Ask an Economist
This has been quite an efficient market for many years until recently when the nurses started to compare pay for contracts on Facebook groups. Currently a group called Gypsy Travel RNs was created by an ex-nurse to help travel RNs find travel jobs - it has over 20,000 members.
Part of the information now being shared by the RNs is their pay package details quoted to them by the recruiter before accepting an assignment. They will compare what others are being paid and seek the opinion of any person in the group who makes an effort to respond, which is usually responded with "pay too low!"
Every person in this system acts on their own knowledge of the market. However, having hundreds of other RNs injecting their own views of an offer (accurate or not) seems to be artificially inflating the RNs side of the market, which drives up the costs for the hospital side.
It could be argued this is what other consumers do for other large purchases that might be negotiated. However, there are no established Facebook groups with 20,000+ home buyers all currently active at the same time in the market comparing offered prices.
These types of groups keep growing - would you consider this type of system a cartel? It this even legal?
Let me first state that I cannot answer the legal part of the question. Antitrust litigations often involve economists to show empirical evidence of abuse of market power and to determine the extent of damage the cartel has caused to consumers...
Additionally, when the job numbers are released, does it account for individuals working two jobs to make ends meet?
Politicians can claim credit for whatever they want – and typically they do claim credit for everything that looks good and blame everything that looks bad on their opponents.
The more pressing question is whether they should take...
It is not possible to provide a very good answer to this question because because it is not very clearly posed and is not specific about the desired remedy. Also, the answer below represents some off-hand views of an economist and, under no...
The difference is between real and nominal growth. The GDP of a country is the $ value of the goods & services produced by that country in a year. Say, the GDP of a country in 2010 is $100 and that in 2011 is $110. The increase could have...
A mutual savings bank (MSB) is a chartered financial intermediary that operates as an association of individuals who are depositors, also known as members. MSBs are owned by their depositors, not stockholders, and this means that an MSB’s...
GDP is the $ value of the total value of final goods and services produced in a year. That is the income definition. There is an equivalent expenditure definition. Loans are financial assets and all financial assets and liabilities are not...
1. Because of the tariff on US soybeans, China buy soybeans from other countries. How can other countries increase their production to accommodate this sudden increase of demand? You cannot just grow more soybeans by flipping a switch. Supply and demand suggests there was an equilibrium before. Those buyers who "lose" their orders to China have to find soybeans somewhere else. Does it mean they come back to the US farmers because they are the only producers left in town?
2. China is a big soybean buyer and can move the market. Soybean prices have been fallen since the tariff announcement, factoring in the impact of the tariff. Does it mean it hurts other producers like Brazil? But why there are reports saying Brazilian farmers are happy about increase in export? They don't suddenly produce more to sell at a lower price. According to Business Insider, Brazil is estimated to produce 3.5% more year-to-year. Is it enough to cover the loss in lower prices?
3. What happens to the US unsold China-bound-supposedly soybeans? Are they sold to other nations as mentioned above, or they are left to rot?
The policy-driven increase in the import price of U.S. soybeans into China generated a change in relative soybean prices across the globe, making U.S. soybeans relatively more expensive and soybeans of other origins, such as Brazil, relatively...
The need to pay it back would discipline the actions of the borrower, make them choose more worthwhile projects. This would raise efficiency.
Thank you
Projects like temples and pyramids, as with public monuments today, represent a choice about how labor effort in a society is directed. Some labor is required to produce food, shelter and clothing that are necessities for sustaining life. Beyond...
Does his claim hold up? If other countries have enacted similar bans, what happened afterwards?
Context: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/09/live-export-opponents-should-check-their-moral-compass-minister-says
Cheers!
I am not aware of any restrictions on live animal exports centered on animal welfare concerns. Concerns about animal disease outbreaks and food safety have primarily led to trade restrictions on live animals, meat, and animal products. A little...
1) Why does a transportation bottleneck cause Canadian oil to trade at a discounted price? Is it simply because rail companies have more leverage in this situation, as they have an effective monopsony as a buyer, a.k.a. near-monopoly over transportation? And if that's the case, is the oil sold to the rail company, who is able to negotiate a discounted price at which to purchase the oil from the producer?
I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that rail companies seek to secure long-term contracts with clients, so when oil producers want to use rail services just for the short-term, until new pipelines can be built, rail companies refuse to pay a high price for the commodity being transported (alternatively, rail companies demand a higher fee to transport the commodity). But again, I'm not clear about whether or not rail companies actually purchase the oil and then sell it on to refineries. And if a Canadian rail company does purchase the oil, then the revenue stays in Canada, doesn't it?
2) I have read that rail transport only adds marginal export capacity compared to what's needed, so perhaps the oil producer/rail transaction has a negligible effect on price? If that's true, then I'm really confused.
3) Is it simply just that a transportation bottleneck causes excess oil supply to build up, reducing its market price? But I thought that a bottleneck would equate to less supply, since it can't be exported as quickly, and therefore its market price should rise.
Great question! In general, we don’t need a monopsonistic setting to explain crude differentials between WCS and WTI. In a competitive market, prices for the same product (oil, corn, etc.) can diverge in different markets for two...
https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/doud-china-is-stockpiling-world-s-grain-supplies
Mr Doud, the chief agricultural negotiator for the U.S. trade representative, has put out statistics saying that China has been stockpiling large amounts of the world’s residual supplies of grains and other commodities and says that stockpiling these commodities is “depressing prices for every other farmer across the globe,”. But why would stockpiling lead to depressing prices? It would seem to me that taking residual commodities off the market (stockpiling) would have the opposite effect; that it would create greater competition for the remaining supplies, which would lead to higher prices.
The impact of stockpiling commodities on prices depends on the timeframe. While the stockpiling is occurring, your reasoning is accurate. The stockpiling is removing supplies from the market, creating more intense competition for the remaining...
Inflation is the natural outcome of price changes brought about by market forces and governmental forces. It is the rate of change in the price level that, in a country like the U.S., is entirely determined by market forces and the actions of the...
Bitcoin itself doesn't affect global financial markets very much now. It has been used with some unlawful activities such as purchasing drug and money laundering. It certainly can be and have been used to violate capital regulation law in some...
You could allow the group to report this to the station master and get a Rs. 25 award. You could randomly check buses unannounced. You could offer a bonus to the ticket master for every ticket he has proof of having sold.
The writer has already shown that a good argument can be made either way. There is no correct answer the way the question is framed. The friends will debate the question until the restaurant closes. So, let's give them something else to debate...
The Iowa State University Estimated Livestock Returns (http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/estimated-returns/) provides estimates of cattle finishing and hog production costs and returns. The...
First, it is important to understand the difference between a few concepts. The demand is a function that describes that the quantity demanded (consumption) declines as the price increases. That is, the demand is the relationship between the...
I teach an Economics of Sports class here at Iowa State University. In my class, we discuss the economic structure of the NCAA and professional sports leagues in the U.S. You are correct that the NCAA is a cartel and so is a...
There are really two questions here: (1) what are the causes of economic fluctuations, generally? And (2) what role do wars and military spending play in these fluctuations?
Answering the first question is beyond the scope of this...
I am trying to calculate GDP for countries and the numbers dont seem to add up.
I am using the formula GDP = Consumption + Investment + Government spending + Imports - exports
I am using the example of France
It has a GDP about 2500 bn dollars per year.
Thus the components of C, I, G and X-Y should equal about 2500 right?
These are the figures that I have found
C = 1360, Investment = 20 per cent of GDP ie around 500, G= 1370
Frances trade balance is negative to about 55 bn per year and government borrowing is 85 bn
So if you calculate 1360 + 500 + 1370 - 55 - 85 you end up with 3090 which is more that 20 per cent more than the published figure.
So where am I going wrong in my calculations?
I was thinking it was something to do with PPP v nominal dollar values but the difference between the two is only 10 per cent whereas my figures differ by more than 20 per cent
Thanks for any help
Mick Cooke
Figures are from
C = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_consumer_markets
I = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_gross_fixed_investment_as_percentage_of_GDP
G = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_budget
X-Y = http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/fra/
The main problem with your calculation is that you are using as "G" the French government's budgetary expenditure, which most likely includes large transfer payments. Transfer payments are not part of GDP. Another problem is that you are...
This question is in two parts: 1) How prevalent is the requirement for 100% giving of any amount; and 2) Do organizations raise more money if there is a 100% giving expectation?
Let me begin by stating that I’m not aware of any research...
The answer is no. It is not correct to conclude that Bukina Faso’s economy is supported by only 15% of the population. It is a common challenge in developing countries to appropriately account for employment and the economic contributions of a...
Effectively, you are asking: how can there be different prices across countries within the same currency zone? This may sound surprising because within the Euro common currency, for example, we label regions as countries and there is a price...
The American Communities Survey provides information on median household income
This is before taxes and transfers
American Fact Finder
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