Econimic Research :: essays papers

Econimic Research 1. During the 1960's, The Soviet economy may have been growing at a rate of growth much faster that the West, but the Soviet GDP would have provided a poor statistic for determining the welfare of the soviet people for several reasons. The first reason that GDP would be obsolete for determining the welfare of the people is that during the 1960's, the Soviet Union was in fact Communist, so the people were only allotted whatever property or privilege the government would allow, so there was no "free market" on which goods could be bought and sold by anyone. It is also of interest to know that during the 1960's and early 70's, the USSR did lead the world in a few industries(forestry, mining), but with such a larger labor force than the US, the GDP per capita would, all other things being equal (ceteris paribus), show that growth could have occurred solely due to larger population. 2. If the Instructor were to choose a fixed rate, he would hope that inflation would increase, so that he would be paying back money that has a lower purchasing power than the original principal amount the instructor would have financed, (just as in the scenario He had given about his Father in Maryland, and his mortgage held with the sinister bank who detests the fact that your Father has a fixed rate mortgage and pays around $300 a month). If our Instructor chose the adjustable rate, the instructor would think that inflation would decrease, and would also hope that interest rates would decrease as well. Since Alan Greenspan is somewhat unpredictable, I would advise the instructor to refinance for a fixed rate once interest rates take a turn for the better, so that it would be locked in at the lowest going rate available. 3. Changes in Production by Black Death(Bubonic Plague) in Medieval Times Land Land Labor(pre-Plague) Labor(post-Plague) B. Wages for the workers would increase due to the decrease in labor pools caused by death. C. The surviving workers benefited from this disaster due to the increase in wages available due to the untimely death of so many. The wealthy landowners would have been overall harmed by the loss in manual labor, which caused less productivity and yet higher wages could be demanded by the surviving workers out of necessity for needed labor, while the rental(capital) rate of the land decreased according to the isoquant.