Discussion

Southern California Surfboards	
Choose one of the following events and using the steps outlined in the document in Doc Sharing entitled “How to analyze a supply and demand problem” as a guide and the graphs provided in Doc Sharing for the Unit 3 Discussion Question, discuss the economic impact on the market for surfboards in Southern California.
a.	Southern California experiences unusually high temperatures, sending an unusually large number of people to its beaches. 
b.	Due to the large profits earned by surfboard producers, there is a significant increase in the number of producers of surfboards. 
c.	Large sharks are reported feeding near the beaches of Southern California. 
d.	There is a significant increase in the price of epoxy paint used to coat surfboards. 
Thinking of the recreational activity that you most enjoy, can you describe some similar economic event that has resulted in a supply and demand impact on the recreation you most enjoy?
Blank graphs that can aid you in your analysis are available for download in Doc Sharing.

06/23/2012 06:53pm
Large Shark Report
Let's look at the market before the report comes out first. Southern California is known for surfing and thus the supply and demand of surf boards are high - surf boards are practically everywhere. Sellers are doing quite well. Consumers are easily able to buy a surf board conveniently.

Now a news report comes out saying sharks are now feeding near the beaches (perhaps even a few shark bites have been reported). Depending on the amount of news reports and shark sightings, this would impact the supply and demand cycle by causing surfers to not surf the Southern California beaches, which would eventually lead to a reduction in sales of surf boards themselves (among other products). It's hard to say exactly what would happen next, it really matters on just how infested the waters really are. Perhaps sellers would reduce the price of surf boards to entice buyers to buy cheaper surf boards. Maybe the sellers would liquidate their surf board inventory, and raise the prices of the boards they keep in stock. There's also the chance that the sellers would just relocate to another beach, causing a huge shortage of available surf boards in Southern California.

So basically, if you're looking at the graph, the curve moves left because the demand has been reduced, this usually leads to price increases.

Recreational Activity
I'm not sure if this is a recreational activity or not, but I tend to watch a lot of movies (blu-ray, dvd, etc), but never really can afford them, so I tend to rent movies. Well, a few months back, all the Blockbusters in our area were closing their stores to go online (competing with Netflix I guess). This caused all the stores to sell their movies, other merchandise, and furniture for super cheap prices. You could buy a blu-ray movie for a dollar! I must have bought at least 80 movies over a month. Now I have a surplus of movies that I will have the opportunity to watch that I own. One thing I can point out, is that I haven't rented a single movie since the Blockbusters have closed.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page 

RE: Question C (Post your answer here) 	
Edward Jackson 	
6/23/2012 7:05:07 PM	

	
The correlation is almost the opposite of the shark incident. Instead of a shortage, the Blockbuster stores caused the "curve" to shift right as they dumped a huge surplus of movies into the local market for extremely cheap prices. I'm not sure how much the market would be affected, but I am sure there would be some reduced movie sales of other stores like Walmart, rentals from Redbox and other local movie stores. 	

06/24/2012 01:02pm
What is the starting situation? 
Surf boards are being sold to surfers all along the Southern California beaches.
What is the change in the situation?
News reports of shark feeding near the shore, surfers either surf less, or find a new place to surf.
Does it affect demand or supply?
This would affect the demand as less surfers are actually surfing along the beaches, and in turn buying less surf boards. Eventually, this could affect the supply as well (in that area that is).
Has it caused a movement along the curve, or a shift of the curve?
It has caused a shift, because the news report could cause or will cause trending.
If is a movement , is it up, or down the curve?
Does not apply, but if it was a movement it would be down the curve as demand has went down.
If is a shift of the curve, did the curve shift to the left or right?
It shifted left due to less demand.
What reaction did the cause in the other curve?
It moves right as the demand goes down.
What is the final change in the equilibrium point?
As the demand goes down, the equilibrium point also changes; the supply and demand intersection have changed. The point moves left and down.
Is the final price higher, or lower?
The final price is higher.
Is the final quantity higher, or lower?
The final quantity is lower.

06/24/2012 1:28pm
Here is my graph respectively:

http://eddiejackson.net/web_images/mygraph1.png

06/24/2012 2:22pm
VIDEO1
Some ideas and topics that were covered in the video:

Demand: the people who buy goods
Supply: the people who sell goods

Law of download-sloping demand was covered - 
in reference to quantity changes affect price changes.

One question that was posed is (even though it's rare), "What is in more demand as the price increases?"
A few examples are cars, stocks and university education.

The example was with salmon as the product. 

Rise in income causes the demand curve for salmon to shift outward as people have more money to spend.

A reduction in cost fuel causes supply curve to shift outward as well.

or

If salmon is not so healthy because of mercury, the demand curve would shift inward.

Bad weather would also cause an inward shift of the supply curve.

Something else I learned, in some cases, you can have an equilibrium in unemployment, because it just sits there.

What you want to look for in equilibrium, in most cases, is no tendency to change.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page 

06/24/2012 3:26pm
VIDEO2
Prices all over the place do cause a lot of problems in an open market. I also think for the layman, such as myself, it makes economics quite perplexing sometimes.

A higher price today, brings more into the market tomorrow.

They also spoke on variable costs, like buying fertilizer, fuel, and costs of getting the product to market - because those costs increase as you plant more of a crop.

As the crop demand curve shifts in, the equilibrium also moves inward. So the price of celery is always on the move.

Surplus and shortages caused by government intervention are not really supported by people in the free market. They think the market should be left alone to establish its own equilibrium.

Something completely unrelated, I didn't like how the video cuts away and advertisements pop in.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page

06/24/2012 3:35pm
VIDEO3
At low prices, people consume more, and at high prices, people consume less. When prices go down, quantity demand goes up.

So, prices and quantity supply move in the same direction.

The video also mentioned that supply and demand are always shifting towards equilibrium.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page 

06/24/2012 3:53pm
Okay, it's true that the sales will be impacted in the area, but I'm not sure if we can consider this a surplus or not. How do you think the sellers will respond to less demand? Do you think they would relocate, or perhaps liquidate their inventory through other measures...like selling them online? I'm guessing prices would just go up, that way the seller doesn't lose too much money in the long run. It's the consumer that really loses here because if they need to buy a surf board, it's going to cost them more.
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page

06/24/2012 4:53pm
I've never really followed fishing, but the market ideas you speak are pretty universal. So are you saying that the saturation of Angler actually added to the overall success of the fishing industry? It seems like the saturation of a product could potentially hurt other name brands. What do you think?
---------------------------------------------------------
Eddie Jackson
GOK - Philosophy Major/Liberal Studies
http://eddiejackson.net university page