Economic Benefits of Expanding California's Southern Sea Otter Populations
http://www.biodiversitypartners.org/econ/report/sea_otter.shtml

Okay so i found this article and it made me think of Mary so i had to use it. Mary is all about the enviornment and the animals so if she actually read this or did some posts she would be happy that economics can be related to some sea otters... or any endagered species for that matter.

With an expansion of the sea otter population along the coast near Santa Barabara the SEIS (Southern Environmental Impact Statement on the Southern Sea Otter Translocation Program... what a mouth full) study found that California households would be provided with over $100 million in economic benefits. There are both positive and negative externalities to this expansion...Positive: tourism is going to increase= more jobs, the sea otters will help in the restoration of the kelp forests which help in reducing erosion. Negative: other sea animal populations will decrease... however, the study found that benefits from an increase in sea otters will outweigh the losses of commericial fishing, anyway.
The article mentioned something called existence value benefits which they defined as the value people place on knowing that sea otters are being saved from extinction... they also mentioned that this one of the main reasons that an increase in the otter population would benefit California economically. I guess this goes to show how peoples' attitudes can play a role in the economy... people like to see that their state is working for a good cause and they are going to support it to show other states how "nice" they are. This is what will aid in the increased tourism and recreation to the Santa Barbara area.
Kinda cool how environmental resources can easily benefit economies.

Govts turn up the heat on business cartels

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/Govts_turn_up_the_heat_on_business_cartels/articleshow/1900801.cms

Governments are cracking down on cartels and the effects are noticeable. In international cartels the over-charges were estimated to be over 20-30%! This really stinks for developing countries... in 1997 World Bank estimated that $81.1 billion of developing countries' imports were subject to price fixing conspiracies. Think how much better off they would be with that $81.1 billion dollars! With tougher anti-cartel policies, price drops have been witnessed globally. For example, the UK has seen a 40-60% drop in the envelope industry.
Cartels arise especially in industries with homogenous products with few suppliers and many buyers(cement cartel was mentioned numerous times in the article as an example).
The more I read about cartels, the angrier i get. These firms get together with other firms and devise ways to cheat their clients and get more money. Obviously it has to be analyzed deeper than that... but I don't understand how if the cartels main objective is to fix price it would be able to stay stable for very long... more firms are going to want to get involved and it will become chaotic within the cartel. A lot of thinking must go into maintaining a cartel and keeping it from being discovered by the competition authorities(which i did not know existed!). Why not just stick with a fair price and avoid the risk of HUGE fines or even jail time which is enforced in some countries??