Market Experiences

Comments

RE: Market Experiences

COLLAPSE

Every time I swipe my card, I am an actor in the market. But when I do I think about what I get out of it or where the money goes. Sometimes I ask myself: how is this benefitting me? For example, I went into a boutique a few weeks ago, not really intending to buy something, but everything was 60% off. They had some great winter coats and the people working in the store were nice. These factors helped decide whether I would spend money. I ended up buying a coat, thinking I saved money on it, when I was actually contributing to the economy and helping the boutique stay in business. Every decision I make about my money makes me an actor in the economy – even when I decide not to spend money. Every decision I make for myself is a small part of it. There are for example particular brand I like better than others because of their philosophy or if their practices better benefit the environment. I also make choices such as where I donate my money – there are certain places I do not donate to because they are affiliated with certain practices I object to. I think it is important as an actor in the economy to be aware of how you are contributing and what you are contributing to. I like the saying: “Practice what you preach.”

Comment

Nora,

I agree with you that swiping a card translates to an acor in the market since consumers are players in the market. A consumer is allowed to spendtheir money however much they want and the market offers a wide variety of products. A consumer is influenced by varfious factors such as marketing messages and promotions where the end up buying the item. Ideally, every decision that one makes on how to spend their money makes them an actor in the economy. For instance, there are brands that a consumer likes thamn others due to their philosophy or if their practices benefit the environment such as go green products.

 

Samantha Shay

RE: Market Experiences

COLLAPSE

When reading Chapter 4, a point that stuck out to me was how the activity of consumption is frequently contrasted with resource maintenance, and how resource maintenance may look like inactivity since it is a voluntary way of not engaging in production, distribution, or consumption. However, I think it’s important to realize that making the decision to minimize unnecessary consumption does not necessarily mean you are not active in the economy. On the contrary, those who minimize consumption may be active in the stock market or saving up for a large purchase in the future, like a house, both of which affect the economy.

 

For some personal context, I left home in Pennsylvania when I was 18, and set out for college in New York. During my first year of college, I was a very active consumer. I had loans to pay for tuition, so the money I earned seemed to burn a hole in my pocket and almost immediately went back into the economy via purchases on clothing, food, alcohol, dorm decorations, etc. However, in my sophomore year, I had to find my own apartment because I found out I could not afford room and board. This was a key point in my life, as I slowly started to shift my focus from spending to saving in order to pay my bills every month. Ever since then, I’ve decided to minimize unnecessary consumption, but I’ve acted in the economy in other ways. I spend less on clothing, but I spend more per month on repaying my student loans, contributing to my 401k, investing in stocks, and adding to my savings in a high yield account to eventually pay for a house. In this way, wouldn’t resource maintenance actually be more beneficial to the economy?

 

Comment

Samantha,

I agree with you that resource maintenance does not necessarily mean that was is inactive in the economy. Ideally, it is voluntary for a person to be active in the economy through different production, distribution and consumption. Consumers need to make effective decisions that are linked to necessary consumption. I concur with Samantha that those who save up by minimizng consumption may be active in the economy by making large purchasesin the future such as appartments that have influence on the economy. Resource maintenance is more beneficial to the economy since facilitates effective and efficient development of the economy.

 

Beom Soo Kim

RE: Economic Justice

COLLAPSE

It is because it is hard to measure or determine who is right and who is wrong in economic justice.

It is easy to evaluate the Illicit Economy or direct violation of economic and criminal laws such as the black market, drug trafficking, and financial crimes because they are Mala in Se. However, it is hard in evaluating economic justice, which has a broad area. I will explain them in 3 levels of measurement, individual, country, and world.

For example, there are two sick people and one person is poor and another person is rich. But there is only one medicine left to a pharmacist. And the pharmacist gave that one left medicine to the rich person because he gave more money. Is this wrong because the pharmacist gave the medicine to the rich person because he gave more money and not gave the medicine to poor people just because he did not give more money? Or is there were nothing wrong because both people were sick and the doctor just gave that medicine to the sick rich person? That person just paid as much as he could to save himself. In this case, we cannot say that pharmacist is a criminal because of that. However, there may be some people that blaming pharmacist .

Then what if there are many medicines that remain to a pharmacist and there are two people, one poor sick person and one sick rich person, visit pharmacist ? That rich person buy lots of medicines and doctors want to sell all of them. He did not sell a single medicine to medicine to the poor sick person because he does not have enough money. In this case, can we call the doctor is a criminal because he did not sell the medicine to the person who actually needs it but sold them all to just one person because he is rich and can pay all prices? Or is that rich person is a criminal because he did not leave single medicine for that one person although he could? It might be morally wrong, but we still cannot call that person a criminal because that medicine is still a ‘property’ to that pharmacist and he just sold it to the person he wants (maybe it could be a crime in some states).

What if one country sold weapons to a warring state that invaded the other state although it knows that those weapons they sells can kill people? They did not sell weapons to another country that is buying the weapon for defense purposes but invading purposes. Is that right or wrong?

A very good example is the contradictions of Marxism or Communism. Marxism, Communism itself, in theory, is created with a good purpose to discuss and realize the distribution of wealth and save the laborers and poor. However, past and nowadays (ex: the result of Cold War and situation of post-communist nations) shows that Communism is just good in theory and to listeners, but actually not very good to apply in reality and it is too ideal to use in the human world. Marxist is the philosopher that most influenced the world in world history, but that does not mean he is the best philosopher, and his theory and philosophy processed economic justice and saved a lot of people. In the end, the U.S. found the more applicable and realizable theories such as Keynesianism Theory, Communitarian Theory, and Neo-Liberalism Theory.

As we see, if it is not directly involved with violation of the law, such as drug trafficking, black market and financial crime, it is very hard to evaluate Criminal Justice with an Economic Justice perspective and judgment, especially in capitalist states. This is the problem that people should be fix and reduce as much as possible by investigating, analyzing, and study about and making good policies just like we are doing in this course.

Comment

Bemom,

I concur with your argument that it is difficult to determine who is right or wrong in economic justice as compared to direct violation of crminal laws such as drug traffacking, black market and financial crimes that are evil in themselves. Economic justice covers a broad area that requires to balance between out-take and intake. It is difficut to ensure that justice and prosperity go in hand to create equal opportunity rather than opossing one another. Beom has given a perfect example of two sicke people (rich and poor) and one medicine to explain why it is hard to valuate economic justice. This is because it is hard to determine whether the pharmacist was right or wrong.

Eddie Tarawali

RE: Market Experiences

COLLAPSE

I bought a beg of rice in Africa, as an actor of the market and consumer the price of rice was varies in different sections of the market with the same quality. The demand for rice was so high because it’s consider as the stable food for all African must especially Liberia where I live. Then I begin to assess the different quality of products that are sold to African consumers. I realized that some products are less value then the resources that are spent on these commodities which has created extortion with goods and services to consumers. Because of the demand of rice in the African market consumers are not curious to know the quality value of rice and price in the global economy. A common fact of economic analysis says when demand for goods and services are high as well as the consumer there will be a challenge with imputation of goods and services. As a result of these challenges the illegal operation within the Liberian market system are uninvestigated and has the propensity to create crisis with the general population. I have recommended to the government of Liberia, in other to avoid these crises we must focus on the agriculture sector and begin to grow rice through a large farming. Moreover, the government should also subsidize local rice producers to invest more on domestic and rural agriculture to avoid importation of low quality of rice as well as creating economic viability  within the Liberian economic.

Comment

Eddie,

I agreewith you  that anyone that buysa productin the market as a consumer is an actor in the market. However, consumers face challenges in terms of quality since there exists illegal operations in the market that influence the value of products. For instance, consumers may fail to understand the value and quality of price in the global economy. I concur with Eddie that the price of products varies in different market sections despite the fact that the quality is the same. This greatly affects the consumers as well as the demand of the products and services.

Orly Schwartz

RE: Market Analysis Practice: Handbags

COLLAPSE

My prediction is that the increase in demand for beef would increase the supply of leather handbags on the market. Beef and leather are both derived from the same source: cows. As the cultivation of cows for beef increases, more leather will become available for purchase. This increase in the supply of leather will lead to a drop in its price. Manufacturers will be able to purchase the leather needed to produce their handbags at a lower cost, and as a result, the supply of bags in the market will increase. It is also possible that handbags’ prices will decrease, as the supply increase could lead to a surplus in the market. However, this is difficult to determine because it depends on the demand for leather handbags at a given point in time. While the impact on the price of the handbags may be ambiguous, the increase in demand for beef would increase the supply of leather handbags, causing the supply curve to shift to the right and change the supply of handbags available at each price point.

Comment: Handbags

Orly,

I agree with your prediction that an increase in the demand for beef will translate to an impact in the demand for leather bags. Ideally, the cultivation of more cows will lead to an increase in beef and increased availability of leather. Leather will be readily available which means that manufacturers will produce handbags at a lower cost and the supply of handbags in the market will increse.