Saudi Arabia - Trade Elasticity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Saudi Arabia - Trade Elasticity - Essay Example Frequently, trade elasticities are needed for answering policy questions regarding a country and for making judgments regarding a country’s real exchange rate (Billmeier & Hakura, 2008). It should be noted that, trade elasticities need to be estimated with respect to foreign, domestic demand and the real exchange rate and factors such as energy prices across the world. When estimating trade elasticities, several choices must be made including long-term factors that drive export and import demand. Secondly, it is important to ascertain how the recent global trade flows are dominant in these estimates. Additionally, trade elasticities are also depended on relative prices, demand, and natural resource endowment, particularly, energy such as oil (Billmeier & Hakura, 2008). In Saudi Arabia, the elasticity of export and import demand changes with variations in foreign and domestic demand. Imports, in particular, appear to be more inelastic with regards to domestic demand. This is because demand is mostly geared towards goods that are domestically produced. Interestingly, Saudi Arabian imports are, to a much larger extent, dominated by energy imports, particularly oil. Imp orts increase by 2.2 percent when the real price of oil increases by 10 percent (Billmeier & Hakura, 2008). However, both exports and imports react in the same way to foreign demand and domestic demand, respectively. To calculate import and export elasticities for Saudi Arabia, this paper will utilize results from the production theory. Using Hotelling’s lemma, the general-equilibrium supply function can be obtained from a derivative of a country’s GDP function with regard to output prices. Demand function for inputs can also be obtained in this similar way, and as such, import elasticity can be estimated. Saudi Arabian import elasticity according to (Billmeier & Hakura, 2008) is -1.915553. This is a negative and is assumed to be with the wrong sign

Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Information Systems - Essay Example Communicating with branches and offices worldwide has never been easier than now. Purchases through online transactions have increased because of the convenience it offers. The advancement in information systems has also paved the way for shifts in media and advertising. More companies are using the web to advertise their products and services. These types of promotional campaigns are less costly for companies and they get instant feedback from customers. A well-developed information system gives a strategic competitive advantage to companies. Information systems play a vital role in business processes and operations. Information systems make it less complicated to handle numerous company data through electronic data processing, transaction processing, record keeping and accounting applications. Another way information systems transform business is it simplifies the decision-making process of employees and managers. It acts as an ad hoc support to the decision-making process by providing decision makers the information they need, when they need it. Information system literacy is the â€Å"knowledge and hands-on familiarity with hardware, software, peripherals and network components common to most information systems†(WebFinance, Inc., 2013). On the other hand, computer literacy is the â€Å"level of familiarity with the basic hardware and software (and now Internet) concepts that allows one to use personal computers for data entry, word processing, spreadsheets, and electronic communications†