Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Economy

Customer Relationships Are Key to Your Marketing Strategy

If I could show you how to increase your sales by 50% without increasing your marketing budget, would you be interested?

There are many reasons a customer or client may leave you, but the ones you will hear most often are:

• They felt your pricing was too high or unfair.
• They had an unresolved complaint.
• They took a competitor's offer.
• They left because they felt you didn't care.

When faced with the above facts, why is it businesses spend 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers?

Before you spend your time and money going after new customers and clients you do not currently have a relationship with, consider the following statistics:

• Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.

Quiz 7

1. The boundaries of Traffic Analysis zones (TAZs) reflect natural or man-made obstacles (e.g. rivers, freeways) where all TAZ trip-generating activities are represented by the zonal centroids.

The three internal communication patterns are vertical, horizontal, and network. In vertical communication, messages travel upward or downward along the chain of command. In horizontal communication, messages are exchanged between or among people who need to share data or coordinate effort. In network communication, messages flow freely among those who have a common bond that extends beyond their specific role or unit within the organization.

Antitrust Policy

Government regulation of businesses to ensure competition and prevent monopolies (control of a market by one company).

Capitalism

An economic system in which individuals and corporations own the principal means of production, through which they seek to reap profits.

Collective Bargaining

The right of workers to have labor union representatives negotiate with management to determine working conditions.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A government statistic that measures the change in the cost of buying a fixed basket of goods and services.

Federal Reserve System

Created by Congress in 1913 to regulate the lending practices of banks and thus the money supply.

Fiscal Policy

The government's decisions to tax, spend, and borrow, as reflected in... Continue reading "Glossary of Economic and Political Terms" »

Understanding Brain Drain: Causes and Impacts

Brain drain refers to the emigration of highly trained or educated workers, especially scientists and engineers, from their home countries to more developed nations. This continuous loss of high-level talent poses significant challenges for developing countries.

Key Drivers of Skilled Emigration

The decision for educated and skilled individuals to emigrate is influenced by a combination of factors, stemming from both their home countries and individual motivations.

Country-Level Factors

• Living Conditions

  Poor living conditions in home countries often trigger emigration. Many developing nations lack sufficient facilities to support their populations. For example, inadequate sanitation systems can be a

Start-up of a Construction Project: Architectural Competition

What is the Content of a Feasibility Study?

• Analysis of existing samples
• Site analyses
• Technical constraints (soil, inclination, etc.)
• Legal circumstances (regulations)
• Functional and technological analysis (e.g., museum, factory)
• Architectural program
• List of rooms/premises
• Functional analysis (drawings)
• Traffic analyses
• Legal analysis
• Cost estimation (area-based with plans, based on samples)
• Time estimation (for the whole project)

Types of Construction Projects

Introduction to the different types of construction projects regarding scale, cost, and time:

Minor Projects:

• Low cost
• Mainly privately financed
• Direct contract with the architect, responsibility, and tasks of the architect is complex

Large

Key Financial and Economic Definitions

Systemic Risk

The possibility that an event originating at the micro or company level could trigger severe instability or collapse an entire industry or economy.

Macroprudential Policies

Policies or actions related to the whole or significant parts of the financial system, aimed at promoting sound practices and limiting risk-taking. (Source: ECB)

Stress Tests

Simulations conducted under a number of problematic scenarios to assess whether an institution (typically a bank) can endure adverse market developments.

Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs)

Financial institutions (such as banks, insurance companies, etc.) whose failure may cause severe problems in the financial market due to their size and/... Continue reading "Key Definitions in Finance and Macroeconomics" »

Asset Transformation

Asset transformation: Banks make profits by selling liabilities with one set of characteristics (risk, size, return, liquidity) and using the proceeds to buy assets with a different set of characteristics.

Example: Savings deposits held by one person can provide funds to the bank to give a loan to another person. The bank has transformed the savings account into a loan.

Haircut

Haircut: The excess amount of collateral above the amount of a loan.

Excess Reserves

Excess Reserves: Reserves in excess of required reserves.

Bank Holding Company

Bank Holding Company: A company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself.

Examples: Berkshire, JPMorgan Chase

Subprime Mortgage

Subprime Mortgage: Mortgages... Continue reading "Key Banking Terms and Concepts Explained" »