Principles of Economics - Essay Example

Principles of Economics PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS The article is premised on the issue that the Ebola epidemic that has deva d the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, contending that it continues to pose a catastrophic threat to West Africa and that there is every chance it will spread further. The article identifies the exponential growth of Ebola cases, in which previous cases have quickly subsided after initially spreading fast. However, the current outbreak has pushed the factors that limit its spread further and continues to increase because the outbreak took too long to be identified and broke the barriers of isolation by spreading into populated areas (The Economist, 2014).

Another highlight of the article is that the epidemic requires more resources to stop it from spreading further, including money, staff, and equipment, arguing that if the resources are only doubled at a similar rate to the spread of the virus, the disease will increase its head start because of its exponential growth (The Economist, 2014). A third highlight is that the number of those infected is far outstripping the treatment centers’ capacity, which has necessitated the use of locals with little training to control the spread of the epidemic.

Finally, the article also identifies the importance of vaccines and behavioral change in slowing the current epidemic, especially the use vaccines that have worked in lab animals but not in humans yet (The Economist, 2014). The concept of demand and supply defines the impact that availability of a specific product and the consumer’s demand for the product portends on price. Generally, high demand and low supply results in high prices and vice versa (Sloman et al, 2010). With regards to the article, the high demand for services and equipment to stop the spread of Ebola, including labor, beds, and protective gear has not kept up with supply.

For example, developed nations have been slow to react in supplying these resources even in the face of increased demand, which has increased the price for which West African countries will have to pay for them to get enough supplies to meet demand. This concept of demand and supply can also be applied to the infection rates outstripping the capacity of the treatment centers. For a market economy to be functional, it is important that producers supply services and products that are wanted by the consumers (Sloman et al, 2010).

In this case, the countries affected by the epidemic are willing to use as much equipment to stop the spread of Ebola as they can get, which are not being provided by the producers at a rate that allows demand to be satisfied. Another concept that can be applied to this article is the concept of market structure. In this case, market structures refer to the number of companies that are producing products that are identical and homogenous (O’Sullivan et al, 2010). For the Ebola vaccine, only GlaxoSmithKline currently has the ability to provide a figure close to the amount of vaccinations required with the ability to provide at least ten thousand vaccines in a month.

This could place them in a position where they control prices of the vaccine. In my opinion, I agree with the comments of the writer, especially with regards to the high price that West African states are going to pay for supply of kits and resources to check the spread of Ebola not being aligned with the demand for these products. In essence, when the vaccine becomes available, it is possible that there will be issues regarding how the vaccine is going to be paid for as these countries will have suffered economically in trying to stop the spread of the epidemic.

References OSullivan, A., Sheffrin, S. M., & Perez, S. J. (2010). Survey of economics: Principles, applications, and tools. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall/Pearson. Sloman, J., Norris, K., & Garratt, D. (2010). Principles of economics. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W: Pearson Australia. The Economist. (2014, October 18). The Ebola crisis: Much worse to come. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/news/international/21625813-ebola-epidemic-west-africa-poses-catastrophic-threat-region-and-could-yet?

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