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Unit 1 micro - excess supply of lobsters in the US
Penny Brooks
5th October 2013
Too much lobster might sound like a problem which would be quite pleasant to deal with, but it is hitting the fishermen of the US hard, as this video shows. It could be a useful piece of application for unit 1 in teaching the problems of excess supply, and could be accompanied by questions such as:
Draw a graph to show what has happened to the equilibrium price for lobsters in the US
What is the shape of the supply curve on each day, when the fishermen land their catch?
How does the problem differ for lobster fishermen who fish in the warmer waters, and those who fish in the colder waters 'further west'?
What options do those fishermen have, in order to improve their level of income?
For later in the course:
What forms of government intervention might help to improve the level of income for the fishermen?