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The Cost of Inelastic Goods

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Many goods that are inelastic in terms of demand are ones that are essential or, in other words, necessary to one's self. There are several examples: basic foods, gasoline, or even medicine. I was interested in how producers can manipulate the prices of these goods and how the total revenue can change over time because those goods are inelastic. The first example I thought of was insulin. Considered inelastic because, without it, those who are diabetic might physically suffer, I looked at the price trends in the past couple of years. Just as I predicted, the price has been rising dramatically in the past decade or so as producers are taking advantage of the consumers' essential need for this good. There are about 7.4 million Americans that use insulin and many struggle to pay the costs of this increasingly expensive drug. So, while rising prices benefit insulin manufacturers, those same prices come at a serious cost for patients as the demand for insulin is inelastic. Other...
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The New Taxi: Ubers

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In recent years the transportation industry has begun to change dramatically. At first, ride-sharing companies did not have much hold over the industry as taxicabs and rental cars dominated the needs of business travelers as they searched for transportation so they could reach their destinations. However, recently this industry has suffered a loss has rates of people using these amenities have dropped, but the rates of people using Uber have dramatically increased. Uber is a ride-sharing platform where you can request a ride from an app (sounds familiar right?) it's almost exactly like a modernized taxi. However, there are a couple key features that services like Uber provide in which taxis and the traditional temporary transportation do not. One of the key factors that draw its consumers is the easy use of the app and its services. Before you would need to take a chance and wave your hand in the street to see if you can catch a taxi or even call the number of a taxicab comp...
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The Hidden Monopolies of the World

 Monopolies are all around us in the world, and not all of them are  obvious on the surface level like Google and Facebook. For example, you might be searching for hotel rooms and browse multiple "competing" sites like Travelocity, Trivago, or Hotel.com. What you most likely do not know however, is that all three websites are actually all owned by the same company; Expedia group. This illusion of free choice is used to hide the fact that Expedia essentially hold a monopoly over the industry and all hotel bookings actually go through them. These fake competitors which are all owned by Expedia Group controls 75% of the US online travel agency industry, Similarly, apple fans and Microsoft fans stubbornly stick to their respective brands of computers; not knowing that the laptops all come from the same Chinese manufacturer. Throughout all types of industries such as the ones listed earlier and others such as smartphones, supermarkets, beer, and even sunglasses, hidden parent co...
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