Animals are needy.

The Minnesota zoo announced an new raise in admissions prices by $2, due to a cut in its state funding. This would put them among the highest costing zoos in their category. This summer, prices for admission will rise to $16 for adults and $10 for children between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and will drop back to $13 and $7 in the off season. Family memberships will be increasing to $95. What a discount. The prices for many zoos in the nearby area are much lower. also, there are other options such as the science museum, complete with Imax experience. The problem with raising admissions is the current economic situation. Although input costs for the zoo will be increasing, there is a there is a threshold for prices. Currently, the issue will be whether or not demand will decrease due to high opportunity costs for the possible visitors. If this indeed happens, Minnesota very well could see its zoo closing, due to a downward spiral of customers, and an increasing price of admission.

-Adam

Piggy Pandemic

Let's face it, these past few days, the entire world has been frantically looking out for cases of the swine flu, also known as the "2009 H1N1". We can't help but to notice the increasing number of confirmed cases of the swine flu, which are spreading like wildfire across the globe. Just like any other respiratory virus, this worldwide pandemic is contracted by person-to-person contact. Health investigators from the World Health Organization (WHO) are working hard to keep things under control. A doctor from the WHO stated, "It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic". We just all have to be careful and make wise decisions regarding our health. Now you may be wondering, how does this situation relate to economics? It's a simple case of supply and demand. Schools and businesses are being shut down. Take into consideration the amount of antiviral drugs that need to be supplied to patients around the world. There is only a limited amount of supplies available right now, and the WHO is debating whether or not a vaccine made specifically for H1N1 is necessary or not. Medications are very costly, therefore creating a vaccine, which is in high demand right now, would cost our economy a lot of money. "There's no one action that's going to stop this. There's no silver bullet, but all of the efforts ... will help to reduce the impact on people's health."

-Hannah Rutzick