Friday, January 29, 2010

Hello 09s71,

Our econs blog has collected a thick layer of virtual dust... so time from some updates!
*blows off dust*

Anyway since a lot of you dont want to print these with the class fund, I have uploaded your presentations below:

2000
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ggltqt2cyzz/2000.ppt


1990
http://www.mediafire.com/file/gmclzdnn4nn/1990ppt.ppt
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zgmznmdgtze/1990worddoc.doc

1980
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ykxymozudyu/1980sEconomicsRestructuring(actual).ppt
http://www.mediafire.com/file/4xmj2tunzy2/1980.docx

1970
http://www.mediafire.com/file/yxmni2nqwy1/1970worddoc.doc


1960
http://www.mediafire.com/file/bnmtw2mnnwi/1960.docx


Your econs rep

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

SCANNED ESSAYS
Hello, this is you econs rep...
I've scanned the better group essays here for Tut Sec D
1st














2nd























cheers x)
BY

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Data Question: Housing since 1945

3. Assess whether economic welfare would be increased if government either (a) reintroduced subsidies on buying a house or (b) reduced rentd for those in social housing (mainly for tenants of councils or Housing Associations).

Economic Welfare: Consumer Surplus and Producer Surplus

Consumer Surplus: Consumer surplus is the excess of the price that buyers are willing and able to pay for the good over the actual price paid. This is defined as the extra satisfaction gained by consumers from paying a price that is lower than that which they are prepared to pay.

Producer Surplus: Producer surplus is the excess of what a producer is willing and able to put up on sale for a good over the actual price her receives. This is defined as the excess of actual earnings that a producer would be prepared to accept for that output.

Subsidies: A per unit subsidy is a fixed amount of money given to the producers or consumers for each unit they sell or purchase.

Abstract from article (Useful Evidence): from the 1960s, a strong financial incentive to buy houses was introduced through the scrapping of a tax on the notational rent on owner occupied houses and the introduction of tax relief on mortgage payments. Tax relief reduced cost of mortgage repayments once the relief was given and so allowed house buyers to afford higher mortgage repayments, and therefore able to buy more expensive houses. It was justified in terms of making home ownership, more affordable to a wider range of income groups.
However, in the 1980s, the government started to phase out tax relief.

Reasons for doing so:
-Subsidies went to better off households.
-With highly inelastic price elasticity of supply of houses, the subsidy did not make housing more affordable, instead, it pushed the price of houses up.

As defined in the earlier question, housing is mostly a merit good and has external benefits. As social marginal cost is greater than private marginal benefit, a subsidy equivalent to the external marginal benefit at the socially efficient output level, QSE would shift the PMC curve vertically down by that amount PMC’=PMC-subsidy. The imposition of the per unit subsidy results in an output that corresponds to the socially efficient level of output QSE.

[Incomplete]
Credits to YiLing.
Group Members: Uyen, Natalie, YiLing, Aaron

Friday, May 29, 2009

DATA QUESTION: HOUSING SINCE 1945Group 4: Benjamin Chua, Guo Erjia, Elaine Chia, Christabel Liew
Question 2-> To what extent can housing be seen as a merit good? Give examples from the datat to support your arguments.

Answer:

Saturday, April 25, 2009

This is to add on to Uyen's post, on gambling and economics.

Negative externalities (Statistics)
  • 25% compulsive gamblers attempted suicide
  • 672000 college students are addicited
  • 35 million teens are addicted

Possible causes:

  • Convenience of online gambling
  • Teens treat online gambling as a game
  • Glamourisation of gambling in movies and television series (E.g Casino Royale)

Government legalising gambling:

  • Addiction -> inelastic demand
  • If it is still banned, there will be black markets and illegal gambling

====================================================================

Social Marginal cost = Private Marginal Cost (PMC) + External Marginal Cost (EMC)

Private Marginal Cost:

  • Wages for workers
  • Land for building casinos and other gambling outlets (E.g Singapore Pools outlets and Singapore Turf Club)
  • Law enforcenment units and counselling for addicted gamblers

External Marginal Cost:

  • Rise in crime rates by gamblers, affect the safety of other Singaporeans
  • Affect investment as investors do not wish to set up factories/ businesses in a place with high crime rates.

Social costs is all of the above mentioned.

=====================================================================

Private Marginal benefit:

  • Increase in government revenue from taxation of casinos and Singapore Pools
  • More convenient to place bets for gamblers.
  • Prevent money lost to other countries when gamblers gamble overseas.

External Marginal benefit:

  • More jobs created for other Singaporeans.
  • Lower unemployment rate and possible effects due to unemployment.
  • Attract tourists to gamble here.
  • Attract investment in the gambling industry.

====================================================================

Thus the government legalise gambling when marginal cost is lower then the marginal benefits.

Si Ying =D

Monday, April 20, 2009


Halo, this is some funny cartoon i found on some economic website...


I think the website is quiet interesting with many funny cartoons, videos, quotes and jokes about both economics and politics...Here is the link, hope you guys enjoy:

Uyen <3

Gambling and Economics


Demerit goods are goods or services that have been deemed socially undesirable and over-consume through the political process. Their undesirability is usually due to external costs imposed on society when they are consumed. According to this definition, gambling can be considered as a demerit good.

There are several negative externalities which society will have to experience once gambling is made legal. These include:

Social undesirability:
· Less time spent with families, friends and other useful or healthy activities such as sports, leading to the breakdown of many families.
· Loss of trust and ties between individuals and family members if gambling is problem.
· Gambling may lead to debt and crime once gamblers are desperate for money to continue to gamble.
Economic undesirability:
· Large amount of money will be used in:
· Gambling and not in family living, church, charities
· Treatment of addicted gamblers
· Law enforcement needed
· Controlling potential crime

However, Singapore has recently legalized gambling. This is because the government understands the need for more tourist amenities on par with other popular vacation destinations, as Singapore grows in the tourism sector. As casinos are such amenities, they have been given the green light. The sheer rise in economic status has allowed the country to make some terrific investments in the tourist sector and allows visitors a unique look into the country and culture. With two new casinos in Singapore opening in the next few years and glamorous resorts also planned for simultaneous openings, Singapore is sure to become even more of a bright, shining star in Central Asia’s appeal.

In addition, there are also other external benefits:
Social benefits:
· People feel good about employment
· Gaming may be a good entertainment activity
· People find themselves engaged in activity.

Economic benefits:
· More jobs
· May provide higher wages
· Customers drawn from outside the state
· Support of community through charitable gifts/grants.