Focused Exam Response

Outline, Describe and Explain

Examples taken from Biology:

Outline what is meant by homeostasis. [4 marks]

The human body maintains internal conditions within limits through a phenomenon known as homeostasis. The internal conditions are monitored internally and controlled through the release of hormones that act as a negative feedback mechanism when conditions change beyond suitable limits. An example of homeostatic control of internal conditions is body temperature regulation.

Describe how body temperature is maintained in humans. [6 marks]

Human body temperature is controlled within suitable internal limits around approximately 36.6oC through a negative feedback mechanism. The hypothalamus monitors body temperature through thermoreceptors and uses hormone signaling to effect changes in skin arterioles, sweat glands and skeletal muscles. When body temperature increases beyond suitable limits, the hypothalamus signals the skin arterioles to dilate and the sweat glands to active transferring heat to the skin surface through the release of moisture that leads to evaporative cooling. When the body temperature decreases beyond suitable limits, the hypothalamus signals the skin arterioles to constrict and the skeletal muscles to shiver transferring heat to the body's core and generating heat.

Explain the processes occurring in the kidney that contribute to osmoregulation. [8 marks]

The kidney conducts osmoregulation to maintain the balance of water in the blood and body tissues within suitable limits. The hypothalamus monitors the water balance and signals the kidney when the water balance conditions change beyond suitable limits initiating a negative feedback mechanism. A structure within the kidney, called the Loop of Henle, creates hypertonic conditions in the medulla which causes water to be reabsorbed in the kidney as it passes through the collecting duct due to osmosis. When the water balance decreases beyond suitable limits, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to release ADH which increases the permeability of the collecting duct allowing for water to be retrieved and recirculated in the body. When the water balance increases beyond suitable limits, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to restrict the release of ADH leading to decreased permeability of the collecting duct causing water to be expelled through the urinary bladder. 

Discuss and Evaluate

Examples taken from Economics:

Discuss the differences between a collusive and a non-collusive oligopoly. [8 marks]

There are significant differences between a collusive and non-collusive oligopoly. In an oligopoly, there is interdependence; this means that firms have to be aware of one another’s decisions. This is due to the fact that other firms are affected by one another’s choices. This often means that firms will work together, and change their prices as a group, in order to maximize their profits. When firms work together, they are in a collusive oligopoly. When they are acting independently from one another, they are in a non-collusive oligopoly.

There are many advantages of a cartel, the group of firms who work together in a collusive oligopoly, changing prices as a group. They are able to act like a Monopoly, and maintain an abnormal-profit such as the one in Figure 1, below. This is beneficial for the firms, as they are able to maintain a profit. Furthermore, as they are able to make a profit, they are able to fund research and development, helping consumers in the long run.

However, in a non-collusive oligopoly, it is much more difficult for firms to maintain an abnormal profit. This is due to the fact that they are not in a Monopoly, and have to act against their competition. This can be ideal for consumers, especially in the short run, as it keeps the prices of the product lower. Furthermore, in order to maintain and increase their market share, firms in a non-collusive oligopoly have to focus on non-price competition. This is due to the fact that it is difficult for them to change their price, without decreasing their profits. An increase in price will lead to a greater than proportionate decrease in output, as no other firms will increase their prices. A decrease in price will lead to a proportionate change in output, as other firms will decrease their prices, and try to undercut one another, starting a price war. This leads to price rigidity, as the prices do not often change, and when they do tend to lead to a decrease in profits. This relationship between price and output can be seen in the kinked demand curve, below. A focus on non-price competition tends to help consumers. This is due to the fact that the products become differentiated, often becoming better products, and benefits such as free shipping are added to the product.

However, in some markets, collusion is illegal. This makes it not advantageous for firms to form a cartel, because their can be significant consequences to getting caught. However, it is difficult to charge firms for tactically colluding. This is due to the fact that this is collusion where there is no formal agreement to change prices together. This most often occurs because of the kinked demand curve, for instance a firm knows that it will not sell as many products if they have a higher price than their competitors and will likely match their price. This is a form of collusion that results in the prices of the good being relatively constant across the market, but not have a formal cartel. In a real-life situation, it is extremely likely that tacit collusion will occur, as most firms will try to maximize their profit and can do so by matching their competitors’ prices. In a market where formal collusion is illegal, it is ideal for firms to tactically collude or not collude at all.

One of the main issues with a formal collusion is that it does not tend to last a long time. This makes it beneficial in the short run, but have the potential to be disastrous in the long run. This is due to the fact that the members are motivated to maximize their profits, and are often willing to undercut one another to do so. Due to this, it is not always ideal for firms to form a cartel, as there is the potential that they will be cheated, and loose a lot of their profits. This can be ideal for consumers, as it results in the price of the product decreasing, and may even start a price war, where firms keep lowering their prices to have the lowest price and gain the most consumers.

Generally, it is better for consumers for their to be a non-collusive oligopoly, as it tends to have lower prices, and better for producers to have a collusive oligopoly, as it tends to have higher prices, although there are aspects of both which are good for both stakeholders.

Using information from the texts/data and your knowledge of economics, evaluate a decision to reduce protectionism in the S.Korean and Chinese agricultural sectors. [8 marks]

Protectionism involved government intervention in international trade through the imposition of trade restrictions to prevent free entry of imports into a country and this is usually done to protect the domestic economy from foreign competition. The South Korean government reduced protectionism by eliminating the tariff on up to a certain volume of frozen pork, whereas the Chinese government reduced the level of protectionism in the market for cotton, by increasing the level of quota for imports of cotton. Both these policies move more toward free trade, as they both reduce the effects of tariffs and quotas. There are many benefits of removing these barriers to trade. By eliminating and in certain cases, reducing the tariff on the pork market, the South Korean consumers are better off because they are able to buy a higher quantity of good at a lower price, the world price instead of the world price plus tariff; this is shown by Figure 1 below.

In a similar manner, the consumers in China also gain from the increase in the limit of the quota. As more imports are allowed in the market, the equilibrium price falls, and the quantity supplied of cotton is increased. In both cases, the exporting, foreign countries are better off by the reduction in protectionism because they are able to supply a higher quantity of goods, which means that they gain from higher export revenues. Another benefit of protectionism is that the domestic income distribution becomes better. There is a positive impact on income distribution because the tariff is a form of regressive tax, this type of tax burdens people on lower incomes proportionately more than people on higher incomes. On the other hand, with quota, though they do not involve taxes in the same way as tariffs, they do result in a higher price so this increase in price represents a higher fraction of income when the income is relatively low. When the price decreases from Pq to Pq” as seen in Figure 2, the distribution of income is decreased. Therefore eliminating the tariff and increasing the quota both help reduce the gap of income distribution. In both cases, there is also the benefit of counteracting the global misallocation of resources, because there is shift of production from the less efficient domestic producers to the more efficient foreign producers.

However, there are also some negative impacts of reducing protectionism for the domestic economy. When the tariffs are eliminated or reduced, the government loses a possible gain in revenue from the tariff revenues. In contrast to tariffs, in the case of quota, either the government or the importers can gain the quota revenue. This quota revenue arises because the good is purchased from the exporters at the world price, but it is sold at a higher, domestic price. So, with an increase in quota, the domestic price falls, so the revenue is lessened. In both cases, the reduction of protectionism, does not favor the domestic producers because they produce lesser quantity of goods, so they lose in the form of losing their producer surplus. However, it is important to look at the context of the article, and the Chinese government explicitly states that one of their goals was to ease the pressure from local demand on their domestic producers, so in a sense, this goal was achieved by decreasing the quantity that needed to be produced domestically.

To evaluate the effect of reducing protectionism, we can weigh the pros against the cons. Generally, in both the agricultural markets in South Korea and China, reducing the barriers to trade had more benefits than negative impacts.

Analyze

Example taken from History:

Analyse (a) the long-term causes and (b) short-term causes of the Second World War in Europe.

After World War One, the major powers met to discuss the world after the war and created the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was the very first cause of WWII because it imposed harsh terms on Germany. Firstly with the Guilt Clause article 231 states “Germany accepts all responsibilities of the damage done.” This angered the German population and caused them to resent their government. The territorial changes, including Alsace-Lorraine to France and the African colonies under the League of Nations mandate to anti-Anschluss (no reunification with Austria) have all made Germany resent the Western powers. The reparations were extremely crucial to provoking Germany and WWII as Britain and France asked for a great amount of money. Germany was inevitably in hyper-inflation with a great number of people unemployed. Lastly, the demilitarization of Germany as part of the Treaty of Versailles was very unfair because Germany could only keep 100,000 men forces and 6 warships. As the Historian Nicolson stated, “There is not a single person among the younger people here who is not unhappy and disappointed at the terms.” This is crucial as it made Germany seek revenge, and damaged their economy. The Treaty of Versailles made people of Germany start to seek more extremist political parties like the Nazi party.

Heitmann, Jeffery. "Evaluate and Discuss Exemplars." Message to the author. 24 Apr. 2015. E-mail.

Miller, Sean. "RE: How Do You Teach Evidence-based Paragraph Structure?" Message to the author. 8 Feb. 2015. E-mail.