The Price Point

The Price Point

The Price Point is a series written by News Editors Brendan Tan and Seth Fenton, covering recent economic events and providing Stuyvesant students with an easy understanding of critical economics concepts that affect our day-to-day lives.

As Stuyvesant students prepare to enter the outside world, understanding the economy becomes an essential skill. In today’s society, knowledge of economics provides us with a foundation for navigating financial issues, understanding the effects of public policy on the market, and making informed decisions about our own personal finances.

Bitcoin Surpasses $100,000

For the first time ever, the value of bitcoin surpassed $100,000 on Thursday, December 5; this was a monumental achievement in the world of cryptocurrency. The election of Donald Trump has largely catalyzed bitcoin’s value, starting from $69,374 on Election Day and reaching a high of around $103,000 last Wednesday and Thursday, which was almost a 50 percent increase. The president-elect has stated that he will embrace cryptocurrency and will appoint the crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as the leader of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This is an important milestone and signifies a large step in cryptocurrency’s prominence in the future.

Mass Deportations Massively Threaten U.S. Economy

A new Joint Economics Committee report suggests that Trump’s deportation goals could reduce the real GDP by 7.4 percent in 2028. If this is actually successful during a second Trump term, it could easily lead to no economic growth; however, it is incredibly unlikely that he manages to achieve his deportation goals. If these projections are accurate, they would match or exceed the impacts of the Great Recession of 2008.

Saudi Arabian Megaproject Success Is Doubtful

For the last several years, the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia has poured an enormous amount of money into a variety of megaprojects—most of which have little to no economic return. Consequently, the $925 billion Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has begun implementing budget cuts on their largest megaproject Neom, which will likely undergo significant delays. The fund has still stated its intention to double down on an economic transition away from oil revenues. However, what this will look like in an environment of budget cuts is challenging to articulate.

Economics Concept of the Issue

Macroeconomics vs Microeconomics

Microeconomics and macroeconomics are two fundamental branches of the study of economics that deal with the economy on different levels. As its name suggests, microeconomics looks at the smaller, individual working pieces of the economy. For example, it might look at how a small business like Terry’s decides to set its sandwich prices and how this affects the local sandwich market. In general, microeconomics focuses on topics like supply and demand, pricing, and market structure. On the other hand, macroeconomics looks at the economy on a very large scale, analyzing topics such as gross domestic product, inflation, unemployment, and a country’s economic policy. While macroeconomics primarily deals with trends in the economy, microeconomics studies the individual factors that cause these trends.