The World on Wednesday – Demand for gold in China
Recommend on Google+
Last year China surpassed India as the top gold consumer in the world. With the price of gold at a three month low you would assume demand for gold would be going up, however according to traditional Chinese beliefs, 2010 is in a cycle of inauspicious years for marriage. Many couples are postponing their wedding plans as they believe that if a couple marry in specific years of that cycle, the husband or wife may die at a young age. This in turn reduces demand for gold as less jewellery would be bought before wedlock.
On the other hand, the year of the tiger is about to start in the traditional Chinese calendar, which has caused gold accessories featuring the big cat to become the most popular item on sale in the largest jewellery retailer in Beijing.
I think this article provides interesting and unusual examples of how price is not the only factor that influences demand. Students could draw supply and demand diagrams to help explain both situations.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Tags
activity, advertising, affordability, alistair darling, anti-competitive behaviour, anti-dumping, apple, appreciation, aqa gcse economics, articles, asia, balance of payments, balance of trade, bank of england, banks, basic economic problem, basket of goods, beat the teacher, benefits, bidet, birthrate, borrowing, budget, budget deficit, budget surplus, business growth, business objectives, capacity, capital, car industry, car manufacturing, cash cow, china, chocolate, christmas trees, class task, cocoa, competition, competition commission, competition in action, competitive markets, complements, conditions of supply, confidence, congestion, conspicuous consumption, construction, consumer confidence, consumer spending, consumers, cost of living, costs, costs of production, costs, revenues and profits, cpi, credit crunch, cross price elasticity of demand, currency, data, data response, debt, deficit, delicious data, demand, demand and supply, demand and supply in action, demand for labour, demerit good, demerit goods, depreciation, derived demand, diagram, diagrams, diseconomies of scale, dollar, double dip, double-dip, downturn, easyjet, economic growth, economic gw, economic policies, economics, economies of scale, economy, elasticity, elasticity of supply, employment, end of term activity, enterprise, eu, euro, eurozone, exam advice, exam help, exam practice, exam style questions, exam technique, excess demand, exchange rate,All tags for the GCSE Economics Blog
