Reflection Assignment

a. The laws of supply and demand have shaped the way I think about every day life so much. Expanding my knowledge of those, especially to areas I had not thought to before has greatly improved my understanding of the world, and will continue to do so. The urban planning and economic geography sections did that as well. My improved understanding of the way that countries and cities are laid out will be applicable many times throughout my life. Also, the DIE model has been extremely helpful for me in my understandings. Not immediately jumping to evaluation will greatly help me while in different places or even at home. Another great model was the one that showed the interactions between theories, experiences, and expectations. Thinking through the lens of that idea will be very helpful while abroad and later in life.

b. A huge thing I want to look into more is economic geography. The whole concept of market distributions and studying how those change with transportation costs and social factors seemed really interesting. Seeing how well the model applied to certain places (like Iowa) made me really want to try complicating and expanding on it so that it can be applied to more complex areas such as New York or California.

c. Questions about what I am going to find the most challenging are always difficult to answer, because I have learned that I have no idea when it comes to predicting things like this. I guess I can always speculate though. One interesting thing about LSE is that English students are actually a rather small minority. It is a very international school. This means that there will be lot of cultures represented, and finding ways to interact with several different cultures together may be challenging. Living in a different culture is already difficult, and adding in several other cultures may complicate things.

City Analysis Assignment

1. London is the UK's only national metropolis. With a population over 7 million people it is seven times as large as the next largest city, the regional metropolis of Birmingham. Oxford and Canterbury are decently close, large cities that probably became successful because of their proximity to London. London is the 23rd largest city in the world, directly behind New York City by only 100,000 people, and the third largest in all of Europe behind only Istanbul and Moscow.

2. The key features that London adds, that would not be available in a smaller city, are a national government, several international museums, the Bank of England, one of the most vibrant banking industries, and several historical landmarks. Being a national metropolis there are not any cities of higher order than London. It is difficult to find things that London is missing, but is in other cities. It is missing a professional american football team, but that is probably more of a cultural issue than one of size.

UK News Summary 3: Rise in Car Prices

1. According to the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association (ACEA), demand for cars is on the rise in the European Union. Sales of new cars rose by 4.6%, with the higher concentration of more sales at less high-end car companies (such as Ford and Fiat rather than Mercedes-Benz and Audi). Specifically in Britain car sales rose by 8.2%.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27442441
2. Economically, this is very good sign for the economic recovery currently in progress. This increase in sales and demand points to people having a better outlook for the future in these countries. Economic conditions are improving somewhat and people are responding by purchasing more items, such as cars. While this is good news, we should not get overexcited because, as Theo Leggett points out, sales are still well below pre-recession levels.
3. The reason that car sales were so low in the first place has a lot to do with the recession caused by the financial crises. The current increase in sales has a lot to do with government subsidies and incentive programs similar to "cash for clunkers" in the U.S. a few years back. This does seem to be the right policy at this moment in time, however policy makers might need to look to the future and be careful that they do not overdue this type of stimulus and cause inflation.

Adam Minter Reading Response

a. The reason China receives the majority of U.S. scrap is simply the shipping costs. It costs significantly less to ship scrap to China and so even if the price for scrap was better in India, which it rarely is, it is unlikely to be a better deal to ship to India. But why is it cheaper to ship to China? The huge trade imbalance between the U.S. and China causes there to be a significant amount of ships in the U.S. waiting for a backhaul. Scrap is an effective filler, as there is a high demand in China, for the boats that would have gone back empty.

b. "'They're probably migrants from Punjab,' he tells me, then says a couple of words to them in a language I don't understand, and they nod. 'They send money home. It's better than farming. I'm sure they're illiterate.'"
This quote illustrates the displacement of workers from their families in order to make money. The opportunities abroad are better, and as a result they can make more money for them and their families. Unfortunately, this also means they have to live away from their families.

c. Jared Diamond talked a lot about the impacts of geography on which countries were successful and, to some extent, this is still true. The types of geography that lead to success are now different. It is closeness and ease of transportation to countries with a demand for products a country produces and from countries a country has demand for products from that determines whether or not a country is involved internationally, and as a result more likely to be successful in those specific market. The comparison between India and China in the market for scrap metal illustrates this. A factor unrelated to the scrap metal market, the trade imbalance with the U.S. caused by China's more developed industrial sector and ports, leads to China dominating over India despite Jamnagar having a huge demand for scrap.

Marc Levinson Reading Response

a. "Shipping costs no longer offered shelter to high-cost producers whose great advantage was physical proximity to their customers; even with customs duties and time delays, factories in Malaysia could deliver blouses to Macy's in Herald Square more cheaply than could blouse manufacturers in the nearby lofts of New York's garment district." This section really stuck out to me because of the way it related to our class discussions on economic geography. The shipping costs were so decreased that it increased the range of just about everywhere. It also mentioned later in the section that it was not just the cost per mile, but also the cost of transferring the containers to the next section of shipping, such as trucks or trains. These reduced transition costs lead to even greater range for international shippers.

b. He believes that the shipping container is a huge factor contributing to globalization. The container has lowered transportation costs so much that it has had a significant effect on making the law of one price become a reality. It has made costs for many items much more similar around the globe, including that of labor. Obviously there are still extreme differences in parts of the world, but significantly less so than before the shipping container era.

c. Going back to my first point, consumers were helped by the greater competition and supply of goods created by lower shipping costs. The greater competition reduced prices and allowed more people to participate in markets they otherwise could not have. Unfortunately, the same people, this time in the form of job seekers, were hurt by losing bargaining power in the labor market. Although the net effect is clearly positive on the world, the loss of bargaining power by workers in the labor market is certainly an interesting loss. 

UK News Summary 2: Financial Fair Play Against Manchester City

1.       The first ever Financial Fair Play (FFP) sanctions against football clubs are set to be imposed by Uefa. One of the teams being investigated and negotiated with is Manchester City, one of the more popular teams in the Barclay’s Premier League. The FFP rules are designed so that a team can only pay what they make. These rules were instituted to make sure teams were only spending what they earn while paying their taxes and debts on time.  The issue is that within the rules there appears to be a lot of grey area, and the teams are allowed to haggle over their punishment. Manchester City is now haggling over their punishment and whether or not it should even receive one. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27219134

2.       These FFP rules are another example of a league limiting player salaries in the name of more equal competition. Teams with higher revenues can afford to go a bit into debt in order to sign a better team, then, after becoming more competitive, revenues will catch up and they can pay off their debts. The question is, does this actually increase the competitiveness of play or is the main function to reduce player salaries.

3.       From the reading it suggests that team owners trying to limit salaries is the cause of this problem. A solution could be to take the control of policies away from the owners and give them to a third party governing body that has the goal of promoting equal competition.

UK Profile Part Five: Transportation

1. a. The busiest port in the UK is the Felixstowe port. It is the 7th most active port in Europe and 32nd in the world. This port facilitated the travel of over 3 million TEU's (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) in 2011.
b. The United Kingdom Manor Ports Group Limited (UKMPG) operate 41 ports in the country accounting for about 70% of the tonnage handled in the UK.
2. a. Almost all of the railroad freight in the UK was carried out in Great Britain (comprising of England, Scotland, and Wales). In 2011/12 rail freight transported over 101.7 million tonnes worth around £30 billion.
b. Again the majority of railways are in Great Britain, with relatively little in Northern Ireland. The British railway system is the oldest in the world. Also, it is still the 18th largest railway network in the world despite the UK only being the 80th largest country in the world. 
c. The UK road network totals 247,523 miles and is very extensive. This carries over 90% of all motorized passenger travel and 65% of all domestic freight.
3. a. London Heathrow Airport is the busiest international airport in the world. There are several other international airports available such as Gatwick Airport and Manchester Airport.
b. In total the UK has 471 airports and airfields. As a group the London airports are the busiest, single city set of airports in the world.

UK Profile Part Four: International

1.       a. The UK exports many goods, nuclear reactors and parts being the leader at £34.8 billion. Mineral fuels and cars come in at numbers two and three respectively. The Leading country is the United States receiving £31.7 billion worth of goods. Germany and France were second and third in terms of countries.

b. Germany is the leading importer to the UK at £41.1 billion worth of goods followed distantly by the United States and China. The leading import of the UK are manufactured goods, such as cars, making up 83% of total imports

2.       The exchange rate between pounds and dollars is $1.585/£1. In the past 20 years it has been as high as $2/£1 and as low as $1.4/£1, but it very recently it has consistently fluctuated around $1.6/£1.

3.       On net UK migration is positive, with more people immigrating than emigrating. In 2008 nearly 600,000 people immigrated to the UK while around 420,000 people emigrated. As of 2008 7.7% of the UK population was born outside of the EU, while 3.3% were born in EU states other than the UK.

4.       The UK has a long history of colonizing other countries. The U.S., Australia, India, parts of Canada, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Pakistan are all former UK colonies. In the 19^th century it became popular to use the phrase “the empire on which the sun never sets” to describe the British Empire. The UK was also involved in both world wars, allied with the U.S. both times. The greatest historical conflict involves France, the UK’s opponent in the 100 Years War among many others. Within the UK there is another great historical conflict between Scotland and England.

A Fez of the Heart Response

A.      “by law, you could go topless in this Middle Eastern and almost exclusively Muslim country, but you could not wear a fez. These reflections set me off at a high speed and without brakes down a metaphorical cul-de-sac to arrive at an unavoidable comparison of breasts and fezzes. Little, it struck me, was more quintessentially Turkish than the fez; little was less representative of the country than breast-covered beaches. Was one to be banned while the other was encouraged? Was Turkey really more at ease with breasts than fezzes?” (Seal  14).

This part of the reading fascinated me. It truly showed to sacrifices made to culture in the name of economic advancement. In our discussions about whether or not we, as a nation, should interfere with another country in order to help them develop, this shows one of the major arguments against. The other fascinating part is that it happened naturally over time, not by choice. The western world must be wary of its effects on the rest of the world, even if they are not through a formal decision, but rather a cultural transfer that may not benefit the country receiving the influx of ideas.

B.      One of the more disturbing interactions was the man wearing a fez to attract tourists. “’ My boss like me to wear it,’ he replied in English. ‘He think to bring tourists.’ From his disgruntlement, it was apparent that he was an unwilling fez wearer”(Seal  13). This man’s boss was clearly exploiting the former culture of Pomegranate for business.

Another interaction involved the food made available in Pomegranate. “Turkish food had been replaced by ‘handburgers’” (Seal  8). The tourists cause an increase in demand for their traditional foods rather than those of Turkey. It is now more profitable to serve to serve European foods, such as “handburgers” , than the other traditional Turkish foods. As a result, some of the traditional culture of Pomegranate is lost.

“Suddenly, there was a new livelihood called turizm, predicated on the astounding discover that foreigners seemed ahppy to pay for the things---accommodation, meals, and even visits to ruins---that the local people had always marked down under hospitality”(Seal 6). Common courtesy had been turned into a business. Because it was profitable to charge, people no longer invited other people to stay in their house for free. Part of their culture was replaced by a thriving business.

C.      A lot of times, seemingly unimportant parts of culture, that are simply different from what a tourist is used to, will get highlighted. For instance, in East Germany their walk signals had funny pictures rather than the traditional walking man symbol. Walk signals are normally not a huge part of culture, but because these ones are slightly different than normal they are celebrated and shirts are sold with the designs on them.

Language is hugely affected by tourism. In countries in Latin America, such as Costa Rica, whether or not you know English is very closely related to whether or not you work in the tourism industry or live in a highly visited area. On the zip line through the jungle almost everyone spoke English. In one of the poorest areas of the country, where we put on an arts and crafts experience for children, almost none of the children or their parents spoke English.

UK Profile Part Three: Tourism

1. Importance of Tourism:
The UK is the 8th most visited country in the world with 29.2 million tourists in 2011. $17.2 billion was spent by these visitors. Most tourists originate from nearby European countries such as France, Germany, and Ireland, but the third largest and the most profitable tourist base is the U.S.

2. Major Tourist Attractions:
Most tourist attractions are in London, with the most visited place being the Tower of London. St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are also very popular attractions.

3. National Parks, Wildlife or Nature Preserves:
There are 15 national parks in the UK. The most popular is Lake District recieving 14.8 million visitors a year. In England 10 national parks cover 9.3% of total land area.

4. Important Museums:
The UK has many museums, with most of the most popular ones located in London. The British Museum, Tate Modern Museum, National Gallery Museum, and the Natural History Museum all had over 5 million visitors in 2012. London had 11 museums get over 1 million visitors in 2012.

UK Profile Part Two: Economy

Statistics:

1.       GDP: $2.38 trillion

2.       GDP Per Capita: $39,941

3.       Life Expectancy: 80.75 years

4.       Poverty Rate: 14%

5.       Literacy Rate: 99%

6.       Unemployment Rate: 7.1%

7.       Inflation: 1.7%

Resources:

1.       Natural Resources: In general the UK has a temperate climate; however there is significant variation depending on region. More than 50% of the days are overcast and it rains over 100 days per year. Yet, it is significantly warmer than other countries of similar latitude such as Newfoundland. Agriculture physically in the UK produces 60% of their food needs while using only 1% of the labor force and contributing 2% to GDP. The growing season varies year to year but averages around 252 days per year. The largest rivers in the UK are the River Severn, the River Thames, the River Tay, the River Bann, and the River Tywi. The largest lochs and lakes include Lough Neagh, Loch Lomond, Windermere, and Llyn Tegid. The UK has a large variety of natural resources. Fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas and metals such as tin and lead are all mined in the UK.

2.       Labor: The population of the UK is 63.23 million. The labor force participation rate is 62% giving a UK labor force of 39.20 million people. The education system varies from country to country located within the UK, so for this part I will focus on England specifically. Full time education is mandatory from the ages of 5 to 17, which should get the student through a significant portion of secondary school. After which comes tertiary school, typically a three year bachelor’s degree. There is state provided education paid for with taxes, but independent schooling is also available and parents are able to educate their kids in whatever manner they want.

3.       Capital: The UK has several large industries. These include mining, construction, manufacturing, real estate, and a huge financial sector. London is one of three command centers of the global economy. There are over 500 banks in London and it is one of the leaders in international banking.

UK News Summary 1: Half-Marathon canceled due to water shortage

Recently, the Sheffield Half Marathon was canceled due to a water shortage (Here's a link to an article on the cancellation http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-26910318). Apparently the company that was supposed to supply the water never showed up, leaving the hosts of the race unsure what to do. They desperately searched the town for water to provide for the 4,100 runners, but were unable to find enough. They ended up announcing the cancellation at the start line, but many of the runners did not hear it and the rest seemed to ignore it. They ran the race anyway even without the water available. Anyone who has ever trained for anything for months on end can imagine the frustration they must have felt and sympathize with their decision to race anyway.

Thinking about this economically we can relate the concepts of supply and demand to this story. Because of the race, there was a huge increase in demand for water, and the companies that were supposed to provide water for the route not showing up meant the supply did not change. Because this happened so quickly the price was not able to adjust, other suppliers were not able to fill in, and the race faced a shortage of water.

In the future, steps must be taken to ensure that the companies must show up, preventing this situation from happening again. The companies responsible this time must be punished, to make other companies providing water realize they cannot bail out last minute without facing consequences. Also, the runners should be given a refund for their entry fee, on account of the last second cancellation. Maybe the missing water companies should pay them, solving both issues.

UK Profile Part one: Culture

1.         Popular Sports-The most popular sport is association football (soccer to us).In terms of league play the most popular league is the Barclays Premier League with teams such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur. Another popular sport is tennis. They host The Championships Wimbledon, a world renowned tennis tournament and one of four grand slam tournaments. Andy Murray, a Scottish tennis player who recently won the tournament, is tremendously popular.

2.       Music-The United Kingdom has a tremendous history of influential music. They were leaders during both the Baroque and Classical eras. There is also a strong history of English, Northern Irish, Scottish, and Welsh folk music. More recently, but still historical, one of the most influential bands on American music came from the UK, The Beatles. More recently still, the invention of dubstep, rappers such as Tinie Tempah, and Ed Sheeran are all modern influential musicians from the UK.

3.       Food-Traditional UK food was cooked simply to bring out the full flavor of the dish, rather than use sauces to disguise flavor. More recently however, it has received an influence from Indian cuisine to include more spices. Each individual country within the UK has its own specific cuisine as well. England is famous for its Sunday Roast and Fish and Chips dishes.

4.       Major Religions and/or Spiritual Beliefs-The UK has a large variety of religions. That being said it was created as an Anglican Christian country, which remains its largest religion. Others include Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Hinduism.

5.       National Holidays and Traditional Customs-The UK has very few holidays and share several with the U.S. with the obvious exceptions of Thanksgiving and Independence Day. New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas Day are all either common law holidays or bank holidays.

6.       Popular TV Shows or Movies-Several popular TV Shows have origins in the U.K. including Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Top Gear. Also Harry Potter, with all three of the main characters being huge stars. The list of current, influential UK actors is incredibly long including people such as Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Jeremy Clarkson, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie.

7.       Online News Sources-The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is a very famous example of a UK news source that also covers events from all around the world as well. It also has a UK specific section (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk/). The Telegraph is another news source with roots in the UK and a specific UK section (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/).

8.       Online Forums for Expatriates- (http://www.expatforum.com/expats/britain-expat-forum-expats-living-uk/) is the UK specific section of a large online forum for expatriates. It is for expatriates from other countries, while (http://britishexpats.com/forum/) is a country specific forum for UK expatriates around the world.

9.       Type of Government-The UK has  a parliamentary government with two houses, the appointed House of Lords and the elected House of Commons. The UK has three major political parties the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, and the Liberal Democrats. Combined these three parties claimed 622 of 650 seats in the House of Commons. The current Prime Minister of the UK is David Cameron. The Labour Party is led by Ed Miliband, the Liberal Democrats by Lord Jim Wallace, and the Conservative Party by the Prime Minister David Cameron.

Chapter 1 Questions Response

1. When discussing markets McMillan gives a definition of one of their key aspects. "a market transaction, then is an exchange that is voluntary: each party can veto it, and (subject to the rules of the marketplace) each freely agrees to the terms."(6). This highlights several of the defining characteristics McMillan presents. First, as he puts it "decision-making autonomy is key...they are free to make decisions--to buy, to sell, to exert effort, to invest--that reflect their own preferences"(5). Second, competition is important. When competition is present on both sides it levels the playing field and adds to the autonomy. Third, a set of established rules must be present to govern the market. Without these rules, the market might not function properly and could actually hurt, rather than help. A final characteristic he points out is the spread of culture through the market. "As a byproduct of their trading activities, the merchants spread new ideas and inventions"(4).

2. I have observed both intensely positive and intensely negative feelings towards markets. One thing markets do is create winners and losers in some senses. If someone has come up with the short end of the stick, has no safety net, and as a result suffers greatly they may despise markets. Even just observing someone or groups of people suffering and feeling helpless can create a distrust in markets. On the other hand, government can be inefficient. There is a large amount of fraud and misused funds in government work. Some might not believe that the money lost due to inefficiency is worth the benefits gained from government work. Personally I'm not sure which way I lean. I believe that each situation is different and should be considered independently. That being said, I think in general a market with a solid set of rules is usually the ideal.

3. In the Law and Economics course we briefly discussed the role of the legal system in providing a set of rules to be used as a framework for exchange. Laws enforce contracts, define and protect property, determine liability, and prevent violence. All of these promote an environment of people being willing and able to efficiently exchange goods. Besides these, rules that reduce transaction costs, for instance the set pricing used in U.S. stores reducing the time and effort spent bartering and reducing accounting costs, are also very important.

Questions from the Jared Diamond reading

a. Identify Diamond's major themes and key points.
The leading theme of Diamond's argument is that racial differences did not cause the vast technological gaps between parts of the world present at the start of the colonial age. He also believes the reason racist arguments are used so often is because historians tend to avoid discussing this aspect of that era to give a viable alternative, unlike him. He then goes into the specifics of what caused the differences, showing how to understand we need to go back nearly 13,000 years into the past to find what kick-started the differences in development. He finds specific geographical and environmental differences between the continents that not only allowed Eurasia to develop more quickly, but also made them develop in such a way that it accelerated faster than other continents as well. He then discusses the concept of science, showing how anything humans do to gain knowledge, including history, truly is a science. Science is about knowledge, not the specific way you obtain it.
b. What does he identify as the most important determinants to a society's success?
As far back in history as he goes, approximately 13,000 years, he points to certain geographical and environmental traits that determine a society's success. First, the availability of animals capable of domestication. These animals, such as horses, gave them huge advantages in battle, living closely with them gave them more powerful diseases that they were immune to, and their ability to produce excess food gave them more time to develop metallurgy, technologies, such as guns and steel swords, and writing. The second main contributing factor is that Eurasia's long axis goes east/west rather than north/south such as the Americas' axis or Africa's. This created a more consistent climate, allowing the spread of domesticated plants and lead to the development of larger communities and more complex political systems, one of the main reasons why it was the Europeans venturing to the Americas and not the other way around. The final lesson comes from Australia. Societies with large populations and close ties with nearby societies will be more likely to keep positive technologies and improve on ineffective ones. Because Australia was so isolated and large parts of it were not capable of sustaining life effectively, it feel behind economically and agriculturally.
c. How can these ideas be applied to today's global economy?
The key ideas he showed were that some societies were more isolated and had fewer domesticated animals and plants, and therefore those societies developed technology, arts, and political systems more slowly. This is obviously a powerful explanation for the current distribution of wealth between nations. But, with newly developed technologies we can come up with ways to minimize these problems. With increased globalization and international trade, societies are less isolated than ever. With further increased free trade we could continue this trend and hopefully develop technologies even more quickly. Also global transportation provides a way to move domesticated animals to all parts of the world, reducing this problem for the areas previously lacking in animals capable of domestication. The main problem with the spread of domesticated plants was too much variability in climate. Now, with the capability of creating Genetically Modified Organisms capable of surviving in several different climates and the ability to move them throughout the world with global transportation, we can work to solve this problem as well.