6A

1.     1.   The first economic opportunity that I found is the belief that increasing the interest rate by the Fed. This creates unmet customer needs by lowering the demand for keeping money in banks. Instead, people want to hold on to liquid money. This lowers investments in a country, which stunts economic growth. I found out this opportunity through countless economics classes, as well as from reading the magazine The Economist. The reason I think this opportunity exists is through the repeated history of the United States. As the Fed increases interest rates, companies do not borrow as much, and on top of that will have to pay higher rates for what they already have in the banks. This is not good for meeting the needs of consumers, especially entrepreneurs who are trying to receive loans to start up a business. I believe the prototypical customer for this need is current companies and potential companies looking to receive help from banks. Both of these prototypical customers will be hurt by this. This opportunity is hard to exploit since this is controlled by the Fed. People and companies have no say at all in this. The reason I think I saw this opportunity while others do not is my experience in economics. I am able to understand the consequences of the Fed raising interest rates, or changing the open market operations of the economy. Many citizens do not understand what these changes really mean, or what they do to the economy.

2.      2.  Another economic opportunity I found is the emergence of online shopping. I believe this offers a lot of unmet customer needs for consumers. To begin with, when purchasing items online, it is impossible to try things on to see if they fit before you get them. This can cause a lot of problems, because many companies have different size systems. This can lead to a lot of customer dissatisfaction. I found a good online article that describes the pros and cons of online shopping. The fact that so much money is brought in through online shopping is what brings me to believe that there is a lot of unmet consumer needs in this sector. The prototypical customer here is me and you. Just about everyone and their mother has purchased something from an online site. Whether it is clothing, an event ticket, food, etc. there is so much demand in the online retail world. Yet, reading reviews from consumers after their purchases tells a different side of the story. There is a lot of negative feedback about this, which leads me to believe there is a good amount of unmet consumer demands. This opportunity would be relatively easy to exploit due to the fact that there is not a lot of asymmetric information in this market. Everything about the products is usually required to be put on the online sites. I see this opportunity to exist due to the nature of people being consumers. They expect their products to be up to par with what they were buying. Anything less than that will be unsatisfactory.

3.       3. The opportunity described in this article is the possibility of American firms losing ties to Russia. With the relationship between Marco Rubio and Vladimir Putin mounting, it is quite possible that globalization ties with Russia will be severely cut. In this article, it is explained how Marco Rubio’s proposed bill could mean harsh sanctions on Russia if meddling in elections continues. While his intentions are good, this bill could prove to be detrimental to the American economy. Our oil and natural gas sectors would be hit the hardest by this bill. This bill would require firms that are involved with certain key Russian industries to be removed.  What leads me to believe this opportunity exists is through historical examples. Looking at past instances where trade has been restricted between countries usually corresponds to both countries GDP’s being hurt. This is not what either country wants, so something must be done to combat this. The prototypical customer here is the American’s who are employed in the oil and natural gas sectors. They are all in danger of losing their jobs and being forced into a new field, all due to this proposed bill. This opportunity is hard to exploit because again, the government is in charge of whether this bill will be passed or not. The people in the oil and natural gas sectors unfortunately have no say over this. This leads to a huge amount of unmet consumer needs. I saw this opportunity when others might not because I understand the broad consequences of a whole sector being shut down. Not only will these people lose their jobs, but they will then have to apply for other jobs, thus creating a trickle-down effect of more and more people losing jobs.

4.     4.   The last regulatory change I found that might bring about an opportunity is the paid sick leave and minimum wage policies at local and state levels. I found this opportunity on an online article by Business News Daily. The thing that leads me to believe this opportunity might exist is the implications of raising the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage could see a huge increase in consumer investment and spending. This is a huge example of unmet consumer needs. The prototypical customers here are the people who earn at or near the current minimum wage. An increase in this wage would substantially help their lives out. This opportunity is hard to exploit, especially since minimum wage jobs usually don’t have unions. Thus, it is hard to go about changing the minimum wage laws. I saw this opportunity when others may not because other people may not feel that these minimum wage workers deserve an increase in pay. For whatever reasons that may be, I heavily disagree with that. I think the minimum wage should be increased by some amount.