Topic 10: How to Boost My "GDP"

Productivity refers to the ratio of the amount of output produced to the amount of input. It means how many products a labor can produce. There are 3 factors that could contribute to the economic productivity: quality of labor, technology and innovation, and energy costs in the financial market. As a student, increase one’s productivity by the quality of labor. Increase the quality of students means that they should gain more human capital such as paying attention in class, reviewing after learning, and going to cram schools. Paying attention and reviewing enable students that they are processing and retrieving the information. Going to cram school makes sure the students can re-learn everything just in case they missed it in class. Students could also increase their productivity through the use of advanced technology. For example, computer is one of the equipment students now have to take with them. Computer and internet bring convenience to information research and discussion. Comparing to go to a library and search for books, computer is much quicker, allowing the students to do more work in a less time. Lastly, students can enhance their productivity by lower energy costs. Lower energy cost indicates that students can use electricity for a longer time. Students can study comfortably in a room with air conditioner, sufficient light…etc.

Topic 9: Financial Markets

I would be most likely to invest in stocks (50% of my investing money) and pension accounts (50% of my investing money). Stock is a share of ownership in a corporation. Stockholder can receive dividend, the part of a corporation’s profit that is paid out to stockholders. Investing on stocks is risky. Yet it has high returns. It could either result in losing the money or earning the money. Despite the high risks and high returns, investing your money on the stock might be the fastest and simplest way to earn potentially large money. Earning money from stock investment is greatly depending on the correct evaluation of the company’s performance, the condition and situation in the market, and a little bit of luck. Driven by greedy, people always fail to earn money due to the fact that they often over-estimate the growth of the stock’s value, resulting in not selling the stock while its value falls in the next day. As for pension accounts, it is fairly easy to earn the money. You just need to put the money in the account for a certain time; the interest will be added to your original money. However, the interest rates are often small; the returns are low. Nevertheless, pension accounts might be the safest way to ensure you will earn a profit from this investment.

Topic 8: Money

To me, money not only represents the medium people use to exchange goods and the ability to afford goods, but also represents the national identity of a country. Money is both economic and political. Money is characterized by its uniformity, divisibility, durability, portability, scarcity, and acceptability. Money has to be uniform for the sake of convenience when exchanging. It also needs to be divisible when talking about trading. Durability and portability make money last a certain amount of time with stability and people may use it everywhere. Just as every other goods and services, money is scarce; people always need to make choices of what to buy, how much is it…etc. Also, money has to be accepted by everyone so people can compromise on the value of what they are selling. I often use money to buy things I want, or sometimes “loan” it to my sister and earn some interests. Monthly pocket money and Chinese New Year events, especially playing ma-jiang, are my primary resource of money. I would consider money as a very important aspect in my life. When I just simply turn on a light in my room, I need to pay for the electricity. When I go to bathroom and wash my hand, I need to pay for the water. Without money, it’s pretty hard to live. I am satisfied with my condition right now. I don’t need excessive money, sufficiency is enough. Though money cannot buy everything, without money, you cannot do anything. I can basically do anything for money as long as it is not illegal nor against integrity.