Mostly issued by financial institutions, a letter of credit (LC) is a standard document which is primarily used in the trade finances to provide irrevocable payment undertakings
Financial economics is a field of economics that deals with the deployment and allocation of resources, in an uncertain environment, across time as well as spatially and blends the study of finance with the methodology of economicsSearch
Tips on how to kick start your business in Australia
Australia is a hub of opportunities to start up a business. The offices spaces in Australia can help you kick start your business, if you understand the space that is required and what the space would be used for. There are majorly 2 types of Serviced Office Spaces in Australia, home and commercial use.
If you have a business that needs mostly online facility or are a freelancer and do not require many facilities than an ideal commercial office requires, home serviced office space is an ideal choice for you to make. The low rental and fewer restrictions on usage allow you to save quite a bit to take your business to heights. A simple apartment or residential room unit is mostly used for this purpose.
If you are choosing to expand your business to Australia or starting a commercial business in Australia keep in mind that commercial service office spaces should be your choice. The commercial offices spaces in Australia are provided with fitted room furnishings and the basic equipment to start your business. The rental rate for the commercial offices is higher compared to the home office spaces in Australia. 
The independent trustee and conflicts of interest
Company pension schemes are not immune from conflicts of interest despite many having robust procedures in place to deal with them if they should arise. Indeed, all those involved in the running of a pension scheme, which typically might include an independent trustee, scheme auditor, independent financial adviser, or lawyer, need to be fully aware of the possibility.
Conflicts of interest, which can range from the subtle to the blatantly obvious, can sometimes arise when staff of an employer, for example, are appointed as trustees of the company’s pension scheme. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the practice because such trustees are likely to bring with them a great deal of useful knowledge and expertise. However, the trustees of the scheme are there to protect its members, not the interests of the employer.
Why that 7th piece of pizza is not as good as the first – the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility
Before we plunge into the some of the minor complexities of microeconomics, lets have a look at few of the key terms we will be talking about.
- utility – the measure of relative satisfaction gained from a good.
- total utility – the total amount of satisfaction gained from consuming a specific quantity. It is equal to all the marginal utilities added together.
- marginal utility – of a service or good is the utility gained or lost from the increase or decrease in consumption of that service.
- law of diminishing marginal utility – states that there is decline in marginal utility that a person derives from consuming each additional unit of that good.
Why popular toys during holiday season are in short supply – Demand and Supply
If you are a parent, or have seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Jingle All the Way’, you will find that during the holiday season, most of the popular toys are in short supply. This can make it difficult for you to please your little one on Christmas. While most of us wont go to the lengths Schwarzenegger went in that movie, we are, at most of the times, willing to pay more for that toy to see the smile on our kid’s face.
But come January and the stores drop the prices of that same toy to sell off the remaining stocks as early as possible. So why do we – the consumers and the stores – the producers, behave in this way? The answer lies in perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of economics called ‘supply and demand’ which is the backbone of market economy.
Value of the best foregone alternative – Opportunity Cost
A key concept in economics, ‘Opportunity Cost’ is generally defined as the ‘value of the best foregone alternative’. In simpler terms, it is the cost of the next best choice available to you when you choose from various ‘mutually exclusive choices’.
In economics and especially for economists, the idea of cost is slightly quirky, as for them, the cost of something is not just the monetary value but ‘all’ of the value given up in acquiring that particular thing. Additionally, going by the definition, the cost of something is not just its cash value but is also the value of something that you didn’t get. A simple concept, opportunity cost however has powerful implications. It has been described as expressing the basic relation between scarcity and choice. Opportunity cost is that notion which plays a important part in making sure that there is efficient use of scarce resources.
A Decade’s review
The decade that passed by has not been such an easy one for the United States Economy. It seems to have set a precedent that whatever begins with a boom is sure to go out with a burst. Keeping true to its teaching the last decade did open splendidly. Let’s have a look at some of the important events of the last decade.
The dot-com bubble
The decade open the new millennia on a high note, riding on the dot-com bubble. But like all bubbles, this one too burst in March 2000 pushing the economy into a recession and killing off behemoths like WorldCom and jeopardizing companies like Cisco. The ill-effects of the bubble were further amplified due to the 9/11 attacks.
The Economic Reforms that I Want
Reading the title, one may think that I am just another Reagan wannabe who wants to hypothesize his own Reaganomics and put it forth. But don’t be mislead by the title; the economic reforms that I talk of are the ones almost every American wants.
Healthcare
As many would have guesses, this is the first reform that I want. The US healthcare system is too complex and puts a lot of power in the hands of the insurance companies. Also the cost of healthcare is high in this country than any other. Hence the government needs to not only tame the insurance companies but also needs to work towards bring down the cost of healthcare.