Journal entry 1
DANGEROUS/UNETHICAL MARKETS
Shadow markets and the trade of human organs
The trade of human organs is a form of human trafficking where human organs such as kidneys and livers are sold. These transplants organs come from either deceased persons or donors. In this topic, I have learned that those people who need human organs are supposed to wait for a long period and the persistent gap is due to the prohibition of the human organ trade (Crepelle, 2016). The latter is a dangerous market because those who are engaged in this kind of a business are for financial gain. Even though the trade is prohibited, the World Health Organization reports that the number of organ trade is increasing at a higher rate given that the number has risen to 5-10% each year (Crepelle, 2016). I would like to support the trade of human organs by using the consequentialist views. The consequentialist argument claim that the goal of the trade of human organs is to save human lives. However, the goal is not met since the trade is prohibited and this makes it hard for donors to sell their organs. In addition, the goal is not met since the cost of purchasing the organs and the costs of surgery are high. The consequentialists argue that to avoid the higher costs, the long waiting time and even the unhygienic condition, there should be regulations designed to provide donors with risks associated with kidney transplant to help them make their own decisions (Crepelle, 2016). There is no need to prohibit the trade of human organs since there will be an increase in the black market where wealthier individuals will afford the costs. The black market will increase the risks to the donors and recipients due to poor operating conditions, poor surgeons and higher corruption. Thus, in order to have economic efficiency and social equality, the trade of human organs should be authorized to allow both the poor and the wealthier have a better access to quality services. Note that a legal organ trade will improve quality services since there will be equitable health outcomes, less waiting time, better matches, a great supply, and more lives will be saved.
Journal entry 2
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Why economists are worried about international trade
The goal is this lesson was to discuss the current trends on the international trade. By reviewing recent studies on the international market, we learned that economists are worried about international trade due to the tariffs imposed by president Trump. It seems that president Trump is against the free trade and his actions in imposing tariffs is a way of restricting Trans-Pacific Partnership. I support the economists' arguments derived from Adam Smith's book that free trade connects the involved nations and the connection promotes employment and meets the nations' consumption needs (Gregory, 2018). In cases where a nation does better than the other, the free trade will enable the nations to export its products to the other nations and this will create economic efficiency and social equality. In this lesson, we learned that international trade improves productivity in poor and wealthier nations since the productive firms are able to open new markets and the least productive firms get the opportunity to increase competition. All nations involved in international trade enjoy greater prosperity by increasing growth rates. Despite all these benefits, the economist is worried by president Trump's idea of imposing tariffs on the importation of foreign products. Trump argues that his ideas are toward protecting the U. manufacturers (Gregory, 2018. My views on this topic are that the tariffs will impact the economic efficiency and social quality in negative ways. In other words, the tariffs will cause trade tensions and disputes among nations where tens of thousands American jobs will be affected. The worst things are that the tariffs will affect the solar panels firms since there will be less competition. Even though president Trump is concerned about safeguarding the industries, American workers, domestic manufacturers, and businesses, there is a mixed result since the U.S industry will enter in a competitive utility market thereby produce solar energy at higher prices (Gregory, 2018). In other words, the tariffs will hurt consumers since they will be forced to purchase the products at a higher price.
Journal entry 3
Comparative Advantage in the News
The goal of this lesson was to study the comparative advantage and strategies that economists should apply to enjoy this advantage. The important lesson was that comparative advantage is not a complicated thing but it is a thing that is associated with good and services produced. When producing goods and services, the business should focus on absolute costs and comparative advantage. The former means should focus on being more productive and the latter means that business should focus on not only being more productive but how much productive (Schumacher, 2012). In other words, comparative advantage has to do with the production of goods at lower costs whereas absolute advantage has to do with the production of more and better goods. In discussing the comparative advantage, we connected the topic with the international trade and learned that for nations involved in the international trade to enjoy the comparative advantage, each nation should concentrate on its particular economy. This means that each nation should concentrate on its labor productivity and specialize in the production of goods that are highly demanded by international markets (Schumacher, 2012). My views on this topic are that both comparative and absolute advantage are important as they enable the business to stay in the competitive edge. However, a country should first focus on gaining a comparative advantage by concentrating on efficiency. In other words, a country should specialize in manufacturing a particular product and the specialization will increase demand and expand the economies of scale internally and externally. I learned that unlike the absolute advantage, the comparative advantage is achieved since the business focuses on standardization (Schumacher, 2012). To produce a differentiated product, the business concentrates on factors such as technology and resources to satisfy not only the nation's demand but also the international demand.
Journal entry 4
MONOPOLY: vs. competition, The Uber Economy
The goal of this lesson was to discuss two market structures. We discussed the monopoly market and learned that a monopoly market is when there is one market that has the total market control in dictating the price of good and services. We also learned about the competitive market and learned that there are many markets and all are price takers or in other words, all firms have market share, have low barriers to entry, as consumers and have the freedom in choosing goods and services (Klein, 2007). In all the topics we learned in this unit, the topic on the market structures helped me gain a lot of knowledge on business studies. Focusing on the number economy, we learned that uber is taking a monopolistic approach given that it has a predatory pricing and it focuses on gaining a global industry dominance. However, having understood both monopoly and competitive market, I can argue that a competitive market is the best in creating social quality and economy efficiency. This is because, firms compete with each other and gain the opportunity to produce different products and as one market enjoy higher economic profits, the other will be tempted to specialize on particular products to enjoy the profit. It is important to enter a market where there are many firms, freedom of entry and the sharing of information and knowledge (Klein, 2007). In a competitive market, all firms will engage in foreign exchange markets, have the freedom to compare prices and connect with industries through the internet.
References
Crepelle, A. (2016). A Market for Human Organs: An Ethical Solution to the Organ Shortage. Ind. Health
- Rev., 13, 17.
Mankiw N. Gregory. (2018). Why Economists Are Worried About International Trade. The New York
Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/business/trump-economists-
trade-tariffs.html
Schumacher, R. (2012). Free trade and absolute and comparative advantage: A critical comparison of
two major theories of international trade. Potsdam: Universitätsverl.
Klein, A. (2007). Comparison of the models of perfect competition and monopoly under special
consideration of innovation. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
