The Laffer effect at work?
Is this news item an example of the Laffer effect?
Read moreIs this news item an example of the Laffer effect?
Read moreSome EU frozen fries producers have entered a trade fray over anti-dumping duties levied by the Colombian government upon their products. Exploring the case, we can deepen our insight into anti-dumping rules and measures, and into the parties involved.
Read moreOne sentence in my textbook triggered my attention: “Attempts to remove subsidies on basic foods or fuel in countries like Iran, Venezuela or India have caused major riots in the past. This led to an exploration into India’s fuel subsidies.
Read moreYesterday I attended the Economic Literacy for Everyone summit of 2018, organized by ecnmy.org. I listened to some really informative and inspiring talks by some very involved men and women, however I could not help the feeling that something was missing.
Read moreI always feel bored when reading about public and private goods in an economics textbook. The reason is the topic is generally covered by fencing off both concepts, using the concepts of rivalry and excludability. It lures us into hairsplitting, whereas in my opinion, what makes the distinction between public and private goods, is of a political nature.
Read moreThe Daily Mail covered a story on the sale of cat and dog meat in Indonesia. The trade has officially been banned but the ban has not been succesfully enforced on the market covered in the article. Cats and dogs are killed in plain view of the public, including children, and the methods used are devastating.
Questions:
1. Animal abuse is an externality of the meat industry. Explain.
2. Do you think a ban on dog and cat meat will root out animal abuse related to meat consumption?
3. Can you think of other options to deal with animal abuse in the meat industry, besides a ban?
A popular example of an externality is road congestion, this is not different in my current textbook. We tend to look at the direct and indirect costs involved with road congestion. But at which markets is this externality pointing?
Read moreI am happy to see that the EdExcel specification puts the neo-classical assumption that men is rational to question. My textbook mentions three reasons why men may not behave rational: social norms, habits, and weak computational skills. It does not cover that people may not end up with a rational decision because of empathetic considerations.
Read moreIn this post, I focus on subsidies. The author of my textbook uses the model of supply and demand to analyse the effect of a subsidy on both supply and demand. He takes the perspective of a subsidy that falls to the supplier. But not all subsidies fall to suppliers, subsidies like housing benefit or subsidy on solar panels fall to buyers. I wondered if an analysis from the perspective of the buyer would give another result, all other things equal.
Read moreQuestion: What are the costs of the supply of rental housing?
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