The Great Depression.
A simple way to explain the situation of the Great Depression is dismal. Entire families were uprooted from the solid foundations that they created several years before. This was a time of immeasurable economic instability, and as many of us have read, the depression started with the atrocious crash of the stock market in 1929. It is true that the crash was the fire starter for this grave situation, but our countries economy troubles started to crumble throughout the twenties. The whole situation caused many problems for society such as poverty, hunger, and many questions about our great countries economic foundation. The Great Depression was not only caused by the crash of the stock market, but by expensive tariffs on imported products, surpluses in production and farming, unequally distribution of funds, a laissez-faire attitude by the government, and a panic over the financial situation. The unequal distribution of wealth throughout America was the single largest cause of the depression of 1930's. From the beginning of the twenties, the total income of the U.S. jumped from $74 billion dollars in 1922, to an astonishing $89 billion dollars in 1929. On paper this jump looked good, but the gains were so unevenly distributed. Unbelievably, the bottom 40% of American's income was equal to that of the top 0.1% of American's income showing that the gap between the wealthy
Economic Policy-Making.
ECONOMIC POLICY-MAKING 'Public choice models of bureaucracy are theoretically flawed and empirically inaccurate, yet public choice "solutions" seem to work.' Discuss in the light of recent changes in the British public sector. "Not only does a bureaucracy...tend to under-government, in point of quality; it tends to over-government in point of quantity...A bureaucracy is sure to think that its duty is to augment official power, official business, or official members, rather than to leave free the energies of mankind..." (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution (1867) page 197). "In the past, Governments have progressively increased the number of tasks that the Civil Service is asked to do without paying sufficient attention to the need for economy and efficiency...The present Government are committed both to a reduction in tasks and to better management." (Margaret Thatcher (statement in the House of Commons 13 May 1980), quoted in Dunsire and Hood, Cutback Management in Public Bureaucracies (1989) page 18). Walter Bagehot, writing as he did at a time when the public sector was considerably smaller than it is today, clearly shows in the above quote that lack of trust in the workings of bureaucracy is not a new phenomenon. Although the best-known work in the field of public choice theory is to be found in the writers of the 1960s and 70s, Niskanen
Globalization and the Geographies of Consumption: A Case Study of the Clothes and Footwear sector.
Globalization and the Geographies of Consumption: A Case Study of the Clothes and Footwear sector Introduction The consumption patterns in the clothing and footwear field within British households today is determined by everyone that consumes and utilises a product which in turn contributes to the state of the global economy. Today, more so than ever before, there is mass consumption in the world and, as an affluent country, Britain is contributing largely to the patterns that exist today. There is indeed an ever changing nature in the rates and types of consumption in Britain and the rest of the world. These changes in the relationship between production and consumption is a highly intriguing phenomenon, one which is constantly analysed in order to understand how and why these changes take place. It is possible to outline the contemporary geographies of production and consumption and, with particular reference to Britain, determine why this is occurring in relation to economic, cultural and political contexts. The product market of clothing and footwear is influenced by a variety of factors such as international regulation, tradition, identity and fashion and the existence of niche markets. The aim of this report is to outline these patterns by collecting various data and collating the results to maintain an outcome where it is possible to make a conclusion as to what those
An Analysis of National Bicycle Industrial Co.
Executive Summary Mass customization theorizes that companies can develop, produce, market and deliver customized products and services on a mass basis. Supporters of mass customization argue that this strategy allows a company the flexibility to meet the constantly changing demands of consumers, who continuously demand higher quality, lower priced products and services delivered in a relatively short amount of time, but which are also highly customized. Most importantly mass customization implies that, by automating the customization process, companies can produce the custom good at costs competitive with standardized goods. Proponents of mass customization point out that with this strategy, low costs are accomplished primarily through economies of scope rather than scale: "Economies of scope are realized by the application of a single process to produce a greater variety of products and services more cheaply and more quickly." (Joseph Pine II, author of Mass Customization: The New Frontier In Business Competition.) To achieve the goals of mass customization, a company must address major shifts in operating methods throughout the organization - engineering, manufacturing, and marketing - including the supply chain, with the creative use of automation and technology. Companies such as Dell Computer, HP, Toyota, Levi Strauss and Lutron Electronics have employed this
The price of oil has recently reached new highs and Britain now has some of the highest taxes on petrol in Europe. Examine the impact on the consumer demand for car, bus, and train travel of a further increase in the costs of motoring. In your essay, you
Economics Level 1 Q1) The price of oil has recently reached new highs and Britain now has some of the highest taxes on petrol in Europe. Examine the impact on the consumer demand for car, bus, and train travel of a further increase in the costs of motoring. In your essay, you should make use of economic concepts such as demand, price elasticity, and income elasticity. Matriculation Number: 0509206 Tutorial Group: 11 Words count: 1258 Tutor's Name: Hilary Macleod Introduction: Why does the price of oil keep escalating over the past century, and recently reach new peaks? In general, the answer to the question is directed to few main contributing factors that are unexpected closure of oil production, on-going Iraq war, destructive natural disaster and further increment of government taxes on petrol. These factors closely play a part in affecting the supply and demand of oil in the commodity market where the consequence of these factors often raised the price of oil. Taking an illustrative example, one can observe clearly that the unexpected closure of a major oil production (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) in Gulf of Mexico due to the storm of Hurricane Rita (www.oilonline.com, 2005) has significant impact on reducing world's supply of oil where the reduction in supply ultimately increases the price of oil even when the demand for oil remains unchanged. Economists usually
Define price elasticity of demand, and explain the main influences which make the demand for some goods elastic and the demand for others inelastic. B. How relevant do you consider price elasticity and income elasticity of demand to be to the followi
Economics essay A. Define price elasticity of demand, and explain the main influences which make the demand for some goods elastic and the demand for others inelastic. B. How relevant do you consider price elasticity and income elasticity of demand to be to the following I. Governments taxation policy II. When the firm is considering what price it should charge Outline I. Introduction II. Answer A III. Answer B IV. Conclusions V. Appendices VI. Reference I. Introduction Price elasticity of demand or PED shows responsiveness of the quantity of a product demanded, to change in price of the product. PED measures how elastic demand of product. It can be elastic or inelastic. If product is inelastic, change in price will not lead to massive drop or increase in quantity demanded. If it is elastic change in price will lead rice or fall in demand (Ison and Wall, 2007). Best way to show this responsiveness is to use formula or graph (see appendices graph 1). Formula: PED= % Change in the quantity demanded %Change in the price Graph one shows elastic demand to the product which is = 1. It means that if quantity changes, price respond more sensitive. On (graph 2 A) shows perfectly inelastic demand= 0, that means at any given price demand is constant. But on (graph 2 B) it is directly opposite to (A). Income elasticity of demand or YED measures change in
Why do people play the National Lottery? Can the Expected Utility model of Consumer Choice explain this, While Assuming that Individuals are Rational? Are there Alternative Economic explanations of this?
Why do people play the National Lottery? Can the Expected Utility model of Consumer Choice explain this, While Assuming that Individuals are Rational? Are there Alternative Economic explanations of this? The National Lottery was launched in 1994, it is a standard game compared to other lotteries around the world. Players must match X numbers from a choice of M with the numbers drawn randomly, by the lottery operators, from the same set. In the UK it is 6 numbers from 49. Because it was relatively unusual in the UK, this made it very difficult for policy makers to identify possible consumer reactions to the product. Using the economics of uncertainty cannot only justify the playing of the National Lottery. There are also Social aspects that must be looked at. Why would a rational consumer place a bet of £1 on a 14 million to 1 shot to just win 4 to 7 million pounds? Or even £1 on a 57 to 1 shot to win £10? It doesn’t sound like a rational gamble. When looking at probability distribution of getting three numbers and six numbers, as these are the smallest and largest prizes. If you buy the lottery ticket for £1, you will have a wealth distribution consisting of w, the original wealth, £7million if you win (assuming this will mean w is an insignificant amount compared to £7million) w+£10 or in the most likely event of not winning at all w-£1. ‘The thing that
Analysis of market structure in the airline industry.
Analyse the structure of an industry of your choice An industry is described as a collection of companies or firms that produce a similar service or good; for instance (Jain, 2002) Coca Cola and Pepsi Co both produce a cola flavoured drink and are therefore situated within the beverage industry but more precisely the carbonated soft drink industry. Within an industry, there are market structures ,which Bamford et al (2009) describes as 'The characteristics of a market ,these include the size of firms, amount of firms operating in the market, strength and extent of barriers to entry and exit, product differentiation and whether firms are price makers or price takers'. Based on the above characteristics, we are able to classify and group industries into one of the following market structures such as perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition, duopoly and natural monopoly. The main focus of this essay will be on the air travel industry, in particular the commercial airline industry. It will identify the market structure which airlines operate within is an oligopoly. According to Sloman and Wride (2009) an oligopoly is 'A market structure where there are few enough firms to enable barriers to be erected against the entry of new firms' this relates to the proposition that only a handful of commercial airline alliances have a large proportion of total
Does Marks & Spencer have a future?
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY, NAGPUR Does Marks & Spencer have a future ? Managerial Economics Group Assignment - 1 Submitted by : Aishwarya Iyer 08FN007 Anjan Sethi 08FT012 Anchal Sharma 08HR010 Date of Submission : 01-09-08 Section A ABSTRACT This report analyses the impact of external and internal influences on the business strategies of Marks and Spencer (M&S) between 1996 and 2002, and evaluates the factors affecting them. The report basically identifies the main factors affecting the demand for M&S products by analyzing the weaknesses and threats faced by the company. It furthers the discussion by pointing out the changes, which the company tried to bring about in its marketing mix elements, branding strategy and value chain to enhance its market share and profitability. The major finding is that M&S had successful business strategies and marketing plans. However, the company could not maintain these advantages continuously, and faced a slowdown during the period 1998-2001. The main factors that contributed to the slowdown were the insularity shown by the company, which made it less responsive to the changing market conditions. TABLE OF CONTENTS . Introduction.......................................................................................4 2. Factors affecting the demand for M&S
Identify and discuss the factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Describe and assess the different possible consumer responses to dissatisfaction. How should organisations respond to complaints?
Identify and discuss the factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Describe and assess the different possible consumer responses to dissatisfaction. How should organisations respond to complaints? Introduction To answer this question effectively I intend to split it into three separate sections. In the first section I will discuss the different factors which influence consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction (CS/D). Due to the restrictive word limit I will be basing my arguments mainly around the three main traditional theories of CS/D, Expectancy Disconfirmation, Equity Theory and Attribution Theory as well as more recent research into the factors affecting CS/D. In the second section I will discuss the three main responses to dissatisfaction; take no action, private action such as avoiding the brand in the future and public action such as complaining to the business. Finally in the third section I will discuss the most effective ways for organisations to respond to customer complaints, including amongst others such measures as establishing a establishing a free-call consumer complaint hotline. Factors which influence consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction Consumer satisfaction / dissatisfaction (CS/D) refers to an emotional response to an evaluation of a product or service consumption experience (Wilke, 1990). Expectancy Disconfirmation