Thanks to the WTO, "Disney can homogenize consciousness and McDonald's can homogenize tastes, globally." Presumably in a better world children would prefer Balinese dance and healthy vegetarian food. Not likely: Everything we know suggests that our emotional response to anthropomorphized animals and our craving for fatty foods are hard-wired inheritances from the ancestral adaptive environment. If Mickey Mouse and the Big Mac didn't exist, somebody would quickly invent something very similar. -- Paul Krugman

Apologies to those who had to get their test score "revised". Here is the approximate grade scale for Test #3.

A-range: 26-30
B-range: 22-25.5
C-range: 17.5-21.5
D-range: 14-17

I hope you all have a safe and sane Thanksgiving break.

Ready or not, here it comes!

I hope the preparation for the test is going well. Just a few things to make clear:

You will not be able to use any learning resources during the test other than paper and something to write with.

Since you have 3 problems to write up, you will need to write rather briskly and briefly. A few of the problems seem to require some detail. Be sure to budget your time wisely.

Problems where you need to cite examples of policy, the "rule of three" should be sufficient: Three arguments, examples, or citations, accompanied by sufficient explanation. Throw in nice intro and conclusion and you ought to have written a good essay.

Problems requiring graphical analysis should have accompanying explanation.

Hint: Problem 1 is not as difficult as it seems. This is merely a consumer surplus, producer surplus problem.

Few people have actually asked for my powerpoint notes on commercial policy. You're welcome to them. But you should ask for them. And the file is rather large so I don't want to just send it out and fill up peoples' mailboxes.

Good luck.

JJ

In praise of cheap labor

Here is the link to the article I mentioned last class. It is by Princeton (then MIT) economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and was initially published in Slate, an online magazine.

http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/smokey.html

Think about:

What and how we should think about cheap labor abroad. What is the impact on U.S. consumers, U.S. producers, and workers in exporting countries when we import such goods?

It would be responsible to assume that the world would benefit from having these "developing countries" to be more developed. How would our protectionist trade policies impact these countries' development goals? Would this be a "beggar-thy-neighbor" or counterproductive policy?

Should I make this a homework problem?

Paul Krugman wrote that supplementary text you were to have also purchased. We'll look at some of those chapters in the coming weeks.