Here's a quick article from The Economist on economies of scale in the shipping industries. It's always nice to see a real world application of concepts learned in class.

As you know, we're done with current events for the semester so don't feel obligated to keep following the blog. For those who still want to keep up though I'll keep updating every once in awhile. This comes from The Economist and is a very neat tool to see how government debt has evolved over time and how it is likely to evolve in the future. Take some time to compare different countries and let me know if you find anything surprising!

It's come to my attention that the video that was originally embedded with the current events article on 10/23 (More Occupy Wall Street) is no longer there. That being said, you will not be held responsible for this article either. Have a good night.

The following articles will not be covered on this rounds current events quiz (Monday the 12th)
- Labor Struggles (10/15)
- Parking Problems (10/27)

Everything else is fair game. Also, remember that you must read the blog post that corresponds with the article. Happy studying, see you tomorrow.

I've decided to give you an option with which Planet Money Podcast to listen to for the CE quiz. So, you may choose between listening to the Planet Money Podcast on environmental economics (blog post 10/26) or to the one described below. Again, you only have to listen to the one that sounds most interesting to you.

This P$P is a great application of supply and demand with an unusual commodity, rice. Despite there being a global surplus of rice it turns out that government intervention and "rational behavior" has made the price of rice increase dramatically. Enjoy!

In this NY Times article, the woes of this past summer are talked about with relation to world prices for cotton and other commodities. While this is applicable to many people who have grown up in the Lubbock area on a very personal level, it is relevant to us because it allows us to see an interesting supply and demand phenomenon. Consider the following quote from the article

"World cotton prices, which had been at historic highs, have fallen recently, Mr. Hudson said, but that is mainly because the sluggish economy and other factors have outweighed the loss of supply."
 
So what we're seeing is a decrease in supply initially made prices increase, but a decrease in demand has brought them back down. Using a supply and demand graph, could you show this? Can we predict what the new equilibrium price will be (higher or lower)? Hint: what if the supply curve shifted further than the demand curve. What has happened to the equilibrium quantity?

I love a story that has two of my favorite things, economics and candy corn. In this short audio clip the income growth of poor, middle income, and wealthy (top one percent) Americans is explained. Are you surprised by which groups income has grown the most?

This is a topic that is looked at often in Public Economics courses if you are interested. One measure of income equality is the Gini coefficient. If the Gini coefficient is 0, then income is completely equal, and if it is 1 then it is the highest possible inequality. For the record the USA has a Gini coefficient in the .45-.49 range (according to Wikipedia). In your opinion should the Gini coefficient be 0? Or, is some inequality a good thing?