Why Does Bangladesh Export Garments and Germany Cars?

International Trade

This is a series of conversation between two Economists, Akhilesh Verma and myself, Garima Dhir as we try to unravel and simplify various concepts of economics. In today’s blog we discuss ‘Why Does Bangladesh Export Garments and Germany Cars?”. In our last blog, we examined why some countries are poor and others rich. We also discussed how India … Read more

What is Cross Price Elasticity?

Cross Price Elasticity

Cross Price Elasticity Meaning Cross Price Elasticity refers to the change in demand of one good with change in the price of another. Why measure a change in the demand of one good when the price of another changes? This is because the two goods could be interconnected with each other. The two goods under … Read more

What is Cyclical Unemployment?

Cyclical Unemployment

Cyclical Unemployment Definition Cyclical Unemployment is the loss of job associated with business cycles faced by an economy. Business cycles refer to recession (a downturn) or boom (upturn) faces by an economy. When an economy is in recession, unemployment rates will be high. This is because during a recession, the demand for goods is low. … Read more

What is Tacit Collusion?

Tacit Collusion

Tacit Collusion Definition Tacit collusion happens when firms join up in deciding the price of a commodity, such that the firms do not explicitly exchange information. Tacit means unspoken or implied, without being formally stated. Thus, as the name suggests, the competing firms collude with each other, without directly expressing an official collusion. In this … Read more

What is Capitalism?

Pros and Cons of Capitalism

Capitalism Definition Capitalism is an economic and political system in which means of production are privately owned.  Means of production include land, labour and capital. Unlike Socialism, profit making is the driving factor in capitalism. Note that profit making as an ends to production is a fairly new concept, going only 300 years back. Another fundamental pillar of Capitalism … Read more

What is Socialism?

Pros and Cons of Socialism

Socialism Definition Socialism is a system that is based on public or collective ownership of means of production and distribution of goods. Ownership of such means might lie in the hands on a government, elected through democratic means or with a cooperative body. As a result, there is no private ownership. Socialists believe that shared … Read more

What are Public Goods?

Public Goods Free Rider Probelm

Public Goods Definition Public goods, as the name suggests are available to the entire public, within a society. These goods might be available in nature like sunlight or might be provided by the government through collective taxation like defense services. For a commodity to be classified as public good, it must have two characteristics: Non-Excludability … Read more

Why Are Some Countries Rich And Others Poor?

Industrialization

This is a series of conversation between two Economists, Akhilesh Verma and myself, Garima Dhir as we try to unravel and simplify various concepts of economics. In the previous post, we had discussed how the economy and formal markets came into being, how was money born and what exactly is the role of an economist? We take our … Read more

What is a Cartel?

Cartel

Cartel Definition Cartel is a collusion between different producers. These producers could be individual firms or even countries. The producers enter into a cartel in order to control the price and quantity supplied of their product. This helps them get higher profits for their products and to cut competition. In consultation with each other, members of … Read more

What is Perfect Competition?

Perfect Competition

Perfect Competition Meaning It is a market structure in which there are numerous sellers, selling a product that is largely the same. Having said this, it is important to note that perfect competition is a market construct or a theoretical concept, the existence of which in real life rarely exists. But this helps in understanding … Read more