Final Paper Proposal

Paragraph of Topic Proposal:  I would like to focus my topic around the economics of NASCAR auto racing.  NASCAR is a very, very big passion of mine. I have been watching it since I popped out of my mother’s womb.  Although I believe NASCAR is an amazing sport, it has recently incurred many losses.  NASCAR was a sport throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s that was growing at an incredible rate. But, due to the recent recession suffered through by many Americans, NASCAR’s revenue has decreased to a negative rate for the past few years.  Not only are they operating at a negative rate, they have lost many sponsorships and are close to an almost complete shutdown.   NASCAR is a sport, but it is also a complicated business.  It is a business that may need to be helped or subsidized in the future to even survive.  There have been several policy proposals by NASCAR and many outsiders on how to fix the current problems found in NASCAR.  These policy proposals include: the lowering in ticket prices, the decrease in the amount of races, the use of only one network for the broadcast of NASCAR, and etc.  I believe that NASCAR Inc. needs to take a combination of these to increase revenue and their fan-base overtime.  They have lost many of their core fans (blue-collar workers) because of the inability of these fans to afford merchandise and tickets to races.  This is my topic and my policy proposal to fix the current problems found in NASCAR.  

HMMMMM... TECHNOLOGY

The development of a society relies heavily on the technology around it and how fast that technology is evolving.  The markets for new and improved technology are every changing.  Just a few years ago, no one would have thought we would be sitting here talking about different tablet computers and the evolution of such.  As seen in the NYTimes article, the iPad itself has created a whole new market that is trying to be kept up with by other companies such as Samsung and others.  This shows just how there are new and diverse economies that are developed and that will create an even more diverse economy.  Technology is something that keeps the mind open of not only scientists and engineers but also economists.  This is a perfect topic to bring up in a seminar such as ours because it brings up different economic questions.  These questions include: Availability of resources? Who will produce this technology? What will this technology be used for? And whom will consume/use this technology?  

 

Italy's Problems compared to Greece

http://www.zimbabwemetro.com/?p=30168

Response to the Euromess!!

Europe is in a financial mess right now, and it is one that is presently being worked on bit by bit.  The euro problem can then be defined as finding a way (1) to finance these imbalances in the short run (2) end the imbalances over the medium run.  Proposals are starting to rise slowly but surely to the top of the heap to try and help the current situation in Europe.  The present imbalances in finance are trying to be tackled by many economists including people such as Davies.  There are short run and medium run problems. The long run will not be a problem for the Europeans because it is believed that there will be a balance achieved for the long run, and the best way to solve problems is in the short and medium runs.  The United States does not have these sort of internal affair problems present because we have a current currency that is powered by a single and whole nation.  This is something that a lot of the European nations should try to model themselves after and create the same currency under different unified nations.   

What!! A huge decrease in Daytona 500 tix???

http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/headlines/cup/01/11/daytona.500.tickets/

2008 articles on how the Recession created a downfall in racing

http://thesportsbizblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/nascar-and-recession-is-this-beginning.html

The effects of the Recession on NASCAR

http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/features/11/03/inside-nascar-optimism-sponsorships/index.html