In the article below, Ashley Seager from the Guardian argues that the government is doing little to encourage the take-up and adoption of alternative forms of energy generation for households. Indeed he argues hat the situation has got worse and not better in recent months with changes in the system. Only 270 houses were helped with the fitting of photovoltaic systems last year. In Germany the equivalent figure was 130,000.
Reasons to see red over green energy Guardian (18/2/08)
Questions
| 1. |
Assess the external costs and external benefits resulting from installing a photovoltaic electricity generation system on a house. |
| 2. |
Using diagrams as appropriate, show how the installation of photovoltaic cells on houses will alter the socially optimal market equilibrium. |
| 3. |
Evaluate two policies that the government could use to encourage the more widespread adoption of alternative methods of generating power. |
A number of UK supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Asda and Safeway, have been fined £116m by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for price fixing. The OFT is still investigating other supermarkets, including Tesco which denies that it was involved in the price collusion. The collusion is estimated to have cost consumers around £270m in higher prices.
Supermarkets fined £116m for price fixing Guardian (8/12/07)
OFT hands out £116m in fines for milk price fixing Guardian (7/12/07)
Supermarkets admit milk price fix BBC News Online (7/12/07)
Videos
Farmers reaction to price fixing claims BBC News Online
Questions
| 1. |
Explain how Sainsbury’s and the other supermarkets colluded to fix milk prices. |
| 2. |
Assess the market conditions most likely to lead to price collusion in a market. |
| 3. |
Examine the role of the OFT in reducing uncompetitive and restrictive practices in markets. |
Rapidly rising food prices have led to instability in many countries and have fuelled inflation in less developed economies where food spending is a greater proportion of overall consumer spending. A number of factors have contributed to this rapid rise in prices, but one important contributory factor is the move towards growing crops that can be used as bio-fuels in the developing world and this shift in production is having a knock-on effect in world food markets.
Big food companies accused of risking climate catastrophe Guardian (8/11/07)
An agricultural crime against humanity Monbiot.com (6/11/07)
Global food crisis looms as climate change and fuel shortages bite Guardian (3/11/07)
Questions
| 1. |
Identify the main factors that have led to rising world food prices. |
| 2. |
Assess the extent to which the move towards bio-fuels has contributed to the rise in world food prices. |
| 3. |
Explain how the impact of rising food prices differs in the developed and developing world. |
| 4. |
Discuss policies that governments could adopt to ameliorate the impact of rising food prices on the level of economic growth. |
Bolivia may have the second largest gas reserves in Latin America but it also has an acute shortage of diesel. People have blamed a variety of causes: smugglers, the government and nationalisation. In truth, the cause may be a combination of all these factors, but whatever the cause, the diesel shortage is acting as a significant constraint on further economic development and is an ongoing headache for the President Evo Morales.
Fuelling Bolivia’s crisis BBC News Online (8/11/07)
Questions
| 1. |
Use supply and demand analysis to illustrate the reasons for the shortages in diesel in Bolivia. |
| 2. |
Explain the impact that fuel subsidies may have had in causing the shortages of diesel. Use supply and demand analysis to illustrate your answer where appropriate. |
| 3. |
Discuss the underlying factors that may be leading to the shortages in diesel. |
Al Gore’s contribution to the global climate change debate is not in question and he has, along with the IPCC, been awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in raising awareness. If you haven’t seen his film “An inconvenient truth” then do get hold of the DVD – it may just be the most interesting PowerPoint presentation you will ever see! However, does he really understand the nature of the debate? The article below suggests that he has not yet taken account of the most fundamental trade-off in dealing with climate change – the trade-off between our own quality of life and that of our descendants in the future.
Save the earth in six hard questions MSN Slate (22/10/07)
Questions
| 1. |
Explain what is mean by a trade-off “between the quality of our own lives and the quality of our descendants’ [lives]”. |
| 2. |
What is meant by the term ‘risk-averse’ and how is this relevant in the climate change debate? |
| 3. |
Consider the questions raised by the article. Discuss how relevant the conclusion reached is in the light of these questions. |