The Economic Problem

The Economic Problem

The economic problem arises due to scarcity. People have unlimited wants but there are
insufficient resources to provide these goods and services. People must therefore make choices,
and if they act rationally, they choose the choice which provides the lowest opportunity cost. The
opportunity cost is defined as the value of the next best alternative forgone.

For example: Someone makes a rational choice about going on a holiday. Even if the holiday is a
disaster (e.g. the hotel is half finished) they have still made the rational choice by acting on the
information they had when booking the holiday.

Money is no solution to the economic problem. It simply provides the means of rationing or
allocating goods between consumers.

Opportunity cost
Opportunity cost is the next best alternative which people lose when they take their first choice.
This is usually expressed in terms of the goods which you gave up rather than in terms of money.
Opportunity is the real cost of the product. The basis of choice gives a good its price and changes
it from a free good to an economic good.
The economic units
There are three economic units which are found in every society and engaged in making
economic choices.

1. The household - the consumptive unit. The household must consider their limited income
and their wants as distinct from their needs when making choices. A need is something
essential to man's survival; anything else qualifies as a want. Wants must be translated
into effective demand before they have any effect on the economy.
2. The firm - the productive unit. The organisation involved in the production of wealth and
in our economy it is motivated by the consideration of profit. The business or the firm is
responsible for the production of wealth and the creation of all the goods and services
which we want as individuals.
3. The government - the role of government varies depending on the views of those
currently elected. Left wing governments believe in greater government intervention than
right wing governments.

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Production possibility curves

Production possibility curves/production possibility frontiers (PPF) show the different amounts
of 2 goods that can be produced with a fixed amount of resources. Points on the PPF itself
produce the same level of welfare. This occurs when all resources are fully utilised. Points inside
the curve are wasteful, perhaps due to unemployment or idle factories. Points outside the PPF are
unobtainable unless the PPF itself shifts outwards due to growth (an increase in resources
available, better efficiency, or new technology).

PPFs can be used to show opportunity cost. A move from A to B on the curve (see diagram)
increasing the quantity of consumer goods has an opportunity cost of the drop in capital goods.

PPFs curve usually shift outwards because of the law of diminishing returns. The extra output
from an increase in resource allocation decreases.

Factors of Production
Factors of Production

A factor of production is defined as a productive resource. There are 4 types of factors of

production:

• Land - all natural resources including oil, fish, soil, forests. The reward for land is rent.
• Labour - the skills of the workforce and the quantity of labour they produce. The reward for
labour is wages.

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• Capital - investment in man-made aids to production including buildings, factories,
computers. The reward for capital is interest.
• Entrepreneurship - the risk-taking role of business owners undertaken in the pursuit of
profit. Can be considered as a specialised form of labour. The reward for entrepreneurship is
profit.

Classifying industries
The three main sectors of the economy are:

• Primary sector - extracting raw materials

• Secondary sector - processing, manufacturing and assembling raw materials into goods
• Tertiary sector - aid the production of goods (e.g. lorry driving) and sell services
In a MEDC such as the UK the majority all economic activity is the tertiary sector (currently
76%).

Positive and normative economics

Positive and normative economics

Positive statements are one which can be verified and shown to be true or untrue with data.
Example: "A poor coffee harvest will raise coffee prices and people will drink more tea"

Normative statements are value judgements and opinions. They often use words such as ought,
should and would'. Example: "We should redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor"

Specialisation and Trade

Specialisation is when a factor of production is devoted to a specific job. This applies to all
factors of production - land, labour, capital and enterprise. By specialising and trading, countries
can increase overall output.

Absolute and comparative advantage

When a country can produce more of a product per unit resource than its rivals can, it has
absolute advantage. The country can produce at a lower factor cost.

More important, however, is Ricardo's idea of comparative advantage. The producer with the
lowest opportunity cost of production for a particular product has comparative advantage. For

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example, Portugal can produce more wine and cloth than England per unit resource (it has
absolute advantage in both). Compared with Portugal, England is bad at producing cloth, but
terrible at producing wine. Therefore England should specialise in cloth and Portugal in wine,
because the opportunity cost of Portugal producing extra cloth is greater than producing extra
wine.

The Gains from Trade

The most important gain from trade is increased output. This can lead to increased living
standards, greater variety of goods and spread of technology. Other gains include:

• Economies of scale
• Political links may prevent wars
• Competition gives greater efficiency and reduces the power of the monopoly producer
Division of labour
Division of labour is a special type of specialisation. The production of a good is spilt into many
tasks which can be undertaken by different people. There are three types of division of labour:

1. Specialisation of people in trades or professions (e.g. milkmen)

2. Specialisation by process (e.g. jam making)

3. Specialisation by area (e.g. Silicon Fen, Cambridge)

Advantages
1. Time saving
2. Increase in output due to productivity gains from increased economic organisation

3. Improvement in quality of goods because specialists can perform better

4. Makes the best use of natural abilities
5. Reduction in costs because people work faster
6. Automation as the use of machinery takes over repetitive tasks
Disadvantages
1. Mental disadvantages on workers of low job satisfaction
2. Strikes and absenteeism
3. Immobility of labour
Limits to the division of labour

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• Some trades, such as handmade craft trades, are not suitable for specialisation.
• Large scale sales are needed for division of labour
• Management may not be efficient
• Producer and Consumer Surplus

•
• Consumer surplus is the difference between the market price and the maximum price the
consumer would be willing to pay. The amount that the consumer benefits. On the diagram is
is the top triangle shown in blue.
• Producer surplus is the difference between the minimum price the producer would be
willing to sell for and the market price. It is the triangular area below the consumer surplus
shown in red.
• The yellow area represents the costs to the firm of producing the good. Together the yellow
and red represent the revenue of the firm.

Demand Theory

A demand curve

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For the vast majority of goods, when a good falls in price more people buy it. This is because
they are gaining consumer surplus. The market demand consists of the sum of all effective
demand of households.

The demand curve is downward sloping because when the price falls, the quantity demanded
increases.

Determinates of demand
The following factors may influence demand, shifting the demand curve to the left if there is less
demand and to the right if there is an increase in demand.

1. Price
2. Changes in taste
3. Changes in the price of relative goods
4. Changes in income
5. Changes in the distribution of income
6. Changes in the size and distribution of the population
7. Changes in marketing strategy
8. Changes in the expectation of future price levels
9. Changes in the law
10. Changes in the quality and reputation of goods
11. Introduction of a new product
12. Availability of credit

Supply Theory

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 A supply curve

The firm is the main agent of supply (government may also supply some goods). An increase in
price leads to an increase in supply as the incentive for firms to produce increases.

A supply curve slopes upwards.

Determinates of supply
The following factors may influence supply, shifting the supply curve to the left if less is
supplied and to the right if there is an increase in supply.

1. Price of the goods

2. Goals of the firm
3. Changes in the price of all other goods
4. Changes in the costs of factors of production
5. Changes in the state of technology
6. Changes in legal restrictions
7. Imposition of a tax or subsidy

8. Supply and Demand Equilibrium

Supply and Demand Equilibrium

9.
10. Equilibrium is the situation when demand and supply come together and fix the price in
the market. The market is cleared because consumers demand what producers have to
sell.
11. The equilibrium will change when the demand and supply curves move.

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 12. A contraction occurs when the demand/supply decreases. An extension occurs when the
demand/supply increases.

Elasticity of Demand

Elasticity of demand is the responsiveness of a good to changes in price, income and the demand
for substitutes and complements.

Price elasticity of demand

Price elasticity of demand (PED) is measurement of how demand for a good responds to a
change in price.

The value of PED will always be negative because when price increases the quantity demanded
falls (for the same reason the demand curve slopes downwards). The signs here are irrelevant;
what is important is the magnitude.

Goods with unit elasticity experience an equally proportionate change in price to a change in
quantity. For elastic goods, a proportionate change in price leads to a greater than proportionate
change in quantity. For inelastic goods, a proportionate change in price leads to a less than
proportionate change in quantity.

• A PED of -1 has unit elasticity

• A PED between 0 and -1 is inelastic
• A PED which is less than -1 (i.e. a "bigger" negative number, such as -2) is elastic
Worked example
When the price of cinema tickets falls from £8 to £6, the quantity demanded increases from 20 to
25 units. What is the PED of cinema tickets?

• Proportionate change in quantity is

• Proportionate change in price is

• Therefore

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• This shows the PED for cinema tickets is somewhat inelastic.

Showing PED graphically

PED affects the gradient of demand curves.

• The demand curve for inelastic goods has a steep gradient. Perfectly inelastic goods have
vertical demand curves (looks like a capital I)
• The demand curve for elastic goods has a gentle gradient. Perfectly elastic goods have
horizontal demand curves (looks a bit like a capital E)
The elasticity of demand falls over the length of any given straight-line demand curve. At low
quantities, a fall in price has a large response (i.e. elastic). At high quantities, the market is
almost saturated and a fall in price has little response (i.e. inelastic).
Factors influencing PED
1. Availability of substitutes
2. Luxury or necessity good
3. Bought at short intervals or long intervals
4. Willingness of consumer to try new brands (habit forming goods)
5. Incomes
6. Importance in consumption patterns
7. Market information, transport and communication
Income elasticity of demand
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Income elasticity of demand (YED) is a measurement of how a good responds to a change in
income.

Unlike for PED, for YED the signs are significant:

• A negative YED indicates an inferior good (goods which are demanded less when income
rises e.g. builders' tea, tabloid newspapers, cigarettes)
• A YED of 0 indicates a necessity good (goods which are not demanded more or less when
income changes e.g. salt)
• A positive YED between 0 and 1 indicates a normal good (goods which are demanded more
when income rises e.g. DVDs, cushions)
• A positive YED, greater than 1, indicates a superior good (good which are demanded
proportionally more when income rises e.g. foreign holidays)
Cross elasticity of demand
Cross elasticity of demand (XED) is the responsiveness of a good to a change in the price of a
substitute or a complement.

• Complements (e.g. fish and chips) have a negative XED

• Unrelated goods have a XED of 0.
• Substitutes (e.g. margarine and butter) have a positive XED.

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Elasticity of Supply

Price elasticity of supply (PES) is measurement of the responsiveness of supply of a good to a

change in price.

PES will always be positive because when the price of a good increases, more will be supplied
(this is why the supply curve slopes upwards).

• Goods with an inelastic supply will see a less than proportionate increase in supply when the
price increases.
• Goods with an elastic supply will see a more than proportionate increase in supply when the
price increases.
Many goods, especially agricultural goods, have an inelastic supply in the short run because
producers are unable to increase supply significantly with short notice.

• A PES greater than 1 is elastic

• A PES less than 1 is inelastic

Showing PES graphically

The idea of representing PES graphically is similar to that of representing PED:

• The supply curve for goods with an inelastic supply has a steep gradient. Perfectly inelastic
PES goods have vertical supply curves (looks like a capital I).
• The supply curve for goods with an elastic supply has a gentle gradient. Perfectly elastic PES
goods have horizontal supply curves (looks a bit like a capital E).

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Factors affecting PES
1. Spare capacity
2. Time period of production
3. Quantity of stocks
4. Technology

The Price Mechanism

The price mechanism performs three main functions:

1. Rationing - when there is a shortage of a good, the price increases (it is "bid up"),
leaving only those with the willingness/ability to pay to purchase the product. This
causes supply and demand to reach an equilibrium.
2. Signalling - to demonstrate where resources are required, via a change in demand. For
example, the price of goods which are scarce will increase. This increase in price should
provide an incentive for producers to increase production of the good (i.e. a "signal" to
producers).
3. Transmission of preferences - consumers are able to alert producers to changes in
wants and needs, so that the market provides the right amount of the right goods.

Advantages of the price mechanism

• The great benefit of the price mechanism is the invisible hand of price described by Adam
Smith. It is able to signal the cost of purchasing a good to the consumer and signal to the
producer the revenue that they will receive from the good.
• The idea of consumer sovereignty - consumers have the power to determine what is bought
and sold in the market.
• The freedoms of choice, property and enterprise can only be fulfilled in a system with
operation of the price mechanism.
• Prices are as low as possible and resources go to the most efficient use.
• The system operates without regulation.

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Disadvantages of the price mechanism
• Inequality of income and wealth
• Without government intervention, there will be under-provision of public and merit good
• Unemployment
• Inflation
• Wastage on advertising etc.
The alternative to using the price mechanism is a planned economy (such as those under
communism).

Indirect Taxes and Subsidies

The incidence of taxation is who finally pays the tax. Taxes and subsidies affect the supply
curve.

Taxes

Taxes are designed to limit production of a good. The increase in cost shifts the supply curve to
the left.

The greater the PED or the smaller the PES, the greater the burden upon producers. It is mainly
goods with an inelastic demand which are taxed; this ensures that the bulk of the incidence of
taxation is passed on to the consumer.

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Ad valorem taxes, such as VAT, are a fixed percentage of the price of the good, so the amount of
tax (indicated by the red arrow) increases as the price increases.

Subsidies

Subsidies act in the opposite way to taxes. They encourage greater production of a good, shifting
the supply curve to the right.

It is mainly goods with elastic PEDs which are subsidised as this ensures most of the cost saving
is passed on to the producer.

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Economies of scale

Economies of scale are savings firms achieve from growing larger. If the average cost of
products falls when output increases, the firm or industry is experiencing economies of scale.

Internal economies of scale

Internal economies of scale are the savings which occur within a firm, independent of other
firms. They take place within the establishment.
Technical economies of scale
Large firms have savings in cost during production compared to small firms.
1. Linked processes can be used on a larger scale (e.g. a conveyor belt operation).

2. Increased dimensions. When a container's length, breadth and height is doubled, eight
times the quantity can be stored inside. This is an important economy of scale in areas
where bulky material must be transported (e.g. oil tankers).
3. Indivisibility of capital. In some industries, one single essential piece of capital
equipment is expensive (e.g. blast furnace). In this case only large firms can afford to
buy it.
4. Specialisation. This is Adam Smith's idea of the division of labour. Workers are able to
become more efficient at a particular job when specialisation occurs. It also means no
time is lost due to people changing jobs in the middle of a shift.
Managerial economies of scale
Savings from delegation and specialisation.

1. Delegation of authority so that accountants do the accountancy.

2. Functional specialisation' so that there is a separate sales department.

3. Managerial expertise - for example head-hunting the best workers.

Marketing economies of scale
Large scale buying and selling give the firm important savings in cost.

1. Bulk buying
2. Specialist buyer
3. Branding
4. Specialist transport

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 5. Sales outlets
6. Advertising
Financial economies of scale
Large firms find raising capital easier because large firms are considered a better risk. Large
firms have more opportunity to be floated on the stock market.
Diversification
A large firm engaged in many markets is less risky because if one market goes down, the firm
can still make money in the others (e.g. Virgin).

External economies of scale

Concentration
When a particular part of the country is devoted to one industry (e.g. Silicon Fen in Cambridge).

1. Skilled labour force

2. Transport facilities (e.g. better motorway network in the area)

Information
Firms exchange ideas and publish articles and magazines that promote the spread of information
throughout the industry.

1. Trade journals
2. Independent Research
Disintegration
1. Ancillary trades
2. Service trades
Diseconomies of scale
When a firm grows excessively large it may experience diseconomies of scale. These are:

1. Coordination - firms find it difficult to manage dependencies between activities.

2. Communication - management and the workforce find it difficult to communicate.

Market failure

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Market failure occurs when the price mechanism fails to produce the goods consumers want. The
Pareto optimum is not achieved. There is no productive or allocative efficiency.

Efficiency

Productive efficiency occurs when firms produce at the lowest possible average cost. To achieve
this, firms must exploit economies of scale and minimise wastage of resources.

Allocative efficiency is achieved when products are made in the correct quantities to best satisfy
consumer wants and needs. This occurs when the marginal cost of an item is equal to the market
price. (p=mc))

Another definition of allocative efficiency is the position where no one can be made better off
without making someone else worse off. Such a point is a Pareto Optimum, named after
Vilfredo Pareto. Any point on the curve of a PPF has Pareto optimality.

Externalities

Externalities are effects of production or consumption of a good on a third party, who is not
directly involved in the activity. Externalities can be internalised by bringing the cost home to
the producer or consumer so that they have to pay for clean-up.

Externalities cause market failure if the cost/benefit to third parties is not taken into account. The
wrong quantity of goods is produced, leading to a loss of welfare.

Negative Externalities

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The quantity Q1 to Q2 is overproduction.

Negative externalities occur when the production or consumption of a good causes costs to a
third party. Examples include:

• Smoking - passive smoking causes health problems for people who do not consume
cigarettes themselves.
• Pollution - causes health problems and long term environmental problems.
• Alcohol abuse - clean-up costs of fights, vomiting etc. as well as long term health problems
from binge drinking.

Positive Externalities

The quantity Q1 to Q2 is underproduction.

Positive externalities provide benefits to people not directly concerned with the production or
consumption of the good. Examples of positive externalities include public transport,
vaccinations and education.

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Internalising the externality
1. Taxes
2. Regulation
3. Subsidies
4. Property rights
5. State-provided goods

Specialisation and Trade

Specialisation is when a factor of production is devoted to a specific job. This applies to all
factors of production - land, labour, capital and enterprise. By specialising and trading, countries
can increase overall output.

Absolute and comparative advantage

When a country can produce more of a product per unit resource than its rivals can, it has
absolute advantage. The country can produce at a lower factor cost.

More important, however, is Ricardo's idea of comparative advantage. The producer with the
lowest opportunity cost of production for a particular product has comparative advantage. For
example, Portugal can produce more wine and cloth than England per unit resource (it has
absolute advantage in both). Compared with Portugal, England is bad at producing cloth, but
terrible at producing wine. Therefore England should specialise in cloth and Portugal in wine,
because the opportunity cost of Portugal producing extra cloth is greater than producing extra
wine.

The Gains from Trade

The most important gain from trade is increased output. This can lead to increased living
standards, greater variety of goods and spread of technology. Other gains include:

• Economies of scale
• Political links may prevent wars
• Competition gives greater efficiency and reduces the power of the monopoly producer

19
Division of labour
Division of labour is a special type of specialisation. The production of a good is spilt into many
tasks which can be undertaken by different people. There are three types of division of labour:

1. Specialisation of people in trades or professions (e.g. milkmen)

2. Specialisation by process (e.g. jam making)

3. Specialisation by area (e.g. Silicon Fen, Cambridge)

Advantages
1. Time saving
2. Increase in output due to productivity gains from increased economic organisation

3. Improvement in quality of goods because specialists can perform better

4. Makes the best use of natural abilities
5. Reduction in costs because people work faster
6. Automation as the use of machinery takes over repetitive tasks
Disadvantages
1. Mental disadvantages on workers of low job satisfaction
2. Strikes and absenteeism
3. Immobility of labour
Limits to the division of labour
• Some trades, such as handmade craft trades, are not suitable for specialisation.
• Large scale sales are needed for division of labour
• Management may not be efficient
Inflation
Measurement and Definition
Inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level over a given period of time.

In the UK it is measured using the CPI (Consumer Price Index) measure. This measures the
change in price of a basket of goods and services each given a weighting according to the FES

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(Family Expenditure Survey). It is often also useful for governments to consider the RPIX
measure of inflation, this is often referred to as the "underlying rate of inflation".

Causes of Inflation
Rise in Costs
• Demand Pull
○ Strong currency

• Cost Push
○ Wages due to union pay rise
Excess supply of Money
• MV PT
○ M Supply of Money
○ V Velocity of Money
○ P Average price of transaction
○ T Average number of transactions
○ V and T are fixed therefore a rise in M will cause an increase in T
Costs of Inflation
• Loss of international competitiveness
• Inflation depreciation spiral
• Loss of information, as firms are unable to discern rise in demand from inflation
• Loss of savings, financial collapse
• Menu costs
• Redistribution
• Uncertainty and lack of investment
• Balance of payments
• Income and Substitution Effects
Measures to deal with Inflation
• Supply-Side
• Demand-Side

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 ○ Monetary
○ Fiscal
○
Savings and Inflation
Most studies found a positive correlation between savings and inflation. However, there are
differing explanations:

1. Deaton (1977): suggests that it is unanticipated inflation that matters. Consumers

initially underestimate the average price level, and shocked by the "excessive" rise in
prices cut their consumption in response until they recognise the higher price levels.
2. Buckley (1981): suggests that even if inflation fully anticipated, the savings ratio will
increase as long as anticipated inflation is itself increasing.
3. Cuthbertson (1982): suggests that, due to inflation, the real rate of interest (nominal –
inflation) often zero or negative, so real purchasing power of a given stock of liquid
assets (notes/coins/bank deposits & other short-term assets) falls. Consumers, seeking to
maintain the real value of their liquid assets for reasons of security or flexibility, thus
have to reduce consumption of current real disposable income/increase saving to do so.
4. Revision:Unemployment
5. Unemployment
6. • Low levels of unemployment is one of the main macroeconomic goals of every
government.
7. • Unemployment is defined as ‘people of a working age who are without work, available
to work and actively seeking employment’ (international labour organisation)
8. • The unemployment rate is expressed as a percentage of the total labour force, not the
whole population. The labour force is the ‘economically active population.’ people who
are not part of the labour force are those out of the age range, students, parents who stay
at home, retired people, and people who choose not to work. They are therefore not
considered to be unemployed.
9. • Each country has its own national system for measuring the amount of people
unemployed. Information is gathered from censuses and surveys, as well as
administrative records such as unemployment insurance records and social security
information. There may well be inaccuracies and inconsistency in definitions across
countries.
10. Distribution of unemployment (the rate doesn’t account for these)

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 11. • Geographical • Age • Ethnic • Gender
12.
Costs of unemployment
13. • Costs of unemployment to the unemployed people themselves (lower standard of living
because of less income, high levels of stress, depression, mental health problems, break-
downs, suicide levels increase)
14. • Costs to society – can be seen in the form of poverty, higher crime rates, vandalism,
increases gang activities. While it would be a simplification to blame these problems
entirely on unemployment, they are not unconnected.
15. • Costs of unemployment to the economy as a whole – a PPF can be used to illustrate the
key problem facing an economy with unemployment – if actual output is less than
potential output due to unemployment of the factor of production, labour, then the
economy is forgoing possible output and would be operating at a point within its
production possibility curve. This loss of output, and income to the unemployed, has
other implications for the economy as a whole. There is an opportunity cost for the
government’s spending on unemployment benefits. Also if unemployed people who have
lower incomes pay less direct tax and spend less money, so the government earns less in
indirect tax as well. The government may have to spend more money to solve the social
problems created by unemployment. • The costs above are really those associated with
long term unemployment. The costs increase the longer a person is unemployed.
16.
At any time there will be pool of unemployment. (See sheet on inflows and outflows)
The movements in and out of the pool of unemployment affect the supply of labour in an
economy at any given time. This, along with the demand for labour, will determine the
level of unemployment and employment in an economy.
17. Types of unemployment
18. • Real-wage unemployment. Same as minimum price. Where the wage rate is above the
equilibrium price, meaning there is excess supply. Solutions-reduce the power of trade
unions, reduce minimum wage. Evaluate-hard to negotiate, and explain that those
affected by minimum wage are the poorest and therefore you are taking money away
from those who really need it. Worsening distribution of income.
19. • Demand-deficient. As an economy experiences slower growth (or negative growth in
the case of a recession) aggregate demand falls. Leads to a fall in demand for labour, as
firms cut back on production. Wages are sticky downwards-people don’t want their
wages to fall and firms don’t like to lower them because it will lead to decreased
productivity. So unemployment is created. Solutions-demand side policies.
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 20. • Equilibrium unemployment. Jobs exist, but people are unwilling or unable to take the
jobs that are available.
21. • At any given wage rate there will be more people looking for jobs than those who are
actually willing/able to take jobs. (remember the ASl curve shows those who are willing
and able to take a job at a given wage rate)
22. • The fact that there is no disequilibrium unemployment in the economy means there are
jobs availible, but people just can’t or are unwilling to take them. E.g. perhaps there are
vacancies in the financial services industry, but but unemployed assembly line workers
are unable to take these jobs because they lack the appropriate education and skills. Or
perhaps there are jobs for computer programmers, yet unemployed computer
programmers don’t know the jobs are availible.
23. • Gap between supply of labour and labour force curve is smaller at higher wages
because at a higher wage more people will be wiling to work/likely to correct the reason
they can’t work.
24. • An economy is at the full employment level when the unemployment that exists is only
the natural unemployment.
25. • There are a few types.
26. • Frictional unemployment-short term unemployment that occurs when people are in
between jobs, or have left education and are ready to take up their first job. Not
considered to be negative-if they have left a job it assumes they are able to work, and if
they are looking for a better one, they will be more productive. Solutions-reduce the
unemployment benefits that are availible whilst looking for a job. Increase information
availible about jobs-better advertisment through the internet, newspapers etc…
27. • Seasonal unemployment-sometimes in an economy people are employed on a seasonal
basis. Tourism industry. Ski instructors only work in the winter. Encourage people to
take different jobs in their ‘off season.’
28. • Structural unemployment-the worst type of equilibrium unemployment. Occurs as the
result of the changing structure of an economy. Occurs when there is a permanent fall in
demand for a particular type of labour. Natural in a growing economy. As some jobs
disappear (mining) new ones appear (computers.)
29. Often results in long term unemployment as people who lose jobs in one area lack the
appropriate skills to take on the newly created jobs. We say that they lack the
occupational mobility to change jobs. Could be geographical immobility too. Causes of
structural unemployment-technologies make certain types of labour unnecessary, lower
cost labour in foreign countries, changes in consumer taste.

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 30. Solutions-education system that trains people to be educationally flexible. Long term
solution. Spending on adult retraining programmes. Give subsidies to firms to train
workers, provide subsidies for firms who want to move to a place where jobs exist.
Apprentice programmes. However they have a high opportunity cost, and policies are
only effective in the long term. Or reduce unemployment benefits, and deregulation.
BUT evaluate. Market regulations protect workers. So if they were removed, workers
would have a worse time. So although unemployment may fall, there would be a high
cost for the workers themselves. Contributes to inequality in an economy where the
benefits are not shared by all.
31. • General points-in order to run an expansionary fiscal policy, a government may have
to run a budget deficit and spend more than it takes in revenues. Only a problem in the
long term. If governments reduce taxes, there is no guarantee people will spend the extra
disposable income, especially if consumer confidence is low. Same with interest rates on
spending and investment. Time lag before they come into effect, and by that time the
economy could have recovered, making the extra pressures purely inflationary.
32. • Using demand management at the full employment level will only be inflationary
because there will always be a natural rate.
33. • Could be difficult to distinguish between the different types of unemployment. Or an
economy could be suffering from different types of unemployment. Best to use a mix of
policies. Demand side to narrow business cycle fluctuations and reduce output gaps.
Supply side to ensure the labour force is suitably skilled and flexible to adapt to changing
conditions.
34. • Crowding out-if a government runs a budget deficit, borrows money. These are sold as
bonds to financial institutions who sell them to people who want to save money. This is
increasing demand for loanable funds in the economy. This results in an increased
interest rate, and a disincentive for businesses to invest as they see less return on their
investment. This reduces AD.

Revision:Limits to growth and development

1- Primary product dependency

• Comparative advantage – means exports one g/s, imports everything else, so very
dependent on one commodity, e.g. Zambia almost 100% dependent on copper. A natural
disaster could ruin whole crop, e.g. earthquake ruined much of Chilean wine industry.

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 • Structural distortion Developed countries pose further problems as they will only import
raw materials, and choose to manufacture these themselves. E.g., CAP mean dumping and
developing countries cannot compete. Therefore; developing countries cannot process them
(e.g. value added) and move into secondary sector. They lose the job chain that would
normally result. Primary sector is not very productive (Lewis model).

35. • Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis the terms of trade between primary products and
manufactured goods tend to deteriorate over time because as world incomes rise we tend
to demand more manufactured goods, than say, food.
36. • Price fluctuations deter investment and mean farmers cannot invest and plan for the
future, to get the best of their harvest. Very inelastic supply and demand curves mean
that prices are very volatile
37. • Capital-intensive farming – this is to provide for the world market, often by MNCs.
Export prices rise so locals cannot afford food, leading to unemployment, exaggerated
urbanisation and falling living standards. Should enforce redistribution of land, and
encourage labour intensive farming to make distribution of income equal.
38. Lack of infrastructure – transport, telecommunications, energy, water and waste.
Therefore difficult to attract FDI; this presents an obstacle to development. Jeffrey Sachs
says landlocked countries e.g. S-S Africa at a disadvantage, e.g. high in mountains, lack
of navigable rivers. Means harder to trade and CoP much higher. Transport is 14% of
exports in landlocked countries.
39. Savings gap –Already in a poverty trap, low GDP per capita means little saving by
individuals– Harrod-Domar suggests this means they cannot invest, preventing economic
growth from occurring.
40. Corruption and war – bribery, extortion, diversion of resources by government – this is
an inefficient allocation of resources and restrains development. Government officials
embezzle money rather than spend it on public services or investment. This will deter
aid. Civil war means government resources are diverted towards arms, e.g. Sudan and
DRC, disrupting growth and development, destroying infrastructure and people. War and
corruption also deter investment.
41. Population growth - rapid population growth in poorest countries e.g. Malawi. This
means income per capita falls. Malthus said at the end of the 18th C that famine was
inevitable because population would increase geometrically, but food production could
only increase arithmetically. However, since then technology has disproved this. Poorer
countries have high birth rates and slowing death rates.

26
 42. HIV/AIDS – Reduced working population – the working population suffer, so there is a
loss of highly skilled workers. Zambia now loses 2/3 of teachers to AIDS. In Swaziland,
life expectancy is just 31. Productivity declines because of illness, tax revenue to
government falls. Labour becomes more expensive, so higher CoP, and can attract less
FDI. Sub-Saharan Africa has 2/3 of the world’s AIDS sufferers. Resources diverted from
growth to treating AIDS.
43. Education - a huge investment in human capital through education has allowed China to
shift out its PPF. Countries with little education investment and low school enrolment are
likely to have low productivity and little economic growth. It will mean more FDI in the
future as firms will not have to train workers.
44. Debt servicing - LEDCs borrowed in 1980s. Since then, fall in value of their currency,
compared to $, so have to pay back more; oil prices have increased.
45. Capital flight – companies and individuals place cash, buy shares and assets abroad,
contributing to savings gap, and reduces tax to government.
46. Retrieved from
"http://thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Revision:Limits_to_growth_and_development"

Contestable markets

The theory of contestable markets states than in imperfect markets, the threat of competition
may be enough to prevent the firm acting against the public interest (i.e. keeping prices high and
output low).

Conditions for contestable markets:

1. Perfect information - all firms have the same access to technology, no patents etc.
2. Freedom to enter the market legally
3. No sunk costs
In contestable markets incumbent firms are forced to act as if they are in competition, and
therefore make only normal profits. If they don't, hit and run entry will occur - in the short run
new rivals enter the market and by charging a lower price, take the incumbent firm's market
share. Hit and run entry can only occur in barriers to entry and exit are low.

No market is perfectly contestable. Barriers to contestability always exist. What matters is the
degree of contestability.

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Sunk costs
Sunk costs are costs which are irrecoverable to the owners of the firm if it leaves the market. For
example, the Channel Tunnel has very high sunk costs. It is a past expense that cannot be altered
by current/future actions.

Sunk costs act as a barrier to entry.

Causes of sunk costs:

• No second hand market

• Industry specific capital
• Future liabilities (e.g. nuclear power plants)

Implications
The theory tells us that all markets can be efficient as long as they are contestable. Therefore
regulation is not necessary; in fact it may worsen the situation if regulation acts as a barrier to
entry, discouraging potential competition. Instead the government's role should be to:

• Make the market more competitive by increasing the degree of contestability

• Lower barriers to entry and exit in an industry
• Allow take-overs (if they don't prevent competition)

Efficiency
Productive efficiency
Productive efficiency is defined as the production of goods and services using the least possible
scare resources or is achieved when a firm is producing at the lowest possible average cost. This
is at the bottom of the average cost curve. Productive efficiency alone does not ensure economic
efficiency.

Productive efficiency can be analyzed using three approaches- A firm's cost curve ( where
productive efficiency is the point of technical efficiency or x-efficiency i.e the lowest point on
the lowest average cost curve of the firm)

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The second way of analyzing productive efficiency is through understanding it on a production
possibility frontier or a production possibility curve (PPC). This curve shows the maximum
production points of any combination of two goods e.g consumer and capital goods. Productive
efficiency here would be when an economy is producing on the boundary of its PPC. Any
production within the boundary of the PPC would imply inefficient use of resources in
production of goods and services or spare capacity.

Finally, productive efficiency is obtain as a direct consequence of competition. Competition in

general ensures that a firm produces goods and services at the minimum cost to maximize
profits. Firms in a competitive market are hence compelled to produce using the least possible
scare resources or be productively efficient lest they face possible bankruptcy. Perfect
competition epitomizes the concept of productive efficiency as firms produce at the lowest point
on their respective average cost curves at a point where AR=MR=P.

Productive efficiency along with allocative efficiency ensures economic efficiency and optimum
resource allocation

Productive efficiency is achieved if and only if the firm is producing at the point where AC =
MC.

Allocative efficiency

Allocative efficiency is the concept of producing goods and service using least possible scare
resources that are most wanted or desired by consumers.

Allocative efficiency occurs when the marginal cost of producing a good is equal to the price of
the good i.e. the price paid by consumers reflects the true economic cost of producing the good.

Allocative efficiency unlike productive efficiency cannot be illustrated on a PPC as the point of
allocative efficiency may be at any point on the PPC and is entirely dependent on consumer
preferences.

Competition ensures allocative efficiency as market-oriented businesses in a competitive market

are forced to produces goods and services that are most demanded by consumers. Failure to do
so would mean loss of business opportunities to rival firms and possible bankruptcy. A perfectly
competitive market has production at the point where MC=P, which is an essential parameter for
allocative efficiency.

Allocative efficiency

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Allocative efficiency is achieved when the cost of producing a good is equal to the price
consumers are willing to pay - this is how much the consumer values the good. At this point,
welfare is maximised. Pareto optimality is achieved. No one can be made better off without
making someone else worse off.

The condition for allocative efficiency is AR = MC (AR is equal to the price by definition).

Long run costs

The long run cost curve can have a variety of shapes; it is normally drawn approximating a U-
shape. Long run costs fall due to economies of scale, and then rise again with diseconomies of
scale.

The minimum point of the LRAC is the minimum efficient scale of the firm.

The envelope curve shows how, when SR costs begin to rise, the firm should move along the
LRAC by increasing the quantity of capital (assuming capital is the factor kept constant short
run). This will move them closer to the MES and they can take better advantage of economies of
scale.

A lack of finance may prevent movement along the LRAC.

Other possible shapes

The long run cost curve may have other shapes, depending on the nature of the industry:

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X inefficiency
Costs may be higher and output lower than necessary. This may be for many reasons, such as the
manager taking the afternoon off to go golfing or workers playing minesweeper!

Revenue

Revenue is the income generated from sales in the market.

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From this equation we can see that the demand function for the firm is equal to average revenue.

The gradient of marginal revenue is double that or average revenue. Revenue is maximised when
marginal revenue = 0.

Revenue with elastic demand

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 Main article: Perfect competition
Under perfect competition, each firm has an elastic PED. This is because in a perfectly
competitive market, the firm is a price taker.

When AR is horizontal, MR=AR.

Monetarism and Keynsianism

Issue Keynesianism Monetarism

Vertical long-run Phillips
Unit elasticity causing a payoff
Phillips curve curve (completely inelastic) -
between unemployment and inflation
explains stagflation
Savings lower AD, causing less
Savings .
investment (despite cheaper loans)
MV = PT
• M is the supply of
money
• V is the velocity of
transactions
Wrong because not all the extra • P is the average price
Quantity theory of
money is spent - velocity is may
money
slow down. • T is the total number of
transactions
V is believed to be constant.
Therefore increasing M
increases prices, output and
employment.

Reducing the rate of growth of

the money supply will reduce
inflation without leading to
Conclusions . long-term unemployment. It
will lead to short-term
unemployment until wages
have adjusted.

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 AD being expanded for too long at In the long run, higher demand
Causes of inflation
too fast a rate. leads to increased inflation.
*Damaging to business
Effects of inflation . • Reduces
competitiveness
Sticky wages - when the price level
rises, real wages fall, thus allowing
firms to hire more workers. This
Unemployment will move
Labour increases output. Hysteresis - high
towards the natural level in the
market/unemployment levels of unemployment embedded
long run
in the economy because of a
deficiency of AD, firms respond by
hiring fewer people.
In the short run, increase AD.
Long run, increase the
Solutions to
. mobility of labour through
unemployment
training and a reduction in
unemployment benefit.
Maintain high level of stable AD. Little intervention, except for
Control interest rates and exchange controlling the money supply.
Government policy rates to reduce uncertainty. Well-publicised targets to
Cooperation between industry and reduce expectations of
government. unemployment.
Effect of increased
Multiplier Crowding out
government spending
Taxation Good Bad - incentives better
They put too much reliance on
Thinks the other side is They cannot explain
markets - more complex than they
wrong because stagflation
suggest
Monopolistic competition

The model of monopolistic competition lies halfway between perfect competition and monopoly.
The following assumptions are made:

• Freedom of entry and exit

• Perfect knowledge
• Product differentiation takes place - real/imaginary differences between products creating
consumer loyalty

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The firm can raise its price without losing all its customers due to the existence of product
differentiation. PD is assisted by advertising, which can steepen the demand curve.

Short run equilibrium

Abnormal profits are made.

Long run equilibrium

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Free entry erodes profits. More firms enter the market, lowering the AR and MR of the
incumbent firms. The AR and MR of these firms moves to the left, to the point where MR=MC
and AC is tangent to the AR curve.

This is the tangency solution point.

How to draw the tangency solution point
1. Draw AR and MR (with the gradient of MR double AR)
2. Draw the AC, with a tangency point 3/4 of the way up the AR
3. Put in the price and quantity at this point
4. Draw in the MC. It should cross MR at the level of output you just drew in. It should
cross the minimum of AC.
Evaluation
Price is higher and output is lower than under perfect competition. However, the consumer gains
from the choice that product differentiation brings.

Monopoly

A monopolist is defined as a single supplier that constitutes the whole industry. The legal
definition of monopoly is a firm which has a market share greater than 25%. Monopolists tend to
have the following features:

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• High profit levels in comparison with the normal levels of similar levels.
• Barriers to entry and exit.
• Control over the price in the market.
• Evidence of price discrimination.
• Reduced level of service.
Assumptions of monopoly:

• One seller of the good

• No substitutes
• Barriers to entry
The monopolist is able to raise prices without competitors entering the market. This allows the
firm to make abnormal profit.

The monopolist has a downward sloping demand curve because, unlike in perfect competition,
when the firm raises its prices it will retain some customers. The monopolist is the only seller in
the market, so the firm's demand curve is the same as that of the industry. It is a price maker and
can choose its position along the curve.

Diagram of monopoly

37
The monopolist produces at the point where MC = MR. The output is lower and the price is
higher than under perfect competition.

This is equilibrium. Profits are not eroded long run because of the existence of barriers to entry.

Monopolist making a loss

38
A monopolist makes a loss if its costs are greater than average revenue.

39
Natural monopolies

Natural monopolies occur in industries where there are no diseconomies of scale. This means
that long run costs constantly fall.

The largest firm can always produce at a lower cost than any potential entrant. They are able to
price any competitor out of the market.

The government may control natural monopolies. When the government nationalised many
natural monopolies after the second world war, they introduced marginal cost pricing to protect
the public interest.

Efficiency
• Productive efficiency is not achieved - the firm is not producing at the lowest point of the AC
curve.
• Allocative efficiency is not achieved - P > MC

Comparison with perfect competition

40
The price is higher and the output is lower than under perfect competition. The consumer loses
consumer surplus (shaded areas in the diagram).

Perfect competition

Perfect competition is a model of a market structure where allocative and productive efficiency
are achieved (long run). A number of assumptions are made:

1. Many small firms (no monopoly power)

2. Many individual buyers (no monopsony power)

3. No barriers to entry or exit

4. Homogenous products (no product differentiation)
5. Perfect knowledge (no asymmetric information)
6. No externalities

Perfect competition graphically

In perfect competition, firms are price takers. If they charged a price other than the market price
they would either:

• Lose their customers due to selling at a higher price than competitors

• Go out of business because they are selling below cost

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Therefore the firm's demand curve is horizontal and equal to the market price.

Short run

Firm making a profit

If the market price is set above or below the costs of the firm, the firm may make profits or
losses. The firm produces at the output solution point (MR = MC). If the costs are lower than
this, the firm makes a profit. Allocative efficiency is achieved because AR=MC. Productive
efficiency is not achieved because AC does not equal MC at the output solution point.

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 Firm making a loss

The reverse is also true: a firm which has costs higher than the market price will make a loss.
Again, allocative efficiency is achieved. Productive efficiency is not.

Long run
If firms in the short run are making profits, there are incentives for new firms to enter the market.
This will increase market supply, causing market price to drop and the profit of incumbent firms
to be eroded. This can occur because there are no barriers to entry. The price will drop to the
point where productive efficiency is achieved.

This is long run equilibrium with no tendency to change.

• Productive efficiency is achieved: AC = MC.

• Allocative efficiency is achieved: MC = AR
Evaluation of perfect competition
Perfect competition is merely a theoretical ideal. However, the model can still be useful even if
it's not realistic.

• It provides a measure against which other market structures can be compared

• Economic analysis can be used to investigate the effects of relaxing assumptions (e.g.
allowing for product differentiation or asymmetric information)
The model of perfect competition is most applicable in markets such as

• Some agricultural markets

○ Many buyers and sellers

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 ○ Low barriers to entry
○ Mostly homogenous products
○ The firms demand curve is almost horizontal (e.g. a firm's PED for sweetcorn was
estimated to be -31353). This means sellers are unable to price at anything other than the
market price.
• Currency markets
○ Homogenous product
○ Good knowledge in the market
○ Very low transaction costs
Even these markets do not fit the model perfectly. Think of the impact of big supermarket
monopsony power and transaction costs in agricultural markets, and the possible barriers to entry
in trading currency.

Price discrimination

Price discrimination arises if a firm is able to charge different price to different groups of people
and gain their consumer surplus. There are three conditions that have to be met in order to
achieve price discrimination:

1. The firm must be a price maker in the market - price discrimination can only take place
under monopoly or monopolistic competition.
2. The firm must be able to identify different groups of customers and know their
different elasticities of demand.
3. There can be no resale in the market between consumers. This is known as arbitrage.

Effects of price discrimination

• Buyers lose their consumer surplus to the monopolist
• Profits rise for the monopolist
• Some consumers gain a good or service that they might otherwise not have been able to have

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First degree price discrimination

Also known as perfect price discrimination.

The firm separates the whole market into each individual consumer and charges them the price
they are willing to pay. The firm extracts all the consumer surplus and turns it into revenue. The
firm will sell up to the point where AR = MC. Beyond this point the price consumers are willing
to pay is less than it costs the firm to make.

Examples: haggling, bartering.

Second degree price discrimination

Occurs in markets where there is a fixed capacity so it is in the firms interest to "fill every seat",
and the firm is prepared to sell at cost to achieve this. Tends to occur where there are high fixed
costs. For example, it costs much the same to fly a Boeing 747 whether there is 1 passenger on it
or hundreds.

The firm begins by selling at the profit maximising point (MC=MR). However this leads to spare
capacity. The firm then reduces the price to P1 to sell the remainder.

Examples: theatre tickets, plane tickets (last minute tickets cost less), football tickets in lower
divisions ("kid for a quid" - adds to revenue but adds little to costs).

45
Third degree price discrimination
This is charging different prices to groups with different elasticities. The monopolist charges a
lower price to a group of people who have more elastic demand.

Examples: telephone charges (more elastic demand in evenings), rail tickets (young persons
railcard - students are more price sensitive), gender pricing in nightclubs.

Producer and Consumer Surplus

Consumer surplus is the difference between the market price and the maximum price the
consumer would be willing to pay. The amount that the consumer benefits. On the diagram is is
the top triangle shown in blue.
Producer surplus is the difference between the minimum price the producer would be willing to
sell for and the market price. It is the triangular area below the consumer surplus shown in red.

The yellow area represents the costs to the firm of producing the good. Together the yellow and
red represent the revenue of the firm.

Profit maximisation

The economist's profit, abnormal profit, is the profit which is above that needed to keep the
firm in business long term. When we talk of a firm breaking even, the firm is making just enough
profit to stay in business long term.

46
With elastic demand

A firm will produce at the output solution point (or profit maximisation point) when MC =
MR.

MC is drawn as a tangent to TC. The maximum profit is the vertical difference between TR and
MC when the two are parallel.

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With downward sloping demand

When an industry has imperfect competition, a firm's demand curve slopes downwards. In this
case the TR is curved. MR is the tangent of TR. Profit is maximised at the point where the
vertical distance between MC and MR is the greatest.

Sales and Revenue Maximisation

Firms do not always aim to maximise profit. Managers may instead choose to focus on sales
maximisation or revenue maximisation.

Sales maximisation

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Sales are pushed up to the point where the firm just breaks even, where TR = TC. The output is
set higher than under profit maximisation.

Revenue maximisation

The point when MR = 0 and the firm is producing at the point where TR is maximised. The
profits will not be maximised. Output will be larger than under profit maximisation.

Specialisation and Trade

Specialisation is when a factor of production is devoted to a specific job. This applies to all
factors of production - land, labour, capital and enterprise. By specialising and trading, countries
can increase overall output.

Absolute and comparative advantage

When a country can produce more of a product per unit resource than its rivals can, it has
absolute advantage. The country can produce at a lower factor cost.

More important, however, is Ricardo's idea of comparative advantage. The producer with the
lowest opportunity cost of production for a particular product has comparative advantage. For
example, Portugal can produce more wine and cloth than England per unit resource (it has
absolute advantage in both). Compared with Portugal, England is bad at producing cloth, but
terrible at producing wine. Therefore England should specialise in cloth and Portugal in wine,
because the opportunity cost of Portugal producing extra cloth is greater than producing extra
wine.

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The Gains from Trade
The most important gain from trade is increased output. This can lead to increased living
standards, greater variety of goods and spread of technology. Other gains include:

• Economies of scale
• Political links may prevent wars
• Competition gives greater efficiency and reduces the power of the monopoly producer
Division of labour
Division of labour is a special type of specialisation. The production of a good is spilt into many
tasks which can be undertaken by different people. There are three types of division of labour:

1. Specialisation of people in trades or professions (e.g. milkmen)

2. Specialisation by process (e.g. jam making)

3. Specialisation by area (e.g. Silicon Fen, Cambridge)

Advantages
1. Time saving
2. Increase in output due to productivity gains from increased economic organisation

3. Improvement in quality of goods because specialists can perform better

4. Makes the best use of natural abilities
5. Reduction in costs because people work faster
6. Automation as the use of machinery takes over repetitive tasks
Disadvantages
1. Mental disadvantages on workers of low job satisfaction
2. Strikes and absenteeism
3. Immobility of labour
Limits to the division of labour
• Some trades, such as handmade craft trades, are not suitable for specialisation.
• Large scale sales are needed for division of labour
• Management may not be efficient

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Indirect Taxes and Subsidies

The incidence of taxation is who finally pays the tax. Taxes and subsidies affect the supply
curve.

Taxes

Taxes are designed to limit production of a good. The increase in cost shifts the supply curve to
the left.

The greater the PED or the smaller the PES, the greater the burden upon producers. It is mainly
goods with an inelastic demand which are taxed; this ensures that the bulk of the incidence of
taxation is passed on to the consumer.

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Ad valorem taxes, such as VAT, are a fixed percentage of the price of the good, so the amount of
tax (indicated by the red arrow) increases as the price increases.

Subsidies

Subsidies act in the opposite way to taxes. They encourage greater production of a good, shifting
the supply curve to the right.

It is mainly goods with elastic PEDs which are subsidised as this ensures most of the cost saving
is passed on to the producer.

A2 Economic Rent and Transfer Earnings

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• Transfer earnings are the minimum payment required to keep a factor of production in its
present use. It is the opportunity cost an individual forgoes when deciding to work in one job
rather than the next best alternative.
Example - a man may decide to work as a shop assistant because they pay is better than
if he was a waiter. By making this decision he forgoes the opportunity to work at, for
example, Pizza Express. The opportunity is seen in terms of this forgone alternative. If
Pizza Express were to raise its wage rates in order to attract more staff, there would come
a point where the shop assistant might reconsider his decision and decide to be a shop
assistant after all, as the opportunity cost of being a shop assistant has risen.

• Economic rent is a payment received by a factor of production over and above what
would be needed to keep it in its present value. I.e. it is the amount which someone can
earn which is in excess of their transfer earnings (what they could earn elsewhere). It is
a demand determined reward to labour and will be earned when labour is to some
degree in inelastic supply.
Example – doctors are in almost perfectly inelastic supply because the number of places
available to study medicine is determined by the government and the profession. To the
extent that the demand for doctors exceeds the supply, they will be able to negotiate
higher salaries than most could earn as research scientists or in other occupations

• The factor that determines the level of economic rent in comparison to transfer
earnings is the elasticity of supply of labour. The more inelastic the supply, the
greater proportion of total earnings that is made up of economic rent and therefore
there are fewer transfer earnings. Conversely, the more elastic the labour supply is,
the more transfer earnings make up of total earnings, and so the economic rent is
less.
Example – The difference in the earnings of two jobs, for example surgeons and shop
assistants demonstrates the importance of supply. Firstly, surgeons are inelastic in supply,
especially in the short run. This is because the education required to become a surgeon is
long and demanding, and is essential for entry into the occupation. Also, not everyone
has the required abilities to become and surgeon. This means that the supply of surgeons
is limited, and does not vary greatly with wage rates. So in this case, a large proportion of
surgeons’ total earnings are made up of economic rent.

53
 • However, in the case of shop assistant there is far less training required, a
wider range of possible people suitable for the occupation. So, the labour
supply would be relatively elastic, meaning economic rent will be relatively
less important than in the case for surgeons. If the wage rates for butchers was
to increase, a large amount of people, who would be able to work in the
occupation, would be attracted to it (eventually casing wage rates to fall).

Aid

Aid can come in many forms such as:

1. help with key workers (for example how a load of nurses and doctors are helping the
survivors of the tsunami is those areas; can also be teachers and other key workers)
2. help with supplies (such as food and clean water or even medical supplies)
3. MONEY! - well money is the most complicated one because it can be given
conditionally (tied aid) or unconditionally (also as a loan, need i explain the effect this
can have? it can be good or bad - i.e. having to pay it off SHOULD ensure that the
country receiving it spends it on revenue-generating policies such as education and
training or research grants; but the bad side is the interest on the loans may not be able to
be paid if the country spends the money on other things such as medical supplies or even
WHITE ELEPHANT projects).

Aid can also be from one country to another (bi-lateral) of from the world bank or other
organisation (unilateral).

There are major concerns about giving aid to third world countries, some of the concerns
include:

1. tied aid may not benefit the country directly due to harsh conditions, an example of this
would be the STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT SCHEMES (SAPS, look it up!).
2. the country may have a corrupt governance which leads to money being wasted on either
white elephant projects or even stolen by the political elite.
3. the aid may not be enough - remember SIZE MATTERS (evaluation marks, anyone?)

54
 4. the interest on loans may not be paid therefore the country will be paying off the debt for
years - this will lead to the country losing out in the long run, now that's not the aim of
aid is it?!
5. the recipient country may not have the infrastructure required to make use of the aid
properly - for example if hey want to attract MNCs or foster a good entrepreneurial
spirit, a good infrastructure is required (phone lines, transport networks, etc)
6. the recipient country may not have the knowledge in order to make best use of the
money they receive (in such cases economic analysts and helpers can be brought in, also
as aid or at a cost)
7. I'm sure you people can think of more POST THEM!

Lastly, aid can be very good for the economy due to many factors such as

1. supplies help countries when they need the help most

2. conditional aid may have good conditions, such as the money must be spent on education
and training, this by-passes the possibly corrupt political elite
3. free money can be good as long as the recipient country has a good record of handling
money well (i.e. not wasting it)
4. key workers such as teachers will have a long lasting effect on those people they work
with - increasing the knowledge in the country and shifting the LRAS to the right

World Bank
This consists of two organisations now, although when it was set up it was an organisation
designed to relieve the short term BoP problems of LDCs. It now has 184 member countries
contributing to it and deciding how the money is spent. The two parts are -

International Bank for reconstruction and development - IBRD

This part is responsible for the funding of various projects in cooperation with the local
government. It lends out money either directly to private firms or to the government to do so at
commercial interest rates.

55
International Development Association - IDA
This part lends money to the poorest LDCs to tackle BoP problems and the like on concessionary
terms, ie long repayment periods and very low or zero interest rates. These are called soft loans.

A third organisation called the International financial corporation (IFC) is closely linked with the
world bank and gives a type of aid without going through the local government - hence less
likely to be affected by corrupt government officials, although more risky financially, since they
buy into shares of firms or lend directly to them if the IFC believes that this will lead to higher
levels of development.

IMF - international monetary fund

Bad ass press! Similar to the IDA in that it gives loans to governments although these are
conditional loans - the loan has structural adjustment policies attached (SAPs). These are pretty
set regardless of the country they're being used for and are also pretty harsh as they push the
economy too hard to change and try to bypass 'take off'. They all too often lead to short and
medium term rises in poverty although they tend to be successful for both growth and
development in the long run. The bad press comes because of these SAPs making life worse for
people, especially since they try to force the economy to change from LDC to MDC so quickly.

These SAPs include:

1. cut/drop in all subsidies and price controls so that market prices can be charged
2. Reduction in money in circulation (reduce inflation)
3. Reduction in public and rise in private employment
4. Private ownership of essential utilities (monopolies could form w/o regulation)
5. Lowering in barriers to trade

These policies will open up domestic producers to the low world prices and often send them out
of business. This creates inflow of imports which could lead to BoP deficit problems. In the long
run, efficiency will rise however with the incentive for lower prices. Also, the more open
markets will be a greater incentive for MNCs to invest in that country.

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Basically, SAPs bone countries like a femur in the short run but usually work out in the long run
- of course, there are exceptions.

There are also organisations that help countries by other methods -

• Food and agriculture organisation (FAO) has managed to increase the food supply by more
that double over the last 60 years, outstripping the doubling in world population -go them!
• UNICEF works to decrease poverty for children by overcoming obstacles of disease and
discrimination
• UNESCO are the Peace keepers, Jedis of the world. Human rights people that enforce
equality of race etc.

MNCs
MNCs are Multi National Companies! They come in many shapes and forms from coca-cola to
Nike, they are much sought after by many countries due to their tendency to be so large that they
can fully exploit economies of scale and thus be very competitive in world market, the plus
points include (among others):

1. MNCs have such large amount of capital that their yearly turnover can be more than
some countries' GDP, thus having an MNC present within your country promotes
economics stability.
2. MNCs promote good infrastructure, they will do all they can to better transport links and
phone lines - this will benefit the whole country.
3. MNCs create jobs in their local area, this can totally revive some parts of the country,
and will lead to higher demand for labour, thus wages will rise (may cause inflation) and
AD will shift right, thus economics growth will occur.
4. the main aim of an MNC is to exploit economies of scale in order to be competitive in
international markets - this means that one of their primary aims will (indirectly) be to
better the current account position.
5. When an MNC first arrives to a country it will require buildings, land labour and capital,
the capital aspect (machinery, buildings, etc) will be a positive on the financial account,
better the balance of payments straight away!

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All those are very good points, promoting price stability, low unemployment, balance of
payments on the current account and economic growth (four of the main macroeconomic
objectives). but there are negatives associated with MNCs, including:

1. MNCs are driven by producing at the lowest costs, so they usually set up in places where
labour is cheap, they will then exploit workers in LDCs (shell oil, or Nike, anyone?).
2. MNCs yield a lot of power over the country they are in - once in the countries
governance will do little to regulate them of the fear that they will leave. they will also
do a lot to keep them where they are, orrering tax breaks, etc.
3. When MNCs set up they may bring in key workers from their own countries - this means
that unemployment may not fall as much as would be desired.
4. wages from the workers and profits may be repatriated so all in all, over time, the capital
account will worsen, thus the balance of payments might not look so good.

FDIs
Everything to do with MNCs pretty much applies to all types of FDI,

Finally the means by which countries attract FDI:

1. low corporation tax acts as an incentive to MNCS and other companies to invest in a
given country - low rates will act as an incentive to maximise profits within that country.
2. Stable economies attract FDI because any company lkes a stable economy, this means
basically low inflation. this is helped by the use of *fixed rule* fiscal policies (such as
Gordon browns golden rule)
3. flexible labour laws and low trade union power - this makes it easy for any company to
*hire and fire* workers, the UK has low trade union power (after the thatcher years).
4. low wage rate - low wage rates mean a lower cost of production for the company - this
leads to them being more competitive in international as well as domestic markets and
will increase their profits.
5. Good infrastructure - companies like countries with good transport links and
communication lines. transport links are required to get raw materials and to distribute
goods.

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 6. country links - whether the country is in a free trade area, or customs union will have an
effect on the MNC this is because they can have access to a market without trade
distortion (such as the many forms or protectionism)

Formulae
PED

•
○ PED >1 elastic
○ PED <1 inelastic
○ PED =1 unitary
PES

YED

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 •
○ positive = normal good
○ negative = inferior good
○ YED > 1 = luxury good
XED

•
○ Substitutes: XED > 0
○ Complements: XED <0
Macroeconomics
• APC: the proportion of income consumed

• APS: the proportion of income saved

• in a simple closed economy.

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 • Gov. Spending

• Bank/credit

•
○ M = Money Supply
○ V = income velocity of circulation
○ P = price level
○ Q = real GDP

○ Monetarists believe:

• Standard of Living =

Externalities

Externalities are effects of production or consumption of a good on a third party, who is not
directly involved in the activity. Externalities can be internalised by bringing the cost home to
the producer or consumer so that they have to pay for clean-up.

Externalities cause market failure if the cost/benefit to third parties is not taken into account. The
wrong quantity of goods is produced, leading to a loss of welfare.

Negative Externalities

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The quantity Q1 to Q2 is overproduction.

Negative externalities occur when the production or consumption of a good causes costs to a
third party. Examples include:

• Smoking - passive smoking causes health problems for people who do not consume
cigarettes themselves.
• Pollution - causes health problems and long term environmental problems.
• Alcohol abuse - clean-up costs of fights, vomiting etc. as well as long term health problems
from binge drinking.

Positive Externalities

The quantity Q1 to Q2 is underproduction.

Positive externalities provide benefits to people not directly concerned with the production or
consumption of the good. Examples of positive externalities include public transport,
vaccinations and education.

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Internalising the externality
1. Taxes
2. Regulation
3. Subsidies
4. Property rights
5. State-provided goods

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