Although many parents may be worried about us being distracted while using laptops in class, I will try to utilize the laptops to the best of my ability. I’m thankful that the school and parents are considerate enough to have us students adopt this new program of learning. For this, I express my gratitude.
With computers, Economics can be extremely fun. Like Tigger.
1. How can the presence or absence of natural resources and arable land affect a nation’s economy, regardless of the type of economic system?
Natural resources have a great influence on a nation’s economy. Regardless of what the economic system is, the country needs natural resources that it can use. Having arable land makes a country fertile, and it allows to country to produce its own agricultural products. The country can therefore distribute or sell the resources among themselves or other nations, therefore improving the country’s economic status. Natural resources such as oil, coal, and metal ores can be harvested and sold, also giving benefits to the nation’s economy. However, not having enough natural resources will make a nation dependent on other countries. The nation must buy food, metal, oil from other countries, and therefore becomes reliant on other countries. Although the outcomes may vary between nation and nation, being reliant on other countries is usually not a good thing.
2. How can life expectancy and literacy rates affect the quality of labor in the economy? How can fertility rates affect the use of scarce resources?
Life expectancy affects the age of labor in the economy. Having a higher life expectancy means higher retirement ages, which also means having experienced hands working in the various jobs. Having higher retirement ages may have negative consequences, such as taking the jobs of younger, more talented people from finding jobs after college. Literacy rates also directly affect the quality of labor, as people who can read and write are vastly more useful in the economy than people who are illiterate. Almost all jobs require their workers to be literate, and therefore having low literacy rates means there would not be enough qualified workers in the economy. High literacy rates, on the other hand, translates to good quality of labor. Fertility rates measure the number of babies who are born in the nation in ratio to the adults. High fertility rates means that the resources will further be stretched, as there will be more people in the population every year. Having higher fertility rates means that the nation must be able to allocate the scarce resources even more efficiently, as there are more people to allocate the scare resources to.
3. How can GDP per capita and poverty rates indicate the standards of living in each system?
The GDP per capita measures the entire GDP of the country divided by the population of the nation. Looking at the entire GDP of a country may be misleading, as massive countries like China may have a high GDP because of their population. The GDP per capita is a fair indication of how rich the country is, and higher GDP per capita means more money per person in the country. More money translates to higher living standards, as the residents will have more purchasing power. Poverty rates, as its name indicates, measures the percentage of people who fall under the category of being in “poverty”. Being poor means one has an inadequate amount of income and money, and therefore can also be assumed to have poor living standards. So poverty rates also directly measures the living standards of a country by looking at the number of people who have bad living standards.
4. How can the size of the industrial/service sector and the agricultural employment rate indicate the level of industrialization?
The size of the industrial/service sector can show the division of labor in a nation. Generally, the agricultural sector is the most “primitive”. The agricultural sector reflects the amount of farming and mining. Having a large agricultural sector means that the country’s economy is reliant on its farmers, miners, fishers and such. This shows a low level of industrialization. The industrial sector is the next step, meaning that it includes the manufacturing of products such as textiles, metals, automobiles, and energy. A nation under industrialization is usually heavy in terms of its industrial sector. The service sector, on the other hand, includes industry not only in terms of products, but also in service. Education, real estate, restaurants, hospitals, and practice of law all fall under this category. Highly developed countries such as the U.S. have very large service sectors. Through the relative sizes of these three sectors, one can deduce the general level of industrialization in the country. Agricultural employment rate just shows how many people work in the agricultural sector. Having a high agricultural employment rate means having a high rate of farmers, fishers, and miners. This usually indicates that a nation is less industrialized.
5. How can electricity, communication, and transportation facilities indicate the potential for industrial growth?
The electricity, communication, and transportation facilities in a nation shows the efficiency in which a nation can grow. Having ample amounts of electricity means industries are free to use as much energy as it needs to accomplish its tasks. Communication is very important, as it controls the speed and efficiency of communication between and among industries and businesses. Finally, transportation decides how fast resources can travel, whether it be products, packages, or human labor. Having good facilities for all three of these components allows a country to have a high ceiling for industrial growth, as it is neither hindered with a lack of resources, efficiency, or time.
6. Considering the lack of natural resources, the labor problems, and the lack of capital and little industrialization of developing countries, how can developing countries develop?
Many countries, such as Chad, seem to lack the resources to develop and industrialize under its own power. In many instances, foreign countries will come into the country to start or invest in industries. In Chad, countries like the U.S. are investing in its oil reserve developments, and eventually, if successful, this will be a mutually-benefitting relationship. The U.S. is helping Chad develop, but eventually the investments will pay off when the U.S. is able to mine from the oil reserves of Chad.
Chad is just an example of developed countries investing in industries of developed countries. Through these mutually-benefitial processes between the developed and developing countries, the world can take towards the direction of industrialization and economic development, one nation at a time.
Economy of the United States:
10. 12%
11. 19.2% industry, 79.6% services
12. 1.2%
13. Mostly consumer consumption. Motor vehicles, steel, etc.
14. soybeans, fruit, corn
15. -2%
16. 4.167 trillion kWh
17. 163.2 million
18. 316 million
19. 226,427 km
20. 4,209,835 km
21. 5,146
The production possibility curve help us understand that
http://www.colorado.edu/Economics/courses/econ2020/section1/section1-main.html
This website that I found contains an indepth-look at the principles of macroeconomics. Although the website may not be very useful when we wish to look into microeconomics, it is a very well-written website about economics. Although the website may not have any news articles about economic happenings, it is a fairly recent website and therefore is well-informed of our modern economics. It is also a very reliable source, as it is part of the university of colorado site.
a) The opportunity cost of treating the leukemia patient is an excessive amount of time, money, and resources. The treatment costs about 500,000 DM, and it involves an extensive amount of time for chemotherapy.
b) The opportunity cost of not treating the boy is the life of the boy. Without treatment, the chance that the boy will survive will be absolutely zero.
c) Economically speaking, the treatment has very little justification. It takes a large amount of resources, a lot of time, and definitely a lot of money. The hospital has a limited amount of resources, and allocating so much on one person is illogical especially when the chance of success is as low as 2 percent. If the chance of success is indeed 2 percent, it is equivalent to spending 25,000,000 DM for a person’s life.
d) Economics is all about allocating limited resources. Unfortunately, even a hospital has a scarcity in resources. When a situation like this arises, a hospital must think of the opportunity cost and benefit of a choice. Economically speaking, the benefit is 2% and the opportunity cost is the money and time that could be spent treating many other patients.
However logical the choice may be to allocate the resources on other patients, it is very hard for people to make decisions on human lives. This is very similar to a question that I’ve heard before: would you kill an innocent life to save 100 other lives? It is too much to ask for people to “put a price” on human lives.
Through the economics video that we watched in class today, I learned about opportunity cost, and the hidden costs that lie within making a choice. Although going to a football game may cost $120 in ticket and cab fee, there are other costs that we must consider. The 4 hours that is spent watching football can be used to do something else, and that is also part of the opportunity cost. When making a choice, we must consider everything that we give up in order to make this choice. This may include money, time, and energy.
However not only can you measure your opportunity cost, you can also measure the benefit cost. Nothing in economics is priceless. Even if you were the most passionate fan of football, there comes a point where you WOULD sell your ticket for a certain price.
That “point” is different among individuals, and it really depends on your interest/income/personality, and many other factors. To test yourself on how much something is really worth to you, you must think about how much someone would have to pay you to give it up.
