Category: Essential Economics for Business: Ch 09

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Economic downturn – prime crime-time?

The article linked below looks at the extent to which economic downturn and rising inequality are likely to affect crime levels in the UK. Traditionally the view has been that an economic downturn will raise crime, but is it necessarily the downturn that is causing the increased crime?

Consumed by crime Guardian (24/9/08)

Questions

1. Explain why an economic downturn may lead to increased levels of crime.
2. Discuss the extent to which deregulation of markets may have exaggerated the relationship between crime and the level of economic growth.
3. Assess the view espoused in the article that “a culture obsessed with material goods” and “competitive individualism” have led to stronger link between crime and economic growth.
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A powerful oligopoly?

Energywatch, an industry watchdog, has argued in a recent report to MPs that Britain’s electricity and gas supply industry is a “comfortable oligopoly” that feels little need to innovate or compete. They have called for the sector to be subject to a Competition Commission investigation.

Power companies are ripping off consumers Times Online (21/5/08)
Age of cheap power is over Times Online (21/5/08)
Call to investigate energy ‘oligopolies’ Guardian (21/5/08)

Questions

1. Explain the main characteristics of an oligopolistic industry.
2. What aspects of the electricity and gas supply market would the Competition Commission consider if asked to investigate the industry?
3. Assess the extent to which the electricity supply industry exhibits oligopolist collusion.
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The cost of dead PCs

A significant illegal trade in ‘e-waste’ has developed with thousands of discarded computers arriving every day in the ports of West Africa. Once there, children are often used to dismantle them and extract metals . However, this has resulted in huge toxic dumps and serious health problems for resident in the surrounding area.

Breeding toxins from dead PCs Guardian (6/5/08)

Questions

1. Identify the principal external costs resulting from this illegal trade in e-waste.
2. Using diagrams as appropriate, show the impact of this market failure on the market for new computers.
3. Evaluate two policies that the international community could adopt to reduce this illegal trade in e-waste.
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Labour’s public sector is a Soviet tractor factory

Public choice theory is an area of economics that uses standard economic tools to consider the decisions made by politicians and others within the public sector. In essence the theory applies economic principles to politics. In the article below Simon Caulkin argues that public sector reform and the application of public choice theory has failed and likens the public sector reforms that have been implemented to Soviet central planning.

Labour’s public sector is a Soviet tractor factory Observer (4/5/08)

Questions

1. Explain what is meant by public choice theory.
2. Describe the principal public-sector reforms that were implemented under the Blair government. 
3. Discuss the extent to which recent public-sector reforms have succeeded in delivering a more responsive and efficient public sector.
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Guzzling gas just got more expensive

One of the key Budget measures was a change in the car tax regime. The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, introduced a new banded system annual vehicle excise duty (VED) based on the level of emissions of the vehicle. The cars with the lowest levels of emissions will be exempt from VED, but at the other end of the spectrum, the highest polluting vehicles will face an annual VED of around £440. However, this will be substantially higher in the year of purchase of the vehicle and this so-called ‘showroom tax’ will raise the tax level to £950 in the first year of purchase.


Gas guzzlers hit with higher taxes Guardian (12/03/08)
New taxes on gas-guzzlers will raise an extra £1.2bn Guardian (13/03/08)
Spared at the pumps – but hit in the showroom Guardian (16/03/08)
Q&A: Showroom tax BBC News Online (12/03/08)
Gas guzzlers set to face £950 tax BBC News Online (12/03/08)

Questions

1. Explain how the highest polluting vehicles affect the socially optimal equilibrium in the market for car travel.
2. Using supply and demand diagrams as appropriate, illustrate the likely impact of the new car tax regime in 2009-10 on the equilibrium in the market for car travel. What is the significance of the concepts of price elasticity of demand and consumer surplus in your analysis?
3. Discuss the likely effectiveness of the new banded car tax regime at reducing the average level of emissions from cars. Would raising the tax on petrol and diesel be a more efficient method of achieving the same goal?