Chapter 11 – Practice Question

Chapter 11 – Practice question

 

QUESTION:

Distinguish between GDP and GNP/GNI as measure of economic activity.

• GDP – Gross Domestic Product is total value of all spending in an economy / the total value of final goods and services in an economy regardless of who owns productive assests. It can be calculated by doing C+I+G+(X-M) in which “C” is consumption, “I” is investment, “G” is government spending, “X” is exports and “M” is imports.
• GNP – Gross national Product is the market value of all the products and services produced in a time period by the labor and capital supplied by the residents of a country.
• GNI – Gross National Income is GDP (gross domestic product) plus any income earned by residents from overseas investments minus the income earned within the national economy by overseas residents.

Chapter 5 Gov’t Intervention + HL Exercise on p.121

HL EXCERCISE

 

p. 121 #35, 36, 44, 46

 

35.) + 36.) I don’t understand how the bellow works:

• A price ceiling is only binding when the equilibrium price is above the price ceiling. The market price then equals the price ceiling and the quantity demanded exceeds the quantity supplied, creating a shortage of goods.
• A price floor is only binding when the equilibrium price is below the price floor. The market price then equals the price floor and the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded, creating a surplus of goods.

 

44.) What is the effect of price controls on allocative efficiency?

     For both, maximum price control – price ceiling and minimum price control – price floor, if there is either one of them allocative efficiency which occur when marginal cost and marginal benefit equals each other, cannot be achieved. When there is price ceiling – maximum legally allowable price for a good set by the government, because of artificially low price the producers have to cut their production in order to maintain their business and thus despite the low price and the very high quantity demanded the quantity supplied is very low. With out price ceiling the market price is determined by supply and demand; however now it is decided by the government which makes the market less competitive and marginal cost and marginal benefit does not equal each other therefore  resulting in no allocative efficiency. When there is price floor – a minimum legally allowable price for a good set by the government,  due to the artificially high market price that the government creates, the producers will want to produce more; however since the price is so high the quantity demanded by the customer will decrease often resulting in surplus and therefore allocative efficiency cannot be achieved. 

 

 

46.) Evaluate the effectiveness of rent control.

Rent control is a type of price ceiling to reduce the cost of housing for lower-income citizens. Although it is well intended, there are limitations as well as negative effects when it is put in practice. First of all, with price ceiling the market price for the housing will become lower which increases the quantity demanded; however since the market price is so low producers will supply less to maintain their business, resulting in shortage as well as decrease in market size. Then because it is extremely competitive to attain housing for the consumer, some may start paying extra money to the renter outside of the rental agreement which contradicts the purpose of price ceiling and is illegal. Also, the renter could raise the price of their housing outside of the rental agreement which again is illegal. Second of all, as I mentioned previously, since the price is set very low by the price ceiling, to maintain their revenue producers may  cut  some of the production cost which could lead to unsafe and poor-quality housing for the occupants.

 

PRACTICE QUESTION 

 

1.) Explain using a diagram, evaluate the effect of specific tax on various stakeholders.

First of all, specific tax charges a specific amount to be paid for every unit of a good sold. So for example, let’s assume that firm:A’s cigarets costs $5 per 1 and the specific tax imposed on cigarets in Nation:A is $1.5 per unit sold, then the total price is $6.5 for that cigaret. Looking at the diagram below, it is clear that the quantity demanded has decreased due to the increase in price. Since tax inevitably raise the equilibrium price of the product (E to E1), the supply decreases  due to the increased cost. This leads to shrinkage in market size and both consumers and producers suffer. For consumers, they have to pay higher price for less of that specific good, cigaret in this case, and for producers, they incur extra costs therefore less producing often resulting in less profit.

 

Different Economic Systems ( due 29. 08. 2012 Friday)

1. Find three articles about three different nations that fit in the following systems.

1. Communism = Vietnam
2. Mixed Country – European socialism = Sweden
3. Capitalism = 

The articles:

 

2. Create charts or some graphic organizer that clearly highlights the

differences AND similarities of the systems.

 

 

Social Studies: Reflection of the year

My grades and study habits have improved throughout the ’11 – ’12 school year compared to last year, and although I may have been able to perform better I do feel satisfied with what I have accomplished. Because I have always been interested in Economics I was especially motivated to work in first semester, and also I believe that the teaching style employed for the Economics section  really suited me and I ended up fairly succeeding in class. However, in the second semester – the Geography unit, although it may not be clear looking at my grades but I struggled and I believe that this was mainly due to the fact that I was not comfortable doing individual study using Geography-All-the-Way  website. So one of the things that I want to improve for next year is to be able to individually  efficiently.

THINK GLOBAL ACT LOCAL

Think Global Act Local

Light Energy Wastage at CA:

The world’s population had hit 7 billion in 2012 and is continuing to rapidly increase. According to United Nation’s prediction, the world’s population will exceed 9 billion by 2012 (Wikipedia). Many researches show that such massive increase in population is most likely to lead to depletion in scarce resources that are a necessity for human lives such as water, electricity and food.

To combat this issue, many countries on the globe has proposed many different solutions to reduce the energy consumption and increase energy efficiency within their country, and although there have been some visible success, I believe unless each and every individual of a society is aware, and willing to act against the issue it is impossible to prevent such resource depletion. As student of Canadian Academy, I felt the need to start the changes from our community – Canadian Academy. So, I I focused on energy consumption of lights at our school and investigated if we are using too much light at our school. The result was very disappointing and disturbing; it turned out that we are actually spending about twice as much as we actually need. According to a research, adequate amount of lighting in a studying area is around 350Lux and in our class room – Mr. Wagenaar’s science laboratory, there are 26 available lights and with all of them turned on, the amount of light is about 700Lux. Most of the time, the lights in Mr. Wagenaar’s room is fully turned on, meaning that we are wasting abut 450Lux of energy, constantly. I went around the school, counting lights and if teacher’s blinds or curtains were fully open to use as much natural light as possible and, more than 2/3 of the classrooms had all the lights turned on with blind fully or half way closed. These data clearly indicate that there is indeed an issue with wastage of light energy at our prestigious school, and there must be an end put to this shocking and upsetting reality of our school.

Possible General Solutions:

First of all, one of the most effective solution in cutting down energy consumption of lights at Canadian Academy is to change all the lights to energy efficient – LED models. The lights currently used at our school, for all buildings and classrooms are the fluorescent types which are relatively energy efficient compared to the standard incandescent ones. However, LED lights require half the wattage of the fluorescent bulbs and with all factors, life span and wattage etc. considered, “LED light bulbs are about 5 times more efficient than florescent lighting”, according to a website called Mega Volt (Payne). Second of all, at Canadian Academy, there are two light bulbs in one lighting space, and since my investigation has shown that we use about twice as much light energy as we really need too, we could take on out of that lighting space. Of course the amount of light bulbs we would need to take away per class depending on the class size. However, as I have found out that there are 26 available lights in Mr. Wagenaar’s room and that produces about 700 Lux, with calculation of 700/26, we can assume that one light bulb produces about 26.9Lux of light. Although this is just an estimate, we can predict how much light bulbs are needed in one room using the calculation I just stated.

Energy Wastage Specifically of Bathrooms and Solution:

Also to add to my investigation, I noticed that a lot of times when I go into a bathroom at school, even though there was no one in it until I entered, the lights are fully on. Same applies for class rooms, sometimes I notice teachers leaving the lights on when there is no one in their class rooms. One day during lunch, I stood in front of one of the girls bathroom from 12:50pm and counted the amount of people entering the bathroom and coming out and if they have turned the lights off when they left the bathroom. As a result, 7 groups of girls entered the bathroom, and only 2 of the groups had turned the lights off. Also, due to my gender I was not ale to collect data as I did for girl’s bathroom, I asked 7 random boys from High school at CA if they usually turn of the lights when they leave the bathroom if there is no one in the bathroom, and only 3 of them had answered yes.

This clearly proves that people tends to forget to turn off the lights and to prevent light energy wastage caused by such occurring at CA, I believe that there must be some sort of a rule, system to punish students or even teachers if they do not turn off the lights. For example, we could possibly have a school rule that students that enter the bathroom needs to sign in and out on a paper perhaps stuck to the bathroom door. This way if someone enters a bathroom and notice that that lights are on even though there is no one in the bathroom, they can find out who was the last person that entered the bathroom and therefore who exactly had not turned the lights off. Also, of course we could place posters saying “TURN OF THE LIGHTS” on a bathroom’s exit area to raise awareness and maybe have Ms. Vrba talk during assembly, however those things have been done already and have not succeeded.

Light Energy Wastage’s effects on Economical Factors of CA:

Overall energy wastage does not only affect the scarce resources and environmental issues but it affects school’s economical situation significantly. From the data our teacher, Mr. Wagenaar had provided us with I found out that all the lights bulbs used at CA is of 32w, and using an online resource I found out that if a one light bulb of CA’s is on from 8am to 4pm for a day it costs 4 yen per pay, and 123yen per month (電球豆知識（電気代計算シミュレーション）). This seems very little, however this is the cost for a single light bulb. For example, as I stated before, in Mr.Wagenaar’s room there are 26 light bulbs and so with calculation of 123yen times 26 light bulbs, it costs 3,190yen to have the lights on from 8am to 4pm for a month. There are many other science laboratory in CA and with all the lights around the school and in each class rooms, so with all of them added together the 123yen will increase to thousands of yen. All these cots added up together could potentially be an significant damage to school’s economical situation.

Revising Light Energy Wastage’s effects on Social Factors at CA:

By acknowledging the situation of light wastage at our school, and revising the light energy wastage at CA, not only does it benefit the environment and it’s resources, as well as CA economically but it can also benefit our school socially. By trying to reduce the energy consumption spent on lights possibly using the methods I discussed earlier, it will raise awareness of many different environmental issues other than the light energy wastage only, which I believe will lead CA to more eco-friendly community. Right now, only small portion of students who are extremely passionate about the environmental issues and eco-friendly actions, are acting against many environmental issues at CA. However for example,  as I mentioned earlier as one of the solution to the issue , if all students and faculties of CA had to be eco-friendly by the school rule, they have no choice but to be environment-friendly; to turn the lights of when not needed, to separate garbage for recycling, to open the windows instead of turing the AC etc.

Conclusion / Decision about Effective Solution:

So to sum up, CA clearly has a issue with wasting light energy, in fact the data I collected show that in particular areas lights are used twice as it’s adequate amount. So to combat this issue, I listed some solutions such as; changing all the lights used at CA to more energy efficient – LED types, taking unnecessary light bulbs out, creating some kind of rule/ system hat ban people from keeping the lights off when unnecessary such as when leaving a classroom or bathroom with no body in it. I believe that to try to reduce the energy consumption of lights or even overall school’s the best solution is to eliminate all the unnecessary things and by using less-efficient fluorescent lights school is wasting light as well as money, and by using more light bulbs than needed the school is again wasting light as well as light and lastly having he lights on when not needed is clear waste too, so I believe that all the solutions I used should be employed at CA. However, changing the lights to LED is costly, and although this solution would be very effective since the LED lights are said to be 5times energy efficient than fluorescent it may be difficult (Payne). Also, creating a rule that practically forces all members of CA to turn the lights off when not needed, perhaps with some punishment,  could possibly raise concern by some parents and the PTA and therefore it may also be difficult. On the other hand, taking the unnecessary light bulbs away will not cost a lot of money and has no harm to anyone. So in a conclusion, although it would be the best if all the solutions can be employed, at least as a starting solution of the issue, taking the necessary light bulbs away according to the estimation I made earlier may be the best solution in reducing energy consumptionof lights at CA.

Bibliography

電球豆知識（電気代計算シミュレーション）. (n.d.). Retrieved May 19, 2012, from Akaricenter: http://www.akaricenter.com/mame/wattcalc.htm

Payne, M. (n.d.). LED Vs. Fluorescent Lighting. Retrieved May 19, 2012, from eHow.com: http://www.ehow.com/about_5452900_led-vs-fluorescent-lighting.html

Rowley, J. (2007, February 15). POPULATION SPECIAL REPORT UK parliamentarians deplore ‘the lost decade’. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from People&Planet: http://www.peopleandplanet.net/?lid=28482&topic=23&section=33

World population. (2012, May 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:50, May 26, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_population&oldid=494419258

 

 

Social Studies: Nigerian Assignment Reflection

Things I learned from this assessment:

1.) Detailed information about population issues around the globe

• Developed= declining population
• Developing = population boom
• Why so (above)
• How can we solve the problem
• Positive and negative facts about population boom

2.) How to analyze different sorts of  data (graphs and statistics) in relation to population issues, as well as how to use data or manipulate data to support my position

3.) How to properly cite materials using the official APA format

4.) How to organize my time to effectively work

5.) How to organize my thoughts and ideas to to write a clear and to-the-point paper.

Social Studies: The Creative Monopoly – David Brooks

Question 1: How does David Brooks define “creative monopoly”?

David Brooks defines creative monopoly as “doing something so creative that you establish a distinct market, niche and identity”.

 

Question2: According to the article, is competition a good thing? Does it come with costs? (Cite an example)

According to the article, competition is not necessary a good thing and instead we should try to be a good monopolists (instead of following what everyone else does, create your own field that you are interested in so you could dominate). For example, if you are a very creative person in terms of fashion, instead of trying to become a lawyer or a surgeon, a typical ‘good job’ that is highly competitive that you are not even interested in, you should try to flourish in your own area of interest which not everyone is trying to strive in.

 

Question 3: List the skills to be competitive.

1. Discipline
2. Rigor
3. Reliability

Question 4: List the skills to become a creative monopolist.

1. Alertness
2. Independence
3. Ability to reclaim forgotten traditions

Question 5: Do you agree with the lists above? What would you add?

Although I do agree with the two lists above, I believe that to flourish in anything one needs determination and desire. I believe that if one does not have determination to achieve their goal – to stick with their goal, feel as if they would  do anything to for their goal and believe in it, they will not be able to succeed. And, determination comes with desire too, thus those to are necessity when trying to succeed  anything in life.

 

Social Studies: Traffic Management

TASK ONE:
Imagine you work for the complaints department at Manchester City Council. How would you explain to the driver of a car that has been damaged by raising bollards why the bollards had been installed in the CBD (Central Business District)?   

CBD – Central Bussiness District, is as it is obvious from the name the center of the city, business and commercial. Therefore,  it is the most crowded of all the area in terms of cars as well as people, so bollards are there to control or direct traffic in order to  assure safely among the citizens.

TASK TWO

Produce some notes on “Park and Ride Schemes”

1 and 2.) What are Park and Ride Schemes? / How do they work?

Park and Ride Scheme is pretty much a car parks with connection to public transportation, usually located on the edges of a large city. The concept is that people wishing to travel to city centre can leave their cars there and use alternative transportations such as train and bus to avoid congestion in the city.

3.) How do they reduce urban traffic congestion?
Park and Ride Scheme makes it easier for people to use public transportation and enables drivers to park outside of the city centre, in the suburbs. This way public transportation is easily accessible and theoretically more people will be using them, there would be less cars in the city therefore reducing urban traffic congestion.

4.) Give detailed examples of a ‘Park and Ride’ scheme from one urban location.
Los Angels is one of the largest and busiest city in the USA so many ‘Park and Ride’ are available. On a listthat I have found online, there are at least 9 ‘Park and Ride’ in LA such as Artesia Transit Center , Manchester, Slauson etc.

TASK THREE

TASK FOUR

PRODUCE A DETAILED CASE STUDY OF THE CONGESTION CHARGES SCHEME IN LONDON, UK.

• In central  London, there is an area called “Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ)” and almost all vehicles operating within that zone between 07:00 – 18:00, Monday to Friday gets charged  a congestion fee. The standard charge is £10 for each day, and penalty for non-payment  is £60 and £187.
• The map below shows the geographical location of the scheme, and as you can see from the map the CCZ covers main financial district of London – City of London and primary commercial and entertainment center – The West End.
• This Congestion scheme has indeed been successful such as decrease in accidents, encouraging the use of public transportation,decline in pollution and the congestion fee paid contributes to improvements of transportation in London and positively impacts the economy.
• Although the scheme has been successful in many ways, a lot of people – residents in these areas or worker commuting to these areas complain about the scheme. It is very expensive to travel to these areas with such congestion fee and many park their cars outside the city, fake license plates so they won;t get detected even if they do not pay the fee, and some just refuses to pay such as the US embassy owning £5,000,000 congestion fees.
• Although  there are some negative aspects of the scheme I believe that this is system is going to be continued. The effects of air pollution, increased Co2 gas and such are a huge issue that our society deals with and with increasing population and use of cars we can predict more and more accidents and traffic will be there so such congestion scheme is a necessity.

Social Studies: Urban Land Use Models

Looking at the diagrams above, “Factories/Industries” is also known as:

wholesale light manufacturing.

An additional ‘ring’ can be added around the model above, called:

commuter/high class housing.

Describe the major differences between the Burgess and Hoyt models:

Burgess model is in a dial form where everything is spread outwards from the ‘1-central district’ and everything is completely separate. Hoyt models on the other hand has a much complicated form as a settlement and even though Hoyt models do share similarities with Burgess model, the settlement are more mixed in Hoyt model.

Use Wikipedia to research the background to the “Burgess Model” (who created it?, when?, based upon?).

Burgess Model also known as ‘Centric zone model’ was created by sociologist Ernest Bergess in1924. The model was created based on upon human ecology theories done by Burgess and was applied to the city Chichago of the USA.

Use Wikipedia to research the background to the Hoyt Model:
Hoyt model, also known as  “sector model” was created by Homer Hoyt in 1939. The cerated based upon early 20^th century rail transport.

IN WHICH AREAS ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO:

• Get your car stolen – middle class residential
• See a fox at night – RUF
• See a Porche Car parket – High Class Residential
• Have people complaining about noise from neighbors – CBD / Low Class Residential
• Have a school with good exam grades – High Class Residential 
• See emptyMcDonald’s wrappers – CBD
• Be able to buy milk at 10:30 at night – CBD
• Be able to catch a but to visit friends anywhere in the city  – CDB
• See a police car with its lights flashing – Low Class Residential
• Be able to buy drugs – Low and Middle Class Residential / CBD

Describe the major differences in the structure of the land use between major settlements in a LEDC and a MEDC

As LEDC and MEDC countries are significantly different, the structure of the land use between LEDC and MEDC countries are very different. LEDC stands for Less Economically Developed Country, which represents countries such as Bangladesh. MEDC stands for More Economically developed countries which represents countries such as Japan, USA or France etc. Overall, unsurprisingly, it seems like the structure of the land use is more organized t in MEDC countries, where as in LEDC countries perhaps for lack of resources and financial problems, the settlement isn’t really thought out and is there for the heck of it. A great example would be Paris and Mumbai. Paris follows the Burgess model and the whole city grows outwards from it’s centre and even though it is very famous tourist destination and billions of people go there, the city does not seem over crowded with buildings squashing each other. This is mainly because the city of Paris was planned very carefully even following a land use model. For Mumbai, it is the opposite. The city follows no settlement model, and since it is the mega city in a developing nation, more and more buildings are added and there is literally no space. Also, I’ve found out a pattern that in MEDC countries the residents of lower-class is located around the CBD – Central Business District and the higher-class residential is located further away from the CBD. On the other hand for the LEDC countries, it is the opposite. The poor settle far away from the CBD and the wealthy settle around the CBD.

Social Studies: Ageing Populations

TASK ONE: Summarize in about 140 words

• The cost of taking care of Alzheimer’s patients is 17billion pounds / year
• About 50% of our lives are spent on being unproductive (not working)
• only 48% of the UK population is earning
• People willingly take care of children, give them a better life but not for the elderly
• Taxes and National Health Service, charity and insurance provides help for those out of work
• Some of these services such as long-term healthcare are underfunded

Ageing population –  people above 65 years old.

Population Policy –  A set of  measures taken by the government to modify the way it’s population is changing, by either increasing or decreasing the size. To increase often natality and immigration is promoted, and decrease is often done by limitations of birth.

Pro-natalist – An attitude or policy that encourages bearing of children.

Pension – A fixed amount of money paid regularly  as a retirement benefit or by way of patronage.

Taxes – Money that the government demands the citizens to pay to support the government or for specific facilities and services etc.

Retirement – Withdrawal from active working life, state of being retired.

Name four European countries that are projected to experience population decline by 2031.

Germany, Poland, Latvia and Bulgaria.

Name four European countries that are predicted to have population growth over 20%.

Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus.

List as many impacts as you can of a country having an ageing population. Try to categorise the impacts as being social, economic or political. Try to list both positive and negative impacts.

• health care or funeral/cemetery industry will be in a boom
• Less young and middle age people, therefore less workers
• Less economic growth
• Higher taxes for those that are working
• Higher death rate
• Increase in government spendings on health care and pensions

Describe and explain four steps that a country’s government could take to manage an ageing population.

• Encourage immigration.
•  Encourage marriage and childbearing, perhaps by offering money to newly weds or babysitter who those that have young children.
• Make abortion illegal
• Raise the retirement age

TASK THREE: How are the Japanese using technology to deal with their aging population?

In Japan instead of promoting things like immigration to solve problems with ageing population, they develop incredible technologies to help the elderly. Things like intelligent toilet, cars with hand controls for brake and accelerator or swiveling seats to make it easier to get out or get in etc, long distance medical care , easy swallow food, Beds that turn into wheelchairs, Cybernetic suits, Graveyard webcams and even pens, pencils and paint brushes are created to help the elderly a comfortable life. Aging population is often considered to have a negative effects on country’s economy, however Japan’s solution to the problems with aging population can benefit both the economy and the elderly.