Goodbye, Kingsley Hills Housing Project. 

   Our presentation has ended. Throughout the whole process, from the beginning to the end, I've learned a lot from this project. I've learned how to socialise with friends, mix around and work with friends to make our project the best project ever. At first, I was not really used to a small number of people in my class. I was not very close with my friends, at one point I thought that I should change class, since most of the people left our class. 

   But now, I'm very thankful that I did not end up in another class, I'm very thankful for this small number of people, where you can see everyone in one glance. Everyone was serious about this project, as they knew it carries marks. Each and everyone of us put lots of effort and hard work on this project. Everyone did the survey. The duty was divided equally among everyone, everyone had something to do. Some decorated, some wrote stuffs, some did the cutting, some paste the papers on it, some did the calculations, some presented in front of the class. Anyhow, no matter big or small, everyone contributed to make this project successful. Besides, I'm also thankful to have such a great group leader- Catherine. She is very responsible, very hardworking, very helpful. She would try her best to help us in all ways. She consistently encourages all members in our group, eventhough she seemed stressful, but that never stops her from guiding us to do the project. 

   From the start to the end, everyone has been corporating with each other. Although at times there were some disargreements and different opinions, we chose to listen to one another, instead of shouting and make things worse. From there, we chose the best decision and we have learned to respect and accept other people's decisions and opinions. On the other hand, this project was totally new to us, in high school we have never done anything like that. It was a great experience to be able to work together as a group. 

   The other classes' presentation was really an eye opener to me. They were really creative, had lots of cool ideas. I love their videos, it made the audience laughed. Although ours was a bit dull, but the points were well delivered. I have gained a lot of experience, through other people's presentations. It made me think out of the box, realizing that I have so much more to learn from them. 

   As long as you have the heart, and you're willing to learn, learn and continue learning; ask, ask and continue asking about the questions that we're unsure about it; seek, seek and continue seeking for advices; we can achieve our goal, because nothing is impossible, and everything is possible ! :)

Reflection on Kingsley Hills Housing Project

   So today, 4/3/2013, our class (PL1) did a presentation on Kingsley Hills Housing Project. Our presentation covers factors influencing the demand of a good of service, factors influencing the supple of a good or service, explaination and calculation of price elasticity of demand (PED), income elasticity of demand (YED), cross elasticity of demand (XED),  evaluations and limitations. What have I learned today?

     What do poeple look into when buying a real estate property? According to the survey, most people chose whether the price is affordable or not as the most important factor of demand. To me, I think price is very important to me. If I like this house which costs around 3millions but I do not have the money to buy it, in other words it is not affordable by me, I would have to give up on that, even though I really want the house. The survey states that availability of loans is the least important factor. Well, when the price is affordable, poeple do not need loans from the bank. Loans can sometimes be at a disadvantage because of the high interest rates, for instance.

   We have also learnt about factors affecting supply. One of it was experience. It can be the company's experience in dealing with the project. For example, an experienced business man would take greater risk in buying more lands. When he has more lands, the supply will be higher, thus he'd be able to develop the housing project and expand it. Next, the cost of production is also one of the factors affecting supply. The price of getting the building materials and supplies required also play a role in deciding the quantity of housing project that should be supplied.

   From other classes’ presentation, they mentioned about economic ‘boom period’ and the downfall of economic. True enough, during boom period, when economic rises, people can afford to buy more, buy what they desire. But the sad thing is, economic recession will cause people to cut down on stuffs which they desire to buy. Even for the wealthy ones, I think they will also cut down on what they’ve been spending all this while.

   Not to forget, there are limitations as well. Limitation can be the change in demand and supply conditions. As everyone know, housing property development takes a very long time. There’s like the piping system, renovations and all. Because of these, some people might change their minds, they wouldn’t wanna invest in Kingsley Housing Project anymore. Also, the result from the survey is inaccurate, it does not represent the society, the people doing the survey might not be honest about it.

Specialization

 Specialization
   Division of labor occurs when workers specialize in jobs in which they are most capable. Individuals can specialize in specific fields such as medicine or law. Firms and nations specialize when they produce only one or a few products.

  Of course, when one specializes in an area, there are advantages and disadvantages. Let's look into it now. First of all, specialization enables workers to be far more productive than if they were to have only a shallow understanding and knowledge of all tasks. Time is also saved because workers are not constantly changing tasks, moving around from place to place or using different equipment, machinery or tools. Division of labor makes it cost effective to provide workers with specialist tools. Lastly, specialization enlarges the market size due to the lower costs of production resulting from economies of scale.

  For instance, if a person specializes in making bowls only, rather than making mugs and cups, it will cause a job to become boring and monotonous over time. Due to the repetitive nature of certain jobs, the workers may find their jobs become dull, uninteresting and unchallenging. The workers may also feel alienated from one another. Besides, because of the unchallenging nature of the job, the workers have no room for self-expression and therefore can become unmotivated. Specialization can also cause immobility of labor. The workers, being specialists, will have difficulty in looking for other jobs because their specialized skills have made it very difficult for them to adapt to different conditions.

Here are the summarized characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of free market economy and planned economy : 

	Free Market Economy	Planned Economy
1)     Characteristics	. Existence of consumer sovereignty	. No consumer sovereignty
	. Private ownership	. Public ownership
	. The price mechanism operates freely	. Equality of income and wealth
	. Free enterprise	. No freedom of enterprise
	. Competition	. A high and stable level of employment
2)     Advantages	. Efficient allocation of resources	. Attainment of full employment
	. Wider range of choices	. Social justice
	. Decentralized decision making	. Economic stability
3)     Disadvantages	. An unequal distribution of income	. Misallocation of resources
	. Demerit goods	. The lack of choice
	. An underproduction of merit goods	. Costly administration
	. Lack of public goods	. Loss of consumer sovereignty
	. Competition may be wasteful	. The time lag in the implementation of plans

Mixed Economy
   In a mixed economy, both public and private sectors work hand-in-hand to ensure the economic growth of a country. The role of public sector is to complement the private sector by providing the infrastructure to encourage effective economic activity. Next, the government will try to reduce income inequality by imposing a progressive tax system where higher income earners are taxed more than lower income earners. The government will also control the existence of monopolies and regulate their power. In a public sector, there's little/ no choice. The government plans and allocates accordingly whereas in private sector, the choice of goods and services are made with the price mechanism.

   The government will only intervene in certain industries where :

a) The initial/ fixed costs are too high.

b) It is not profitable for the private sectors.

c) It involves merit goods.

d) There is a need to avoid duplication and wastage of scarce resources.

e) Strategic or military reasons are involved.

f) Humanitarian reasons are involved.

Reflection on basic economic problem

     All goods and services that have a price are relatively scarce. It may seem that, in your city, cars are not scarce as there are a great number of them around. However, it is certain that not everyone who would like a car in your area has one, usually because they cannot afford to buy a car. The amount of money they have, and the price of the car, usually determines the ability for people to purchase a car. So, scarcity is a condition that exists because there is an insufficient quantity of resources ( for example, money ) available to produce all the goods and services desired by individuals. In other words, we lack the income and ability to produce everything required to satisfy everybody's wants. 

   Since scarce resources and infinite wants conflict with each other, all consumers, firms, and governments must make choices and compromises on a daily basis. Consider for a moment the millions of decisions made by people everyday. For instance, all of them have to make a choice on when to travel and whether they should take the bus, walk, train, cycle or even work from home. Many of these decisions become habitual,  meaning we make the same choices every time. And yet, on most days, people get to work on time and they get home too ! :P This is a remarkable achievement, and for it to be possible, the economy must provide both the resources and the options for it to happen. 

   For every choice, there will be an opportunity cost, which is the next best thing you must forgo. In other words, it is the second best that you must sacrifice in order to have your best or first choice. Opportunity cost is the true cost of any choice made between alternatives. For example, if you decide to buy a DVD for $20 rather than have a meal out, then the opportunity cost of the DVD is the meal out that you go without. It is not the $20, as opportunity cost is never expressed in monetary terms.