Chapter 2 Article

Article: Basic Chic From Japan. But Will It Sell?

"Uniqlo will be the largest single-brand fashion store in the retail-saturated Manhattan neighborhood, putting its competitors on notice that the company has aggressive plans for the United States."


A new line of clothing from Japan called Uniqlo has moved its way into America with 720 new stores. It’s approach in the market is to keep the products inexpensive and in large amounts. The owner of Uniqlo quoted: “If I opened a very small store, no one would ever pay attention…We want to sell basics to everyone, so to make people notice us we have to open in a big way, to make people recognize who we are.” Since its advertising started in the US, Uniqlo has been known to many as ‘The Gap of Japan”. Although this is a different approach to most other retail stops in selling clothes, there have already been clothing shops selling their stock at thrifty prices such as Zara, H&M, and Old Navy. This breakthrough into the American Market could be a risky one. The owner who started the Uniqlo chain in Hiroshima, Tadashi Yanai, predicts that sales in the United States would reach $30,000,000. That sum of money might be difficult to achieve considering the powerful advertisements from competing retailers, especially Wal-Mart.

Relation to Chapter 2: Demand

Several things mentioned in Chapter 2 in the text book maybe determine how well this Japanese clothing company does in America. The Demands factors we learned were: Price, Change in the price of substitute products, Change in the price of complementary products, Incomes, Tastes and Preferences, Expectations of Future prices, Number and Characteristics of buyers, and Expectations of future incomes. I think the two factors that would effect Uniqlo the most are price, change in the price of substitute products, and tastes and preferences since we’re talking about a clothing store. The clothes from Uniqlo might be inexpensive compared to other clothing retail shops, but people’s tastes and preferences could still drive them to buy something more expensive. Since the U.S. is a very developed country, people have the money to pay for more expensive clothing as long as they like the style. Because of these factors of demand, Uniqlo may or may not succeed in America. There are too many factors involved to make an accurate enough prediction, and that’s an aspect of economics…there is no sure way to predict what might happen over time.

Chapter 1 Article

Article: 'Water Stress' brings great returns for investors

"When water flows from your kitchen tap, what do you see? It should be dollar signs."

In this article, water is described as one of the biggest money makers in Canada...maybe even more so than oil. In most countries, Canada included, there is a shortage of water despite the fact that it takes up two-thirds of the planet. Because of this, the price of ‘drinkable’ water is slowly increasing. Apparently, the problem lies in the lack of sufficient drinkable water along with skyrocketing population growth around the world, as shown by a recent UBS Investment Research report by analyst Shirley Knott. This problem is not only effecting developing countries, but it is a on going concern in developed countries as well. If this trend continues, and it most likely will, the scarcity and necessity for water may drive its price up into the clouds like it did to oil.

Relation to Chapter 1

In the textbook, it was stated that everything is scarce, no matter how large of a quantity exists. This article is a perfect example of why that statement is true. It shows that even when you have something as plentiful as water, there are still situations in where there could be a shortage. In fact, there is a section in the textbook where the problem of water shortage is addressed: “On average, each Canadian uses 7100 litres of water a day-taking into account household, industrial and agricultural use.” Even though we have 14 percent of the world’s lakes and 9 percent of the world’s river flow in Canada, it doesn’t make up for the fact that we are the world’s second highest water users. I think the concept of scarcity is the idea that there is a limited amount to everything, which will hopefully remind econimists of using resources in a sustainable way.

Enter Pauline!

How on earth does this thing work...