New Econ 260 Blog - FOR MARKS!

Hi Everyone.

Thank you all for your interesting comments about where you have travelled or lived and a comparison of prices between Calgary and the other location. Some of you have been to some VERY interesting places.

Below is my first blog posting that will be marked. For how your blog response will be marked, see our webCT page, resources, and BLOG MARKS.

I WILL BE POSTING 3 BLOGS OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEMESTER - YOU MUST ANSWER ANY 2.

If you choose to address this blog, you should respond by February 03 - 4pm. Each blog response is worth 2.5% of your course mark. After the end date, no further blog responses will be marked.

Read each of the attached articles and answer this question:

Do you think GDP is a good measure of the welfare of a country? Explain your response – cite some examples from the websites. Your response should be from an economic perspective. That is, you should be using economic terminology and incorporating economic theory into your response. Your response should be approximately 300 words so be as concise as possible.

The Importance of GDP per capita.

http://www.nationmaster.com/article/The-Importance-of-GDP-Per-Capita

What’s wrong with GDP?

http://dieoff.org/page11.htm

The GDP. How the GDP is calculated and what it does not count.

http://www.helium.com/items/601857-the-gdp-how-the-gdp-is-calculated-and-what-it-does-not-count

How do we measure standard of living?

http://www.bos.frb.org/education/ledger/ledger03/winter/measure.htm

If you have any quesitons, let me know.

Alberta Cash Bolsters Ottawa

I've shared with you this week an article from the Calgary Herald titled: Alberta cash bolsters Ottawa. I am interested in your thoughts. Do you think that it is fair that Albertans send more tax money to Ottawa than we get back? Do you think we should be entitled to receive back from Ottawa the same dollar amount in services as we pay to Ottawa? Do you think that because we are such a rich province that it is OK that some of our riches are spread amongst the less fortunate provinces? What are your thoughts?

This is not a blog for marks but I just wanted to hear your comments. (A couple of interesting pictures below.)

My Comment on your first blog.

Whow! Alot of you have really been travelling the world. You did an excellent job on the first blog. i do want to hear from the rest of you though. Don't forget to take a look-see at what everyonehas posted. It is SO interesting the observations that some of you have made about these foreign citieis and foreign countries and the prices of things.

I spent the summer in Greece and fell in LOVE with the islands. There were so many interesting places (Paradise Beach Mykonos - for those of you who have been there - you know what I mean) but the MOST interesting place was seeing the Caldera in Santorini. The ocean is as blue as the picture. The Caldera is the edge of a volcano. The cliff where this church is located must be about 1000 feet off the ocean. The houses are built right on the cliff. Just becautiful.



I didn't find the prices much different than in Canada - clothing costs were similar as were food costs. Probably because everywhere we went was for tourists.

Our First Blog!

Hello everyone. So this is our first blog. There are no marks given for this blog but I just want to get you started to see how it works.

Remember that what you post can be seen by everyone. Please do not use any language that would not be considered acceptable for a post-secondary student. Try to think like an economist when you address the blog questions. That is, feel free to use economic terminology or relate your answer to a topic discussed in class. Use your imagination as well.

Please respond to the following questions:
1. Name a city or country that you have visited that you found to be very interesting.
2. Tell us what it is about that city or country that was the MOST interesting.
3. If you purchased anything in that city or country, how do prices compare for items between Calgary and the city or country you visited? Think about the price of gas, price of houses, food prices, restaurant prices, beer prices, whatever you like.
4. Do you think it would be more or less expensive to live in that city or country than in Calgary?

Keep your answer short - about 1 paragraph.