#econ20A
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Opportunity Cost
by Nicholas Mays (82012848)
Opportunity Cost: Introduction Opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. A simpler way to describe this is by using examples. For instance, if you choose to pick a certain decision over the other, then that is an opportunity cost. Say you pick donuts over coffee, and if you pick one, you lose out on the other. Moving on from examples, this group project involves people from multiple discussion groups and all tells of our personal experiences with opportunity cost, and how it affected our lives. From the pandemic and sports, to managing time with work and school, our group collected all our personal traits and memories with opportunity cost and combined them here.
Michelle Hoang
56089168
Discussion: Thursday 7PM
During the pandemic, there were many choices I had to make that would not only affect the present but also my future. An opportunity cost is defined as a “loss you take to make a gain.” For example, I really wanted to participate in my team’s soccer tournament. However, due to the pandemic, I chose to stay at home and practice social distancing. The opportunity cost would be being able to play soccer. If I had chosen to go to the soccer tournament, the opportunity cost would have been my health. Opportunity costs help people rationalize decisions.
Nicholas Mays
82012848
Discussion: Wednesday 4:00-4:50 PM
A great example of opportunity cost for me, would be during the pandemic. During my junior year in high school I was presented with a choice which I made on my own. That choice was to continue doing schoolwork and enjoying my off-days during the weekends, or start becoming more productive and finding a job so I could utilize my abilities as much as I could and learn all I could. I decided to find a job, and shortly after searching for about 1-2 months, I found an entry-level retail job, which any junior year high schooler could find. However, since this was merely a retail job, I was given many work days and hours. I was not only stripped of my off-time during the weekends, but also 3-4 days during the weekdays also. This was the decision I made over relaxing and being unproductive when I didn’t have school work to do. This opportunity cost for me challenged me more than I expected, however I emerged more knowledgeable about how working a job feels, and it is tough if you don’t learn to manage your time early on, and that experience during my junior year taught me a little bit about that.
Jason Jungreis
83293786
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I will graduate from UCI this spring, and I plan to go to law school after I graduate. A year ago, my plan was to start law school right after I graduated from UCI, however that would have required that I take the LSAT in 2022, which would have required that I study for it during the summer of 2022, as I am too busy to study for it during the school year. However, during the summer of 2022, I participated in the UCDC program. This is where students from all UC campuses go to Washington, DC, live in a building called the UCDC Center, and find an internship in Washington DC. Before I left for the program, I had planned to study for the LSAT in Washington while I was not interning. Once I got to Washington however, I realized how many fun things there were to do. I became close friends with the other people in the program so I spent a lot of time with them. There were also a lot of cool museums and sites to see. I realized that if I studied for the LSAT that summer, that would mean much less for me to explore the city with the people I met in the program. If I didn’t study for the LSAT however, that would mean I would have to wait a year to start law school, as I wouldn’t be able to start studying for the LSAT until summer of 2023. This was therefore an example of the principle of opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of studying for the LSAT during the summer would be spending less time with the other people in the program and less time seeing the various museums and landmarks in DC. The opportunity cost of spending time sightseeing with the other people in UCDC would be studying for the LSAT and starting law school right after I graduate in 2023. In the end, I decided to wait a year to study for the LSAT so I could enjoy my time in Washington. I figured that I would never get an opportunity like UCDC again. Being able to explore the nation’s capitol with people my age was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and certainly one I would remember forever. There was also no harm in waiting to take the LSAT. Yes, I was excited to start law school, however I would likely have a similar experience regardless of whether or not I started in 2023 or 2024. I think this example perfectly illustrates opportunity cost. I had to make a difficult tradeoff between two things, both of which had their own benefits. Looking back, I definitely feel I made the right decision. I had an amazing experience this summer in Washington, DC, and I’m still in touch with a lot of the friends I made, even the ones that go to other UC schools. Also, I don’t think it will be that bad to work for a year before starting law school.
Me and some friends in DC school
Pic on a white house tour
UC Davis where I wanna attend law
Diana Martinon Villasenor
20145863
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I was born and raised into a football family. Because of this, I have been playing flag football since I was little, and I have become very good with practice and time. I currently play in a league in Newport Beach, and it has a couple of scoring rules in order to make the game more equitable for everyone. One of these rules is the number of points gained when a woman scores, which is 8 points, compared to the usual 6 points of when a man scores. Therefore, every single game me and my teammates are forced to deal with the topic of opportunity cost. Sometimes when we are losing, the faster way to catch up on points with the other team is to throw the ball to the girls so we can get more points for girl touchdowns, however we understand that is not always the easiest choice for our quarterback, since the other team understands the point system as well and therefore has us girls more covered. It would be easier for us to score boy touchdowns, however we understand that the opportunity cost would be lower if we risk the ball and throw it to the girls. I have attached some pictures of me and my teams.
Opportunity Cost: Conclusion
In this group project, we combined all our experiences of opportunity cost, which range from our time during the pandemic with sports, to figuring out time management skills with work, and even the cost of studying for an important exam. Nonetheless, opportunity cost has had an impact in all our lives, and is the key concept we all took away from Econ 20A this quarter. Opportunity cost is merely the definition we figured out this quarter however, it has been an impact in our lives for as long as we could remember. Such as picking what college to go to, what friends to meet along the way, and even as simple as choosing our diets. This concept has been in our lives far before we were introduced to it in Econ 20A nevertheless, we all managed to learn from it and adapt with it to better our lives and impact the decisions we made.
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Justin Lee (ID: 49048234)
My Econ Live in soccer market
Introduction
When we see the sports game, we may be curious about how players and clubs earn the money. We are able to check the difference about earning money between players who are professional and players who are either semi-professional or amateur. Not only players but also soccer clubs have different incomes. Among lots of soccer leagues in the world, this post concentrates on the famous soccer league in the English Premier League.
How players receive their annual salary or weekly wage
In the case of players, obviously players can get a chance when they have a good performance on the field and have many matches. For example, we will compare two star soccer players Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez. Firstly, when we look at Haaland’s graph, he scored 28 goals in 26 matches, so his goal’s rate is 1.08. On the other hand, when we check Nunez’s graph, he scored 8 goals in 20 matches, so his goal’s rate is 0.40. According to the graph, we can know 2 facts: absolute advantage, and comparative advantage. Haaland has an absolute advantage better than Nunez because he can play more matches and get scores on the field. However, Haaland has the comparative advantage in getting scores and Nunez has the comparative advantage in playing matches. When we check Haaland’s value is 170 million euros and Nunez’s value is 70 million euros, these two players' values are appropriated.
How Soccer clubs earn their incomes
In the previous paragraph, it was explained about players’ salary and their profit. This paragraph will show how soccer clubs earn their incomes. For instance, we will check one on the biggest English club Arsenal. In the case of Arsenal, the profit was 39.5 million euros and the loss was 127.2 million euros in 2021. After a year, but, the profit was 80.8 million euros and the loss was 45.5 million euros. The change of profit and loss from 2021 to 2022 was positive since the profit was increasing and the loss was decreasing. Therefore, we can claim that Arsenal’s finances are stable and this club’s future is bright.
Conclusion
For these reasons, the incomes of soccer players and clubs are significantly higher than our expectation. In addition, if players and clubs are famous and have a good performance, the incomes could increase a lot.
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Opportunity Cost
by Nicholas Mays (82012848)
Opportunity Cost: Introduction Opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. A simpler way to describe this is by using examples. For instance, if you choose to pick a certain decision over the other, then that is an opportunity cost. Say you pick donuts over coffee, and if you pick one, you lose out on the other. Moving on from examples, this group project involves people from multiple discussion groups and all tells of our personal experiences with opportunity cost, and how it affected our lives. From the pandemic and sports, to managing time with work and school, our group collected all our personal traits and memories with opportunity cost and combined them here.
Michelle Hoang
56089168
Discussion: Thursday 7PM
During the pandemic, there were many choices I had to make that would not only affect the present but also my future. An opportunity cost is defined as a “loss you take to make a gain.” For example, I really wanted to participate in my team’s soccer tournament. However, due to the pandemic, I chose to stay at home and practice social distancing. The opportunity cost would be being able to play soccer. If I had chosen to go to the soccer tournament, the opportunity cost would have been my health. Opportunity costs help people rationalize decisions.
Nicholas Mays
82012848
Discussion: Wednesday 4:00-4:50 PM
A great example of opportunity cost for me, would be during the pandemic. During my junior year in high school I was presented with a choice which I made on my own. That choice was to continue doing schoolwork and enjoying my off-days during the weekends, or start becoming more productive and finding a job so I could utilize my abilities as much as I could and learn all I could. I decided to find a job, and shortly after searching for about 1-2 months, I found an entry-level retail job, which any junior year high schooler could find. However, since this was merely a retail job, I was given many work days and hours. I was not only stripped of my off-time during the weekends, but also 3-4 days during the weekdays also. This was the decision I made over relaxing and being unproductive when I didn’t have school work to do. This opportunity cost for me challenged me more than I expected, however I emerged more knowledgeable about how working a job feels, and it is tough if you don’t learn to manage your time early on, and that experience during my junior year taught me a little bit about that.
Jason Jungreis
83293786
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I will graduate from UCI this spring, and I plan to go to law school after I graduate. A year ago, my plan was to start law school right after I graduated from UCI, however that would have required that I take the LSAT in 2022, which would have required that I study for it during the summer of 2022, as I am too busy to study for it during the school year. However, during the summer of 2022, I participated in the UCDC program. This is where students from all UC campuses go to Washington, DC, live in a building called the UCDC Center, and find an internship in Washington DC. Before I left for the program, I had planned to study for the LSAT in Washington while I was not interning. Once I got to Washington however, I realized how many fun things there were to do. I became close friends with the other people in the program so I spent a lot of time with them. There were also a lot of cool museums and sites to see. I realized that if I studied for the LSAT that summer, that would mean much less for me to explore the city with the people I met in the program. If I didn’t study for the LSAT however, that would mean I would have to wait a year to start law school, as I wouldn’t be able to start studying for the LSAT until summer of 2023. This was therefore an example of the principle of opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of studying for the LSAT during the summer would be spending less time with the other people in the program and less time seeing the various museums and landmarks in DC. The opportunity cost of spending time sightseeing with the other people in UCDC would be studying for the LSAT and starting law school right after I graduate in 2023. In the end, I decided to wait a year to study for the LSAT so I could enjoy my time in Washington. I figured that I would never get an opportunity like UCDC again. Being able to explore the nation’s capitol with people my age was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and certainly one I would remember forever. There was also no harm in waiting to take the LSAT. Yes, I was excited to start law school, however I would likely have a similar experience regardless of whether or not I started in 2023 or 2024. I think this example perfectly illustrates opportunity cost. I had to make a difficult tradeoff between two things, both of which had their own benefits. Looking back, I definitely feel I made the right decision. I had an amazing experience this summer in Washington, DC, and I’m still in touch with a lot of the friends I made, even the ones that go to other UC schools. Also, I don’t think it will be that bad to work for a year before starting law school.
Me and some friends in DC school
Pic on a white house tour
UC Davis where I wanna attend law
Diana Martinon Villasenor
20145863
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I was born and raised into a football family. Because of this, I have been playing flag football since I was little, and I have become very good with practice and time. I currently play in a league in Newport Beach, and it has a couple of scoring rules in order to make the game more equitable for everyone. One of these rules is the number of points gained when a woman scores, which is 8 points, compared to the usual 6 points of when a man scores. Therefore, every single game me and my teammates are forced to deal with the topic of opportunity cost. Sometimes when we are losing, the faster way to catch up on points with the other team is to throw the ball to the girls so we can get more points for girl touchdowns, however we understand that is not always the easiest choice for our quarterback, since the other team understands the point system as well and therefore has us girls more covered. It would be easier for us to score boy touchdowns, however we understand that the opportunity cost would be lower if we risk the ball and throw it to the girls. I have attached some pictures of me and my team.
Opportunity Cost: Conclusion
In this group project, we combined all our experiences of opportunity cost, which range from our time during the pandemic with sports, to figuring out time management skills with work, and even the cost of studying for an important exam. Nonetheless, opportunity cost has had an impact in all our lives, and is the key concept we all took away from Econ 20A this quarter. Opportunity cost is merely the definition we figured out this quarter however, it has been an impact in our lives for as long as we could remember. Such as picking what college to go to, what friends to meet along the way, and even as simple as choosing our diets. This concept has been in our lives far before we were introduced to it in Econ 20A nevertheless, we all managed to learn from it and adapt with it to better our lives and impact the decisions we made.
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Hi!
Here is my presentation on the boba shortage during covid-19 and how it relates to econ 20A.
Name: Ashley Inocencio
ID: 31595848
Link in case these do not post: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eJBHrwRoFTkU2X5rykL2e3kK1HFxXXn48DylPLPrcyQ/edit?usp=sharing
ENJOY!
@tuesday8econlive
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Opportunity Cost
By, Nicholas Mays, Michelle Hoang, Diana Martinon Villasenor, Jason Jungreis
Opportunity Cost: Introduction Opportunity cost is the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen. A simpler way to describe this is by using examples. For instance, if you choose to pick a certain decision over the other, then that is an opportunity cost. Say you pick donuts over coffee, and if you pick one, you lose out on the other. Moving on from examples, this group project involves people from multiple discussion groups and all tells of our personal experiences with opportunity cost, and how it affected our lives. From the pandemic and sports, to managing time with work and school, our group collected all our personal traits and memories with opportunity cost and combined them here.
Michelle Hoang
56089168
Discussion: Thursday 7PM
During the pandemic, there were many choices I had to make that would not only affect the present but also my future. An opportunity cost is defined as a “loss you take to make a gain.” For example, I really wanted to participate in my team’s soccer tournament. However, due to the pandemic, I chose to stay at home and practice social distancing. The opportunity cost would be being able to play soccer. If I had chosen to go to the soccer tournament, the opportunity cost would have been my health. Opportunity costs help people rationalize decisions.
Nicholas Mays
82012848
Discussion: Wednesday 4:00-4:50 PM
A great example of opportunity cost for me, would be during the pandemic. During my junior year in high school I was presented with a choice which I made on my own. That choice was to continue doing schoolwork and enjoying my off-days during the weekends, or start becoming more productive and finding a job so I could utilize my abilities as much as I could and learn all I could. I decided to find a job, and shortly after searching for about 1-2 months, I found an entry-level retail job, which any junior year high schooler could find. However, since this was merely a retail job, I was given many work days and hours. I was not only stripped of my off-time during the weekends, but also 3-4 days during the weekdays also. This was the decision I made over relaxing and being unproductive when I didn’t have school work to do. This opportunity cost for me challenged me more than I expected, however I emerged more knowledgeable about how working a job feels, and it is tough if you don’t learn to manage your time early on, and that experience during my junior year taught me a little bit about that.
Jason Jungreis
83293786
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I will graduate from UCI this spring, and I plan to go to law school after I graduate. A year ago, my plan was to start law school right after I graduated from UCI, however that would have required that I take the LSAT in 2022, which would have required that I study for it during the summer of 2022, as I am too busy to study for it during the school year. However, during the summer of 2022, I participated in the UCDC program. This is where students from all UC campuses go to Washington, DC, live in a building called the UCDC Center, and find an internship in Washington DC. Before I left for the program, I had planned to study for the LSAT in Washington while I was not interning. Once I got to Washington however, I realized how many fun things there were to do. I became close friends with the other people in the program so I spent a lot of time with them. There were also a lot of cool museums and sites to see. I realized that if I studied for the LSAT that summer, that would mean much less for me to explore the city with the people I met in the program. If I didn’t study for the LSAT however, that would mean I would have to wait a year to start law school, as I wouldn’t be able to start studying for the LSAT until summer of 2023. This was therefore an example of the principle of opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of studying for the LSAT during the summer would be spending less time with the other people in the program and less time seeing the various museums and landmarks in DC. The opportunity cost of spending time sightseeing with the other people in UCDC would be studying for the LSAT and starting law school right after I graduate in 2023. In the end, I decided to wait a year to study for the LSAT so I could enjoy my time in Washington. I figured that I would never get an opportunity like UCDC again. Being able to explore the nation’s capitol with people my age was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and certainly one I would remember forever. There was also no harm in waiting to take the LSAT. Yes, I was excited to start law school, however I would likely have a similar experience regardless of whether or not I started in 2023 or 2024. I think this example perfectly illustrates opportunity cost. I had to make a difficult tradeoff between two things, both of which had their own benefits. Looking back, I definitely feel I made the right decision. I had an amazing experience this summer in Washington, DC, and I’m still in touch with a lot of the friends I made, even the ones that go to other UC schools. Also, I don’t think it will be that bad to work for a year before starting law school.
Me and some friends in DC school
Pic on a white house tour
UC Davis where I wanna attend law
Diana Martinon Villasenor
20145863
Discussion: Thursday 7:00 PM
I was born and raised into a football family. Because of this, I have been playing flag football since I was little, and I have become very good with practice and time. I currently play in a league in Newport Beach, and it has a couple of scoring rules in order to make the game more equitable for everyone. One of these rules is the number of points gained when a woman scores, which is 8 points, compared to the usual 6 points of when a man scores. Therefore, every single game me and my teammates are forced to deal with the topic of opportunity cost. Sometimes when we are losing, the faster way to catch up on points with the other team is to throw the ball to the girls so we can get more points for girl touchdowns, however we understand that is not always the easiest choice for our quarterback, since the other team understands the point system as well and therefore has us girls more covered. It would be easier for us to score boy touchdowns, however we understand that the opportunity cost would be lower if we risk the ball and throw it to the girls. I have attached some pictures of me and my team.
Opportunity Cost: Conclusion
In this group project, we combined all our experiences of opportunity cost, which range from our time during the pandemic with sports, to figuring out time management skills with work, and even the cost of studying for an important exam. Nonetheless, opportunity cost has had an impact in all our lives, and is the key concept we all took away from Econ 20A this quarter. Opportunity cost is merely the definition we figured out this quarter however, it has been an impact in our lives for as long as we could remember. Such as picking what college to go to, what friends to meet along the way, and even as simple as choosing our diets. This concept has been in our lives far before we were introduced to it in Econ 20A nevertheless, we all managed to learn from it and adapt with it to better our lives and impact the decisions we made.
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Grocery Economics
As a child I would go grocery shopping with my parents quite often but never really understood the value behind everything we got. I did the typical things a kid does and asked for whatever looked really good at the time and they would tell me to go put it back because I can’t have too much sugar. It was an experience that I never thought much about until taking this economics class. Maybe they said it was about the sugar or it could’ve been about the cost? I was fortunate enough to have a lot of experiences growing up that others weren’t able to and now I think of all the times they would not buy certain things and I find myself wondering how many of their decisions when I was younger were economically driven.
As I grew older I began to realize the value of so many different things in my life but still never had to think about spending my own money and budgeting since I was living off the support of my parents. When I got to college even, my first year I was fortunate enough for them to get me the unlimited swipes plan at the Brandywine dining hall. So even then I didn’t have to budget my swipes or be concerned about not being able to come back in for more food at any time. I knew I wouldn’t continue to live like this eventually moving off campus but I left that to be an issue for my future self to deal with. However, I myself, along with everyone else in the world, was not expecting what happened next: COVID-19. This had me move back home and once again had no power or control over which groceries were acquired and how much of each. It wasn’t until I finally moved into a house off campus and went back to in-person schooling that I was finally forced myself to budget for groceries and other expenses.
This was the first time I had experienced a budget constraint in my own decision making. I had to get enough food with the money I was provided to last long enough until I was given more money for groceries which was about every two weeks. At this point I really had to consider the opportunity cost of everything that I bought for myself. I always loved freezer food for the ease it took to make it so this was the majority of my budget for the first few times I was getting groceries for myself. My girlfriend and I were getting more and more serious once I moved out and we started eating more cooked meals together so I couldn’t also just get freezer food and snacks to feed the both of us. This parameter had me starting to buy meat and produce but not in sensible quantities. I would get steaks and just frozen vegetables but these were not cost efficient items to buy because they rarely could be spread out throughout the week.
My parents eventually started to budget less money for my groceries after my now fiance moved in with me. This was reasonable considering the groceries were now providing for two individuals so both individuals should be asked to contribute equally. We also eventually realized the food we were buying was not cost effective and we found ourselves frequently going to the grocery store. This started to make us look to other grocery stores for food so we can get more food for equal costs. What this represents economically is that the demand for more mainstream name brands was much higher and thus cost more than lesser known or lesser quality brands. We eventually, but only recently, have found a store that provides fresh produce in amounts more suitable to our meal sizes to last longer as well as smaller amounts of meat for much cheaper. This made me realize while taking this class that grocery stores are in monopolistic competition selling slightly different products and goods at different prices trying to cater to different customers. For example, the cost of Costco items is efficient per unit because of the large quantity per package but due to the smaller household size, produce and meat was not a logical item to buy here as it would go bad in the amount of time it would take us to eat such large quantities of food.
This entire time I now realize that I was weighing the opportunity costs of all my financial decisions since I wasn’t budgeting for outings and eating out it became out of the question. Any time I would consider buying fast food, I would think of how many groceries I could’ve acquired with the money that this single meal would cost. It not only would cost the money I am paying but would cost me the ability to buy snacks to eat later or beverages to drink besides water. Even beverages became something I began to weigh the opportunity costs of because I realized if I become accustomed to drinking only water I can save more money to buy either more food or better quality items. Living off the budget I was given I also had to weigh the opportunity cost of going out in general to stores or to events with friends because it would take away from money I could use for food. Even earlier when I lived by myself I weighed the opportunity cost of freezer food because I may be giving up a variety of meals and freshness of ingredients but I am saving time in meal preparation time and cleaning time afterwards. These practices made me realize I was already considering economic principles in my daily life and decisions however this class enlightened me in a way where I can now be more knowledgeable about how large corporations are marketing to try and make me consider the opportunity costs of their items to outweigh whatever items I was paying for previously that were not from them.
Name: Isaac Weise
Student ID#: 53651516
Disc Sec: Tuesday 7PM
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How inflation affects grocery prices
Student Names & ID:
Aurash Azad: 81969644
Tayeh Ahadi: 46283688
Discussion Time: Thursday 7-7:50pm
Eggs:
In the past year, many groceries have seen an increase in prices due to several different factors, such as supply shortages, labor shortages, and natural disasters. In the latter category is eggs, which has had a 138% increase in price in the past year. Before, the average for a dozen Grade A eggs was approximately $1.79, but as of January of this year, the average price has gone up to $4.25. What could be the cause? For the most part, the rising price of eggs can be attributed to the avian bird flu that has swept the nation in the recent months, affecting close to 60 million birds, and as a result, their eggs. The bird flu has not only decreased the supply of eggs to the country, but also increased their overall prices. However, the high price of eggs doesn't detain all Americans, as they are considered a food staple to many, since they are used in a wide range of dishes, such as breakfast foods and baked dishes. The low supply of eggs coupled with their stable consumption means that in many grocery stores across America, eggs are completely sold out. Another source of high prices could be due to price gouging in major egg firms, such as Cal-Maine Foods, which has reported an increase of 600% in quarterly gross profit, though they haven’t had any cases of avian bird flu on their farms. Thus, although the egg industry has seen a decrease in supply due to the avian bird flu, a lot of the price increase is associated with large firms using the flu as an excuse to gouge prices in order to increase their profits, not thinking of the effects they may have on their consumers. In my personal experience, I use eggs frequently in my breakfast as they’re a quick and easy source of nutrition, and they’re versatile in a way that many other foods aren’t. Also, as a college student with very little income, eggs have served as a staple in my fridge since the beginning of university. However, in recent months, I have had to be more frugal in how I spend my grocery budget, and that means less eggs and healthy food options, and more cheap, low-quality food that’ll last me longer. However, even when I plan to buy eggs, they are not always available in my local grocery stores. Just recently, my trip to Trader Joe’s revealed empty rows where eggs used to be, as consumers continue to buy them even as their supply decreases. Eggs, though seemingly inconsequential in day-to-day life, play a significant role in many foods, and their price increase coupled with their supply shortage has resulted in distressing grocery trips all across the country.
Butter:
Grocery prices have been on the rise within the past few years. The COVID-19 pandemic that began March 2020 is only one reason to blame the skyrocketing prices, and the shortage of supply in the market. A shortage is when the quantity demanded is disproportionate and larger than the supply available at the market price. After the breakout of the pandemic, many of us would walk into grocery stores to see nothing left on the shelves. There are many different reasons for the rise of prices, and a few important ones that can be seen include shortages within labor as well as supply. According to the Time magazine, the price for one stick of butter has increased more than 31% just within the past year. The average price of butter was set at $3.47, and is now found to be $4.81 on average across most cities in the United States. Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, dairy farmers are blaming the extreme heat, along with the small cow herds, which includes the results of financial combats as the primary reason for the increase in the price for butter. The shortage of butter has caused major concerns in the US, not only for consumers, but for factories and productions as well. One of the main reasons for this is set due to milk production setbacks that occurred within the economy. The demand for butter is increasing, even as the rates for dairy production is lowering, which is causing a lower availability in the supply market. Besides the direct effect it has on the market industry, it affects the lives of individuals as well. For example, butter is an essential ingredient to both chefs as well as bakers, to almost everyone using it in the global economy. Most dishes around the world incorporate butter into their ingredients and are used to help melt or fry, complement, or enhance flavor. The cost of producing dairy products has widely increased and therefore has caused the supply to decrease. How has this affected my personal life? Well, here at UC Irvine it has been difficult living on campus, on a college budget and having to purchase groceries to cook meals. It has become more difficult due to the recent rise in grocery prices, but more specifically butter. Using butter is a crucial ingredient to many different dishes, including eggs, which have also seen inflation within the past few years. With the rise in prices and the decrease in supply available, it has been hard to get access to many basic grocery needs, including butter. Not only do I use butter to cook, but to bake as well. Whether it has been a cookie, cake, or any other dessert, one of the principle ingredients is butter and without it, it makes it very hard to bake or cook. Overall, the rise in grocery prices has caused a worldwide crisis in many households and has put no option but a budget to be imposed in many families that had never thought about having one before. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic emergency slowly coming to an end, along with the combination of farmers beginning to recover from the pandemic and fertilizer costs slowly beginning to decrease, we can anticipate that grocery prices, including the price of butter will begin to decrease once again.
Sources:
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Ticketmaster, The Master of All Tickets
Thoa Pham
37685344
ECON20A Monday 3PM
Introduction
As a teenage girl with a mediocre social life and an undying academic victim streak, I have to resort to other means to find my happiness–music. Now, I’m sure many people can relate to me in this aspect because music is a component of our lives that we cannot completely get rid of, even if some of us hate it. It allows us to feel, and we know that feeling our emotions is extremely important. Personally, I am a big fan of the K-Pop group, Enhypen, so in order to REALLY feel, I bought their concert tickets, and I knew that my enemy from the start was going to be Ticketmaster, the platform where everything goes down, where people want to rip their hair out to see their favorite artists.
Ticketmaster as a Monopoly
In 2010, Ticketmaster and Live Nation had a merger that was speculated to lower ticket prices and increase the efficiency in the ticketing market. However, not much of these goals that they had in mind were observed in the last 14 years. The platform is known to have terrible service and absurd amounts charged for tickets themselves, and services fees along with that. There have been many lawsuits filed against them for acting like a monopoly and kicking out competition from the market. To be completely clear, Ticketmaster is not the only online ticketing platform, however, due to the fact that their competitors do not perform as well as them, they are allowed to function in a monopolistic model instead.
It has been highlighted that many artists do not have much control over setting the price of their own concert tickets, and it is mostly Ticketmaster’s decision. Serena Elton, a former executive with EMI has stated that “Your choice becomes do a deal with them and do this tour, or don’t and don’t tour”, emphasizing how little control over their agreements the actual artists and their team gets. Rosen, the CEO of Ticketmaster, changed the system so that instead of paying Ticketmaster for using their website, Ticketmaster would pay the venues a portion of the service fees. This allowed them to be the sole provider of concert tickets because the venues were getting paid to use their platform.
As a result, this led to even higher service fees charged towards ticket buyers, so that there was enough profit to divide to venues. Although service fees are at an all time high (as much as ~30% of face value), concert tickets are still in high demand as there are many fans that would pay these fees for the tradeoff of their happiness. Companies like Ticketmaster feed off of this high demand by raising ticket prices without worrying about whether their tickets will be bought or not, and since they are similar to a monopoly, they can set their own prices without much worries. Even as their CEO has stated, he is not worried about the change in demand due to service fees.
lh7-us.googleusercontent.com
The graph above shows that at the level of quantity produced by Ticketmaster, their price should be much lower at P*, rather than at P^m, the monopoly pricing where MC=MR, and the quantity at that point is priced at where it intersects with the Demand curve, D. The profit that Ticketmaster makes is also shown in the graph along with the deadweight loss that consumers lose in the value that they pay for and the producers lose in the benefits that they get.
Dynamic Pricing Strategy
Another aspect of Ticketmaster that is extremely despised by fans of artists is their dynamic pricing. This means that when demands are high, their supply will also be high, increasing the prices of the tickets, especially during the beginning hours of ticket sales, where the website will have traffic jams with people queuing up to purchase tickets.
lh7-us.googleusercontent.com
Resellers
While many fans wait in the queue despite the 8000+ people in front of them, there are many who are not able to grab a ticket for themselves because there are faster “fans” in front of them. These people are most likely just as despised as Ticketmaster, due to the high prices that they resell the tickets at. Most of the time, these tickets sit on the website for a long time, awaiting someone who will purchase them. As time goes on, the prices get lowered and this is why many people will wait until the last minute to make these purchases. Resellers, however, operate by setting their prices higher than the price that they purchased for through a markup by following P > c. However, they do not get to keep the entire difference of their sales as Ticketmaster does take a portion of that profit for themselves.
Conclusion
My friends and I were absolutely shocked to wait in the queue early and enter the ticketing site with almost nosebleed tickets that were priced at $75 dollars each due to the lack of choices that were available. Then as we were checking out three tickets, the total shot up to over $350 dollars. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. Because it was my first time buying tickets for a concert, and it was on Ticketmaster, I got to understand the hatred towards Ticketmaster that so many fans from different artists have for it. However, as I am looking at the website right now, there are reselling tickets that go for $300 for the same section that I bought, making me feel very grateful. I think my biggest takeaway from this experience is to save my money next time and simply watch through a laptop screen on Youtube instead.
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Wall Street Bets Shifting Stock Market Activity Due to Covid-19 and the Digital Age
Benjamin Bierlein
76418644
Econ Live
Covid-19 has deleteriously affected the stock market and the economy in general. Unfortunately, the virus and legislation has destroyed many small businesses and jobs. Even though some businesses have been harmed greatly from the virus, some firms have been growing rapidly due to their internet presence. Firms such as Zoom, Postmates, Uber Eats, and Shopify have greatly benefited from the coronavirus because these businesses rely on the internet to help their consumers.
The coronavirus has greatly shifted the economy and communication towards the digital realm. People have been left in confines of their own homes with limited social interactions. This has led to an increase of people shifting more of their time to online platforms.
I have been spending a lot more time on the internet due to the pandemic. One hobby/interest I have picked up has been investing. I have been trading stocks and developing my portfolio on Robinhood for a portion of 2020 and 2021. Trading and investing can be fun and stressful but one group that has greatly changed the landscape of the stock market has been Wall Street Bets. Wall Street Bets has become increasingly notorious for their pump and dump trading strategies. Wall Street Bets is a Reddit thread where people post their investments or investing recommendations to an online community of traders/investors. This group has been shifting market outcomes through their online reddit thread by affecting the demand of certain stocks.
Wall Street Bets main way of shifting the market is by increasing the amount of consumers in the stock market. This reddit thread boasts over 6 million users. The thread recommends its users to buy certain stocks to increase the demand of the stock. The most notorious stock manipulation this thread accomplished was increasing GameStop stock by 1800%. Wall Street Bets influenced many people to buy the GME stock. This greatly increased the demand and the price of the stock skyrocketed as a result.
After the federal election, Wall Street Bets directed their users to invest in Cannabis stocks. This led to an abundant increase in the value of cannabis stocks. Wall Street Bets introduce more consumers into the stock market. They then use these consumers to target a specific stock and raise its demand. They then significantly raise the price of the stocks and sell to make a profit.
Due to Covid-19 leading to more involvement in the online realm. Wall Street Bets have been able to significantly affect market outcomes by increasing the number of consumers for particular stocks in the stock market. This increase of demand has led to an major increase of price for those stocks.
Works Cited
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/wallstreetbets-traders-equities-all-time-highs-quotes-forum-explain-phenomenon-2021-1-1030022946
https://amtrustfinancial.com/blog/small-business/what-companies-benefit-coronavirus
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/07/technology/coronavirus-internet-use.html
https://www.webmd.com/lung/coronavirus
https://www.statista.com/chart/20939/year-to-date-performance-of-major-us-stock-market-indices/
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Opportunity Cost to Stay in the US or Return to Japan
With COVID-19 rampant everywhere, and now declared a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO), UCI has switched all schedules of class to online platform, I would like to explore what this means a commuter renting a house with my family being in Japan. Currently, Japan is only listed as “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution” under US Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. So, traveling home is a possible option.
Figure: imported from March 12, 2020 situation report by WHO
Traveling home will require a plane ticket which costs $1007.35 via American Airlines from LAX to Haneda Airport. Since I live off campus, on a contract until August my lease will not be able to be removed so the rent of $545 will remain constant. However, utilities will be covered if I go home, which amounts to approximately $70 per month, and food will also be covered which currently amounts to approximately to $330 dollars per month. My current plan is to return home until late August vacating the US for 5 months. The expense totals to $2000 overall. Furthermore, leaving for Japan means quitting my current job, which I have three five-hour shifts per week at the rate of $11 per hour with commission. This results in a loss of $172.50 per week and a total of $3622.50 in the next 21 weeks. This loss can be offset by applying for a short-term construction job in Japan with a daily pay of $100 dollars flat over two days a week for 21 weeks. This will result in $4200 which will overcome the potential loss of quitting my job.
Several other non-financial factors come into play: the longevity of the virus, potential job after returning from Japan, flight restriction and such. Overall returning to Japan, although it may have risks, might be a better economic decision than staying here, living in an expensive neighborhood. However, I cannot currently make a decisive decision on this matter as things may escalate further in the future either in Japan or America. Moreover, financial factor is not the only problem in this equation. Even though I maybe a healthy individual that might not feel the effect of the COVID-19 virus, being a carrier can only mean worse for my elderly family members as I interact with people at the airport or other public transportation.
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/20200312-sitrep-52-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=e2bfc9c0_2
Name: Salem Okamura
ID: 41349146
Discussion: Monday 4PM
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Peloton Pedals On Even During COVID-19
Brooke Banta
ID: 49815730
Econ20A
3/10/2021
COVID-19 forced many people into stay-at-home lockdowns jeopardizing their memberships to neighborhood gyms. With energy to burn and a need for a personal outlet, people continued to desire the opportunity to workout even if it meant altering their highly social, community based routines. Turning to at-home gyms, people sought new means of engaging with others while working out.
As the pandemic progressed, gone were the days of meeting co-workers after work for a trip to the gym or gathering young mothers for spin and a latte. Peloton members were now riding with Beyonce’ and connecting via the internet with friends and acquaintances around the country to compete and encourage one another through strenuous stationed cycling.
|Supply and Demand|
With the closing of all public workout studios and gyms during the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the demand for in-home workout equipment skyrocketed. The need for Peloton bikes greatly outweighed the supply of bicycles available.
The major seaports became stressed with a surge of imports brought on by pandemic-induced buying while the workforce was adversely affected by the coronavirus. To account for the product delay at the seaports, CEO of Peloton, John Foley, announced they “will be incurring a transportation and delivery cost that is over ten times our usual cost per Bike and Tread, including, in many cases, shipping them by air instead of by sea.”
“CEO John Foley announced on the earnings call the company would invest $100 million to speed up delivery for its connected products, acknowledging continued problems with delivery delays that are stretching into months rather than weeks. Foley noted port congestion on the West Coast as a significant problem.”
Peloton was forced to address their diminished supply of product while meeting their increasing demand by pivoting in the area of product transportation reducing the reliance on seaport efficiency.
Brad Olson, chief membership officer commented on the success of Peloton stating, “We do believe that the pandemic has compelled consumers to reevaluate their fitness routines and many have discovered that the best, most connected workout can actually be experienced at home.” As consumers adapt to this new style of exercise, gyms and workout facilities, such as spin cycle businesses and rock climbing businesses remain closed waiting for counties to improve their position in the tier system.
This new workout platform “sent Peloton stock soaring more than 400 percent in 2020 and helped catapult it into profitability.”
Peloton went public on the Nasdaq exchange in September of last year and managed to keep its stock price afloat through the start of the pandemic. In May, the price surged due to a blockbuster quarterly earnings report, which showed a revenue surge of 66% year over year to $526 million. Shares have more than quadrupled since the start of May when the firm said quarterly revenue growth had once again surpassed expectations climbing 172%.
As you can see, my father was very excited to receive his very own Peloton bike. The limited supply of bikes added to his enthusiasm.
Thanks for reading!
Sources
Ponciano, Jonathon. “Peloton Has Soared 350% In 2020. Here’s Why The Stock Will Keep Rising This Year, According To Experts.” Oct 15, 2020. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2020/10/15/peloton-stock-soared-350-in-2020/?sh=2274af491ccc
Straight, Brian. “COVID broke Peloton’s supply chain – can $100M fix it?” February 6, 2021. FREIGHTWAVES. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/covid-broke-pelotons-supply-chain-can-100m-fix-it
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COVID's Impact on Family-Operated Restaurants
As a student whose family runs a restaurant, managing and looking after a restaurant is a difficult task. For the past seven years, my family and I have been sacrificing a lot of time and effort to make our restaurant successful and thrive despite all the economic factors that influence the food industry. One major event that triggered a series of unprecedented outcomes occurred when the COVID-19 pandemic started.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on small family-owned restaurants. These restaurants saw a significant drop in demand as a result of restrictions on social gatherings and the fear of contracting the virus. This decrease in demand has led to a reduction in total revenue, thereby impacting the supply side of the business. The effect the pandemic had on the restaurant's markets has been significant.
The demand for small, family-owned restaurants has decreased, which has resulted in a decline in revenue. Fearing the virus, people have avoided crowded places, including restaurants. Numerous restaurant chains had to close because of individuals remaining at home, bringing about a huge drop in income. Additionally, many restaurants were forced to reduce their hours of operation as a result of government regulations, which further reduced customer traffic.
Consequently, the decrease in demand has also had an effect on the supply side of the business. Since there are fewer customers and less food available, restaurants have had to cut back on food purchases from suppliers. The price of raw materials has gone up because there has been less demand. Additionally, many restaurants were required to make investments in new equipment in order to comply with government health and safety regulations, which further increased their costs.
Figure: This graph provided by the USDA represents the changes that occurred in regards to restaurant transactions during the first couple months of the pandemic. (Site)
Furthermore, the expenses and wages of family-claimed restaurants have been impacted by the decrease in the organic market. In addition, despite the fact that the wages given has been affected, the marginal costs of producing each unit of food has increased as a result of the decreased supply. Additionally, the marginal revenue from selling each unit of food has decreased as demand has decreased. Restaurants have struggled to make a profit because of their high costs and low profits.
To stay afloat during this difficult time, numerous small, family-owned restaurants turned to online ordering platforms. From the restaurant's website or mobile app, customers could order food and have it delivered to their door. Restaurants had the option of increasing revenue and customer base in this way. However, using these platforms also increased costs because restaurants were required to pay the platform a commission for each order, which also affected the amount of profit earned for each order.
In conclusion, the Coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on small, family-owned restaurants. As a result of a decrease in demand and supply, costs have increased and revenue has decreased, making it difficult for these businesses to make a profit. However, numerous eateries have had the option to remain open all through this troublesome time thanks to the utilization of internet requesting stages. Although the pandemic has made drastic economic setbacks, small family-owned eateries have demonstrated adaptability despite the challenges they have faced.
Rashed Eisa (50383380)
Econ20A Winter 2023
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How Much Does it Really Cost to Run a Business?
Jessie Zheng
Econ20A
Discussion: Friday 1 PM
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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15baAMNC7RO0e-E8j5mp30Ry4UqOgQ9h4C4Ful5_fAmo/edit#slide=id.g2c3af6c9995_0_584
Tran Nguyen
Student ID: 82976101
Discussion: Wed 4:00 - 4:50 pm
Econ20A
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Applying Economic Concepts to BTS Concert Tickets
This past summer, I attended the BTS Love Yourself concert in LA at the Staples Center. The Korean band had a total of 4 shows in LA, and I was fortunate enough to purchase General Admission floor tickets to see them (the most expensive and closest). After securing the bread (the tickets), I noticed that there were many fans who couldn’t get any tickets at all and had to resort to purchasing from resellers, such as other fans or third parties: StubHub, Vivid Seats, etc. for a shockingly high price.
It was disappointing to me that these “firms” would monopolize the market for BTS concert tickets and exploit desperate fans by scalping them, but truthfully, I wasn’t surprised.
Applying the concept of Market Supply and Demand:
The growing number of fans caused the demand curve to shift to the right, increasing the equilibrium price. However, the Q2 is not possible since the ticket supply was fixed. Thus, BTS tickets behaved almost like it had an inelastic supply. It can be quite alarming to see an elastic, luxury good such as a concert ticket have trends similar to an inelastic good that is needed for survival, like water, gas, or food.
you expect it to behave like this: but it behaves like this:
This fixed supply allowed fans with tickets and third party companies to take advantage of the fans willing to go lengths to see their favorite singers. We can consider these third parties to be a monopoly. They are price makers, meaning they can set any price they want since there is no official substitute for a BTS ticket.
these are some examples of some of the prices people are selling for:
$600 for GA floor ticket $220 for a P5 ticket
vs. the official price:
GA floor = $250 and P5 = $100
This phenomena is not exclusive to just BTS. It is apparent in almost all concert/performance business. However, the growing popularity of BTS only encourages more monopolizing activity when it comes to concert tickets. The band had a US tour back in 2014, when they were small and not as well known. I am sure that resell was still prevalent, but not to the extent to where it is now. As BTS gains international recognition - performing and winning at the AMAs, Billboards, on Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, speaking at the UNICEF campaign at the UN Conference, and much more - their fanbase will continue to grow and the monopoly over BTS tickets will continue to rise.
example of BTS’s rise to fame:
twitter followers : 2015 → present
In conclusion, the economic concepts of supply and demand, monopolies, and types of goods can be seen in the BTS market. Their continuous success will continue to bring them great economic gains from millions of fans who are willing to sell almost an arm and leg to see them.
‘٩꒰｡•◡•｡꒱۶’
Anh Thu Vu
ID# 25474542
#bts#bangtan#bts concert#love yourself tour#bts tickets#econ20a#econlive#economics#monopoly#supply and demand#inelastic
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The Economics of a Rational Minded UCI Student .Choices. So many Choices. Quite simply the underlying principles of Economics govern my life.
#1 People face Tradeoffs
As a full-time student at UCI, I have limited options in employment. So I always have to manage my source of money. I could maximize the efficiency of my source by only buying Cup of Noddles to eat. Yet Cup of Noddles can get tiring to eat and this decision can be quite unhealthy. So instead of maximizing my efficiency in spending, I have to buy other types of food at different prices and different nutritional value.
vs.
Picture of Walmart produce section http://www.fivelittlebears.com/index.php/2018/01/09/10-walmart-hacks-you-need-to-know-right-now/
#2 The cost of something is what you give up to get it.
The most optimal way I can save money is by preparing all my meals at home and limit the number of times I eat out. Yet preparing and cooking all my meals at home inconveniences me greatly. Since cooking at home takes too of my much time. Since I need to prepare my food then wash all the dishes and pans I dirty in the process. The opportunity cost of cooking at home is losing time that I would have used to study instead of taking the time in preparing my meals.
Picture of Frozen Chicken put in a Ziplog bag for later usage http://inmahkitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/easy-pan-fried-frozen-chicken-breasts.html
Picture of Dirty Dishes http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/two-minute-rule
#3 Rational People Think at the Margin
Whenever I go to Chipotle and get to the last section of the preparatory line, inches away from the cashier. My bowl is overfilling. I just need to add lettuce, cheese, and then I see the GUACAMOLE. It looks beautiful and would pair perfectly with my plate. I ask for it. The Chipotle worker quickly tells me that its $2 extra for GUACAMOLE. I then always opt out on the guacamole option since I’m already paying for an overpriced meal with sufficient enough nutrient and I really should be saving money. So by opting out on the guacamole, I think and I act on the marginal level.
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/chipotle-reveals-guacamole-recipe-make-home/story?id=30793771
#4 People Response to Incentives
I like to maximize my study time. So if I do decide to eat out I tend to always choose somewhere near campus. However, if a restaurant has a limited offer or deals I am always persuaded to leave campus to take part in the deal. Whenever I see this Poke Me deal, pop up on the Retail Therapy app I am always more inclined to drive to Poke Me. Instead of eating something on campus.
#5 Trade can make everyone Better off.
I have a Costco membership so I can buy large quantities of goods at reduced prices. I mostly buy Dino nuggets, Waffles, and Lee’s Coffee. Yet I really like Chinese food especially Sesame Buns. Costco sells sesame buns yet they are expensive and not authentic. My roommate loves Lee’s Coffee yet her mom doesn’t approve of her drinking too much caffeine. My roommate's mom lives close to an H-Mart so whenever her mom gets her Sesame Buns we trade. I get the sesame buns that I like and she gets the Lee’s Coffee she likes.
https://www.instacart.com/hmart/products/2583555-wei-chuan-sesame-paste-bun-6-ct
#6 Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity.
The UCI FaceBook page UCI Textbooks (for You, Me, and Everybody) is a great decentralize market that allows students to allocate textbooks they need by means of prices. So the money saved on textbooks can be used for eating out later.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/UCItextbooks/
#7 Government can sometimes improve Market Outcomes.
Irvine is own buy the Irvine company. The Irvine Company has a lot of market power when it comes to deciding what type of new retail stores will come or stay in Irvine due to their own personal self-interest. I have an underlining theory that a 99cent store would do great near campus. Since the Irvine Company creates an externality by restricting the types of affordable stores near the area, to respect to students. The government funds the UCI Fresh Basic Needs Hub. So when I see that I’m running low on groceries towards the end of the month and Albertsons and Target has no good deals. I mostly go to the food pantry.
https://today.uci.edu/event/fresh_basic_needs_hub_food_drive#.XAkolWhKhz0
#8. A country's standard of living depends on its ability to produce good and services.
A good way to save money to use later to eat out is to never buy bottled water. UCI has filtered water fountains. These fountains improve many student’s standards of living by convenience and because many countries don’t have free accessible water. UCI, Orange County, and the US can provide water to all because it has qualified engineers who work in the most technologically advanced facilities which enables them to increase the productivity of filtering water for all which improves the lives of many UCI students.
https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/plumbing/drinking-fountains/water-refilling-stations/elkay-ezh2o-lzs8wssp-next-generation-water-bottle-refilling-station-wall-mount-steel
#9. Price rise when the government prints too much money.
As a UCI student, I received federal aid. The trend of federal aid is it increases as UCI tuition increases every year. Principle #9 of economics can be applied in this case because federal aid acts like increase government money and the tuition increase acts like price rising as a response. To keep consistency 2012-2014 UCI tuition rates will be used to match the FAFSA trend graph.
http://www.slideshare.net/BlackboardInc/rethinking-your-financial-aid-support-strategy
https://www.reg.uci.edu/fees/2012-2013/undergrad.html
https://www.reg.uci.edu/fees/2013-2014/undergrad.html
#10. Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment.
One addition to every UCI student’s backpack, especially during Finals week are energy drinks. I preferably like Redbull to sip during my all-night study sessions. Yet Redbull is definitely more of a luxury item. One positive of moving to Irvine is one can of Redbull here is cheaper than living in San Francisco and unemployment rates might describe one aspect onto why. Listed below I included the unemployment rates of Irvine to San Francisco, and then I added the unemployment rate of Turkey to provide an extreme example.
Irvine’s unemployment rate is 2.80%.
San Francisco’s unemployment rate is 2.30%.
Turkey’s unemployment rate is 11.20 %.
These are the respected graph for the unemployment rates of these locations:
Source: https://ycharts.com/indicators/irvine_ca_unemployment_rate
Source:https://ycharts.com/indicators/san_francisco_countycity_ca_unemployment_rate
Source:https://ycharts.com/indicators/turkey_unemployment_rate
Usually, the retail price of Redbull is $2.50 plus sales tax. In San Fransico, the sales tax is 8.500% and in Irvine, the sales tax is 7.750%(http://www.sale-tax.com/). So in San Fransico, one can of Redbull usually comes out to $2.71 and in Irvine to $2.69. This minute change in pricing might be explained by the two cites unemployment rate. A low unemployment rate leads to higher inflation thus higher prices for products. Contrary to Turkey a country who has an unemployment rate of 11.20% and Redbull prices of ~$0.66.
Source: http://www.globalbrandprices.com/rankings/Red_Bull/
So yes the economics behind unemployment and inflation even impact me as a UCI student when buying RedBull.
As I hope through this post, it becomes evident that economics plays a role in all our lives and knowing the mechanics of the study will help one to understand and make rational decisions in life.
Gisselle Guzman
ID#89779727
ECON 20A
Tues 5-5:50pm
Leonard Liu
62064
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