The Economic Impacts of Zayn Leaving One Direction

Nick Martinson

Mrs. Straub

Economics

29 March 2015

The Economic Impacts of Zayn Leaving One Direction

What’s not to like about the hot Zayn from One Direction? Or should I say what's to like about him? Teenage girls all around the world are sad after finding out Zayn has left the popular boy band One Direction. On March 25, 2015 Zayn Malik states that he is leaving the popular band One Direction because he wanted to be a normal 22 year old boy. Who would’ve thought that fans would care so much that they would cry over one member of a band leaving? Some companies are losing employees because the workers need time to grieve. One Direction Tweeted: “After five incredible years Zayn Malik has decided to leave One Direction. Niall, Harry, Liam and Louis will continue as a four-piece and look forward to the forthcoming concerts of their world tour and recording their fifth album, due to be released later this year (Burn-Callander).” Since the demand is so high to see One Direction in concert I think that the impact of Zayn leaving will greatly impact fans around the world. Now that the group lost one of their members they will have to continue without him which will lead to less fans buying tickets to go concerts because the group is not the same without Zayn. Many people around the world have taken vacation time off work to relieve themselves from this tragic event. I believe the reason he left was because of his fiancee Perrie Edwards, she was the negative externality in the relationship between the boys. If he would’ve just focused on being with the band and not worried about her none of this would’ve happened.

According to this picture I guess One Direction is not complete...Sorry females. Now that Zayn has quit One Direction the revenue that the band will make will go down because they aren’t the same anymore so they will potentially lose less fans. I believe that the band will eventually break up because of unhappy fans. Since there are less people that will go to concerts this means that they will have to lower the price of tickets because they are supplying less people. I think that there will not be a surplus of people that want to see One Direction because now that they are not the same without Zayn.

Supposedly a day after Zayn quit One Direction he was seen walking into a recording studio so maybe the main reason he quit was because he just didn’t want to be apart of One Direction. He said, "I feel like I’m doing what’s right, right by myself and right by the boys, so I feel good ... My main message is I did try to do something that I wasn’t happy doing for a while for the sake of, maybe, other people’s happiness, and that was mainly the fans, and, and I only ever tried to do it for the fans. And it was only ever for them, and basically I’m only upset because I feel like I may have let them down in some sort of way and that’s the main thing that I don’t want to happen. It’s not that I’ve turned my back on them or anything, it’s just that I can’t do that anymore. It’s not real to me (Lockett)." He is trying to let everyone down easy by saying that he is quitting the band but as far as we know he could’ve just wanted to leave so he could go solo. Some trade-offs you could do instead of going to a One Direction concert are: Go to a cooler concert like Miley, or you could not go to the concert and invest your money for your future. There are many ways that one band member in a band can affect the economy.

Works Cited

Burn-Callander, Rebecca. "Heartbroken Workers Seek Compassionate Leave after Zayn Malik Quits One Direction." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.  

Lockett, Dee. "Zayn Malik Gives His First Interview Post–One Direction, Breaks Even More Hearts." Zayn Malik Gives His First Interview Post–One Direction, Breaks Even More Hearts. New York Media LLC, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Easter

Anna Christopherson

Mrs. Straub

Economics

29 March 2015

Easter

Every year Easter is celebrated throughout the United States. It comes at the perfect time to stimulate the economy after things may have settle down since St.Patrick’s day but before Mother’s Day which is the next holiday to give a little boost to the economy. This year according to National Retail Federation, consumers will spend $16.4 billion on mainly food, gifts, candy, decorations, clothes, and flowers (Consumers on the Hunt for Candy, New Spring Apparel This Easter). As you can see from the graph below which shows the amount that

adults spend on Easter each year has increased as the economy has gotten stronger since 2008. This trend line is quite similar to the U.S. overall GDP trendline.

Many people probably think that most spending occurs on candy but it’s the third most. The source goes on to provide the spending breakdown, first is actually food with $5.3 billion, then surprisingly clothing with $2.9 billion, and then candy with $2.2 billion, followed by $2.4 billion on gifts, $1.1 billion on flowers, $998 million on decorations and $695 million on greeting cards (Consumers on the Hunt for Candy, New Spring Apparel This Easter).

The $2.2 billion dollars consumers spend on candy has three main producers with a few others that creates an oligopoly of the Easter candy market. The four main products from producers are the chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs,  flavored chicks, and jelly beans. According to statsticbrain.com, 70% of easter candy that is purchased is chocolate and 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced each year for Easter (Easter Statistics). Chocolate eggs though are almost as popular though, according to cadburyworld.co.uk, “Every year over 80 million boxed chocolate shell eggs are sold not to mention all the Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs” (Easter Brand Fact Sheet).

That means that the 30% of the non-chocolate candy is made up of mainly chicks and jelly beans. Easter Statistics also says, 16 billion jelly beans are produced each year for Easter (Easter Statistics). According to marshmallowpeeps.com, more than 1.5 billion PEEPS® are consumed during Easter (Easter Basket Favorite PEEPS® Offers Variety for Everyone). These four are above the rest of the candy in the Easter market but that’s because they are iconic and mainly associated with Easter. Sure, Reese’s or Snicker’s eggs are good substitutes along with Starburst beans for the top brand Cadbury eggs and Jelly Belly jelly beans but then you sacrifice taste.

Even through the rough economic times Easter only dropped a few billion of dollars in consumer spending which leads me to believe that the demand is always going to be strong making the main easter goods inelastic. While peoples incomes dropped they still continued to buy Easter goods thus Easter goods are normal goods.

Bibliography

"Consumers on the Hunt for Candy, New Spring Apparel This Easter." NRF. National Retail Federation, 23 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <https//:nrf.com/media/press-releases/consumers-the-hunt-candy-new-spring-apparel-this-easter>.

"Easter Basket Favorite PEEPS® Offers Variety for Everyone." News. Just Born, Inc., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/news>.   

"Easter Brand Fact Sheet." Cadbury World. Cadbury.co.uk. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <https://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/schoolandgroups/~/media/CadburyWorld/en/Files/Pdf/factsheet-easterbrands>.

"Easter Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. <http://www.statisticbrain.com/easter-statistics/>.

The Economic Impact of the Final Four

Zack Schmidt

Mrs. Straub

Economics

3/29/2015

The Economic Impact of the Final Four

With the final four on saturday and the national championship the following monday, it only seems fitting to take a closer look at the economics behind the final four. Every year the NCAA hosts the post season tournament to crown a new national champion, and every year the sites for all of the games change as well. With each round dwindling down the number of teams every weekend, the cities that host these games pull even more income. Although the real winners each year are the schools that make it that far and the host city of the final four; which this season happens to be Indianapolis, Indiana.

This year though there’s something special about the end of the road being held in Indianapolis; they may have drawn the best time to host the final four and gotten the best chance to pull in the most amount of income. With the final four hosting Kentucky, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Duke all of the teams, excluding Duke, are all within 330 miles of the games which is a driveable distance (Rishe). All of these respective teams as well have incredibly loyal fan bases that are willing to travel. If people don’t have to fly, and are willing to drive from their respective cities; that means that even more people will want to come out to city and experience the final four for themselves. Also there’s a number of storylines to follow going into this final four; especially the Kentucky Wildcats chasing perfection, something that was last done by the Indiana Hoosiers in 1976. Although, what does all of this have to do with economics?

What this has to do with economics is a lot, and Indianapolis is going to greatly benefit from it as a whole. As noted above, this years final four has the potential to bring in more fans than ever, and with that more money than ever too. The population is going to be shifting in Indianapolis, there are going to be far more people there than normal, which is will shift the demand for goods and services as well. In a fox news report Renny Harrison said “A few weeks ago, ticket prices were 30-40 percent less than they are now,” (Houser). With future expectations, one of the determinants of demand, of the prices of tickets becoming even more expensive as we near closer to tip off, one can only imagine how expensive tickets could be at the door or even the night before. This will not only generate revenue for the people working in Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend, but it will help out the surrounding firms as well. Some people will inevitably not be able to go to the game because of the cost of tickets, but it some people will also not be able to go because when they arrive the game could be sold out; they will then resort to going to nearby bars and hangouts to catch the action on a big screen tv.

Along with the cities that milk this cash cow, the schools that make it this far take in a large sum as well. The NCAA rewards their teams on a six year rolling basis, in that time the number of wins by a team are recorded and they are given a “unit” value for each time that they win.

This will later on correlate to how much money they get. For example: Kentucky has won 19 championship games, each game is worth roughly $250,000 dollars, which if you look at the graph above is increasing each year, and they will earn several million dollars by the time that the six year window closes (Smith). For teams that make these consecutive deep runs into the tournament, they are generating their schools unprecedented amounts of revenue. In other words, it can bring in some serious cash. Not to mention also the amount of money that schools receive from consumers because of licensed apparel and increased applicant numbers. To have a good sports team pays off.      

All in all there are five big winners at the end of the road, the city, and the four teams that get to it. The city is able to generate revenue and sales from the games in the form of goods, services, and national air time to try to increase awareness of their city. Then there’s the final four teams that are all sitting pretty with the amount of money that they’re going to be pulling in from the number of games that they’ve won over the past month, and if in the tournament previously, years.

Works Cited

Houser, Shannon. "Final Four Ticket Prices Higher than Ever before." Fox 59. Tribune

Broadcasting, 30 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

Rishe, Patrick. "March Madness: Indianapolis Hits Jackpot With Four Basketball Bluebloods

Reaching Final Four." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 29 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

Smith, Chris. "A Trip To The NCAA Tournament's Final Four Is Worth $8.2 Million." Forbes.

Forbes Magazine, 20 Mar. 2015. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

E-Readers and the Economy

Samantha Grosberger

Mrs. Straub

Economics

24 March 2015

E-Readers and the Economy

Reading is a national pastime, one that’s been around for generations. Books are a way for people to learn about different topics they’re interested in. Students, especially college students, spend thousands of dollars a year to get the books they need for their classes. Consumers will access books from their local libraries, or go and purchase books from local bookstores or big-chain bookstores like Barnes and Noble. The act of reading is one that’ll continue to be popular, yet in recent years, new methods of reading like the e-reader have changed the economy and the way that people access the material they enjoy.

When consumers think about the easiest way to read, picking up a book seems like the simplest one. What can be more easy about just picking up a hardcover book, opening it, and beginning to read? Although some may think this, producers of something called “e-readers” have revolutionized the act of reading. An e-reader is a piece of technology that consumers can use to read instead of having to have a book. It doesn’t seem very extraordinary, yet they’ve radically changed the way consumers can read. The opportunity cost of e-readers is infinitesimal for consumers; they can cost as little as $80 for an Amazon Kindle and hold up to 1,500 books! If someone adores reading and wants to have as many books as possible, this is a wonderful way to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vZqmdwWSo

E-readers aren’t just a great new technological advancement due to the capacity of books they can hold. For the producers, they’re very beneficial as well. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Windows, and other companies have made millions of dollars in profit from these e-readers, especially as newer versions come out. For example, Amazon started with the e-reader called a Kindle, available for sale on November 19, 2007. Since then, there’s been new versions seemingly every year. Consumers can purchase a Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Voyage, or their Kindle Fires. The Kindle Fires are e-readers, yet they have tablet capacity as well. Consumers can choose from four different type of Kindle tablets, a Kindle Fire HD 6, HD 7, HDX, or HDX 8.9. A classic economic law comes into play here, the law of supply. The price increased with each version, so consumers provide more goods of the e-readers. This has occurred with almost all sellers of e-readers, but Amazon specifically has seen this with their Kindle Fires. According to Business Insider, Kindle shipments have almost doubled between 2011 and 2012.

                           

E-readers have changed the economy throughout the year, yet there are certain times where this increases. The law of demand occurred during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when Amazon Fire sales tripled and Kindle sales quadrupled in 2014, according to GeekWire. The price being lower will make people buy even more. Although e-readers haven’t been around as long as printed books, they’ve made huge progress in terms of becoming popular. New features, different versions, and larger capacities for storage keep making e-readers better than ever.

Works Cited

Bishop, Todd. "Amazon: Fire Tablet Sales Triple and Kindle E-Reader Sales Nearly Quadruple on Black Friday." GeekWire. GeekWire LLC, 1 Dec. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Carnoy, David. "Best E-Book Readers of 2015 - CNET Magazine." CNET. CBS Interactive Inc., 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Cocotas, Alex. "Kindle Shipments Slip, But Still Point to Amazon's Potential Mobile Strength." Business Insider. Business Insider Inc., 29 May 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

"The New Kindle Voyage E-Reader Is Shockingly Good (Hands-on)." Youtube. Youtube, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

The Economics Behind Spring Break

Sarah Klemm

Mr. Reuter

Economics – B4

23 March 2015

The Economics Behind Spring Break

Spring Break: the glorious time of year students look forward to after the long 3 months since winter break.  While this week off allows kids to kick back, relax, and not worry about school, many students find ways to keep themselves busy. For most college and even high school students, going on vacation to a warm, tropical destination is just the cure to those extended three months of winter. For those who can’t afford getting away find this the perfect time to find a job and start making some money.  The decision of individuals to stay home and rack up some cash has great personal benefits, and those who spend their saved up money on a desired vacation greatly benefit the economy.

Some young adults go on trips with their family over the week of Spring Break while others plan adventurous trips with their closest friends. Planning these escapes requires time, research, thoughtful decisions, and most importantly: money. In popular destinations such as Panama City Beach, FL, Cancun, Las Vegas, Miami, and many more, it is sometimes hard to find the best hotels or condos to stay at since Spring Break is a specific time of the year and everybody wants to find the best deals for a cheaper stay over the course of that week. According to Alternet’s article on economic facts of Spring Break, just college students traveling to Florida and Texas alone spend around $1 billion.  Insane, right? However, the elastic good of a getaway from reality hugely contributes to the economy by, for instance, helping out small businesses and bars that have cheap rooms and cheap liquor.

Panama City Beach, FL

For those who are left behind staying at home, you’re not alone. As there may be not much to do, take it as a great opportunity to make some money. That doesn’t necessarily mean finding a stable job, but it could be as simple as offering to babysit, walk dogs, do chores, etc. Since the government created the price floor of minimum wage—which is $7.25 per hour—the lowest you will be able to make is that amount. Some jobs even pay more than that. Especially little job opportunities such as babysitting and dog walking, you’ll find that—depending on how many kids or what you’re all doing for the dog(s)—the hourly rate people pay is between 8 and 10 dollars. For just a few hours of doing the task, it sure is easy money that adds up! If that continues and you save up, it could be you on Spring Break next year!

Both the economy and individuals greatly benefit from Spring Break. The students who choose to spend their money towards a week long vacation in tropical destinations contribute to the economy, giving business to small hotels and condos as well as bars. Those who decide to save their money or those who don’t have money are able to use this time to start making or make more cash. Spring Break is beneficial to everybody, with no school being the best part of it all!  

Works Cited:

Thompson, Derek. "2,000 Years of Partying: The Brief History and Economics of Spring Break." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

"9 Disturbing Facts About the Crazy Economics of Spring Break." Alternet. 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Pharmacist Surplus

Pharmacist Surplus

By: Adrianna Mendoza

For most people college is an inelastic good meaning that it’s a necessity and as the years have gone on more and more people are finding college an inelastic good. What if you really wanted to go to college to become a pharmacist? Would the opportunity cost for going to pharmacy school and not having be able to get job after graduation be worth it? There a lot of answers to the question and nowadays people are say that yes the opportunity cost of going to school and not being able to get a job once coming out is worth it. That how surpluses are created along with shortages.

Many people know the struggles that students graduating from college face. Now that problem has become a reality for most pharmacy students and is expected to get worse according to Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians: Facts and Figures.

Not many of the students know what pharmacists actually do. They provide a critical part to the health care system by helping create drugs and know the right amount of drug to give a patient and to make sure the pharmacist explains to the patient how to use it properly. Now just think about all the students coming out of college expecting to be a part of this field and falling short and realizing there are no jobs for them.

The chart above is from an article called the Pharmacist & the Aggregate Demand Index and it shows the parts of the country that are either in a surplus or shortage situation. This is also a chart from the Man Power project and shows the demand index. If the Demand index is below a 3.0, it means that the pharmacists are in a surplus. Now a surplus is when there is too much supply to reach the demand of it meaning that there will be some left over. Now when something is in shortage it means that there is not enough of the supply to meet the demand. Meaning that their companies usually run out of a product due to the fact that it is so popular. According to the chart above the North East is in surplus meaning that pharmacist coming out of school don’t have any place to work. That pharmacy jobs are scarce but pharmacists aren’t. Lucky for us the good citizens in Wisconsin are not a part of this surplus problem yet. We can still use some pharmacists around here.

One factor that causes the problem of a pharmacist surplus is the fact that colleges are turning out way too many graduates. According to the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette it’s getting harder for pharmacist to find good flexible hours like the old days. Its not just because people are refusing to retire, its more of the fact that since there was a huge demand for pharmacists a couple of years ago schools decided to add a pharmacy graduate degree and build more schools. This then helped take care of the shortage problem but then surpassed equilibrium. This shows that the supply and demand were no longer equal and due to colleges adding more pharmacy classes means that they were turning out more pharmacy graduates causing a surplus. The chart above shows the total number of pharmacy graduates over the years. The increase in graduates just furthers my point in the fact that we are in a pharmacist surplus and it could get worse.

In conclusion if the American people don’t stop thinking the opportunity cost to go to school to be a pharmacist and graduate knowing a job won’t be available the economy will suffer and it will be harder to achieve equilibrium.

Work Cited

"Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians: Facts and Figures - DPEAFLCIO."DPEAFLCIO. Web. 22 Mar. 2015 <http://dpeaflcio.org/programs-publications/issue-fact-sheets/pharmacists-and-pharmacy-technicians-facts-and-figures/>

"Pharmacy Schools Turning out Too Many Grads." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. <http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2013/10/27/Pharmacy-schools-turning-out-too-many-grads/stories/201310270094>

"Pharmacists & the Aggregate Demand Index | The Honest Apothecary |." The Honest Apothecary. Web. 22 Mar. 2015. <http://www.thehonestapothecary.com/2013/02/02/pharmacists-the-aggregate-demand-index/>

Frozen: Economic Effect

Sarah Lorenz

Mr. Reuter

Economics

March 24, 2015

Frozen: Economic Effect

The Walt Disney company has been making a name for themselves since 1923, with the introduction of cartoons. This is where is it all started. Their first blockbuster, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs hit screens on 1937. It’s international earrings was around $8 million. From this point on Walt Disney company made a huge impact on the worlds economy. But nothing quite like their newest film, Frozen. This movie took the world by storm. Frozen’s earning were $1.27 billion just over the course of 2013. Most brands seem to come and go, and most people are willing to try something new. But not in this case, Frozen has been in demand since opening day. The movie has made a ton of gross profit from the movie, but the real money maker has been the merchandise that has followed.

Florida has seen the biggest economic growth, along with employment growth due to the film. The recession in 2010, really hit the theme parks, and Disney in particular hard because families were canceling trips. But with the popularity of Frozen has boosted Disney’s capital.  The merchandise and trips had become an inferior good. Without any competition from other companies, Disney has been able to set the price and continue to sell merchandise at sometimes unthinkable costs. With the demand only growing for Frozen, how does Disney meet the demand? The biggest supply determinant affecting Disney is that they are the only supplier, but also resources play a big role. Frozen on Ice, says to charge $15 for a snow cone. Seems crazy, but they are a monopoly, so they can charge whatever they want in order to make a profit. Disney has control over price and high barriers. Frozen has helped Disney create a stronger economic empire.

It is easy to say that Frozen is a success story, but the real success has come from the high demand of it after the movie. It has become much more than just a fad. People want more and more of Frozen. Disney being the only company with the merchandise has created a scarcity. This scarcity has allowed Disney total control of price and supply. So many positive externalities has come from the brand and will only have exponential growth.  Frozen has not only help build a strong economic company but also has helped with the job market. Frozen has made a very big impact on the United States economy.   

Works Cited

Morath, Eric. "‘Frozen’ Characters Heat Up Florida’s Economy." Real Time Economics RSS. The Wall Street Journal. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Tankersley, Jim. "Frozen and the U.S Economy." The Washington Post. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.