If the minimum wage is raised, and all competing businesses with Wal-Mart raise their wages and thus the prices of their goods, Wal-Mart can be assured of a more level playing field, theoretically, even if it must raise the prices of its goods by a few cents. Scott himself said his company could not change its own wage structure without government assistance because of tough competition from competitors like K-Mart and Target. "Even slight overall adjustments to wages eliminate our thin profit margin...because we are so big, people forget that we have to compete." (Joyce, 2005, p. D5) Scott noted that Wal-Mart actually paid above the technical national minimum wage, and said he was thinking more of the customers of the store, rather than the store's employees. However, one might note that there is quite a great deal of overlap between the two, Wal-Mart employees and Wal-Mart shoppers. Which consumer base is likely to care about saving a few cents on cereal, or worry about the cost of gas going from one store to another, week to week, looking for the best bargains? A minimum-wage worker who works at Wal-Mart, of course, is the customer most likely to have to engage in such economizing. The classical theoretical analysis of supply and demand that suggested workers have seemingly infinite choice where to ply their labor never met the economy of scale that is Wal-Mart. The only check has thus been the media: "the toll that Wal-Mart has taken on working-class living standards here in the United States, are receiving increasing scrutiny -- enough to impede the company's growth." (Meyerson, 2005, A14) Interestingly, the government actually has a hand in Wal-Mart's free-market dominance. Although it is the symbol of everything that is capitalist and American, because only 44% of Wal-Mart's nearly 1.3 million U.S. employees are covered under its health insurance, thousands of Wal-Mart employees must use the state Medicaid program for the indigent. The insurance the company does offer comes with a $1,000 annual deductible, "a hefty chunk...
This is testimony to the many hidden costs, both financial and social, that consumers do not or cannot take into consideration when deciding where to buy their goods and services, hence the need for legislation mandating a minimum wage and minimum benefits. It is also testimony to the danger of allowing workers to work for too little -- and also the absence of the free marketplace producing incentives for companies the size of Wal-Mart to provide affordable insurance for its workers. Small businesses often do not have the resources to provide worker insurance, Wal-Mart has the resources but lacks the incentives -- yet another reason the federal government must step in and require businesses to provide adequate wages and benefits
microeconomic analysis automobile industry. Eassy:Show favoritism Trade Income Give relationship trade income distribution countries car industry. Give findings suggestions. Project Plan -- Trade and Income In the era of globalization, countries strive to capitalize on the opening of boundaries by operating in other regions to benefit from their comparative advantage, but also by selling their products onto various global regions in order to enhance revenues. The economic role of exports is
Microeconomics Analysis Cindy is making a consideration to investing in a new business consists of the installation of solar panels. In the current periods, this has been perceived as a profit making venture. This is for the reason that the world continues to shift more and more into renewable sources of energy of which solar power energy is one of the leading ones. Another reason is that the government has made
microeconomic event related to New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. The shoes industry just like any other business activity encompasses of diverse footwear retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers. The chief wholesalers in the entire United States of America marketplaces especially the brand name owners obtain the shoes from the independent manufactures. The retail footwear organizations range entails the small shoes businesses that provide shoes to the local citizens to the multinational chain
microeconomic environment facing Herbert Chapman (look at the main competition, costs pressures etc.) Chapman's problems are not so surprising given the fact that starting from 2009 more Britons preferred to stay home during the vacation than travel abroad. It is surprising that Chapman's competitor in fact reported business. Were Chapman to have concentrated on local tourism instead, he may have noted greater profit for companies such as the Association of
government intervention through examining the meaning of market failure, reasons the market under-produces public goods, how externalities result in distortion of market outcomes, how market power prevents optimal results, and policy options for government interventions. The author considers market failure as the what question that contributes to the potential for government intervention in order to generate the most appropriate combination of output with present resources. Through an analysis of
Finally the vehicle price less customer incentives and rebates (cash and incentives) are used as the variables to complete the partial correlation. Table 2 Partial Correlation Descriptive Statistics Mean Std. Deviation TOTAL MIDSIZE SUV UNIT SALES Total Down Percent Financed Total Down (%) Trade in (%) Type of Sale Cash (%) Type of Sale Finance (%) Type of Sale Purchase (%) Type of Sale Lease (%) Vehicle Price Less Customer Cash Rebate Average U.S. Gas Price Table 2, Partial Correlation Descriptive Statistics shows the
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