1.Draw a circle and in the circle, write “The Analysis of the Impact of Technology on the Economy.” Draw about 20 lines that look like sun rays around the circle.
2. Brainstorm to come up with words, phrases, people, and concepts you associate with the relationship between technology and the economy. President Obama, Steve jobs, Mark Cuban, Donald Trump, money, taxes, stock market, Wall Street, food stamps, iPhones, iPad, Samsung, Fiot, Hybrid cars are the future, solar panel windows on houses.
3. List any
works of the impact of technology on the economy literature, movies, or songs
you have read, seen, or heard of: In the movie,
Wolf of Wall Street, you can see how important money plays a role in the stock
market. In the movie, Social Network, you also see how a simple idea can make
you large amounts of profit. In songs, you hear all the time about how fancy an
entertainer’s car is. You can see how technology is beneficial in an economic way.
4. Respond
Yes or No to the following statements and think of a specific situation that
exemplifies your position:
_Yes__ While
frictional unemployment is short term, structural unemployment can last for
longer periods because workers need time to learn new skills. For example,
employment by U.S. steel firms dropped by more than half between the early
1980s and the early 2000s as a result of competition from foreign producers and
technological change that substituted machines for workers.
__Yes__
Technological change helps economies avoid diminishing returns to capital.
__No___
Technological change shifts up the per-worker production function and allows an
economy to produce more real GDP per hour worked with the same quantity of
capital per hour worked.
__No__
Because of diminishing returns to capital, continuing increases in real GDP per
hour worked can be sustained only if there is technological change.
_Yes__ In the
long run, a country will experience an increasing standard of living only if it
experiences continuing technological change.
__No__ Romer
argues that the accumulation of knowledge capital is a key determinant of
economic growth. Firms add to an economy’s stock of knowledge capital when they
engage in research and development or otherwise contribute to technological
change.
__Yes__ We
have seen that accumulation of physical capital is subject to diminishing
returns: Increases in capital per hour worked lead to increases in real GDP per
hour worked but at a decreasing rate. Romer argues that the same is true of
knowledge capital at the firm level. As firms add to their stock of knowledge
capital, they increase their output but at a decreasing rate. At the level of
the entire economy rather than just individual firms, however, Romer argues
that knowledge capital is subject to increasing returns. Increasing returns can
exist because knowledge, once discovered, becomes available to everyone.
__No__ Romer
points out that firms are unlikely to invest in research and development up to
the point where the marginal cost of the research equals the marginal return
from the knowledge gained because other firms gain much of the marginal return.
Therefore, there is likely to be an inefficiently small amount of research and
development, slowing the accumulation of knowledge capital and economic growth.
Now that
you’ve answered these questions, you are ready to experience the world in which
Robert Solow and Paul Romer, the developers of the economic growth model and
new growth theory respectively, live. So, open the book authored by Hubbard and
enter.
Chapter 3 of
Where Prices Come From: The Intersection of Demand and Supply
Vocabulary: Look up the following words in the
dictionary (if necessary) and write their definitions.
The Law of
demand: The inverse relationship between the price of a product and the quality
of the product demand.
The Law of
Supply: holding everything else constant, increases in price cause increases in
the quantity supplied, and decreases in price causes decreases in the quantity
supplied.
A change in
demand: changes in consumer expectations about the future price of a good or
future income can cause a shift in the current demand for the good.
A change in
quantity demanded: a movement along in a given demand curve caused by a change
in demand price.
A change in
supply: when the suppliers of a given good or service have altered their
production or output.
A change in
quantity supplied: a movement along a given supply curve caused by a change in
supply price.
Comprehension: Write your answers to the following
questions in complete sentences:
1. What is
the assumption that underlies the law of demand? Consumers will buy more of a good when the price falls and
less of a good that results from a change in price, making the good more or
less expensive relative to other goods that are substitutes.
2. What is
the important distinction between a change in demand and a change in the
quantity demanded? In a change of
demand, the price is expected to raise or drop. Change in the quantity demanded
the price will raise or drop depending on a change in demand price.
3. Define the
law of supply as used in chapter 3. Holding everything else constant, increases
in price cause increases in the quantity supplied, and decreases in price
causes decreases in the quantity supplied.
4. How do you
feel about rise in product price at the supermarket? I do not agree with it,
but I need to realize I have to be patient for a sale, or just go along with it
and just buy the product regardless of the price.
Chapters 9-11
1. At what
point did you realize what business cycle meant? How did you figure it out? In
the reading, when it talked about the recession and Ford laying off people, I understood
what the book was saying.
2. What
symbols can you find in the assigned pages? Do you think they’re effective? In
what ways might the characters names be symbolic? Some symbols I can find are
money, demand, and prices. They’re effective because demand, prices, and money
are used every day in our lives.
3. How do you
think George W. Bush feels about unemployment? Mixery index? Would he say they
are microeconomic or macroeconomic issues? Would he say they are good for
individuals or for society? Personally, I do not thin k George Bush cares about
unemployment because he is employed. He would say they’re both micro and
macroeconomic issues. He would say they’re bad for the society.
4. Did any of
you write any favorite sentences down or mark any passages you found
significant? If so, which ones? What struck you about them? I did not find any
significant passages.
5. What would
you say to or ask Hubbard if he visited your classroom? I would ask him
everything he knows about economics. I would also ask him using his knowledge,
how can I be a better consumer.
6. How might
this textbook be used effectively in a social studies class? In a science
class? It will help you be a better person in the world of money. You will be
able to understand the ways of money and the struggle people go through to
receive their high paychecks. I don’t really know how this book would be
beneficial in a science class, science is a completely different subject.
