Micro Econ AP 2nd Semester 2019

When it was originally introduced, Section 501(c)(3) drew as much attention as the next line of text in the 1954 Internal Revenue Code. Now, this section is highly divisive. Nicknamed the “Johnson Amendment” after its sponsor, Lyndon B Johnson, this provision prohibits nonprofit organizations from intervening or participating in any race for public office. Nonprofit organizations are not allowed to contribute financially or state their position as a collective group. Nonprofits are allowed to host public forums, organize activities to encourage voter participation, and inform potential voters through education guides. However, all these activities must be impartial and non-partisan. If violated, the organization risks losing its nonprofit status. Section 501(c)(3) is a financial issue—rather than a limit on first amendment rights—as it ensures donors are public and campaign finances are taxable. In May 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order which limit

Recently, the issues of fake news and data privacy have pushed Facebook into the spotlight. With the massive data breach only a few months ago, the company has been under scrutiny for their data-driven business model. The questions they face now are broad and substantial. How far is too far when collecting the data of their users? And how reliable are social media sites as a way to gain information and access the news? Since the 2016 election, fake news has been a hotly debated topic. With a growing number of voters using social media to contact local representatives, converse about various political issues, and even register to vote, it's unclear how accurate or informative these user-driven pages and articles can be. Many social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram came under fire for promoting advertisements or pages that were trying to sway user sentiment away or towards certain candidates. In fact, the current Russian probe is still trying to answer whether o

Spotify was founded in 2006 and initially launched in October of 2008. It provides both a free service as well as a premium, ad-free version to search for music, create playlists, and generally listen to music. Since it is relatively cheap, with a free version and a $5/month student option without ads, and access to millions of songs, it attracts users in great quantities. As of this month, there were over 200 million monthly users as well as nearly 100 million paying users. Unlike some online song companies, it provides its entire catalogue of music to its userbase rather than provide songs or albums for individual purchase. To provide compensation to to the artists and record companies that have music on the service, Spotify provides about 70% of its revenue to the artists (through right's holders). By 2010, Spotify was bringing in more money than any other provider to record labels in Sweden. In 2019, they had put over $5B into the music industry, with contracts to pay a l

Although Napster and several subsequent P2P (peer-to-peer) sharing applications were generally viewed as threats to the music industry, they did provide potential economic benefits to the industry as well. Programs such as Napster and Limewire revolved around users sharing their own files with other users, which effectively cut down the music industry's ability to monopolize their sales, as people could now find the songs for free. However, the music industry was able to recover from this situation and in some cases actually benefitted from the rise of P2P sharing. The music industry had to adapt to the rise of digital music, and as the number of physical sales declined, the industry switched to an economic model based around royalties. Rather than making massive profits from being able to sell the same song multiple times, labels were able to monetize songs and make digital music services need licenses to distribute the label's songs. This allowed the digitalization of mus

In class we started the documentary Downloaded, and I wanted to look further into music streaming and how it's used today.  We learned that the sales of vin yls and discs decreased greatly with the creation of Napster.  Napster allowed individuals to download and share music with other individuals on the site.  Since then, other forms of getting music have taken over, including streaming.   Streaming is now the way the majority of people in the US obtain their music.  Many platforms have been made for music streaming such as Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud.  Being quick, easy and affordable, consumers are turning to these sites for their listening pleasure.  One way these platforms get money is buy using subscription services.  According to the New York Times, " streaming  now make s up 34.3 percent of sales, edging out digital downloads as the industry’s biggest source of revenue."  In 2015, "   paid subscription services generated $1.2 billion in sales in the

Economics is the study of unlimited wants with a limited set of resources.  Are our limited resources enough to supply everyone with a wealthy lifestyle? The total income of the world is 70 trillion dollars and if we were to spread that evenly across the roughly 7 billion people, then each person would get about $10,000 a year.  That might be enough to live a sound life, but it isn't enough to live wealthy.  This doesn't mean it never will be though. From here there are two options.  Make the current goods and comforts cheaper and replace them with a new expensive commodity: maybe medical advantage or recreation.  Obviously the term rich will scale, but still we would reach a world where everyone is rich by todays standards.  This is one option, but we could also consider increasing the global income or decreasing the population. First, can we lower the price of current goods?  Well, phones used to be exclusively for the rich and now 40% of Haiti, a third world coun

Over holiday breaks and summer vacation, many people fly to foreign lands to explore and experience new cultures. Spending time with friends and family abroad is a frequent sight. Well, how does a country benefit from the attraction of tourists? According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism is the world's number one export. In 2013, the number of international tourists reached 1087 million and is predicted to increase 3.3% until 2030. The tourism industry has numerous positive effects, such as job creation. A 2017 Economic Impact Report by the World Travel & Tourism Council states that this "industry generates one out of ten jobs worldwide", and continues to grow since. The industry also makes up 9% of the global GDP and generates 4.4% of total investment globally. Essentially, growing tourism means more demand, new jobs, and even increasing tax revenue for a particular country. When a country hosts a momentous event, such as the Olympi

With obesity rates skyrocketing and being associated with children more than ever, it is important to also look at other ways that are limiting the growth of our next generation. Gaming addiction may seem harmless but in reality, it can cause many symptoms such as anxiety, loss of social skills, loss of interests, etc. In many children, they are consuming much of their time and energy into the gaming world. According to Hussain  (2009), 41% of people who play online games admitted that they play computer games as an escape from the real world.  WebMD Keith Bakers says  video game addiction can ruin lives. Children who play four to five hours per day have no time for socializing, doing homework, or playing sports, he says. "That takes away from normal social development. You can get a 21-year-old with the emotional intelligence of a 12-year-old. He's never learned to talk to girls. He's never learned to play a sport." Just like the fast food chain, the gaming i

My mother always told me I could become whatever I wanted to be... but preferably a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Oh, and god forbid I become an ARTIST. The uncertainty of the profession of an artist, history has taught my parents, made my parents shake their heads in disapproval. In reality, the 'disapproving' art industry is more affluent than conventionally thought. In 2015, the art and culture sector generated $763.6 billion towards the American economy.  The art industry generated more money than agriculture, transportation, and warehousing industry. In the same year, the industry produced approximately 4.2% of the overall U.S. GDP, with roughly 4.9 million Americans working in it. Those employed collectively generated over $370 billion. From a global viewpoint, the art industry generates about 30 million jobs and $2.25 trillion annually. The presence of artists and what they create contribute immensely towards their communities. Society often sees people

The theory of supply and demand denotes that as the price of a product increases, the quantity of the product left over with the seller increases as well. Gucci. Prada. Louis Vitton. Hermes. Chanel. We know these brands by their influence... and their price tags. Nearing the end of 2017, the world's top 100 luxurious brands grew towards annual sales of one trillion US dollars. But what makes these goods so desirable and able to defy the theory of supply and demand?  There is something about an item being "limited" that makes people open their wallets. These brands advertise the hiked up price tags of their goods in order to create the illusion of being part of an exclusive group-- higher class. The illusion continues as brands avoid producing large numbers of their products to make the consumer believe their purchase is rare. In recent news, Payless Shoes created a fake luxurious boutique which exemplifies this phenomenon. The store was

What effect does minimum wage have on the economy? In the United States, the minimum wage is one of the lowest out of developed countries. Today, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which is 29% less than it was 50 years ago, accounting for inflation. However, there are multiple sides of the argument to whether or not the minimum wage should be raised. According to a survey from the American Economics Association, American labor economists claim that increasing minimum wage will actually increase unemployment and is not effective in addressing the needs of underprivileged families. Furthermore, 68% of the surveyed economists believe that employers will hire people with greater skills if the wage were to go up. Further research from the University of California at Irvine indicated that for every 10% increase in the minimum wage, low skilled unemployment would decrease by 8%, leaving poorer families and teens without jobs. On the other hand, there is an argument that boostin

Previously, the music industry was extremely profitable. There were huge profit margins as the cost of producing an actual disk was pennies. Conversely, this was very annoying for consumers. To acquire music it was very difficult and expensive, One CD costs around $16-25. The reason why the supply remained high was that music has a high marginal utility. Once you acquire the song, you are free to listen to it as many times as you like. With the introduction of Napster, this whole system was under threat. Buying the artists CD wasn’t needed as you could simply download the song online from Napster. All it took was for one person to buy the song, for the whole world to have it. Should this have continued it would have spelled the end for many artists, there wouldn't have been any economic incentive to buy music. For this reason, the demise of Napster was probably for the best. In turn, as Napster fell, other streaming services such as Spotify and Soundcloud rose soon later. T

iPhones. Who doesn’t have one? This past year, Apple has reached an astounding 1 trillion in value. Yet this past summer, Apple had told suppliers to manufacture 20% fewer components for its upcoming iPhones. More specifically, CNN News has explicitly remarked that Apple had told suppliers to prepare for 80 million instead of the initial 100 million iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X phones. Now why might this be the case? We can contribute this in part, to the decrease in demand. In trying to reach the equivalence point of the supply and demand, the decrease in demand has prompted Apple to make an educated prediction and thus lower the amount of product supplied. The decrease in the demand of iPhones may be attributed by a numerous amount of factors. One of the most prominent factors, however, may be the cost of these new products which are around $1,000. Consumers may view continuing to use their slower, current or old iPhones in comparison to purchasing the newer,

Generation Z refers to the generation following the Millenials and consists of anyone who was born after 1995. While there are many key differences between Gen Z'ers and Millenials, some of the key differences include a more frugal attitude in spending habits, increased social awareness and a heavy emphasis on individualism. A lot of the key differences between these two generations actually stem from the global financial crisis of 2008 when millions of Gen Z'ers were forced to witness the economic turmoil their parents endured. Though these generational differences certainly might seem insignificant when it comes to economics, in fact, these changes actually could have a major impact on future marketing strategies.  Obviously, there are differences. Generation Z and the Millenials both fall to brand loyalty. We can see this in many of our own feelings of loyalty towards Apple products. However, unlike the Millenials, Generation Z reportedly has a much shorter attention span

I just read an article about what it's like to pursue a dream for 30 years... and fail. I was thinking to myself — at what point is it just too much? Seeing as we had just learned about opportunity costs in AP Micro, I thought this would be a great topic of discussion for my first blog post. At what point is the opportunity cost too high? In this article, Keahi Seymour came up with the idea that would change his life at the age of 12: a boot that enabled humans to have strides similar to that of an ostrich. Fast animals like this"store elastic energy in their Achilles tendons" and use that energy to spring up on each stride. Over the years, Seymour built many different prototypes and spent his life savings (over $200,000) on making this product a reality. After almost a decade, he was out of ideas. He had spent so much money and most of his life working on this project, and he didn't want to let it die then. He brought it to the New York Maker Faire where it bl

Valentine's Day. A day of associated with chocolate, roses and giant oversized teddy bears. While of course, Valentine's Day has its history that originates from Saint Valentine, it could also be said that Valentine's Day is under the category of "Hallmark Holiday".A Hallmark Holiday is essentially a holiday that exists primarily for commercial purposes. In 2016, it was estimated that Americans would spend 19.7 billion dollars on Valentine's Day. Not to mention, 1.1 billion would be spent on cards alone. While to some, Valentine's Day might be considered a Hallmark Holiday, Hallmark is not the only company to take advantage of the gains that could be made on the day. For example, the Kiss. Though Hershey's Kisses were not produced as a result of Valentine's Day, the candy quickly rose to popularity on the special day. It was actually surveyed that consumers tended to automatically associate "kiss" with Hershey's distinct candy. G