Walmart

a. The passage I found to be most interesting was the passage about the negative connotations that arose about Walmart. It was being criticized by the popular TV show South Park, facing huge class action lawsuits for discriminating against women, followed by a huge illegal immigrant worker raid. I had heard of some of these negative actions such as the illegal workers it had hired, and apparently so did the 8% of the customer base Walmart had reportedly lost. The company went spiraling down hill after all this had happened because the consumer base lost respect and trust for the company. I personally continued to and still do shop at Walmart, I see the negative of Walmart as an externality of the company that does not effect me, Walmart chooses to sell products at lower prices and the opportunity cost for me to shop elsewhere for a higher price is not low enough for me to turn away from shopping at Walmart when needed.

b. The use of fresh organic produce illustrates the interaction between the firm, economics, and culture. In todays world, organic produce is gaining widespread popularity. When firms put forward produce that is destroyed or not up to proper standards (assessed by consumer) the consumers will not have any interest in the product, lowering the economic supply and demand curve, due to the culture of wanting fresh produce. When firms such as Walmart buy from local organic farms, they have the ability to put forward a product that is in demand by the consumer base, shifting the supply/demand curve in a positive direction as well as increasing profit.

c. Multinational firms have a big impact on Spain. Spain is currently going through an obvious downhill financial spiral, and the country as a whole is hoping multinational firms will grow in the country to help increase the GDP, eventually aiding the country out of the financial bankruptcy it faces.

Spain Weekly

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303448404577409631660348316.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

This article talks about Spain's current financial downturn. The prime minister has cut government spending and increased taxes to put Spain's budget gap inline with the rest of europe. This is a result of Spain's GDP decreasing 0.4% annually. Many negative factors arose decreasing the GDP such as: the household consumption dropping 0.6% and government spending fell 13%. Exports did grow 2.2% and imports fell 7.2% which could correlate to a way to increase GDP.

Consulting

The country of Spain would be the perfect country to open a scooter business. The low per capita GDP caused by the current economic crisis can be used in a positive advantage because the population is looking for a more affordable substitute for transportation. The country’s great tourism attraction can also be used to market and distribute your product in hope for expansion. The country also has very favorable weather during the year for scooters, as well has a high population density making a smaller mode of transportation much more valuable for getting around and parking. The process of starting a business in Spain is not that difficult in a country with little governmental fraud and corruption. The country is looking for the next best businesses to help re-launch its economy and your company can be part of this great opportunity, and expand exponentially in the many years to still come. 

Reinventing the Bazaar.

1. The passage I found to be most interesting was the very first paragraph in which McMillan describes the bazaars. The reason I found this the most interesting is because I can relate to everything that is said. When I was younger I had went to India for vacation and had gone through a bazaar type setting with my parents. There were many stands set up by the locals, and the only advertising they did for their product was yell out a particular product they had for sale or set out all the goods for passer byers to come across. There were no price listings, even for less valuable goods. I believe this was because even though some goods were very inexpensive, the vender would have a feel for if they could get more money then it was actually worth bassed on the bargaining of the buyer. It works the other way as well, if a vender was eager to get rid of a item the buyer can bargin the price down in their favor.

2.Transaction cost is the total cost of everything put into the transaction, from the price of the item, time put into obtaining the good for the vender, as well as the price the item is sold at. An example would be a homemade good. The cost of putting in the time to create the good, the time spent selling the good, and the amount the good is sold for is all put into the transaction cost of the venders homemade good.

3. Imperfect information can lead to overpricing because the consumer could lack the knowledge of being able to find the product at a cheaper price for the quantity, and the consumer might want to lower their time spent on shopping around for a good to decrease their transaction cost. The vender can also be hurt by this price because they might not know what price is to high or low in order to optimize their selling potential.

Airport Closing (Spain weekly article)

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/02/3592076/spains-closed-don-quijote-airport.html

This article discusses Spain struggling economic crisis. The new air terminal built for the A380 jumbo planes, parking lots, and doors to the Don Quijote airport are now closed. The cost of efficiently running the airport and building the planes is to great for country to keep up economically. This directly effected the local banks that loaned money for the airport to be built and ran caused the banking system to collapse destroying Spain's credit rating.

A Fez of the Heart

a. The first paragraph on page 4 was the most interesting passage that I found. It explains how Halil has become successful but still uses techniques and other trades from his old man. The reason I found this passage so interesting is because it shows that certain skills and knowledge do not age over time. Doing things the old fashion way and remembering how you learned different trades and skills is very important.

b. Some interactions between economics and culture present in this article are:
-In chapter 4 when the topic of how new tools helped the working man. Fax machines and type writers made work a lot easier for the working man but it was still important to be able to keep previously learned skills. This is still present in today's economy and culture, because even though there are tools being added to the industries intended to make jobs easier, they also can take away jobs from working men.

c. The country I plan on visiting for study abroad is Spain.
Some of the leading attractions for tourists are:
Prado Museum and Sorolla Museum : Museums are ideal locations for tourists because it gives them a chance to learn about the past of a foreign place that they may never have experienced.

Retiro Park: gives tourist a nice relaxing place to walk and enjoy natures beauty.

Palacio de Aranjuez: place full of gardens and castles which would be a very interesting experience for tourist from America because there aren't many elaborate European castles that we can experience without leaving America. 

Spiky World

A. The author believes the world globalization is not a "flat world" but a spiky one. The power countries such as America are higher hills which continue to grow, decreasing the opportunity for surrounding "valley" areas to begin to attempt to grow.

B. The authors beliefs in the globalization world is similar to the idea of the Central Place Theory. The author, like the central place theory, the higher the population in certain areas will result in higher economic development and activity (like a higher mountain), outperforming less population dense areas.

C. Madrid, Spain would be considered an National Metropolis.

Transport

Water Transportation:

Spain has many km of waterways but they do serve a high importance to economics.


The most important port and harbours are Algeciras, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao and many other minor ports. 

Spain has a fleet of merchant marines that run 169 ships deep. 
Bulk carrier: 9
Cargo: 13
Chemical tanker: 14
Container: 27
Liquefied gas: 9
Passenger: 1
Passenger/cargo: 49
Petroleum tanker: 15
Refrigerated cargo: 5
Roll on/roll off: 20
Specialized tanker: 2
Vehicle carrier: 5


Spain has full service ferrys that run to ports in China, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cueta, and Melila. 


Land Transportation: 


The spanish railroads date all the way back to 1848. Many guages and high speed rail lines that total 14,791km (2004). 



Iberian Guage11,829 km
Standard Guage 998 km 
Narrow Guage,926 km
Narrow Guage  28 km 

High speed transportation departing from Madrid to: Seville, Lledia, Barcelona, Valladolid. 

Air Transportation: 

Spain had both paved and unpaved airports. The paved airports are the main airports used for travel and transportation. 

Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Gran Canaria, Alicante and Tenerife South.

The Box

a. The part that was most interesting to me was the section that described how the container was constructed. It made it seem so simple yet it serves such a great purpose. I never really thought about how simple a shipping container could be. The next section began to talk about how shipping container made shipping cheaper was also very interesting because my father ships his products all around the world using the same crates.

b. Marc saw the shipping container contributing to globalization because it allowed for more products to be sent bast boundaries not reachable previously. It also made shipping cheaper allowing for more expenditure elsewhere.

c. The short run impact would effect the net export because of more efficient ways to transport goods. The long run impact would effect the capital because of the investment made on the products used to ship the goods.

Rivoli Reading

1. The cotton industry in which the US used slave labor, and cheap labor for foreign immigrants gave them an advantage in the industry. It allowed them to harvest a lot of product with very low overhead cost, which allows for a larger income. In a pure market economy America would not have the absolute advantage because all the other "players" in the industry would have the same advantages.

2. Culture interacting with economics is shown in the first chapter. The t-shirt company owners grandfather who started the company would go to New York and buy cheap trinkets and sell them in Florida, eventually switching to t-shirts. The culture in Florida, and the tourism mindset, inspired the owner to change from trinkets to t-shirts because he would have an higher income.

3. I was surprised by t-shirt shop owner. How he went out of his way to New York to buy trinkets to sell. Someone just starting a small business and putting in a lot of hard work, and eventually switching to something more demanding is sometimes hard to do because you are so sold on your original idea and sometimes people dont want to change.

Sains economic distress

http://news.yahoo.com/spain-overcome-economic-crisis-without-aid-minister-175009339.html

1. Spain's economic struggles are getting worse. The country is facing a "great depression" of their own. After filing a budget of 27 billion euros in tax increase and slashing the public deficit by 3.2% are some steps they are taking in order to stay away from needing aid. Spain is hoping to be able to come out of this economic nightmare without the aid of a bailout like Greece, Portugal, and Ireland.

2. A result of the budget managing means higher rates of unemployment. The increase in unemployment can be a negative in being able to fully utilize Spain's total resources. Not being able to afford to fully utilize their employment and resources, it is going to be hard for the country to get out of such a struggle but they can't afford to be at full force. The increase in tax could affect the publics willingness and ability in a negative way causing a negative shit in the demand curve. This could also hurt the economy because there would be less money coming in from domestic shopping. 



3. I believe that Spain should do all that is possible in order to avoid a bailout. Country's face hard times, but if they can over come it they will be stronger then before and more educated on positive factors/practices in order to be ready if the economy ever tanks again.

Freidman

Key Points :

 Freidman's key points include:- his belief that a free market is the ideal system
                                                 - He also talks about how business dont always have a social responsibility          and that their responsibility is making money.
                                                 - People have a social responsibility as a population not a business.
 
Cultural Values important to Freidman:

 After reading the article I believe Freidman exemplifies Individualism and Personal Efficiency.  I believe he shows individualism because of his beliefs on separating a the social responsibility between people (normal population) and businesses. He also spoke of fraud and and referred to it as the "cloak of social responsibility" and his dislike for businesses that do not take part in legitimate business values and practices.

personal thoughts of business social responsibility

I personally believe businesses should have at least a little social responsibility. Businesses katter to the population and they have to take into account some kind of social responsibility to help better population moral. Outside of increasing population moral and not harming the population, I believe a business has no social responsibility.

Rick Schweder Talk

Key Points:
   - Rick spoke about the different views on trade between present time and the past. In the past the people wouldn't think as much about how the goods were made, where they were made, and who made the goods. Today people tend to put to much emphasis on those points and sometimes affect whether a country will trade with another country solely based on those beliefs.

 - The expansion of the western culture was a big thing. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many of the countries that were secluded by it began to have more experiences with the western culture, and even adopting many of the western culture practices.

Indicator of Global Change:
 - I believe the global change will occur through trade and expansion. When countries trade, they are giving up something important to there land and culture in order to receive something in return. Every trade brings something cultural wise from its origins. Many practices and beliefs can be picked up or implanted during trades. The thrive for expansion I believe will also cause a global change, because the larger more powered countries have the ability to in the future expand if they were to desire to.

Cultural Shaping and Economic Outcomes:
 - I believe culture is extremely important and has a great effect on the economy. People have deep beliefs into their culture and will not part with their beliefs, so they effect the market based on their beliefs. For example a cultured society of vegetarians would boost the green produce market but would negatively effect the meat market. It also depends on their beliefs of trade, whether the country/culture believes in trading with other countries, or isolating themselves and finding ways to live within their own borders.

Spain Stats Pt. 2:

-Natural Resources:coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land
- Labor: services (70.7%), industry (14.1%),construction (9.9%), agriculture,farming and fishing (4.5%), energy(0.7%) (Sep. 2009)
Labor force includes 23.1 million as of April 2011

-Exports: $221.1 billion (2006)

             : Machinery, motor vehicles, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicine and other consumer goods

             : France (19.3%) Germany (11.4%) Portugal (9.6%) UK(8.4%) Italy (8.4%) US(4.1%) (2005)

-Imports: $324.4 billion (2006)

              : machinery and equipment, fuel chemicals, semifinished goods, consumer goods, measuring and                              medical control instruments     

              : Germany (15.3%) France (14.7%) Italy (8.6%) UK(5.8%) Netherlands (5%) China (4.2%) 


-Exchange Rate: $1 US= .74966 Euro


National Income:
-Consumption: Low 10%: 2.6%
                         High 10%: 26.6% 
-Investment: 21.7% of GDP (2011). Ranks 100 in comparison to the world. 


Could not find Capital Resources of Spain or the Government section in National Income. 

Spain statistics:
GDP: $1.41 trillion (2011)
GDP per capita: $30,600 (2011)
Life Expectancy: 81.27 years (2011(
Poverty Rate: 2.8% below poverty line (2011)
Literacy Rate: 98.7% (2011)
Unemployment Rate: 20% (2010)
Inflation: 3.1% (2011)

Jared Diamond Blog

      In "why did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years? by Jared Diamond, Diamond identifies major points on his beliefs on pattern of development in human history over the past 13,000 years. He begins by describing how different parts of the world were more advanced then others, such as the europeans being in the Iron Age and developing industrially while in Sub Saharan Africa most of the citizens were still farmers. This explains how some parts of the world were behind economically and industrially, because areas with higher advances early had a head start while other areas had to play "catch up".  He laters talks about how certain livestock that moved to Africa came from the Eurasian countries. This shows how nature played its part in differences and origin of different animals around the world. Africa also had to wait for different crops to grow in the region because the crop near the Mediterranean would not be able to grow in the African environment, so eventually the crops they grew could only be grown in the African environment. I believe this adds to the diversification of the different types of food that originated in these different areas due to the available crops and use of livestock.
      Diamond also had beliefs on what helped determine society's success. Some of the areas were, Science, efficiency of using resources, and region. I agree with his beliefs in all the areas, the more advanced a country is scientifically gives it a higher chance to discover a way to overcome human hardship and develop a way to increase life expectancy which directly correlates to advancing and increasing a society's population and future success. Resources and region fall into the same category for me because a country's region has direct affect on its resources. If one society has land with rich soil it will be more dependent on crops but if another has greater industrial resources it will be more reliant on industrial success. The differences help lead to trade and diversification of the use of the different resources among different societies.