The little things

Waking up late in the afternoon with a tiny sense of panic, only to be relieved to remember that it's a Saturday after all and no soul is expecting you to be somewhere else, doing something other than sleeping nicely in a warm bed. Chomping on toast and sipping a warm cup of lemon infused green tea. Taking an extended, long, misty shower. Cleaning one's own living space and kitchen, plus washing the week's dirty clothes. Surfing the net aimlessly, looking at pretty trinkets and ooh-ing and aah-ing at cute girly accessories.Tidying up a typical messy student's work space. These are a few of my favourite things to do. These are the little things that fuel me up and recharge me, for the onslaught of tasks ahead. 

Easy carefree days, oh how I cherish you. 

Pic Credit

Feeling good about ourselves

Montaigne proposed that we should accept our bodies with a touch of good grace and humour. He said that we are all half animals. Interestingly, he knew a man who committed suicide after making several farts in public, another who wanted to be buried in his underpants because he was ashamed of his genitals and another woman who was too afraid to chew in public that she always had to eat behind a curtain. He believed that if we all learned how to accept ourselves and adopt a more open attitude towards our bodies, we could live more happily. He also encouraged people to travel more in order to discard their prejudices towards other cultures. It was endearing to learn how much pity he took in the Indians that were tortured by the Spanish explorers during his time. 

Montaigne acknowledged that a lot of people are often belittled and feel inadequate by the limitations of their knowledge. Alain de Botton, a British philosopher and Cambridge graduate, debated that there is a problem in our examination system that rewards learning rather than wisdom. To him, learning is the paler shadow of wisdom. 

Biggest take away: Even for the person who sits on the highest throne, he still sits on his arse.

So stop feeling inferior or worse still, superior to other people. We are all humans and God sees us each as positively special in His own way!

Terms to Remember

Economic Efficiency = Maximization of AGGREGATE CS and PS

Market Failure= Situation when an unregulated competitive market is inefficient because prices fail to provide proper signals to consumers and producers


1. Externality= Action taken by either producer/consumer which affects orther p/c but is not accounted for by the market price (eg: Cost to society of environmental pollution of a chemical plant)

2. Lack of info= Consumers lack infor about the quality or nature of a product and so can't make utility-maximizing purchasing decisions


Perfectly Competitive Markets

Short Run (keywords: price taker, max-prof)
P=MR=AR

Long Run (keywords: max prof, normal prof/breakeven/zero-econ prof)
P=LMC=LAC=LMR=LAR

Elasticities

Bloody interesting stuff here..if you're brave enough to read on:

Demand Elasticities

Elasticities are dependent on the time frame in which they are calculated. For most goods, dumand tends to be more elastic in the long-term. For example:

Gasoline/Microsoft Software

a) Short term-An increase in price doesn't really affect demand because people still have to use it (demand is approx inelastic)

b) Long term- People switch to more 'green'/efficient cars or buy cheaper software (demand is more elastic)

Refrigerator/Automobile/Capital Equipment (DURABLES)

a) Short term- Price increase causes people to stop buying (demand is elastic)

b) Long term- Price increase does not deter people from buying because of the wear and tear effect on the capital they own (demand is less elastic)

Supply Elasticities

For most products, long-run supply is much more price elastic

a) Short term- Firms face capacity constraints in the short run and need time to expand capacity by building new facilities/hiring more workers. If price increase, firms would like to supply more, but they are limited by CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS (almost price inelastic)

b) Long term-Firms have now expanded facilities and are more price sensitive (more price elastic)

The opposite is true for the supply of DURABLES! (eg: secondary supply of metals)

Ok, told you it's BLOODY interesting. Have your eyes bled yet?