Economic Development (DVD)

Hi there,

   This time bringing something new. Quite a while ago Rene managed to purchase some economic DVDs and it’s only now that I kind of remembered her asking me to try and do some little tweak-mix to upload the videos on the internet. And ... yup, did so. So, here it is, first part of the Global Economics series – Economic Development.

| Part I | Part II | Part III |Part IV |Part V |

   422 MBs of pure economics knowledge. Enjoy.

(i) a few computer geek video specifications:

Format         : Windows Media at 1 407 Kbps
Length          : 422 MiB for 41mn 57s 417ms

Video            : WMV2 at 1 230 Kbps
Aspect          : 320 x 240 (1.333) at 29.970 fps

Audio           : MPEG Audio at 112 Kbps
Infos            : 2 channels, 44.1 KHz

(ii) a couple of screenshots



(iii) a quick what-to-do guide:

a) download all parts (I to V)
b) download and install WinRar (click here)
c) right-mouse-click on one of the files, 'extract files', OK and voilà - it's done.

UPDATE (19th June)

(iv) watch online:



Cheers,
John

'What Happened?' by Hugh Pym and Nick Kochan

Hi there,

   Another story from my life – hope you guys don’t mind. So, it was 23^rd May, the very first morning after graduation ball. Was out for brunch with two of my friends. After a relatively fine meal in Tai Won Mein we were on the way back, and then … I thought I might have a visit in Waterstone’s, as had already finished ’The Return of Depression Economics …’ (don’t remember? click). Browsed through the bookshop shelves for a while (obviously in Economics section) and, um, found this:



   A 115-page long book written by Hugh Pym, a BBC Economics Editor, and Nick Kochan, a Financial Times journalist. Those two gentlemen combined a Q&A list regarding the issues of the current economic climate as well as a short, yet detailed, description of the events that led to the present situation. The book was written in a rush, published in November 2008, so some of the data might not be totally up-to-date, as the authors tried to provide a wider public with a quick update of what has recently happened. Still I would strongly recommend giving it a try. Language should not be an obstacle, as ‘for the intelligent lay reader with no prior knowledge of economics, this is an indispensable, refreshingly jargon-free guide to the shocking events of the past year – and to what future may hold’. Neither price should be an obstacle – I am more than sure that every of you can afford to spare £7.99 for a piece of invaluable knowledge. Halfway through now, and so far so good. Perfect way to relax in between revision sessions (sadly I’m not kidding).

   Yup, so that’s it. You guys know where Waterstone’s is, don’t you? (click)

Cheers,
John A6

My Essay Competition Entries

Hi there,

   Every now and then, actually more like every two or three months, Economics Club runs an essay competition for everyone free to enter. Thought might post my little scribbles. Again, in hope to enrich your vast economic knowledge.

   (i) Does a free market equilibrium exist? - click - September/October 2008

   Ah, my first ever economics quasi-essay ‘thing’. Not much text, several copied graphs, bit of research. All of that after four weeks of Economics. Not bad. Managed to get second place. Out of three participants. Heh.

   (ii) Is this world essentially a centrally-planned economy? – click - November/December 2008

   Remember writing it, got really into Economics back then. 10 hours of research + reading + writing + editing = a link above. Good times. Enjoyed that. At least got a bit of understanding what the topic was roughly about – AS stuff. Ah, almost forgot to mention – got first place. Still, I think the number of participants did not exceed ten. Maybe not even five. Who knows? I don’t, Rene does though.

   (iii) Should mortgage lenders be nationalised? - click - February/March 2009

   A joined topic for Bellerbys London and Oxford. All I know is a student from London got the best essay. Who exactly that person is – have no idea. Just a feeling it might be a Vietnamese born in Poland. Just a feeling though. Anyway, at first was pretty much discouraged when read the topic. Didn’t have a clue what I could possibly write. But still managed to create something. Why? Simply because was hoping for everyone to be discouraged and would end up being the only participant. It wasn’t meant to be so though. Um, as for the writing, I think research this time took like 60-70% of time. Without a help of my invaluable friend – Google – this task wouldn’t be possible. Thank you. And the rest was just purely summarising what I had previously read.

   Yup, that’s it – my sentimental look back into the past. Hope you enjoyed it.

Cheers,
John A6

Recession Basics

As usual – Hi there,

   Information asymmetry – a situation in which one party in a transaction has more or superior information compared to another. This often happens in transactions where the seller knows more than the buyer, although the reverse can happen as well. Potentially, this could be a harmful situation because one party can take advantage of the other party’s lack of knowledge.

Source: investopedia.com

   Um, yeah, right. We all do know that. Basically, one party knows more than another. However, today, I would like to make the information more approachable for all of you. The fuzz about economic downturn has gone down, though, it is still very well present. For those of you, who have slept through all these months – I have good news. A summary of the past events. A dictionary of all the ‘fashionable-economic’ terminology. Numbers and dates within one click. Brought to you by BBC, not me, by the way.

Timeline: Credit crunch to downturn - click

   A look at how it all went wrong. What were the causes? Consequences? Actions undertaken? Results? Where do we stand right now? No one actually knows the answer for the last question, though for the former, there should be. And there is.

The layman's finance crisis glossary - click

   Mortgage-backed securities? Ponzi scheme? Rights issue? Some of these words you might have already come across, yet still have no idea what do they mean. No worries, this little dictionary with all the economics and business jargon shall explain you what each individual term mean in an easy to understand language. I swear. It won’t hurt. Um, maybe just a bit.

Global downturn: In graphics - click

   Millions, billions, trillions. We all can get easily confused while being faced with such a huge amount of numbers. In a link above, all the most essential bits are mentioned. No meaningless figures. Just what you really ought to know. Bit out of date (especially GDP and national debt forecasts), however still very useful.

Recession tracker - click

   Every month you hear about changing interest rate or rate of unemployment or GDP projection or all of them and many more. This little, yet extremely practical link will give you a great insight look into what is really happening, and what the current statistics are.

   Heh, so that’s it. Hope you really do have a look at those sites. And to finish off, a little quote,

‘Stupidity isn’t the lack of knowledge. It’s the wastage of it.’
   ~Jan Hoang Xuan

   So don’t be stupid and don’t waste the knowledge that is just in front of you. Convinced? Fine, now go and have some read. I will have some, too.

Cheers,
John A6

PS I know the quote was lame.

Unit 2 Specimen Paper - My Answer

Hi there,

   3^rd June. Economics exam day. Bet everyone is preparing day and night for that day. My class did the Unit 2 specimen paper a while ago, so thought I can post my little scribbles with a hope that someone will learn from my mistakes and enrich his/her knowledge. Off we go.

   First things first though. I would recommend you to try and do the paper by yourself, if you haven’t done it yet. Unit 2 consists of one data response question out of a choice of two. You can download question 1 from here and question 2 from here. Mark schemes are available here and here.

   And the interesting part now. My response to question 1 - click, and my response to question 2 - click. Huge credits go to Jerome who marked my answers and left some invaluable comments.

   Yup, so that’s it. Have a nice read. Hope you find this little exercise helpful.

Cheers,
John A6

Revision Links

Hi there,

   Exams coming, aren’t they? I know some of you guys are feeling extremely relaxed, whereas some are experiencing sleepless nights due to the accumulated amount of stress, tension and anxiety. Luckily, I don’t belong to neither of these groups. To help you with a revision part, I thought that posting links that are helping me with going through the economics syllabus might be a good idea. Dunno, anyway, decided so. Um, yeah, so here they are:

   Tutor2u (click) – one of the most known websites for AS/A2 students, highly recommended.

   Tutor2u Blog (click) - guys from Tutor2u are writing pretty good articles about current events that are more or less linked to the theory part covered in textbooks.

   Economic Student (click) – another site that can come with some good revision bits. Recently created, though already has a lot entries.

   Economics Help (click) – a blog of an A-Level Economics teacher. In his entries he tries to further develop and apply to real world situations knowledge obtained from the textbooks. Easy to understand language, no worries.

   The Student Room [Economics; A-Levels; Economics, Business and Management] (click ; click ; click ) – personally, one of my favourite sites, bookmarked long time ago. Can post questions and queries, and literally few minutes later, an answer can be expected. Good way to improve your writing skills. When I spot a question that I can give a reasonable reply to, no hesitation, scribble few sentences, post the message, wait for other responses and see in which ways can my answer be improved next time. Quality way for economics nerds to spend time.

   Extras:

   Economic theories (click) – a website suggested by Rene. Quite a lot of additional information about economic theories and thoughts. History, biographies, explanations. Recommended reading for those taking AEA Economics in June (23rd June, waaaah! It’s coming!)

   BBC News Economy (click) – fresh and daily updates news concerning round-the-world events. Special sections for the most important ones, e.g. global recession, housing market, budget 2009. Some videos and statistics available, too. Help to keep in touch with the world, especially while being a non-TV-watching person (um, with occasional exceptions for EPL and Champions League matches).

Hope that helps. Happy revision.

Cheers,
John A6

PS Saturday afternoon, FA Semi-final match Arsenal-Chelsea in less than an hour, and you guys know what? I’m not going to watch it. Simple because I’m stuck with psychology revision. Considering it as my hardest subject. What’s even funnier, Psychology is considered to be a soft subject. Or semi-soft. No difference. Heh. And nah, don’t think that was my personal rant or so. Simply a real life example of opportunity cost – um, the cost of the next best alternative forgone, or something like that. So sad the cost forgone must be one of the best matches of this season. Dokey, off for now. Once again, happy revision.

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman

Hi there,

   Long time no writing. Few weeks ago at the Heathrow Airport while waiting for my flight to Poland, well, to say the least, was bit bored, so decided to walk around. After a while spotted a bookshop. ‘Cannot be any worse, can pretend to be a little, nerdy bookworm’ yup, that was my first thought. Immediately found Business section and … um, there was one book that sparked my interest. Want to see the cover?



   Not bad. And the content is even better. Author of the book – Paul Krugman – is a 2008 Nobel Laureate in Economics, so I reckon he has to know a tad about economics. He tries to take a deeper insight look into economic crises that swept across Asia, Russia and Latin America in 1990s. Could we have prevented the financial crisis of 2008? Could the previous happenings have been considered as some sort of warnings? What lessons can be learnt? Answers to these and many other questions can be found in this brilliantly written book. Krugman uses a language that is not packed with loads of jargon and complex economic terminology. Instead, his thoughts are converted into sentences widely understood, as after all, economics is a social science, for people in general, not only economists. Definitely a good read for A-level or Business Foundation student. Currently in the middle of reading, though can already say that it was a worthwhile purchase. £9.99 worth of investment in exchange for lifetime, invaluable knowledge. Not a bad deal. Though, you can make even better one, I found the same book on Amazon for £6.59 + free delivery (click) and as a bonus, you can look into exemplary pages of the book (click). This should eventually convince you to have a read.

Cheers,
John A6