September 2019
- Outline 2019
- Where do you spend/invest your resources in %?
- What is poverty?
- Age of the human species
Assignment on the Koreas
- 7 decades of separation BW
- GDP
- GDP / Person
- Size in km2
- % of fresh water
- Population
- National Government Budget (US $)
- % of budget to military (# of active member)
- % of budget on education
- GINI
November 6 & 8
- Read about the community
- Think about your questions during the community visit…
Presentations
Summary / Concepts
Savings, poverty trap & micro credit
Politics, poverty & corruption; enhance each other and working at marginally reducing both can contribute to serious improvement
Never under estimate the impact of sound political institutions and the marginal improvement of their functioning
The fairness and the outcomes of the decision process in such environments crucially depend on such details as project selection rules (a meeting? a vote?), who is invited to the meetings, who speaks, who is in charge of implementing the project on a day-to-day basis, how these project leaders are selected, and much more
small change in the rules changed everything. In Indonesia, in some randomly selected villages, people were formally invited to meetings through letters. This made a big difference in attendance: Turnout increased to almost sixty-five attendees on average, including about thirty-eight not from the elite. More villagers spoke, and the meetings were more animated
Sometimes, women in power have made a difference…
What should happen in the near future?
October 30 & November 1
In Community Development, Hope is vital and knowledge critical
Presentations
Growth & pollution
- being poor is riskier; people diversify their economic activities (farming, jobber, selling)
- but they do not get the benefits of specialization
- low income + discounting behaviour = no possibilities to invest
- Of Course, there is no reason to think that being poor makes you more short-sighted or impatient than the average person. But there is good reason to think that being unusually impatient will make you poor.
Wealthier people rarely need to draw upon their limited endowment of self-control and decisiveness while poor ones are constantly being required to do so. Therefore, to improve efficiency, low-hanging fruit solutions should be very cheap, even free if possible and the default option while opting out should carry a small cost
Education & ROI; each additional year of education has a greater impact that betting the barn on one kid or the most talented
- Primary = learn to read
- Secondary = read to learn
Despite its weaknesses that must be carefully controlled and regulated, capitalism is the most efficient and decentralized system of cooperation ever devised by humanity, whether we like it or not
Last assignment; The case for a carbon tax;
- What is the goal?
- What are the obstacles?
- What would be the opportunity costs?
- What are the options?
- Should the carbon tax be a redistribution tool?
What governments can do when there is a recession; Keynes
- borrow & invest
- job programs
- Frequency
- develop simple systems
- control monetary policy
- maintain peace
- support initiatives & research
- support redistribution
How do you decide the wage level for a specific job?
The most important determinant of wages is not what you produce, but rather how easily you can be replaced
If people would be paid for the value of what they create, the nominal cost of hiring a maid would not have changed since the last 150 years but nobody would be willing to do that job today
Symphony orchestra; same amount of musician to play Beethoven now than 150 years ago. We should pay them pennies per day because they are not more productive than back then. Because there is a labour market, their salary has been dragged up by the market who was offering more for jobs that were providing large increases in productivity like industries, offering more options for workers in general to change job
Without the labour market allocation ($ and Q), society would have to force people towards some jobs
Because the price of domestic labour has increased, middle class people cannot afford to have maid like one hundred years ago or like in some developing countries.
Indigenous Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
October 23 & 25
October 16 & 18
Following intense pressures, it was decided that Thursday class will be a work from home session.
The presentation on USA will be done next week.
Consequently, the following assignment is due on Oct 23.
Identify 3 economic concepts that are related to the problem identified in the following article and explain how they are.
Do you consider that culture is a resource? Explain…
What are the tools available to governments to help national economies to stay as stable as possible?
What are the consequences of economic cycles on people?
Is moral hazard a negative or positive externality? Explain…
Identify 3 economic sectors where governments have a proven tract record. Explain…
Sears in the U.S. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, buckling under its massive debt load and operating losses.
The company once dominated the American retail landscape. But the big question is whether the shrunken version of itself can be viable or will be forced to go out of business, closing the final chapter for an iconic name that originated more than a century ago.
October 9 & 11
What is a recession?
Imagine a closed system coop daycare…
Nobel for Promoter of Carbon Tax
Economic development process
October 2 & 4
The biggest challenge in economics is to make sure that a maximum of people are taking their responsibilities towards themselves while society is taking its responsibilities to support those who really need it.
Comparative Advantage
Moral Hazard
Assignment due on October 9
Identify a story about a real case of economic development success on Internet. Provide the link, summarize the story and identify the concepts that are covered by it.
September 25 & 27
Identify a story about a real case of economic development success on Internet. Summarize the story and identify the concepts that are covered by it.
We already mentioned that governments are well placed to act as universal insurer. We have Employment Insurance, MPI, Health Care Insurance, CPP, etc.
It is better to operate within a closed system like EI instead of a specific program (flooding, prevention VS mitigation).
Governments can also grant a monopoly status or operate one. VIA, Canada Post, Manitoba Hydro are good examples.
Governments can regulate industries and impose their will on people in many ways; CRTC, air transportation. But when you regulate, you need to enforce.
Governments have capacity to enforce; army, police, inspectors, tribunals, CRA, etc. You also need money to enforce.
In a Democracy, to have the credibility to enforce, governments need to be perceived as fair, provide equality of chances and take care of those who need it.
This is when the concept of redistribution kicks in. Governments have revenues and expenses. They deliver services and transfer some wealth to those who need it the most. This is a difficult demonstration to make. As we know already, there are more needs than resources…
Remember that democracy, governments and all they can do for us are all public goods that are highly influenced by collective action problems. People lobby, put pressures, try to influence, sometimes cheat to get their way.
The pipeline disputes are a very good example…
Under such circumstances, it is important to remember that even 2 people cannot agree on everything. The only way to advance is to concentrate on a simple, fair and accountable process to make decisions.
For trade disputes, the United Nations has created the WTO
Under the NAFTA, Chapter 19 has a similar role
Comparative Advantage
Moral Hazard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing
September 18 & 20
Inequality; wealth & income
Labour market & unionization
Minimum wage
Booking presentations
September 11 & 13
The concepts of Social Programs (collaboration)
Collective Action Problems (Free Riders)
Externalities
Identify 5 social programs for each jurisdiction (Federal, Provincial, Municipal) in Canada.
Draw a supply & demand graph that represents the impact of unionization on wages
What is expected for your presentation on a national economy;
- Statistics
- Size
- Population
- GDP
- Trade
- Import / export
- Partners
- Resources
- Location and geography
- Most important resources available in the country
- Redistribution
- Size of governments’ part of GDP
- GINI
- Industries
- Agriculture
- Manufacturing
- Services
- Profile of business; small business, headquarters, renowned companies
- Strengths
Challenges
Chose a country
Compare Koreas
Concepts;
- Social Programs
- Supply
- Demand
- Opportunity Costs
- GINI
- Factors of Production
- Trade
- Scarcity
- Wealth
- Free Market
- Central Planning
- GDP
September 4 & 6
What does specialization imply?
Supply & demand
Production curve & opportunity costs
Bad decisions can create bad results, even when the intentions are good
Economic Survey of Canada OECD
August 2018
The World Vote in 2019!
Economics Final Exam 2018
Summary of assignments
Last assignment; The case for a carbon tax
- What is the goal?
- What are the obstacles?
- What would be the opportunity costs?
- What are the options?
- Should the carbon tax be a redistribution tool?
Identify 3 economic concepts that are related to the problem identified in the following article and explain how they are.
Assignment due on October 9
Identify a story about a real case of economic development success on Internet. Provide the link, summarize the story and identify the concepts that are covered by it.
Assignment on the Koreas
- 7 decades of separation BW
- GDP
- GDP / Person
- Size in km2
- % of fresh water
- Population
- National Government Budget (US $)
- % of budget to military (# of active member)
- % of budget on education
- GINI
Economics & Development 