Economonics Competition Policy in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Economonics Competition Policy in the UK - Essay Example This was a system that moved between, and mixed up; form and effects-based approaches with almost reckless dump. In United Kingdom, two main acts of legislation - the Competition Act of 1998 and the Enterprise Act of 2002 - have brought the EC's prohibition system to the UK, altered the name of the old Monopolies and Merger Commission to the Competition Commission and given it new powers. For example, they have criminalized price-fixing, created a specialist appeal and review court for anti-dependent cases and eliminated the old "public interest test", replacing it with a narrower, effects-based "substantial lessening of competition" test. At the same time, the two major competition policy bodies in the UK - the Office of Fair Trading and the newly renamed Competition Commission - have expanded, developed new areas of expertise and, possibly most adventurous of all, they have both been put into the hands of professors of economics. Competition is basically a practice of rivalry between various organizations, each of them is looking for to succeed customer's business. This competition may take place in a variety of behaviors - some firms try to win on cost, some spotlight on raising the worth of presented products or services, while still others use entrepreneurial dexterities to build up new products or services (J. Sloman, 2003). ... evel of overheads, a range of product contributions will arrive at the marketplace that bouts the heterogeneity of customer requirements and flavors, and the pace of advances will be great (J. Sloman, 2003). Significantly executives in such marketplaces have only restricted power over their settings (J. Parkin, et. al., 2004). They regularly have to do something when they are not prepared for it; they every so often require doing things rapidly and not competently than they believe that they must be done. The continuous go-getting between competitor organizations in a cutthroat marketplace can occasionally cause some misuse and doubling-up, and the entire thing frequently appeared to produce a somewhat messy thing (J. Parkin, et. al., 2004). Many executives, though intellectually and sensitively dedicated they are to challenge, recognize that they can perform better. For them, rivalry is not only strenuous, it is also wearisome. And certainly earnings are fairly harder to make in such marketplaces than they are in monopolistic marketplaces (K.A. Crystal and R.G. Lipsey, 2004). For example, a most prominent case of Tesco who monopolizes the retail market in UK, in spite of having an obvio us monopoly with 30% of the marketplace (a monopoly is defined normally as above 25%), its growth has gone unchecked by Competition Commission. The profits of 2bn have been at the outlay of farmers and other contractors who have had to tackle deteriorating prices, and small stores losing theirs local marketplace shares. Tesco is now a largest retailer with more than 2,300 stores globally. That could simply wash out some corporations' earnings, which consecutively could have grave effects for their share value, and might even make them defenseless to the take-over. Such as, under the

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING - Essay Example Despite the economic advantages associated with this mining process, there have a wide outcry from environmentalists due to the pollution associated with the process. This dispute has even led to legal issues between mining companies, communities and environmentalists. The pollution situation has even caught the attention of various governments and lawmakers. For instance, the president of the United States issued an executive order with regard to hydraulic fracturing in the year 2012, on April 13. Hydraulic Fracturing Working Definition for Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) is the process of extracting gas and oil from underground rocks by introducing pressure into the fractures within the rocks (â€Å"ProPublica,† n.d.). The pressure in this process is introduced by pumping a mixture of sand, water as well as chemicals into the well. The pressure makes cracks within rocks to propagate and interconnect increasing the flow of either gas or oil. The sand used in this mixture keeps the cracks widened. The chemicals used in the process of fracking differ from one well to another depending on the geographical location. However, one of the main reasons for using chemicals is to improve the flow properties of water and hence increases the transmission of pressure. Some of the chemicals used in this process include Hydrochloric acid, which acts as a solvent for chemicals and introduces cracks within rocks as well (â€Å"Frac Focus,† 2013). Another chemical is Glutaraldehyde, whose importance is to extract bacteria from water. These bacteria usually produce corrosive elements. The list of these chemicals is quite long and the two mentioned chemicals are just examples. Places Where Fracturing Occurs Louisana, east of Texas and Arkansas have a common underground rock formation called Haynesville Shale. This shale enhances gas fracturing within these states (â€Å"geology.com†, n.d.). In the Mississippi State, there is an organic bed rock referred to as Fayetteville Shale (geology.com). In Europe, oil and gas fracturing have not been in use due to the government bans on such processes. However, in December 2012, these bans were lifted in Britain. This announcement was made by Ed Davey who is the Energy Secretary in the country (â€Å"Natural Gas Europe,† 2012). The ban that was lifted had been in existence since the year 2011. Prior to the introduction of the ban, a company called Cuadrilla Resources conducted gas fracturing within Lancashire. However, when earthquakes occurred within this area, the ban was introduced. In other places within South America, hydraulic fracturing has not yet been exploited. However, it is believed that countries such as Brazil could enhance their economy by undertaking in this mining process Economic Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing enhances economic growth in various ways. One, having Shale gas and oil makes a country to be more energy ind ependent (â€Å"Presidents Economic Report for 2012†, pg 256 2012). Consequently, such a country will reduce the amount of expenditure incurred in importing oil. Similarly, when mining happens in a country, thousands of jobs are created for the local people. Governments also invest in such projects to ensure that they develop technologies used in such processes. For example, The United States had a research and development program during the 1980s and early 1990s. Consequently, the technology of directional drilling was developed