The rust belt is an area of mid-west US dominated by declining manufacturing industry. Cities and regions affected tend to have: High unemployment Declining populations Falling real incomes Social problems associated with structural unemployment. Although the rust belt refers mostly to the mid-west of the US, it can refer to any area which experienced a …
Capital intensive refers to a productive process that requires a high percentage of investment in fixed assets (machines, capital, plant) to produce. A capital-intensive production process will have a relatively low ratio of labour inputs and will have higher labour productivity (output per worker). A capital intensive production process will tend to have a high …
Absorbed costs involve including all the variable and fixed costs in producing a unit of output. For example, in producing a motor car, the absorbed costs include the variable raw material costs and the associated fixed manufacturing costs, such as the factory, safety inspections and maintenance of machines. Absorbed costs would not include general administration …
A trade war involves the imposition of tariffs between trading partners. This will almost certainly cause a fall in economic welfare for all the countries who experience higher tariffs and a fall in trade. However, this fall in economic welfare is not the same as a recession (a fall in GDP). In some circumstances, a …
Readers question: Who are the winners and losers from free trade? Free trade means that firms can export and import goods without tariff barriers. Free trade leads to lower prices and increased exports and imports. Economists are generally agreed that free trade leads to a net gain in economic welfare; as a result, economists generally …
A fixed cost is a business cost that is unrelated to output. They can also be referred to as ‘indirect costs’ Whatever the output fixed costs (FC) remains constant at £300. Average fixed cost (AFC) declines with increased output Examples of fixed cost Rent on premise Cost of buying machines and factories. Salaries of managers …
Regulatory capture is a form of government failure where those bodies regulating industries become sympathetic to the businesses they are supposed to be regulating. Regulatory capture can mean monopolies can continue to charge high prices The opposite of regulatory capture is ‘public interest theory’ – the idea that government regulation can influence monopolies to behave …
The gig economy refers to the segment of the labour market which concentrates on short-term / temporary jobs and contracts. Often these workers can have more than one job, e.g taxi driver who works both for a traditional taxi company and Uber. Like a musician who goes from one gig to the next, the gig …