２学期目の日本語クラスでは言語とマスコミの関係について学びました。詳細な内容としては、
- メディアの形態（SNS、テレビ、新聞、その他）
まずメディアの形態について学びました。クラスではグループ内でディスカッションを行いそれぞれのメディアの種類を考察しました。
- メディアの技法
クラスではそれぞれのメディアで使われる技法などを深く考察しました。内容だけでなく、メディアは映像の見せ方や言葉使いで大きく意味が変わる事があると知りました。
- マスコミの実態：情報操作
僕がこのユニットで最も学んだトピックはマスコミの実態についてです。それは客観的な視点から見たマスコミの実態とそのもくろみです。僕はWTとオーラルを通して情報操作をメインにリサーチを行いました。それ故、左翼右翼が大手マスコミに及ぼす影響などについても学びました。
このユニットを通して僕は日本に於けるマスコミの現状について知りました。今後はニュースやメディアを目の当たりにする際、つねに客観的な視点から見、深読みをしないように気をつけたいです。
3a. Explain the process by which nominal GDP is calculated and distinguish it from real GDP.
Nominal GDP is the total value of all final economic productions in a country during a given year. The most common method of calculating this is the expenditure approach in which the government counts the total spendings on final new goods and services. This is determined by C + I + G + (X-M) in which each variable represents..
Consumption (C): Both durable and non-durable goods and services purchased by individuals and households.
Investment (I): Spendings done by firms and households.
Government Spending (G): Total value of government spendings (i.e. salaries for workers and capital goods).
Net Exports (X-M): Is determined by the final value of net imports subtracted from net exports.
In a Real GDP, price changes (inflation and deflation) are not considered during the calculations.
Real GDP is determined using the equation: (Nominal GDP ÷ GDP Deflator) × 100
3b. To what extent do measures of GDP accurately estimate national well-being?
GDP does not measure the welfare of country very well. The GDP doesn’t consider the size of labour force of the country. For example China is ranked second for nominal GDP in the world, however they have an huge labour force compared to the rest of the world. If wealth = happiness, GDP per capita would show a better sense of human welfare across the globe. This is because the GDP is divided by capita, which shows a better view of the money earned in each district. Although GDP can estimate the money earned in each district, still it cannot show inequality within, therefor isn’t well fit to estimate human welfare.
5a. Explain the differences between monopolistic competition and oligopoly as market structures.
Monopolistic competition is an market type which there are no barriers of entry or exit. The market itself is composed of many small firms that creates similar homogenous goods. In a monopolistic competition, firms are price takers since consumers have many substitute goods they can choose to buy from.
In contrast to a monopolistic competition, an oligopoly market is composed of few large firms that dominates majority of the market power. Compared to an monopolistic competition, oligopolies have a significantly higher barriers to entry. This is due the high initial fixed costs (i.e. renting factories and an office space), patents for the product, and variable costs (i.e. employing new workers and accessing resources). Goods and services provided in the market can be both homogenous and heterogenous, therefor price givers and takers are determined due to the type of the market.
b. Discuss the differences between a collusive and a non-collusive oligopoly.
In an collusive oligopoly, firms actively cooperate to fix prices and to restrict output. The firms that actively cooperates inorder to control output and price are referred as cartels. Cartels are formed in target to control the economy in such ways that they can..
– control output inorder to raise prices.
– avoid innovation so that firms have less competition and can also reduce costs spent on research.
Collusive oligopolies are considered illegal in many countries as it can extract consumer surplus, and can also raise abnormal profits for the cartels. However many countries do this implicitly. (The blue section is the abnormal profits a firm can produce. This can be increased by shifting AD left (increase) or by shifting AC to the right (decrease).
In an non-collusive oligopoly, firms don’t cooperate with each others. Therefor they are always competing against each other on who gets more market share. The firms has to build strategies depending on how other firms act. However even without cooperating, non-collusive oligopolies are just like the collusive in some ways. They want to keep prices stable since if they increase it, consumers will buy goods from the other firms, where as if they decrease it, it will turn into a price war in which all companies will lose revenue.
一学期の日本語SLの授業では様々な文献について学び、また発表しました。授業では色んな種類の文献を研究し、言語と文化の関係と言うトピックを軸に深く考察を行いました。日々、当然の用に目にする日本語を深く考察するのは僕にとってすごく新鮮でした。
授業で学んだことはプレゼンテーション、解説文、コラム、新聞記事など色んな形で発表しました。
2a. Explain, using an appropriate diagram, how the monopolist determines the profit-maximizing level of output and price.
Monopolists determines the profit-maximizing level of output and price by producing where marginal costs = marginal revenue. Although this is similar for perfect competitions, however in a monopolistic market the demand curve is different therefor MC=MR is achieved in a different quantity.
2b. Discuss the view that competitive markets are always more efficient than monopolies.
In a competitive market, the firms are price takers. Therefor price always equals marginal cost therefor allocation efficiency is achieved. However in a monopolistic market firms are price givers. Firms set their price so that it is lower than the marginal cost, which means goods are under produced therefor not allowing allocation efficiency to be met.
6. With the aid of at least one diagram, explain one way a consumer might gain from the behaviour of a monopolist and one way a consumer might lose from the behaviour of a monopolist.
In an monopoly, a firm can decide to start engaging in price discrimination. For example, Jal conducts third-degree discrimination in which the price of a plane ticket differs according to your age. This profits customers as the plane ticket becomes affordable for a wider range of people.
Customers can also lose from an monopolist company. Since an monopolistic market has barely any competition, firms can decide to stop innovating and instead to just keep increasing their price. This would be detrimental for customers as they have no other substitute goods to buy from and instead would have to keep buying from the same firm.
1a. Using a suitable diagram, explain the difference between short-run equilibrium and long-run equilibrium in perfect competition.
In a perfect competition, there are two types of firms. One that aims to maximize their profit, and the other that aims to minimize their loss. In order to determine whether a firm is earning profits or minimizing their loss, observe its average revenue and average total costs on a graph. When ATC>AR the firm is producing at an loss, while when ATC<AR the firm is producing with profits.
A short-run is when all variables are fixed except for one (often labour). So an equilibrium in the short run is when Marginal Revenue (MR) = Marginal Cost (MC). It is the stage in which a firm is producing at its optimum output, and has no incentives to either raise or lower output.
In an long-run equilibrium, the marginal revenue and marginal cost is equal however, the demand curve has shifted due to the increase of firms in the market. Due to this the firm is no longer able to sell its goods above the average costs and earn profit.
1b. To what extent is the perfectly competitive market likely to exist in the real world?
An perfect competitive market doesn’t exist in the real world due to its factors that makes it. In a perfect competition,
– all firms produce completely identical products, meaning that the goods don’t have any differentiation and act as perfect substitutes for each other.
– all firms are price takers
– consumers know the prices of all firms
Perfect competitions are very unlikely since it has to have all firms to produce completely identical products. Although products can be similar, it is very unlikely for them to be identical, and more over all firms have to be identical, which in most cases is very unrealistic to happen. Also it is very hard for consumers to know the prices for all firms, as most markets are vast and always increasing its size.
1a. Explain the relationship in the short run between the marginal costs of a firm and its average total costs.
Average cost is the sum of total fixed cost and total variable cost. Total fixed costs are costs that stay constant throughout, for example paying rent of the factory. Total variable costs are costs that change constantly according to the activity, for example labor and material costs.
Marginal cost, is the cost in total it takes to increase one additional unit of production. Since it the sum of total average cost, and the cost of the additional unit, marginal cost is affected by the behavior of the variable cost. Since fixed cost is always constant, it would not affect the marginal cost.
1b. Define the law of diminishing returs and assess the likelihood that it will be experienced by a firm producing a product in a consumer good market.
When increasing variable resource with an fixed resource, at one point the marginal production starts to decrease. For example an small automobile factory has 3 workshops that can be used by technical experts to build cars. With 3 people workers, the production keeps rising. With 4 workers, it still keeps rising expecting that he/she can be doing odd jobs (providing coffee, cleaning up areas, etc). However from the 5th worker, production starts decreasing. This is because if there are 5 workers, the small factory is too packed workers start getting in each others way. Therefor increase in variable resource for more than 4 workers will cause the factory to start experiencing law of diminishing returns in this case.
1a. ‘Economics is primarily concerned with the allocation of scarce resources which have alternative uses.’ Use a PPC to explain this statement.
Economics is the study of how scare resources are or should be used. Resources are limited, however always desired by the market. This is because it is the key to the “factors of production”, which all three are required for the production of any good or service that might be transacted in the economy. “Factors of production”, are based on three types of resources, land, labour, and capital. These scarce resources are always desired by the market however limited therefor chosen to be allocated using the study of economics.
A typical demonstation of the allocation of scarce resources, can be shown using a production possibility curve. Lets take the production of bread and guns of Japan and North Korea as an example. This PPC is demonstrated given that Japan and North Korea has the same amount of resources, which can be invested in either the production of bread or guns.
As you can see North Korea (blue dot) is aligned on the curve more on guns (y-axis). This means that North Korea allocates its resources mostly on guns, while the remaining is for bread. This is because North Korea invests more resources on strengthening their military (guns), instead of feeding their citizens (bread). Japan (red dot) is aligned on the curve more on breads (x-axis). This means that Japan allocates its resources more on bread, while the remaining is for guns. This is because Japan doesn’t hold an military, instead a self-defense force which means that they aren’t required to strengthen their power. Since they allocate a small amount of resources on guns, the remaining can be invested towards the production of bread. Since the set amount of resources can be used either for guns or bread, it is up for each countries economics, whether how they allocate their resources.
Knowledge on the PPC
– If the point is inside the curve, it means that the resources aren’t used completely efficiently (part of the resources are on idle).
– Not all PPC’s are curved, if the axes are similar factors (i.e. tangerine and oranges), then the PPC would be linear.
1b. Discuss the view that governments is more effective in the allocation of scarce resources than the free market.
Whether the government should intervene inorder to maximize efficiency of the allocation of resource in a market, has always been a debated topic in economics. From an laissez-faire point of view, government intervention is considered to be detrimental, and that free markets can hold the most efficient yet effective allocation of scarce resources. In a free market, individuals decide on the three main questions of economics: “what should be produced?”, “for whom should it be produced?” and “how should we produce”. By not having government intervention, individuals have the motivation to work hard for their wealth. Inorder to maximize profit, the market reacts quickly to meet the needs of the people/consumers. As in a command economy with complete government intervention, everyone is treated equally. Hard work isn’t rewarded therefor individuals lack motivation to meet the needs of the people/consumer. Although the government does give orders to companies so that the market meets the needs of the people/consumer, it is very inefficient and time consuming. Some say that free markets result in inefficiencies in the allocation of resources, whereby certain goods are over-produced while others are under-produced. Although this is true, it is always being modified by individual companies that thrive to maximize their profit.
2a. What are positive externalities and how do they arise? Illustrate your answer with examples.
Externalities are when the transaction of a good or service affects a third party that is outside of the transaction. In an positive externality, the third party benefits from the transaction. For example if an financial group decides to open a shopping mall in a specific area, the value of the area will rise, thus benefiting people who had already been living there. Another example is when an new mathematic sequence is proved. This can help genres of study such as physics and economics.
2b. To what extent should governments attempt to influence markets where positive externalities exist?
The government should attempt to influence markets with positive externalities as much as possible inorder to prosper the number of transactions. An market without government intervention wouldn’t have social efficiency and equity. With social efficiency and equity in a market, the number and productivity of transactions will rise greatly. Thus causing positive externalities to rise at a greater rate.
3a. Explain the concepts of maximum and minimum price controls.
Maximum price control most known as a price ceiling, is used in effect so that the good /service is affordable for poorer citizens. The government sets price ceilings on goods and services that has potential of being highly priced. By placing an price ceiling, the good/service cannot be supplied at a any higher price. An example will be rice, inorder to avoid starvation for the citizens who live in poverty, a country could set price ceiling for the rice sold. Although price ceiling may maintain low prices, it can cause shortages and rationing.
Minimum price control most known as price flooring, is used in effect so that the good/service’s price wouldn’t fall under a set value. The government sets price flooring on goods and services that has importance or necessity for the country. By placing an price flooring, the good/service cannot be supplied at a any lower price. For example, Japan is currently in a situation in which not many of the young generation doesn’t plan to be farmers. Inorder to make sure that there will be farmers in the future, Japan can set a price flooring for rice and lead that to be an incentive for the young ones.
3b. Evaluate the idea that government intervention in the form of price ceilings and price floors is well intentioned, but often leads to undesirable side effects.
One of the major threats price ceiling has is shortages. Since the good/service will be available for all citizens at any level, an shortage will occur for the item. The supply wouldn’t be able to catch up for the demand, thus not allowing people to be able to access to the good.
Lets take post war Japan as an example. Japan put an price ceiling on rice so that citizens who lived in poverty wouldn’t starve. This caused shortage for rice, which was soon solved by the installation of rationing (second threat). Rationing in this situation lead to an conclusion that the rice will be allocated equally amongst the Japanese citizens. However the rice allocated to each citizen was so small that they were still in starvation. The wealthy class was strongly against the price ceiling, ending up buying the rice off of other citizens. This lead to the settlement of an black market (third threat). In this black market, illegally imported rice was sold at an outlying price.
Price flooring can lead to inefficiency within the market. It reduces the market size because the number of affordable customers diminish. Due to the increase in income, the supply of the market will increase also. This can overcome demand, thus causing allocative inefficiency within the market.
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