has helped create a multi-million dollar a year industry in the Western Cape of South Africa
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Drought Resistant Seeds and Farm Output
This news report from drought-stricken Eastern Kenya looks at the potential of drought-resistant seeds in maintaining farm yields in a region afflicted by extreme poverty and malnutrition. The seed has been locally produced and distributed to farmers across lower Eastern Kenya at a reasonable price and promises good yield, early maturity and resistance to common diseases. But farmers still face many challenges in making it work.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: African Human Development Report 2012
The African Human Development Report 2012 is a key reference point for students and teachers who are passionate about their development economics. The issue of focus in the report this year is food security.
“Sub-Saharan Africa cannot sustain its present economic resurgence unless it eliminates the hunger that affects nearly a quarter of its people, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) argues. More than one in four Africans - close to 218 million people - is undernourished, African governments spend between 5-10% of their budgets on agriculture, well below the 20% average that Asian governments devoted to the sector during the green revolution there.”
Resources:
African Human Development Report 2012
Guardian: Sub-Saharan Africa can only grow if it solves hunger crisis – UNDP
The Plant Stat African Human Development Map is superb for students to use - it includes the facility to export your own charts for inclusion in assignments and classnotes - click here to access it
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Price Elasticity of Supply
Here is a planned answer to an exam question
“Discuss how the price elasticity of supply of coffee might differ in the short run and long run.”
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Elasticity of Demand (for Rice)
Here is a planned answer to an exam question
“Assess whether the demand for rice is likely to be price elastic or price inelastic”
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Subsidies
Here is a planned answer to an exam question on producer subsidies
“Discuss the likely effects of a EU beef subsidy on the market for beef production in Wales”
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Winning the War on Deforestation
Justin Rowlatt from the BBC has been investigating some of the remarkable progress being made in controlling deforestation in Brazil. The battle focuses on an area known as the “arc of destruction” and the video reports here show the impact of a government making a clear commitment to tackling the issue and backing it up with force and with incentives.
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Illegal logging and the human cost
This news report looks at the human cost of an example of the tragedy of the commons - illegal logging in the south Philippines which contributed to tens of deaths from the effects of flash flooding. Ecosystems and economic prospects are damaged at the same time because of failures in environmental management.
read more...»China’s newest 5 year plan - and how it could change the world!
5 year plans are synonymous with the command economies of the 20th century and although the Chinese economy bares little resemblance to what it did 30 years ago, the government still uses these plans as part of their oversight of a mostly market economy. Their latest “Weather Intervention” plan seeks to intervene in the economy on a grand scale, although not in the usual sense!
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact
From tsunamis to tornadoes, from droughts to floods, 2011 was a particularly nasty year for natural disasters in many parts of the world. These natural disasters inevitably have demand and supply side effects affecting not just those countries affected but ripple impact across regions and in the broader global economy.
The Al Jazeera news video report below provides a clear overview of some of the major natural climatic shocks of 2011 and could easily be used as an introductory resource to discuss what are some of the micro and macroeconomic effects in both the short and medium term.
These include:
* Effects on the stock of physical capital / infrastructure
* Impact on a country’s human capital
* Effects on commodity prices, export revenues
* Effects on agricultural output, profits, investment, productivity
* Ripple effects on manufacturing industries and energy supply/cost
* Impact on state tax revenues and the costs of re-building and providing emergency financial support
* Effect on the movement of population following extreme climatic events
* Natural disasters and changes in the distribution of income / risk of poverty
This Economist graphic (published in Jan 2012) looks at the human cost of natural disasters and claims that “the world has succeeded in making natural disasters less deadly.”
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Supply Shortages Drive Peanut Prices Higher
Supply shortages in key growing regions have caused the price of peanuts to surge to record highs. Peanut prices in Europe are 60% higher than a year ago and the cost of peanuts in the USA has more than doubled in the last twelve months. The price spike is the result of lower production from India, Argentina and the United States.
read more...»European Economics: Resources on the CAP
This blog entry will provide a regularly updated set of links to resources to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy and attempts to reform this contentious and complex system of farm support.
Check below for suggested links
read more...»Economics of Deforestation
The Human Development Report 2011 reported that deforestation is a severe problem. In the last two decades, Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa have experienced severe forest losses, especially when compared to the rest of the world.
For economists the economic and social costs of rapid deforestation represent a telling example of the tragedy of the commons where the pursuit of individual self-interest can risk a permanent destruction of natural resources that undermines the sustainability of communities and societies for current and future generations. The United Nations calculates that deforestation and degradation is responsible for nearly 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Will the REDD programme make a difference?
REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries and is designed to provide financial incentives funded by advanced nations for developing countries to preserve their forests and instead invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development.
The UN estimates financial flows of up to $30bn could come from REDD and related initiatives - the scheme effectively allows rich countries to offset their carbon emissions from domestic industries and consumers by funding clean low-carbon development projects in developing countries. But it is highly controversial and opposed by many organisations such as Friends of the Earth and the World Rainforest Movement.
In this blog we have put together some web resources on the issue of deforestation - focusing on causation, consequences and also on some of the policy approaches that might work to bring about behavioural change.
Millennium Development Goals - Uneven Progress
This blog brings together some recent videos on progress made towards meeting some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Millennium Development Goals include ambitious targets to
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality and improve maternal health
- Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- Ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development
