The Future of Food?

This past summer the movie Food, Inc. was released in the United States. The movie presents the case against the highly industrialized food system of the United States. The film claims that in the drive to lower production costs for food, particularly meat, producers are creating externalities that make the system unsustainable in the future.

One solution, according to the film, is for consumers to demand more food from regional producers who rely on sustainable methods of production. While these producers create fewer externalities, they also have lower yields. While this may not be a problem for most Americans, who should likely be eating less food (especially meat)anyway, this is an issue for the rest of the world.

The global population will top nine billion people by the year 2050. Many experts think that food production will have to increase by 70% by then to prevent mass starvation. This will likely require a mix of solutions, and industrial agriculture cannot be ruled out of the equation.

After watching Food, Inc. you had an opportunity to explore one of the options below (each option has clickable links in it):

• Explore the Food, Inc. film Web site to find out more about the film, its purpose, and what consumers can do to change the industrial food system



• Read a news article on the future of food from Reuters or from National Geographic or from the latest issue of The Economist



• Explore the Slow Food International Web site or the Slow Food Germany Web site to find out about the Slow Food movement and local sources for sustainable agricultural products



• Explore criticisms of Food Inc. on Monsanto's Web site where it defends itself, or where it lists other groups with their own criticisms of the movie



• Watch Michael Pollan, one of the creators of Food, Inc. deliver a presentation called "What's in the Beef?" where he discusses the link between America's food system and three of the most critical issues of the day: the health care crisis, the energy crisis, and climate change.

What did you learn from your exploration about the present or future of food production? Write a blog comment of no more than 10 sentences sharing what you discovered. Make it meaty (ha!)- share facts, theories, connections you make to economics class, etc. Don't just waffle on vaguely about the looming food crisis. Post by Thursday 26 November midnight for a second chance or by Sunday 29 November as a final deadline.

What do you think of sin taxes?

Governments around the world tax unhealthy or otherwise harmful goods like cigarettes and alcohol, and many are also thinking about taxing junk food. Governments use different justifications for these taxes, but they are also widely criticized.

Below are two links to recent articles about increases in sin taxes. Read through them both and tell us what you think of such policies, using economic analysis as you go. Try to focus in narrowly on one issue, rather than making broad statements that touch on many issues. Remember to keep your comment to 10 sentences or less!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2009-03-31-cigarettetax_N.htm?POE=click-refer

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125599061198095083-lMyQjAxMDI5NTE1MTkxOTEwWj.html

Do Agricultural Subsidies Foster Poor Health?

This past summer the movie Food, Inc. was released in the United States. The movie analyzes the impact of the industrialization of the food supply, with some very interesting conclusions.

One point made in the film is that government subsidies to the agricultural sector, specifically to corn and soybean producers, may be linked to the growing problem of obesity and diabetes in the United States (and elsewhere presumably).

Below is a link to an article that discusses the possible connection between agricultural subsidies and poor health. There are also counterarguments presented. This material is very much linked to what we have studied so far about supply and demand, the pros and cons of government intervention in markets, and elasticity of demand and supply.

So what do you think? Is there a strong connection between government intervention in agricultural markets and health problems?

I would recommend that you take a few notes as you read, perhaps in two columns (arguments that say intervention is connected with poor health, and arguments that say intervention is not connected with poor health). This will help you put the big picture together at the end. Remember, your comment should be 10 sentences or less. Reply by November 4 for a second chance, or by November 8 as a final deadline.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1247588/

China's government intervention in the energy market

Below is a link to a commentary by a Reuters journalist about China's intervention in the energy market.

http://blogs.reuters.com/columns/2009/10/20/beijings-great-power-comes-with-little-foresight/

As an alternative to the post on milk below, you can write a comment directly to the Reuters site, responding to the journalist's opinion piece. The same rules of engagement apply - 10 sentences or less and use what you know about economics to discuss.

Should governments intervene in the market for milk?

In recent months, milk farmers in Europe have been loudly complaining about the low price they receive for their milk. The problem is a combination of oversupply, fostered in part by years of government support for the milk industry, and the power of the small number of milk processors and grocery stores who buy the milk from farmers and put a great deal of downward pressure on farm-gate milk prices.

Just this week the EU agreed to a new set of payments to farmers to help them survive this period of low prices, but is this the right solution? Farmers would like to see a reduction in quotas, to reduce supply. Is this a better solution? Or should we let the invisible hand of the market reduce supply on its own?

How much and what kind of intervention is right in the EU (or any government's) milk industry? Should there be any intervention at all?

When, if ever, are price controls justified?

Below are links to several articles about the use of price controls in the Philippines.

The first article from Reuters is about specific price controls on certain drugs that began last summer.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSMAN479215

This is a press release by the Philippine Information Agency about price controls that were imposed by the government after the devastating typhoon that hit the country earlier this month.

http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p091008.htm&no=83

And here is a news article about those same emergency price controls.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=510779&publicationSubCategoryId=63

We have spent a lot of time criticizing the use of price controls, like the price ceilings used here. But are there times when they are justified?

Use what you know about economics to comment on these price ceilings in 10 sentences or less. Remember, discussing in depth is preferable to breadth!

A Sweet Price for Sugar?

Sugar prices have soared this year, even as the prices of many other commodities have remained relatively low due to weak demand during the economic crisis. Just last year, sugar prices were also low.

What is behind the high and rising sugar prices and what consequences do the rising prices have for the allocation of scarce resources and for three stakeholders in the economy -- producers, consumers, and governments?

The two articles below are so jam-packed with links to the material we have covered so far in our course, they make me giddy with excitement! I'd like you to read the articles, and to look at the video and price chart link that accompany The New York Times article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/business/global/05sugar.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-sugar23-2009sep23,0,6252552.story

What connections do you see to our course? Tell us in 10 sentences or less - preferably focusing on one concept or theory. Depth is better than breadth!

How should kidneys be allocated?

After our scored discussion on how kidneys should be allocated, you wrote a reflection to capture your current thinking on the issue. I would like you to now access the following video on the organ trade in India. It is about 10 minutes long. On my computer the Quicktime "large" version works best, but you might have to play around with it.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/07/india_a_pound_o.html

Does this video change your thinking at all?

Write a response to the question, "How should kidneys be allocated?" using what you have learned. I would like you to keep your response to less than 10 sentences.

Welcome to the IB Economics blog!

Welcome to the Grade 11 IB Economics blog. The guidelines for the blog are listed below and can be accessed anytime through the archive as the course progresses. Students will be required to write a blog response once every two weeks, alternating between the class groups. This will increase the opportunity for students to make a substantive contribution, as fewer students will be involved in responding to each post.

I will post by the end of each Monday. When it is your week to write, you will have until the following Sunday night to respond to the post. If you reply by the end of the day on Wednesday, you will have a second opportunity to comment to improve your mark for that week. Replies after Wednesday will only have one chance. This is meant to encourage you to reply early, which will improve the opportunity for everyone to engage with the content. Late posts will not be accepted.


There are several ways you can achieve these marks:

1. You can respond to a specific question I have asked in the post
2. You can reply to the comment of another student, by supporting, building on, or criticizing their comment
3. You can post your own, substantive question related to the post. It cannot be a one-liner; there must be some discussion / explanation leading up to the question posed.
   
4. You can post information, video, links or other internet or non-internet related information to the post (in other words, add to the post) with some discussion / explanation of the relevance.
   

Your response will be marked on a scale of 0-3, according to the following criteria:

0 = you have not replied that week or your reply is inappropriate (unpublishable)
1 = you have replied, but your post looks like something Joe or Jane Schmeckelhead (man and woman on the street) could have written
2 = you have replied and you demonstrate a link to your knowledge and understanding of economics
3= you have replied and you demonstrate an insightful link to your knowledge and understanding of economics

The following boundaries will apply for marking purposes:
? - ? = 7
? - ? = 6
? - ? = 5
? - ? = 4
? - ? = 3
? - ? = 2
? - ? = 1
? - ? = 0

(These boundaries will be determined in a few weeks, once the posting has begun and we can determine how many posts there will be in a semester.)

In the first semester, the blog responses will count for 10% of your grade. If the process goes smoothly, we may increase this to 20% in the second semester and next academic year. This change will be discussed with students at the end of semester one.