The world's funniest economics stories

Chapter 12 "News 30 Minutes" to take the pulse and analyze hot economic issues (2)
The characteristics of the financial crisis are that based on people's more pessimistic expectations of the economic future, the currency value of the entire region will experience a relatively large depreciation, the economic aggregate and economic scale will be greatly reduced, and the economic growth will be hit, often accompanied by a large number of enterprises. Closures, rising unemployment, general economic depression, and sometimes even social unrest or national political unrest.

The short story above is a good example of the US financial crisis. Due to the overheating of the real estate industry, the real estate industry has regressed in the later stage, and the real estate bubble has led to all of this, which has an impact on the US economy.

due to the emergence of the financial crisis.The value of the currency in the whole region has experienced a large depreciation, the economic aggregate and economic scale have suffered a large loss, and the economic growth has been hit, which is often accompanied by a large number of business closures, an increase in the unemployment rate, and a general economic depression in the society. There is social unrest or unrest at the political level of the country.

The real estate bubble refers to the continuous rise of real estate prices in a continuous process. This kind of price rise makes people expect that the price will rise further and attracts new buyers.With the continuous rise of prices and the continuous increase of speculative capital, the price of real estate is much higher than the corresponding entity price, which leads to the real estate bubble.The consequences of over-inflated bubbles are expected reversals, high vacancy rates, and plummeting prices, that is, bubble bursts, which are inherently unsustainable.

4. The magical counterfeit machine that "destroys" the police -- the counterfeit economy
Let’s take a look at a story about a policeman being “abused” by a counterfeit mobile phone.

One day, a policeman was on duty in the office and just received a report that a drunk man was making trouble in the hotel.So the police rushed to the hotel and took the man back to the police station.Because the drunk man had been trying to hit himself on the head with his mobile phone, the leaders were worried about accidents, so they put the man's mobile phone in the police on duty for safekeeping.

At ten o'clock in the middle of the night, the policeman on duty was frightened by a deafening ringing of the phone.Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this mobile phone actually has 8 speakers, and the sound emitted is at least 100 decibels, which is so loud that even the voice of ordinary people can be covered.After connecting, the other party hung up without saying a few words.But after a while, the shocking bell rang again, piercing the quiet night sky, and the sound was very harsh.

So, the policeman wanted to help the man turn off his mobile phone.But as soon as I pressed the shutdown button, I found out that this phone also needs a password to shut down.Then unplug the battery.The police thought about removing the battery.This unloading doesn't matter, the whole phone actually remembered the siren-like alarm sound, which was as loud as a police car.After thinking about it for more than ten minutes, the police put the phone battery back in desperation, but found that it could not be turned on at this time because fingerprint recognition was required.The policeman broke down and was tossed by the mobile phone all night. At dawn, seeing the drunk man finally sober, the policeman hurriedly returned the mobile phone.

According to rumors on the Internet, 2009 was a very hot year for the copycat economy.Counterfeit mobile phones, counterfeit LCD TVs, counterfeit notebooks, counterfeit stars, counterfeit Spring Festival Gala, like a trend, knockoffs spread all over the country.

At present, we can see many private small and medium-sized enterprises that rely on OEM or imitation to survive.Especially in 2005, after China's electronic manufacturing industry control and technical threshold were lowered, a large number of low-cost manufacturers emerged, led by the mobile phone manufacturing industry, which rely on imitation and innovation.

"Counterfeit" comes from Cantonese, and it first refers to manufacturers who imitate or counterfeit third-party products.Later, with the rise of grassroots culture, the word Shanzhai was given a new meaning.Usually, we call the phenomenon of imitating the appearance or function of a mainstream product at a very low cost, innovating, and finally surpassing this product in terms of appearance, function, price, etc. as a copycat.

Shanzhai economics refers to the branch of economics that takes the "shanzhai economy" model as the research object.The Shanzhai method takes the niche market as the entry point, operates on the "long tail" of the consumption space, and finally obtains accumulated high profits.Generally speaking, copycat economics is the reapplication of the long-tail theory.

Due to the impact of the financial crisis, China's economic development has slowed down significantly in the past few years. However, under this background, another striking economic phenomenon has emerged: the "shanzhai" economy.Behind this phenomenon is the emergence of a new economic model.

Shanzhai economy starts from imitation or foundry, and innovates. It has the characteristics of small capital investment, low-cost operation, quick market response speed, and short product cycle. With this production model as the core, it has formed a pursuit A series of economic behaviors and phenomena caused by the non-mainstream cultural circle that is free and publicizes individuality.

In China, Shanzhai products are attracting many consumers with their lively, innovative, people-friendly and fast-changing images.The short, flat and quick copycat economy challenges the tradition and fills the gap in the market with flexible creativity.Just like the counterfeit mobile phones mentioned above, they are practical in performance, stylish in appearance, powerful in function, and low in price. How can consumers not favor such "good quality and low price"?

But despite this, a series of problems in the quality of counterfeit products have violated the rights and interests of consumers.At the same time, the low price advantage of counterfeit products has also caused a great impact on related industries.

In view of the advantages and disadvantages of counterfeit products in the market, some people have proposed the idea of ​​normalizing counterfeit products.However, many manufacturers of counterfeit products believe that counterfeit products with a certain degree of consumers and markets will inevitably fall into a desperate situation once they accept the national standardization requirements.

Copycat culture is a grassroots culture that challenges mainstream culture.In the Chinese market, constrained by the planned economy in advance, the diverse needs of consumers have not been well explored.With the deepening of reform and opening up, various demand concepts began to flood the Chinese market. When various needs collided and settled, mainstream ideas formed.However, since there are still a large number of low-income people in China, this mainstream thinking can influence them, but it cannot integrate them.The initial copycat products were also customized for these low-income earners.However, the novelty and unique characteristics of Shanzhai products have won the favor of those who seek to emancipate their minds.Shanzhai culture is the best embodiment of this psychological change. It is different from spoofs in the ordinary sense, but has the deep meaning of opposing cultural monopoly.

5. The work "Water Cube" from outer space -- low-carbon economy
In November 2009, less than 11 days after the first snowfall in Beijing, a blizzard struck six provinces in northern China again. In mid-November, there was bad weather in Hangzhou with "day as dark as night, lightning and thunder".Subsequently, many countries in the world ushered in the first heavy snowfall of the year, and these snowfalls broke the earliest records of snowfall in these countries.The weather is abnormal, what is the problem with the global climate? In November 10, U.S. President Barack Obama visited China. He put forward the slogan of "developing a low-carbon economy" and alleviating climate abnormalities, which gave us the feeling of clearing the fog and seeing the clear sky.

Over the past 60 years since the Second World War, countries around the world have experienced economic miracles, but at the same time, they have also brought about important consequences that have caused a sharp deterioration of the climate. In the winter of 2009, abnormal climates appeared in many countries, which was caused by more and more carbon dioxide emissions.The economic loss caused by this harsh climate even exceeds the amount of aid funds given to developing countries every year.If things go on like this, by 2030, the losses caused by climate anomalies will reach 3400 billion US dollars.

With the growth of the traditional economy, the deterioration of the climate will intensify, and various extreme weather phenomena will appear more and more frequently.In this way, climate change will become a major issue facing the global economic development.Therefore, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and adjusting the development direction of the traditional real economy are of great significance for us to improve the global climate.

Low-carbon economy refers to under the guidance of the concept of sustainable development, through technological innovation, system innovation, industrial transformation, new energy development and other means to reduce the consumption of high-carbon energy such as coal and oil as much as possible, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and achieve economic goals. A form of economic development in which social development and ecological environment protection are win-win.A low-carbon economy is an economic model based on low energy consumption, low pollution, and low emissions; its essence is efficient utilization of energy, development of clean energy, and pursuit of green GDP; the core is innovation in energy technology and emission reduction technology, innovation in industrial structure and systems, and A fundamental change in the concept of human survival and development.It is another major progress of human society after agricultural civilization and industrial civilization.

Taking a long-term view, developing a low-carbon economy is an inevitable choice for the whole world.

First of all, low-carbon economy is the fundamental way out to deal with the climate and environmental crisis.In this rapidly developing industrialized society, the phenomenon of global warming caused by the excessive emission of greenhouse gases is becoming more and more serious, the climate has become abnormal, and the environmental crisis has intensified, all of which are sounding the alarm to people.

Second, low-carbon economy is an effective way to resolve the energy crisis.The development of a low-carbon economy can achieve energy conservation and emission reduction while coping with abnormal climate changes, so that actions can kill two birds with one stone or even kill multiple birds with one stone.When advocating a low-carbon economy, we can expand energy supply channels, improve energy utilization efficiency, and at the same time vigorously develop renewable resources and clean energy to reduce energy costs.

Of course, a low-carbon economy does not mean poverty, let alone restricting the development of high-energy-consuming industries at the expense of others.The development of a low-carbon economy requires each of us to start from the present, start from every little thing, and make continuous efforts!

World Expo economy refers to a series of activities in which a city takes advantage of the business opportunities brought by the World Expo to promote and develop the local economy and achieve sustainable economic and cultural growth during the preparation and holding of the World Expo, and for a period of time after the World Expo. A special economic phenomenon that brings staged accelerated development to the economy of the host city and country.

6. Chinese hiking shoes for only $2.99 ​​-- merchandise dumping
Let's first look at the discovery of a Chinese student studying in the United States.

Xiao Li, a Chinese student studying in the United States, usually likes sports - mountain climbing. In 2004, Xiao Li bought several pairs of hiking shoes, the cheapest of which was a pair of Nike hiking shoes, which cost $89.95 at that time.However, not long after, when Xiao Li went to Wal-Mart again for Christmas shopping one day, he unexpectedly discovered that Wal-Mart was selling a large number of hiking shoes made in China, and the price had reached an astonishing level of $2.99.Moreover, when you buy a second pair, you will be given a half-price discount.In other words, it only costs $3.99 to buy two pairs of Chinese-made hiking shoes.In this way, including freight and customs duties, each pair of shoes only costs more than ten yuan.

Xiao Li was very shocked, so he called his domestic friends and asked them how much RMB is needed to buy a pair of hiking shoes in China.Xiao Li's friends all said that buying a pair of hiking shoes in China costs at least 300 yuan, and better brands cost thousands of yuan, and you can't buy good shoes worth more than ten yuan.Xiao Li was completely confused.

How could Xiao Li not be confused?Are products exported to other countries cheaper than domestic products?Is China really imitating other countries and dumping goods in other countries' markets?Let's first have an in-depth understanding of the concept of commodity dumping.

Commodity dumping means that under the condition of controlling the domestic market, large enterprises in capitalist countries sell and dump commodities in foreign markets at prices lower than the domestic market, or even lower than the cost of commodity production, and attack competitors to occupy the market.Commodity dumping is usually carried out by large private enterprises, but with the development of state monopoly capitalism, some countries have set up special agencies to directly dump commodities abroad.Exporters sell goods abroad in concentrated or continuous large quantities at export prices lower than normal prices.This is a long-established and powerful measure for expanding exports that is commonly used in capitalist countries.

(End of this chapter)