Post Your Economics Question Here

1 March 2009

Hello :smile:

I used to help A-Level economists in this thread and over PM.

I don't do this anymore though...

(i) I've got too much stuff to do as it is
(ii) It's been 3 years since I've done my A-Levels
(iii) I don't even come on TSR that often anymore

However this thread is still alive - thanks to all those who keep it going.

Do visit TSR Economics society - some lovely people over there could help you if you ask nicely.

Best of luck!

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

KymmyC

do you think you could help me to answer the following questions:
a)why might it be argued that costs arising from depreciation, insurance and road tax are not relevant in calculating the cost of an extra journey by car?
(4 Marks)

b) What economic justification might there be for introducing 'charges for road use'?
(4 Marks)

c)why do you think criteria for investment favours road rather than rail travel?
(5 Marks)

i have a rough idea about the first question. I think you'd have to pay road tax and insurance whether or not you use the car, not sure bout the depreciation?

For part b) i can only find information about congestion charging and thats not what the question asks about!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
xXx

Reply 2

q1w2e3r4t5y

This sounds like a very good idea! I've missed a few of my Economics lessons and might want some help in some Economics explanations :smile:

Reply 3

tanusha-tomsk

KymmyC:

a) Insurance and the road tax are fixed costs therefore with every extra journey the Average Cost (cost per journey) decreases. Depreciation will cause a rise in travel cost after so-many journeys (difficult to work out just how many until it happens), so it is difficult to calculate the cost it adds to other costs of the journey. Thus insurance, depriciation and road tax are not included when calculating marginal cost of a journey.

b) Negative externalities - effects the consumption/production of a good has on the third party (neither producers not consumers of the good). You can put a nice External Cost diagram here (you can find it in any textbook). Negative externalities include air pollution, noise, increased number of accidents (they happen more often peak-time), etc.
Also the depriciation of road surface and the need for extra roads to reduce traffic - the government might use road tax to finance those.

c) EDIT: In rail travel there is more chance of damage that was done on purpose - so the investment will need regulal follow-ups. Although depriciation spending on roads is of substantial value, it is easier to accomplish than on underground. It is arguably easier to close a part of the road than take out a train out of service just for one lick of paint for a particular scratch. Closing a part of the road will not affect the revenue that this streth of the road brings - congestion charge etc. In the case of railway, the loss of revenue will be massive because its value directly depends on the number of customers.

There you go! Hope that's helpful :smile:

Reply 4

KymmyC

Thanks Very much for the above information

Reply 5

Chilly

d) Evaluate how EU labour market policies might affect wage differentials between men and women in the UK. (10)

Reply 6

Chilly

1b) Assess how individuals may react to a change in the wage rate (10)

2a) Why is the demand for some groups of workers greater than that for others? (8)

b) Discuss the extent to which demand alone is sufficient to explain differences in wage rates. (12)

3) Using a supply and demand diagram for labour, explain why unskilled workers will get paid less than skilled workers.

Reply 7

tanusha-tomsk

Chilly

d) Evaluate how EU labour market policies might affect wage differentials between men and women in the UK. (10)

I don't do Labour Market Unit (5a), but Development Unit (5b). So I don't know what EU policies are.

That should help with the theory:
http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/revision_focus_2004/AS_Economics_of_the_National_Minimum_Wage.pdf
This is about EU labour market regulations:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/employment_strategy/index_en.htm

Chilly

Again, I don't do labour markets. These are just my ideas, perhaps that will help you:

1b) Assuming wages increase - frictional unemployment increases (more people between jobs looking for higher salary), Long Run - back to normal cycle.
Long Run effects - more incentives to gain qualifications/training if wages rise. Perhaps an increase in expertize?
Depends on what inflation is - an increase in wages smaller that rate of inflation will not affect individuals much but will cause some movement between jobs in the short run. That's positive becuase perhaps they will find a job they are more suited to do - allocative efficiency.
Will affect spending / saving, depends by how much the wages have risen / fallen and whether it is across the whole labour market or a particular industry.

2a) To profit maximise business join the industry with greatest demand for a product - if incomes rise (on average), a boom in housing market can be expected - demand for construction industry workers.
Trends of the society - in USA phsycologists and lawyers are in greater demand than elsewhere (dodgy stats, don't take my word for it).
Size of sectors - in the UK turtiary sector is much bigger than primary (3% of pop employed) and secondary (look this one up) - demand for service ind workers.
Countries like UK with large spectrum of financial services need many accountants etc.

2b)Coming up soon..

3) Have no idea what S-D diagram for labour looks like. General points:
Incentives to get qualifications /training, reward to those who get them.
Able to do a job of higher order - the value of the work higher (a banker who transfers billions of pounds rather than a constructor).
You can expect productivity to be higher (not necessarily - sometimes output is difficult to measure).

Sorry that's all I can think of.

Reply 8

CorpusNinja

for the above question about labour demand and supply diagram - unskilled workers will have highly elastic demand and supply curves, skilled workers will have relatively inelastic demand and supply (depending on various factors such as level of specialisation required etc.) and so the equilibrium for skilled workers is higher. in that answer you can obviously talk about various WED and WES factors...

Reply 9

Mustard-man

the economic theory of internalisation, an explanation will do, or any useful sites

cheers

Reply 10

tanusha-tomsk

^

I have no idea what that means (sorry!) The textbooks I use (Anderton and Alan) didn't have it in the index. And even Google didn't return any comprehensive results :eek:

It's not Edexcel is it?? Is it A-Level or Uni? Sorry I can't help you...

May be somebody else could?

Reply 11

Mustard-man

tanusha-tomsk

^

I have no idea what that means (sorry!) The textbooks I use (Anderton and Alan) didn't have it in the index. And even Google didn't return any comprehensive results :eek:

It's not Edexcel is it?? Is it A-Level or Uni? Sorry I can't help you...

May be somebody else could?

I don't think it's a-level, but I came across it in my coursework, but I need the theory of it for my appendix.

cheers anyway

Reply 12

ninetails

gordon2002

the economic theory of internalisation, an explanation will do, or any useful sites

cheers

isnt that how companies (i think esp. MNCs) retain and the continue managment techniques with a more centralised structure

the word internalisation just reminds me of internalising a negative externality

did you come across it in economics or business?

Reply 13

Mustard-man

ninetails

did you come across it in economics or business?

economics and business :p:

lol. My course is nuffield economics and business..... I just came across it when doing research.

Reply 14

e_clark

how would i explain what the level of economic activity and the pattern of economic activity is (they are two different questions and im not so sure how to differentiate them)

Reply 15

chazmeister007

Finance: Break-Even Analysis; Investment Appraisal: Net Present Value; Relevant Costs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi there,

I can't make any sense of the following scenario. I am expected to draw up a Break-Even Analysis and Net Present Value graph in EDExcel. If anyone can shed any light on the following figures from the scenario and help me out with the topics in the title above then it will be much appreciated!! Help....

Scenario:

"Rolph’s Ltd manufactures backpacking equipment and is considering opening a new retail outlet for its range of products. The Production Manager is confident that he can increase output from its current level by 30% in order to stock and supply the new shop.

The cost of the building would be $1.7m and it would require refitting which has been estimated at a cost of $300,000. Recently, the manufacturing operations of the company declared a turnover of $5m ( with a net profit of $2m ) selling to dealers whose practice is to mark-up their products by 20% on cost.

The existing contribution to sales ratio for Rolph’s Ltd is 40%; the costs of running the new retail outlet are estimated at $480,000 p.a. and are considered to be fixed in nature. This figure excludes depreciation of the new fixed assets."

Topics relevant to this assignment: Break-even analysis
Relevant costs
Decision Making
Investment appraisal: Net Present Value

Please post any responses if you can tell me how this can be tackled!

Thanking you in advance,

Chazmeister007

Reply 16

Chilly

this thread is for economics questions not business

Reply 17

Togeda

1) Why do the treasury prefer the RPIX as the measure of inflation as opposed to the RPI or the RPIY?

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Reply 18

Mustard-man

can someone fire a few economics coursework titles for globalisation? (In the form of a question)

Reply 19

Reue

What problems might a national firm experience when attempting to globalise their business.

List and review the communication problems involed with globalisation.

What are the benefits to a UK firm of globalisation.