Discussion for online Economics class - Essay Example

Discussion for online Economics Recently local public NPR stations have had fund drives to raise money to cover their expenses. NPR has been in the news regarding its funding and comments made by executives. Grover (2011) asserted that some media executives in Pasadena, CA, think they may be able to save public radio by making it less public. Based on the reactions by public NPR stations especially in an effort to make them less public, different economic concepts arise. According to Frank and Bernanke (2013), it is important to distinguish between needs and wants.

Whereas human beings can do without wants, they cannot do without needs. Needs are the essentials and necessities of life. Based on Grover’s (2011) assertions, it is obvious that people can do without the media even though it makes life comfortable. Given the fact that media is considered as wants and not needs; the executives of such media aim at translating the wants into demand. The only way of attaining this aim is to increase the utility that consumers or the public derive from public media through involving them to be part of the fund drives.

Participation of the public in fund drives will make them believe that they need to enjoy the services of the public media hence need to derive some utility (Frank & Bernanke, 2013). Nevertheless, there is a possibility that consumers will engage in rational spending. Rational spending rule involves reducing spending on the basis of increases in prices. Making the public media less public would mean that there will be increases in prices to meet the costs associated with disseminating information (Frank & Bernanke, 2013).

Such increases will definitely drive away consumers on the basis of the rational spending rule. Whilst engaged in rational spending, consumers will aim at attaining the highest level of utility hence leveling the marginal utility of consumed products thus leading to aspects of income and substitution effects especially when they change from consuming media products (Frank & Bernanke, 2013). Reference:Frank, R. H. & Bernanke, B. S. (2013). Principles of economics. (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Grover, R. (2011, March 24) Making public radio a little more private.

Business Week. Retrieved on November 16, 2012 from: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_14/b4222039230531.htm