1.Who owns fresh water resources? Who should?
The government of the country where the water resources are located, own them. However, they often sell the water resources to companies and therefore lose ownership. This is adventageous for the population, because companies charge too much money for the water and it the government should own water resources in order to take care that every one has even access to this necessity.
2.What did your presentation do well? What will you improve next time?
A positive aspect about my presentation was that it provided a good link to the thesis and backed it up with information from both point of views. There is still much room for improvement such as using more terminology and improving the design of the power point.
Montag, 1. Dezember 2008
Global trade is slowing
Global trade is slowing
Global trade is slowing
The Japanese export market did not survive the economic crisis without harm. In the previous years, Japan could always rely on increasing demand for its export from developing and emerging countries, but the drop in exports of 7,7 % in Ocotober has shown that emerging-economy demand for its goods has also been hit. Japan is only an example of a rich country which is affected by slowing trade. Germany which is known for its high-quality exports has also experienced a heavy decline. Since high-quality goods have high elastic demand, the demand for these goods decreases massively when there is an economic crisis. Poor countries, however, who normally produce cheap quality goods are better off at the moment, because the goods tend to be necessities that people still buy in bad times. Poor countries are facing the problem that they are lacking trade credit for finance due to the global shortage in liquidity caused by the financial crisis. Now, export credit agencies and the World Bank try to restore the liquidity in the market by providing more money.
Global trade is slowing
The Japanese export market did not survive the economic crisis without harm. In the previous years, Japan could always rely on increasing demand for its export from developing and emerging countries, but the drop in exports of 7,7 % in Ocotober has shown that emerging-economy demand for its goods has also been hit. Japan is only an example of a rich country which is affected by slowing trade. Germany which is known for its high-quality exports has also experienced a heavy decline. Since high-quality goods have high elastic demand, the demand for these goods decreases massively when there is an economic crisis. Poor countries, however, who normally produce cheap quality goods are better off at the moment, because the goods tend to be necessities that people still buy in bad times. Poor countries are facing the problem that they are lacking trade credit for finance due to the global shortage in liquidity caused by the financial crisis. Now, export credit agencies and the World Bank try to restore the liquidity in the market by providing more money.
Donnerstag, 30. Oktober 2008
Squeezing the accelerator
Due to economic recession, hedge funds believed that the car company VW would also have problems selling its cars. That's why they thought VW shares were highly overvalued and would soon be falling. So, hedge funds lended 12 % of the VW shares from investors and did something called a short selling. However, hedge funds hadn't taken into account that the biggest VW investor, Porsche, had a cash-settled call option to increase its present shares at VW from 35 % to 74 %. So when Porsche announced that it wants to increase its shares at VW, this caused an explosion of the share value of VW. Thus in order to minimize losses, hedge funds had to quickly buy VW shares at a much higher value at which they had lended them. This again caused the value of VW shares to rocket. Early estimates suggested that the hedge funds' losses could be as much as $ 30 billion.
Mittwoch, 1. Oktober 2008
One world
One world
Due to globalization,national companies have become more integrated in the gloabl economy. The positive side of globalization is that it has the potential to increase productivity and living standards everywhere. However, critics of globalization predict that increasing competition from low-wage developing countries will destroy jobs and push down wages in rich economies. Even 50 years before World War 1, there was a period of globalization which was driven by reductions in trade barriers and a sharp fall in transport costs. This previous trend of globalization ended with Worl War 1, which was the cause for trade protectionism and tight restricitons on capital movement. After World War 2, big economic powers realized that it was important to reduce trade barriers in order to recover. They set up an arrangement on tariffs and trade, called the Bretton Woods system. In the 1970s the Bretton Woods system collapsed which led to the rebirth of the global free market in which goods and money were floating. The two factors, an improvement in technology and liberalization, were responsible for the increased flows of money and goods. Methods used to measure the degree of product- market integration have shown that many countries openness to trade hasn't changed a lot since 1913 and that prices converge across countries which is due to the persistence of import barriers. Product markets are not even close to being integrated across borders as within a nation and even the financial markets are not fully integrated yet. While product and capital markets have become increasingly integrated, labour markets have not, since labour is less mobile than it was in the second half of the 19th century. These facts don't conclude that globalization is not happening. As opposed to the pre 1914 globalization period where large parts of the world didn't participate in the world economy, more economies than ever are taking part in the globalization process today. In the future, new technology will encourage further integration and make it even harder for protectionist governments to block trade. In addition, organizations like the World Trade Organization give stability to free trade. All that awards globalization a good foundation to be more durable than it was before World War 1.
Due to globalization,national companies have become more integrated in the gloabl economy. The positive side of globalization is that it has the potential to increase productivity and living standards everywhere. However, critics of globalization predict that increasing competition from low-wage developing countries will destroy jobs and push down wages in rich economies. Even 50 years before World War 1, there was a period of globalization which was driven by reductions in trade barriers and a sharp fall in transport costs. This previous trend of globalization ended with Worl War 1, which was the cause for trade protectionism and tight restricitons on capital movement. After World War 2, big economic powers realized that it was important to reduce trade barriers in order to recover. They set up an arrangement on tariffs and trade, called the Bretton Woods system. In the 1970s the Bretton Woods system collapsed which led to the rebirth of the global free market in which goods and money were floating. The two factors, an improvement in technology and liberalization, were responsible for the increased flows of money and goods. Methods used to measure the degree of product- market integration have shown that many countries openness to trade hasn't changed a lot since 1913 and that prices converge across countries which is due to the persistence of import barriers. Product markets are not even close to being integrated across borders as within a nation and even the financial markets are not fully integrated yet. While product and capital markets have become increasingly integrated, labour markets have not, since labour is less mobile than it was in the second half of the 19th century. These facts don't conclude that globalization is not happening. As opposed to the pre 1914 globalization period where large parts of the world didn't participate in the world economy, more economies than ever are taking part in the globalization process today. In the future, new technology will encourage further integration and make it even harder for protectionist governments to block trade. In addition, organizations like the World Trade Organization give stability to free trade. All that awards globalization a good foundation to be more durable than it was before World War 1.
globalization
Globalization
This text focuses on the definition of important economic terms. Globalization is a movement that leads to more indipendence and its main effect is the dramatic increase of the amount of international trade and thus companies are able to sell their products in every market of the world. There are different types of corporations: multinational corporations with manufaturing, sales or service subsidies in more than one country, conglomerates whose asset growth is mainly due to the aquisition of other firms with unrelated products, and lastely merger which result from a fusion of two or more corporations. Competition is another important economic aspect. Its characterized by sellers of a product competing with other sellers and buyers of a product competing with other buyers in order to supply or aquire an economic service or good. One theme in the history of competition has been the monopoly, which means that there is only one seller of a certain product, who is able to control the prices in this particular industry. When talking about monopolies, the term "cartel" also has to be mentioned. Cartels are national or international organizations of manufacturers or traders that by agreement control the prices of goods in a particular market.
This text focuses on the definition of important economic terms. Globalization is a movement that leads to more indipendence and its main effect is the dramatic increase of the amount of international trade and thus companies are able to sell their products in every market of the world. There are different types of corporations: multinational corporations with manufaturing, sales or service subsidies in more than one country, conglomerates whose asset growth is mainly due to the aquisition of other firms with unrelated products, and lastely merger which result from a fusion of two or more corporations. Competition is another important economic aspect. Its characterized by sellers of a product competing with other sellers and buyers of a product competing with other buyers in order to supply or aquire an economic service or good. One theme in the history of competition has been the monopoly, which means that there is only one seller of a certain product, who is able to control the prices in this particular industry. When talking about monopolies, the term "cartel" also has to be mentioned. Cartels are national or international organizations of manufacturers or traders that by agreement control the prices of goods in a particular market.
Mittwoch, 24. September 2008
Grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock and means ‘’filthy’’ or ‘’dirty’’. The grunge scene took off in Seattle. Some theories reason that the birthplace of Grunge was Seattle, because the city was very isolated from trend metropolitans like New York or Washington and thus a completely new trend could develop. In addition Seattle is located in a very rainy area, so people gathered in houses to socialize and organized house parties where grunge became a very important element. Main characteristics of Grunge are heavily distorted guitars, contrasting song dynamics and depressive or angst-filled lyrics. At the beginning, in the 1980s, Grunge mostly existed underground, but in the first half of the 1990s, grunge achieved public attention due to the release of Nirvana’s album ‘’Nevermind’’ and Pearl Jam’s ‘’Ten”.
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock and means ‘’filthy’’ or ‘’dirty’’. The grunge scene took off in Seattle. Some theories reason that the birthplace of Grunge was Seattle, because the city was very isolated from trend metropolitans like New York or Washington and thus a completely new trend could develop. In addition Seattle is located in a very rainy area, so people gathered in houses to socialize and organized house parties where grunge became a very important element. Main characteristics of Grunge are heavily distorted guitars, contrasting song dynamics and depressive or angst-filled lyrics. At the beginning, in the 1980s, Grunge mostly existed underground, but in the first half of the 1990s, grunge achieved public attention due to the release of Nirvana’s album ‘’Nevermind’’ and Pearl Jam’s ‘’Ten”.
Mittwoch, 17. September 2008
Summary of Chapter 2
The second chapter of 'No Logo' deals with the increasing influence by brands on society. Brands have set themselves the goal to not only brand their prodcuts, but furthermore brand people's lifestyle and culture. That's why brands decide to sponsor cultural events, like music festivals or sport tournaments. However, brands are not happy with the numerous regulations on advertisement, so that they create their own festivals where they are free to choose how to advertise their products. One good example for a sponsorship is the involvement of the clothing company J-Crew in the movie Dowsons Creek. J-Crew provides the clothing for the actors and in return for that they attain a perfect product placement for their product.
The increasing popularity of music and especially music artists and music groups constitutes a new platform for brands to advertise on. So, brands sign contracts with famous music artists, like Jay-Z to promote their brands. A good example is the Rolling Stones concert tour which was the first sponsored tour in music history.
Next to music, sports becomes another significant advertising platform for brands. Again, brands sign contracts with famous sports stars to promote their products, with the intention that young people buy these products to become part of their lifestyle. Its all about brands trying to appeal to the consumer's lifestyle and Michael Jordan is a perfect example of this development in the sports business. Nike and Michael Jordan are so closely linked to each other that they have become synonyms for each other. So the athlete Michael Jordan has become his own brand.
The increasing popularity of music and especially music artists and music groups constitutes a new platform for brands to advertise on. So, brands sign contracts with famous music artists, like Jay-Z to promote their brands. A good example is the Rolling Stones concert tour which was the first sponsored tour in music history.
Next to music, sports becomes another significant advertising platform for brands. Again, brands sign contracts with famous sports stars to promote their products, with the intention that young people buy these products to become part of their lifestyle. Its all about brands trying to appeal to the consumer's lifestyle and Michael Jordan is a perfect example of this development in the sports business. Nike and Michael Jordan are so closely linked to each other that they have become synonyms for each other. So the athlete Michael Jordan has become his own brand.
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