The catch-up effect (or convergence theory) suggests that poorer countries will experience a higher rate of economic growth and, over time, get closer to the income levels of the developed world. In other words, there will be a reduction in the gap between the rich and the poor because low-income countries have more opportunities to …
Moral Hazard is the concept that individuals have incentives to alter their behaviour when their risk or bad-decision making is borne by others. Examples of moral hazard include: Comprehensive insurance policies decrease the incentive to take care of your possessions Governments promising to bail out loss-making banks can encourage banks to take greater risks. Conditions …
A key economic debate is the extent to which should governments intervene in the economy? At one extreme, free-market economists/libertarians, argue that government intervention should be limited to all but the most basic services, such as the protection of private property and the maintenance of law and order. At the other extreme, Marxist economists argue …
Comparative Advantage. A country has a comparative advantage if it can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than another country. A lower opportunity cost means it has to forego less of other goods in order to produce it. Example of Output of two goods Textiles Books UK 1 4 India 2 3 Total …
Definition of Monopoly A pure monopoly is defined as a single seller of a product, i.e. 100% of market share. In the UK a firm is said to have monopoly power if it has more than 25% of the market share. For example, Tesco @30% market share or Google 90% of search engine traffic. Monopoly …
Nationalisation occurs when the government take control of an industry previously owned by private firms. For example, after 1945, the Labour government nationalised key industries, such as railways, steel and electricity. The argument was that the government would be able to run the industries in the best interests of society. Arguments for Nationalisation include 1. …
A contestable market occurs when there is freedom of entry and exit into the market. In a contestable market, there will be low sunk costs. (Costs which can’t be recovered when leaving the market) Due to freedom of entry and exit – existing firms always face the threat of new firms entering the market. This …
Definition of External costs An external cost occurs when producing or consuming a good or service imposes a cost (negative effect) upon a third party. If there are external costs in consuming a good (negative externalities), the social costs will be greater than the private cost. The existence of external costs can lead to market …