| ECO202: Economic Ideas and Models for Business |
1. Point of view
a. Explain your personal perspective, which is influenced by your experiences, culture, and interests.
b. Apply and analyze relevant concepts, theories, logic, or materials to argue/support your point of view by midweek to extend the dialogue.
i. Questions to consider:
- What experiences, concepts, theories, logic, or materials convinced you of your point of view?
- How are you looking at this situation? Is there another way to look at it that you should consider?
- Is your view the only reasonable view? What does your point of view ignore?
2. Evidence
a. Apply relevant information facts, data, evidence, or real-world examples to support your point of view. Cite relevant information and references in APA format.
i. Questions to consider:
- What information do you need to support your point of view?
- Does the information support/oppose your point of view?
- How credible is the information?
3. Implications and consequences
a. Explain the implications and/or consequences of your reasoning.
i. Questions to consider:
- Given all the facts, what is the best possible conclusion/solution?
- If you conclude in this way, what might happen?
- What are the possible outcomes of your conclusion/solution?
- Discussion Question
Read the following hypothetical case carefully and discuss the two questions by applying relevant macroeconomic theories. Before contributing your original post to the discussion board, you should read the Study Guide, Study Unit (SU) 6 carefully.
Case: It has been reported that there has been a significant increase in haze and dust storms in the major cities of Taiwan. The haze and dust storms were originally caused by air pollution in a cross-strait neighboring country of Taiwan and then blown into Taiwan by prevailing winds.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Taiwan, this cross-strait air pollution generally deteriorates the air quality in Taiwan significantly, especially during winter, which causes increasing numbers of respiratory illnesses, heart attacks, and lung cancer. Suppose in the next two years the production and demand of high-tech air purifiers and anti-pollution masks increase constantly in Taiwan.
Further, suppose that the number of visits to the doctors by Taiwanese people will increase significantly in the next two years due to chest infections and other respiratory illnesses.
Discuss both of the following two questions:
Is there likely to be an increase or decrease in measured GDP in Taiwan in the next two years, while assuming most other economic factors, such as labor participation rate, government spending, and inflation rate, remain constant? You must explain specifically why the measured GDP is likely to increase or decrease or remain the same.
One elected official in Taiwan argued that government must do everything possible to increase the growth of this nation’s GDP because an increase of real GDP per capita will increase national income and thus certainly improve the well-being of Taiwanese people. Discuss whether you agree with this elected official’s statement. You should elaborate your arguments by using pieces of evidence from this case or other real-world examples.
Discussion Question
As part of their Science Festival, a group of university undergraduates is attempting to build a multiple regression model that could help homeowners to predict the amount spent on electricity based on the following parameters (independent variables):
- Number of Occupants in the house
- Floor Area of the House
- Number of Window Opening in the house
- Number of Lightings in the house
- Age of the Air-conditioner
- Average Daily Temperature
Based on 100 household data surveyed randomly from the neighborhood, they discovered that only these parameters are truly significant for the multiple regression model:
- Number of Occupants in the house
- Floor Area of the House
- Number of Window Opening in the house
- Number of Lightings in the house With that, the group submitted their project report with the regression model equation that contains the above-reduced set of parameters.
You are the judge of the project. Discuss whether there are other statistical analysis needs to be performed before approving the revised result. Justify your answer with example(s) or evidence
