Featured Entry - Is Advertising worth it?

Arsenal recently built a new stadium with the help of the company called Fly Emirates. The stadium cost them millions of dollars. Why did they (Fly Emirates) do it? Sure, their name will be plastered all over the stadium, will be written on Arsenal's jerseys, and the stadium itself will be name Emirates Stadium, but are these benefits worth the amount of money they spent? Will they be able to make a profit from this? What was their incentive? They spent an awful lot of money and it won't be easy to make that much from advertising. They will probably get more customers from the increased exposure, but it may not lead to the huge amount of profit, and this may cause them to lose money on the venture. It is possible that they have some sort of agreement with the team where they get a percentage of the profit or something along those lines, but that it unlikely because the sponsor usually gives money to the team not the other way around. Perphaps their incentive was the fact that Arsenal are a strong team, and they could perform well during the season, which would have a positive effect on both the team and the company. Fly Emirates had one huge cost spent on the stadium. Will the benefit be worth it?

-Ivan Kukharkin

Featured Entry - The PlayStation 3

The Playstation 3 has finally hit stores, and as expected, Sony's shipment is a disaster. There 400,000 consoles available at launch, but there were millions of people who were willing to pay the $500-$600 to get their hands on one. Now that is supply and demand gone totally awry. The PS3 has been profitable for retailers, but even more so for ebay sellers who took advantage of the low supply and sold their PS3's for over a grand. Unfortunately for the people that did not manage to get one, things are unlikely to improve anytime soon since Sony has only promised about 1 million units before the end of the year. Some hopeful people mentioned that waiting longer to buy would result in paying less, but the extremely limited supply makes a price decrease extremely unlikely anytime soon. While some people complain that it is too expensive for a gaming console; others view it as a bargain since it is also a Blu-Ray player (regular Blu-Ray players cost over $1000.) This is a good example of how mentality of the people changes the value of a product. The PS3 has also had quite a multiplier effect on other Sony products; PSP sales have tripled and PS2 sales have doubled since launch. It appears that Sony experienced the law of diminishing marginal returns when manufacturing the PS3 because they were unable to produce more than a certain number of the console. However, it is also possible that they are purposely withholding units in order to keep the price high and to keep more people interested in purchasing one. If that is the case, they are taking a big risk, but it may pay off in the long run.

-Ivan Kukharkin

Featured Entry - Fast Food

I beleive there should be some restrictions on fast food just as there are some for tobacco. Smoking is unhealthy and has been proven to cause many diseases, however, with the rising percentage of obese kids, obesity needs to be taken just as seriously as smoking. The percentage of our generation that is obese will hurt America in the long run. Obesity in the workforce causes employers to pay more for health care as obese people tend to be less efficient and miss more days of work. An idea that I thought would be a possibility would be to have an age requirement to eat fast food (Yes, imagine getting carded at a drive-thru). Obesity is really a huge problem for America and really needs to be adressed immediately. Our generation will be much less efficient if the percentage keeps growing. Another, more reasonable, option would be to tax fast food heavily just as cigarettes are. New York has just recently banned trans fats from restaurants which is certainly a first step in the right direction.

-Alex Osborne

Featured Entry - Taking Advantage of Obese America

As I was thinking about the whole obesity crisis and how technology has lead to its magnitude, I thought of the ultimate Couch Potatoe idea that has yet to be used. On iO and other digital cable channels there are specific channels to buy cars and browse houses yet there is one thing that is missing, which is vital to every couch potatoe : food. If iO created a channel that was like 706 - Domino's, where you could order pizza from your remote control and have it delivered to your door in 30 minutes, it would be a huge success. The advantages would be that the person would not have to get up and also since it is on TV you could have videos of each choice and a more detailed "menu" Payment options could vary but the easiest would be for it just to be added to your monthly cable bill. Just another idea on how to take advantage of "obese America"

-Alex Osborne

Featured Entry - Illegal Downloading

Kazaa and Me
I remember when I used Kazaa and things like that for the first time. Napster was first, IMesh was next (terrible selection) and then Kazaa and its spyware invaded my computer. Now, finally, my favorite "file sharing" tool Limewire is available. The article I read deals with the makers of Kazaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, and discussed their new joint-venture "The Venice Project". The file sharing network deals with video now, most likely television shows, and is expected to give iTunes a run for its money. I found myself asking doesn't iTunes already do the video thing? The answer, of course, is yea, iTunes does exactly this. Even better, in fact, that "The Venice Project" because those fortunate few with video ipods can take their Jack Bauers on the road or on the treadmill with them. So why create the Venice Project when there's already a very capable, if not better, system out there? Well, why not? It will only add billions more dollars on to the billionaire laps of Zennstrom and Friis, and the public might even benefit from it. Prices should go down so now we can watch Jack Bauer kick butt for $.98 instead of $1.06. A better question, I think, is why do people bother? Why don't people just do the right thing and tape that episode of 24? IS it because America is a nation based on impulse and consumers can't wait long enough for that episode to come back in the form of a rerun or syndication? That's fair enough, but then why not grab it off Limewire? Sure it's immoral but where were morals when Napster and .mp3 chatrooms in AOL ruled the world? Where were morals before that girl got sued for having something like 10,000 songs? Personally, I can say very few of the people I know buy music through iTunes anyway. I tried it, but paying didn't work for me. I know its wrong of me to take away that royalty a band would have made, but I think these artists can live with their millions of dollars anyway. Besides, it's well known that bands turn the most profit off concerts. So what's the alternative to buying a song? Getting it illegally. The cost for buying songs is time and money. The cost for downloading them is a fraction of a percent chance of getting caught, and a feeling a guilt that you cheated a millionaire out of his money. I think i'll take the guilt trip.

- Erik XXXX

Featured Entry - The Tradeoffs of Driving

I was thinking about a decision that I make every day. It may not be purely an economic decision, but it’s usually a reasoned decision at the least. The decision I’m talking about is the manner in which I drive to and from school. Actually, driving is a series of multiple decisions in which one must weigh the costs and benefits quickly. Do I hit the gas or the brake on yellow? Incentives for speeding up are the rush of an acceleration and time saved. Costs would be a marginal amount of wasted gas, the potential to get a ticket, and the possibility of having an accident. Depending on the circumstances (am I driving home, or am I driving to school?), I might make a different choice each time. In general I have to choose between safety and fun; between getting “there” early or late or not at all. It’s another version of a tradeoff. However, it is possible to strike a balance between the two extremes of caution and recklessness. For example, perhaps I won’t run any yellow lights, and I won’t go above 60 mph on highway curves, but I’ll allow myself to graze 70 mph on a flat straightaway with no cars close in front of me. In that case, I’m cautious when I need to be, but the risk is low when I do push the envelope a bit.

- Kunal

Featured Entry- Hubba's

Why is it that when I am famished on a Saturday night at one AM and I drive to my favorite late night chile hole in the wall I can't find a seat? Not only can I not find a seat, I can't even see the table. In the dead of night, this currrency clad rectangle, is a mob-scene. I feel that much like baseball's recent move to switch to variable pricing, Hubbas should too. During the day, when only the occasional Port Chesterian meanders in for food, the price for a bowl of chili should be fairly low. But when hordes of highschoolers flock to the cramped 12 seat box, the price should increase to the point at which no one is left standing waiting to pay money for food. This way the local customers are kept happy with the low day prices and maximum profit is squeezed from the wealthy high schooler of Rye and Harrison. Although I myself wouldn't want this price system I am proposing to be put into action, if I were Hubbas, I would do it

-Louis DeSantis

Welcome!

Welcome to Rye Country Day's Economic Blog. Here you will find work by students taking Economics.
Each student writes "journals" each week that reflect their economic standpoint on a certain issue and introduce their fresh perspective.
A big thanks to our amazing Economics teacher Mrs. Rees who has helped us throughout the year and influenced all of our economic minds.