(Non-Collusive) Oligopoly or Monopoly?

Today I saw this gem in the NYtimes. Seeing as Anheuser-Busch InBev is a giant in the domestic swill industry of the US and there are relatively few competitors (Miller?... if any) this article is especially interesting to me because of the beer and the econ, two things I often put together. Since Anheuser-Busch seems to recently have been enjoying a collusive oligopoly with Coors and Miller, does the threat of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo not joining in make this a non-collusive oligopoly? 

Then again, who cares about the US beer market? As the article states, the number of small breweries popping up is increasing, while market share for the giants is decreasing. Time to find the untapped markets. 

While I was living in Shanghai I was somewhat amused that Budweiser had shelf space in many of the local convenience stores. Now in Malaysia, Carlsberg is common and Asahi is present, but not too much in the way of Anheuser-Busch. In the end I would love to have other beers enter this market, but I am also concerned with the price of my beer. 

Would the merger of Anheuser-Busch and Grupo Modelo actually create a monopoly or would it just make them more competitive in the global market? 

Carl Shapiro, the former chief economist at the Justice Department said "Markets work best, when everyone has to watch their back." I tend to agree. 

As Yen depreciates, Japan faces the Marshal Lerner condition.

Is this the Marshal-Lerner condition happening in real time? As I was teaching this a couple months ago I didn't find much in the way of real life examples. In fact, of the economics teachers that I know most of them had never, or only in passing, heard of this theory. Needless to say, it makes sense. Japan has recently devalued it's currency through a number of fiscal and monetary measure. This has caused a badly needed depreciation of the currency which should, and was hoped would, boost exports. This seems to have worked. On the flip side of the currency depreciation, imports should become more expensive leading consumers to purchase less. Those two things combined should create a more favorable trade balance and reduce or at least decelerate Japan's enormous national debt as it boosts GDP growth. However, it seems that the Marshal-Lerner condition has not been met. Exports have grown, but imports have not shrunk enough to have the desired impact. Economic thought would predict that consumers need time to adjust their spending habits and hopefully that will occur, otherwise the depreciation may be for naught.

Welcome to my blog

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

Those of you who view this blog in its first few months will invariably see that there are some empty pages and not but a few posts, but in time there will be a lot of information added. It is my goal to maintain a database where IB econ teachers can scoop up videos, articles, and other material relating to their classes in an easily accessible way. On the top of the page are a number of tabs for Micro, Macro, International, and Development Econ. Those will contain pages where I will list articles, videos, and audio files by syllabus section. It takes a lot of time, not only to find the material, but then to post it with the proper information. If you like what you see please let me know, the encouragement will keep me going. If you have suggestions for resources please feel free to add them to the comments section under the appropriate page or blog post. I hope you find this blog useful. Happy searching!

-Sir