o Go to the Econport Web site at Georgia State University Econport and click on the Handbook button in the ribbon menu at the top of the page. Notice in the menu that appears the top box is labeled Principles of Economics and the top three selections are demand, supply, and market equilibrium. Click on each of the three items and run through what is presented. Notice that in each case the concepts can be presented with words, a table, a graph, and math. Use the market for Apalachicola Florida Oysters (this is conceptual, no need to find out any details about the actual market) and words and graphs to explain:
o Factors influencing both supply and demand
o How the market reaches an equilibrium price; price adjustment to surpluses and shortages when it is too high or too low…price changes and then quantity supplied and demanded adjust to the price change.
o The difference between a change in demand and supply versus changes in quantity demanded and supplied.
o Suppose due to decreased rainfall salt water intrudes into the Apalachicola bay and fewer oysters are harvested; explain what would happen using supply and demand.
o The Apalachicola oyster has a unique cup shape…suppose a marketing campaign focusses on the shape of the shell and relates it to an improved quality product and consumers begin asking for the oyster by name; explain what happens in the market again with supply and demand.
o Finally describe what would happen to Apalachicola oysters if there was a record harvest in Louisiana (LA oysters are a substitute for Apalachicola oysters) due to favorable growing conditions. Also describe the meaning of ceteris paribus as it applies to using market supply and demand.
o NIPAs (See the BEA link). What are the NIPAs? Who collects the data? Where do you go to get it? What can you do with it? How good is it? Get some data and put the current state of the economy into perspective with some actual measures of activity. To start, find the most recent information on the major economic components… GDP, C, I, G, X, and NX (note that NX=X-M) and see how they have been changing over the last few periods. Be sure to differentiate between real and nominal measures and use real values in your discussion. Also discuss the expenditure versus the income approach to determining GDP, use some of the material from econport for this and remember a dollar of spending by someone is a dollar of income received by someone else. Develop a graph of real GDP over the most recent 8 quarters you can find (four quarters of three months each in a calendar year).