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.