econoMAX September 2010

The September 2010 edition of econoMAX - our digital magazine for A Level & IB Economics teachers & students - is now available to subscribers. Details of the new feature articles below.

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China’s Trade Surplus (Andy Reeve)
The Chinese Government have reported that the nation’s trade surplus with the rest of the world has grown to $20.02 billion (USD) in June, a further growth from the $19.5 billion trading surplus that was recorded in May 2010.

Airbus V Boeing - A competitive duopoly (Robert Nutter)
Major examples of duopolies include Pepsi and Coca-Cola in the soft drink market, Microsoft and Apple in the computer operating system market and Airbus and Boeing in aircraft manufacture. The real world duopolies are operating in markets where the products are differentiated (rather than homogeneous) and thus non-price competition is the main strategy usually adopted by the two firms.

EAC – East African Community (Mark Johnston)
It has been seen as an agreement that will bring economic revolution to East Aftrica – on 1st July2010 East Africa’s common market came into force with Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda Tanzania and Uganda agreeing to the free movement of trade and labour in a trading area of 126 million people. However what sort of revolution will this turn out to be?

Are Japan’s smokers ready to quit? (Ruth Tarrant)
Japan is unusual as a developed economy in terms of the high proportion of the population that smokes, and the, so far, limited level of government intervention in the externalityridden cigarette market.

Are we on course for a jobless recovery? (Geoff Riley)
The summer has been full of pessimistic newspaper headlines as far as the economy is concerned. The words double-dip have figured large in coverage of the latest news and both business and consumer confidence has dropped alarmingly just as we thought the worst might be over.

Financial Crisis and Pension Funds (Mark Johnston)
The effects of the financial and economic crisis on public and private pension systems are still very visible. The investment losses suffered in 2008 have not been fully recuperated yet.

The Volcker Rule (Mark Johnston)
Paul Volcker, who retired as chairman of the US Federal Reserve in 1987, has been an integral part of President Obama’s economic team with a particular interest in the greed and speculative activities of Wall Street.