MB: Shocking! Galactic Suite Ltd’s reported today that they are on schedule to accept their first paying customer for their space hotel in 2012—the price 4.4 million dollars for a three night stay. During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. Clearly this space resort will only be for the very rich, but over time I believe we could see lower prices as competition of space resorts increases.
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MB: I have expressed great concern in several of my blog posts on current economic conditions in Detroit, MI (here and here). Recent unexpected news may however indicate new hope for Detroit; Ford Motor Co. reported better than expected earnings yesterday which helped in keeping the stock market stable even after the news of CIT filing Chapter 11.
There may also be some other hope for Detroit according to Matthew E. Kahn professor of Economics at UCLA. Kahn reported today on his blog Environmental and Urban Economics that Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway Inc will pay 26$ billion to buy out Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. You may be asking what the significance of this story is to Detroit. In brief, the company uses freight trains which receive 400 MPG, and Detroit has ample railroad network capability, so according to Kahn there could be a spillover effect. To read more on the details of this story please visit his blog at:
http://greeneconomics.blogspot.com/.
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Hard Peg - Establishing a fixed exchange rate between one national currency (usually that of a small country) and another national currency (usually that of an industrial power). One country, in other words, "pegs" the value of its currency to the value of another currency. This is commonly done by countries with a history of monetary instability is used as a means of restoring and maintaining order. This U.S. dollar is frequently used for a hard peg by other smaller nations. The result of a hard peg is to eliminate control by the pegging nation and relying on the actions of the targeting nation.
Hedonic - Derived from the philosophy of hedonism (that happiness is the chief good in life), the notion that value is ultimately dependent on the satisfaction of wants and needs. The word hedonic is most often used together with the word price, as in hedonic price. This suggests the view that price is based on the satisfaction generated by consuming a good, regardless of the source of the satisfaction. This notion of hedonic is closely related to, and largely indistinguishable from, the more common concept of utility.
Hoarding – The act of accumulating assets, especially goods or money, over and above that needed for immediate use based on the fear or expectation of future shortages and higher prices. For example, concerns about a worldwide shortage of sugar and chocolate might prompt a consumer to purchase several hundred boxes of candy, which are stored in a wine cellar. Alternatively, someone fearing a global collapse of the financial system might be inclined to pack pillow cases with bundles of cash or stockpile gold bullion in the closet. Such hoarding, if widely practiced, can actually contribute to the anticipated shortage and higher prices.
Homogeneous - In general, the notion that everything has identical characteristics. For example, a neighborhood might have a homogeneous culture, meaning everyone has similar income, religious preferences, and political views. In economics, it is used in a couple of different ways. One is for production, such that two or more goods are homogeneous if they are physically identical or at least viewed as identical by buyers. Another is for mathematical equations, such that an equation is said to be homogeneous if the independent variables are increased by a constant value, then the dependent variable is increased by a function of that value. In a marketing context, this is a market characterized by buyers with similar needs and wants. This group is targeted with an undifferentiated targeting strategy. The company uses only one marketing mix to satisfy this group of buyers.
Hotelling’s Paradox – A principle stating that monopolistically competitive firms seek to maintain similarities between products at the same time they maintain differences. Similarities enable substitutability. That is, one firm can attract the buyers away from other firms. Differences enable uniqueness and market control. That is, a firm has a small monopoly for its product that allows it to charge a higher price than achieved with perfect competition. This is also termed the principle of minimum differences.
All definitions were provided by AmosWeb:
http://www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/awb_nav.pl?s=awb
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