Category: Economics for Business: Ch 22

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Cycling – good for you and good for the economy

A report from Cycling England has suggested that a £70m investment in cycling each year could save the government £520m per year. The savings result from the positive benefits of increased cycling – lower carbon dioxide emissions and lower NHS costs as we become healthier. But, do the numbers add up?

Investment in cycling could save £520m, government told Guardian (17/9/07)

Questions

1. Define the terms (i) external benefits (ii) external costs and (iii) marginal social benefit.
2. Identify three external benefits that result from increased cycling.
3. Using diagrams as appropriate, show how the market equilibrium and the socially optimum level of cycling will differ.
4. Discuss policies that the government could adopt to move the market closer to the social optimum.
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Price-fixing at BA

British Airways has been fined £270m for their part in a price-fixing cartel. Fines were levied by both the US Department of Justice and the UK Office of Fair Trading following an agreement between British Airways and Virgin to fix the level of surcharges charged to passengers as a result of rising fuel prices.

Where’s Branson’s apology? BBC News Online (Robert Peston blog) (7/8/07)
BA’s price-fix fine reaches £270m BBC News Online (1/8/07)
OFT defends ‘snitch’ policy Guardian (5/8/07)
BA boss speaks out over price fixing Guardian (3/8/07)
How arch rivals colluded to hike up cost of air travel Guardian (2/8/07)

Questions

1. Define what is meant by the term ‘price-fixing cartel’.
2. Explain the characteristics of a market that are most likely to result in a cartel.
3. Discuss policies that the government could put in place to prevent this kind of price-fixing arising in the future..
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Green policies and government – still on amber?

The widening of the M6 will cost £3bn or £1000 an inch. What does this fact tell us about the government’s green priorities? Are we really leading the world on climate change as the government likes to claim? In the article below Ashley Seager (Economics Correspondent for the Guardian) looks at these issues and argues that we may be the poor man of Europe when it comes to ‘green’ policies.

Green means slow to this government Guardian (6/8/07)

Questions

1. Explain what Ashley Seager means by the sentence “What the government has also not done is send out new “price signals”, as economists call them” (paragraph 7).
2. Explain what is meant by a feed-in tariff (FIT). Why does Ashley Seager argue that this is a vital policy tool in the fight against climate change?
3. Discuss two policies that the government could adopt to help raise the proportion of renewable energy generated in the UK.
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Nationalisation in Venezuela

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has built up the pace of turning Venezuela into a socialist state with sweeping reforms, including extensive nationalisation. This has always been a controversial policy (not least with the private companies which will be taken into state ownership) and threatens to create further social tension in Venezuela.

Nationalisation sweeps Venezuela BBC News Online (15/5/07)


Questions
1. What are the economic implications of the creation of a ‘socialist state’?
2. Many of the poorest in Venezuela do not have full access to key services such as telecoms. Assess the extent to which nationalisation will help extend the reach of these services to all groups in society.
3. Discuss the arguments for and against bringing key industries into state ownership.
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Will the global rush to bio-fuel cause poverty?

In its first report on the impact of bio-fuels, the United Nations (UN) has warned that such fuels may increase poverty in developing countries and have a wider environmental impact than has in the past been suggested. With oil prices at a record high and with climate change pressures, much of the developed world has adopted targets for bio-fuels, but environmentalists have warned that the rush to grow the raw materials for bio-fuels may be more damaging to the environment than the fossil fuels they will replace.

Global rush to energy crops threatens to bring food shortages and increase poverty, says UN Guardian (9/5/07)
UN warns on impacts of biofuels BBC News Online (9/5/07)
UN raises doubts on biofuels Guardian (9/5/07)


Questions
1. What are the external costs and external benefits resulting from the use of bio-fuels as opposed to fossil fuels?
2. Using diagrams as appropriate, show the impact of increased use of bio-fuels on the social equilibrium in the market for fuel.
3. Assess policies that European governments could put in place to ensure that the move towards increased use of bio-fuels has a positive environmental impact.