ⅠIntroduction

A.         Background information

1. The ticket scalping phenomenon

               Outside the theatres or especially in the railway station, we can come across many ticket scalpers reselling tickets. This is very common in our daily life now.

B.         The controversial points of ticket scalping

1. Some people claim that ticket scalping can do damage to social equality and cause various social problems, so they are against ticket scalping. They hope the government can ban this behavior.

2. Some people claim that ticket scalping can increase social welfare. We should keep ourselves away from the market, make it a completely free market, and encourage ticket scalping.

3. The significance of my research: In this paper, I will put forward my point of view about this issue and make some solution towards this problem.

C.  My thesis statement: I claim that ticket scalping indeed increases the social welfare but meanwhile it does damage to the equality and causes some social problems. We can get some effective solutions towards ticket scalping.

Ⅱ Simple analysis with basic tools

A.         Definition of ticket scalping: the practice of selling something (especially tickets) at a price above face value once it becomes scarce.

B.         The demand curve and supply curve.

A graph will be presented. It contains the most common used economic tools: demand curve and supply curve. I will make a simple analysis of the demand, the supply, the equilibrium and the losses of welfare.

C.         A basic theory: People always face trade-offs.

Every day, we face kinds of trade-offs. Efficiency and equality are also trade offs. Till now, we can have a rough idea about why efficiency and equality can’t be realized at the same time.

Ⅲ More background information and further analysis

In this section, I will focus on the train tickets scalping phenomenon in our country and analyze it specifically.

A.         Causes of ticket scalping phenomenon

1. The railway industry doesn’t develop well. The area of China is quite large while the railway lines are far from enough and it causes a shortage of ticket supply.

2. The special price-setting mechanism of train tickets makes ticket scalping possible. Since the railway department is not completely a profit-maximizing institution, it cannot let the free market adjust the price by itself.

3. The difference of ability to pay is also a reason. People have different abilities to pay for the tickets so that becomes the demand of the tickets from the ticket scalpers. Scalpers can get profit by doing so and they certainly won’t stop scalping.

B.         The effects of ticket scalping

There are debates about this issue. Some are for the scalping due to the positive effects while some are against the scalping due to the negative ones.

1. Positive effects

If we encourage the ticket scalping behavior, that means we let a totally free market to adjust the price itself. The free market can realize the most efficient results without the regulations of governments. People needn’t wait in a queue to get tickets. They can use the time that they save to do the job that they are good at. In this way, the social welfare increases.

I will analyze on the base of the theory of rationing by waiting, indicating why queuing to  buy tickets decreases the social welfare.

2. Negative effects

a. the corruption problems.

Since the ticket scalpers will “do their best” to get enough tickets, they may bribe the railway officials. They may make use of their power to get the scalpers tickets instead of selling them to the waiting people.

b. the inequality problem

The existence of ticket scalpers means that the people who have the highest ability to pay (partly means the rich) instead of the people who arrive at the ticket office earliest get the tickets. The not-so- rich will complain that there is inequality in the society. (Efficiency and equality are trade-offs.)

Ⅳ Related laws and some solutions

A.         Related laws

1. The anti-scalping laws in the US.

The purpose of this section is to provide a brief historical perspective of ticket scalping, examine some anti-scalping legislation and analyze related case law to see whether there is anything we can learn from that.

2.      The anti-scalping laws in China

a. Firstly, I will present the related laws in China now.

b. Although we have laws to legislate the scalping, the scalpers, especially the train ticket scalpers are still “active”. We should see whether there are disadvantages in our laws and how we can modify them.

B.         Other solutions

1. Quicken the speed of our railway construction to realize the equilibrium at a lower price.

2. Realize price discrimination. That is, the ticket price changes with the time passengers buy the tickets, differentiating the passengers.

3. Learn from the plane tickets. To some degree, plane tickets and train tickets are alike but few people scalp plane tickets. I intend to analyze the reason and what we can learn from plane tickets.

Ⅴ Conclusion

By the analysis of  ticket scalping issues, we can see that as we learn from the textbook, it can increase the social welfare/efficiency, but meanwhile we should pay equal attention to equality and the social problems that scalping can cause. Ticket scalping may not be the best way to get the most satisfactory results. We still have some other effective solutions towards this problem.

 

 

原来总是认为查找资料的过程再简单不过: 随便找一个搜索引擎,输入相关词,单击一下”搜索”,问题就迎刃而解了.但是,通过这一段时间查找资料的过程,我发现自己原先的想法简直太过幼稚与天真了.其实,找到有关的资料并不难,像我以前那样查找也并不是不可以,只是上了这门课后,我发现,我们要学习的不是如何找到资料,而是如何用有效的方法找到我们最需要的资料,也就是那些与我们研究的问题最相关的,最准确,最权威,还有最新的学术资料.

昨天下午,我去了图书馆,再一次进行资料的检索. 真不是一个轻松的过程.总是记得Ms. Zhang上节课鼓励我们的一句话:Keep mining. 我深切的体会到了”mining” and “keep mining”的痛苦之处.我尽力试着用老师教给我们的检索技巧进行检索,但是大多数都失败了:本数据库搜寻到0个结果,请检查您的搜索方法. 我尝试了?,*,w/#,但是都没有搜索到任何结果,看来检索技巧这一关还没过.不过,还算让我欣慰的是,总有一个技巧我还算勉强过关:OR.在检索的过程中我发现,倒票的英文除了ticket scalping以外, 许多学者还用ticket resale来表示,于是我就输入了: ticket scalping OR ticket resale, 这样,原来需要用两次搜索,而现在一次就可以解决了,我也得到了一些以前没有收集到得资料.

总体看来,检索技巧掌握得还不够. So, keep mining, keep trying!!!

Four digital sources

1.      The economic analysis of ticket scalping phenomenon(Chinese)

(1) Search strategy:

Key words: economics, ticket scalping

Operators: none

Database: vip Database(a Chinese database)

(2) Bibliographical information:

Author name: Zhang Wentao, Shi Yanjun, Dai Deyu

Date of publication: No.5, 2003

Title of the article: The economic analysis of ticket scalping phenomenon(“倒票现象”的经济学分析)

Name of the journal: Contemporary Finance And Economics

URL: (I forgot to take it down. I will make it up as soon as possible.)

(3) Source evaluation:

Relevance: Perfect.

Since it is a Chinese article, I found it easy to understand. So it seems much easier for me to find something important in the article. Some of the authors’ opinions are quite relevant to my own topic. Furthermore, this article gave me the general knowledge of the topic, that is, what I can discuss about the topic.

Authority: So so.

The authors were PhDs in Peking University when the article was published. So I just guess that they are not that influential in that area. And the journal is not quite famous in the field of economics. I guess it is just an easy essay for them when they were learning in Peking University.

Accuracy: Good.

Actually, I don’t think I have the right to evaluate the accuracy of the article. There aren’t any data in that article. Furthermore, I just feel that their explanation reasonable but I am not sure whether they are accurate enough or not.

Currency: (not sure)

Use of the source: In this article, the authors give us specific explanations of the causes of ticket-scalping phenomenon. When I analyze this problem in my paper, I can see what they say about the causes.

 

2.      A theory of rationing by waiting

(1)   Search strategy:

Key words and operators: I found the theory indirectly when I searched information on the database. At the beginning, I found a paper relevant to my topic and then I took a look at the references of that paper. This theory appeared as the first reference. So I guess it must be important in this area and I found it.

Database: Jstor

(2)   Bibliographical information:

Author name: Yoram Barzel

Date of publication: Apr, 1974

Title of the article: A Theory of Rationing by Waiting

Name of the journal: Journal of Law and Economics

URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-2c86%28197424%2917%3A1%3C73%3AATORBW%3E2.0CO%3B2-X

(3)   Source evaluation:

Relevance: Good.

This article provides me with a basic theory many other scholars use when they write papers. It is the base for my research.

Authority: Perfect.

Although I didn’t do much search for the author, I found that it appeared fist in the reference part in many scholars’ articles. I infer that the source if authoritative.

Accuracy: Perfect.

As I mentioned above, this theory has been cited by many scholars before.

Currency: Good.

Although the theory was raise a rather long time ago, its existence indicates that the theory is safe enough to be cited. So I don’t think it is of no value after such a long time.

Use of the source: Since it is a basic theory that can be used in this area, I will analyze some of those problems especially the negative effects of ticket-scalpiing on the base of this theory.

3. Legal issues associated with ticket scalping

(1) Search strategy:

Key words: tickets, ticket scalping, law

Operators: OR (ticket scalping OR ticket resale)

Search engine: Google.

(2)Bibliographical information:

Author name: Beth Cianfrone

Date of publication: Nov. 25, 2003

Title of the article: Legal issues associated with ticket scalping

Name of the publisher: Associated Press

URL:(unknown)

(3)Source evaluation:

Relevance: Good.

It shows me that how the US set their laws against ticket scalping. After reading this article, I think I can know why the laws are not so effective as imagined.

Authority: So so.

The author was a PhD of University of Florida. I am not sure whether he is well-known in the economic area.

Accuracy: Good.

At least I found that the author had a lot of references at the end of its article. He may have read many relevant sources before he wrote the article. 

Currency: So so.

Use of the source: Before I summarize and evaluate the solutions in my paper, I will have to take a look at the current laws about ticket scalping. I want to know how the ticket scalpers will be punished if they are caught by the police and I can analyze whether there is any disadvantage in relevant laws.

4. Why can’t I get tickets?

(1) Search strategy:

Key words: welfare, ticket scalping

Operators: none

Search engine: Google.

(2)Bibliographical information:

Author name: Bureau of investor protection and securities(I am not sure whether there is a group of people.)

Date of publication: May 27, 1999

Title of the article: Why can’t I get tickets?

Name of the journal:

URL:

(3)Source evaluation:

Relevance: Perfect.

In this article, I find a part quite useful for my analysis of ticket scalping.

Authority: Good.

I am not quite sure about its authority. Actually, it is an official report so I guess it is reasonable for me to consider it authoritative.

Accuracy: So so.

Currency: So so.

Use of the source: In my paper, I intend to argue both the positive and negative effects of tickets scalping. This source will be of great use when I argue about the positive of ticket scalping.

 

Refined topic: ticket scalping

Refined thesis statement: Ticket scalping indeed increases the social welfare but meanwhile it does damage to the equality and causes some social problems. We can get some effective solutions towards ticket scalping.

Refined keywords: ticket scalping, welfare, economics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad that I finally made an interview with the expert this Monday although I am so clear that it has been beyond the deadline.

This Monday before the class named The Principles Of Economics, I interviewed the teacher, Mr. Hu, who taught that class, for my esssay. Although the interview was only ten to fifteen minutes, I found it helpful anyway.

Q: Mr. Hu, this term I am attending a class named web-based english paper writing and I am preparing for my first paper, I have some questions about choosing the topic. I need your help badly.

A: Of course.

Q: Since I find that as a freshman who has little professional knowledge, writing a paper which seems creative is a huge and difficult project for me, I just want to write a literal review about one of the two topics: one is about the minimus wage and the other is about ticket scalping.

A: Beginning a project like this is great for you at an early stage. But I have to tell you that you will be suffering from the process of writing your first paper, not only to you but also to anyone else. I believe finally you will find you benefit a lot from that. About the topics, to tell the truth, if you intend to write a literal review or something more descriptive, any topic is OK. The only thing you have to do is describe what other scholars have done clearly.

Q: If my paper covers the topic of the minimum wage, do you think it is too broad?

A: Sort of, but I am afraid that you must make a lot of effort on searching for datas. Actually, since there is nothing more you can write about the minimum wage in China, it will take you a lot of time searching for foreign countries' datas about minimum wage, such as the set of minimum wage and the policy about it. A real paper is not like this in my opinion. The author must write his own thinking on a certain problem and you cannot find it in others' papers. You can just find something relevant but never the same, otherwise it is not "your" paper.

Q: I see, but don't you think for me, it is much too hard?

A: It is very hard but you needn't do it at this stage, maybe in the future. I think that your background knowledge is far from enough to write something creative and completely new, so I advise you not to read too difficult papers now.

Q: What kind of resources should I search for? Can you explain it specificlly?

A: I advise you not to read any articles that contains mathematical models. I bet you can't understand that. You don't have enough maths knowledge. You can just read some popular economical magazines not academic journals.

Q: Can you give me some examples?

A: Such as <财经>, <资本市场>, which I always read and like a lot. <The Economist> is OK, but the language is a little bit difficult to understand. You may have a try.

Q: OK. Thanks a lot for your help. I will do my best.

A: It's a pleasure.

 

Mr. Hu told me that since he was not a tutor in the university, he couldn't give me much advice on the choice of topic. I think he told me what a real paper should be and what kind of resources I should explore. ( Mrs. Zhang encourges us to read the formal academic paper published in academic journals but Mr. Hu advised me not to do that. What should I do???)

Although it is a short conversation, I still find it helpful.

有关在校园摆地摊对北大学生福利的影响的问题,我在网上查过之后,发现几乎没有相关的学术文章作为支撑,所以现在基本不想考虑这个题目了.我认为应该把题目的范围适当的扩大,所以现在基本锁定了两个方面:1 我国是否应该实行最低工资法? 2 "倒票"现象对人民福利的影响 (或是否应该对倒票行为进行管制?)不知道这样的题目的覆盖面是不是又太大了?(现在都已经没谱了!)

这是两个争议比较大的问题,我的初步想法是写一篇综述,从两方面讨论,分别对持相反意见的经济学家的观点进行对比与解释.

鄙人清楚,这样的想法实在太过粗略与简单,希望能在明天的专业课前与老师做一次简单的沟通,听听他的建议.

原本想好了两个题目,都是有关校园经济的:一个是有关在北大里摆地摊对学生福利的影响的问题,另外一个就是有关图书馆和教室的占座问题.跟Ms.Zhang粗粗聊过之后,发现似乎不太合适,有些违背网络英语论文写作课的初衷.开始自己总是在想能不能写出一篇有些个人看法的文章,于是就试图自己想题目,后来发现这样的题目太过具体,无法从网上找到相关的学术论文以供参考,失败!现在只好重新想过,试图将题目范围扩大一些. 想到Ms.Zhang有句话说得很对: Don't be too ambitious about your paper.现在有些明白了,于是,题目还没有踪影,map也无法完成,只好再过一段时间了,希望在"不久的将来",能够找到合适的题目...

郁闷的little yang

To tell the truth, I am quite confused about what is “bibliographical information”. I had a glance of Yang Fan’s blog and had a general idea. So I want to write down the bibliographical information of the academic paper I chose and document it as Yang Fan did. I am not sure whether I will face some trouble on copyright! I hope not.

 

Author name: Werner Roeger (a Belgic economist)

Title: International oil price changes: impact of oil prices on growth and inflation in the EU/OECD.

The journal title: International Economics and Economic Policy

Year of publication: 2005

(Little Yang: My God! 猛然间发现自己在blog上已经欠下了这么多的债,只好拼命还债了,希望能如期还清!!!)

 

Although it was a task a long time ago, I have to focus on it now. I still remember Ms. Zhang asked us to write something about the characteristics about an effective paper. But now, I will only focus on the structure and language of a formal paper.

 

Since I am a freshman of the School of Economics, I chose a paper in that area. The title of it is “International oil price changes: impact of oil prices on growth and inflation in the EU/OECD”. It was written by a Belgic economist.

Structure

I would like to divide the paper into three large parts: before the main body, the main body and after the main body.

Since I didn’t read many academic papers, I have to analyze the characteristic on the bases of  the paper I chose.

1 Before the main body

1.1 abstract

It tells us what method or tool the author used to analyze what kind of problem. It is a brief introduction. It also tells us what the special emphasis of the paper is.

1.2 Key words

1.3 JEL classification (I am not quite clear about what it is. I guess it is not necessary for every paper.)

2 Main body

The text will be organized as follows.

2.1 Introduction

In the paper I chose, I know three things from this section.

a. the present situation and the trend of development.

e.g. What kind of problem does it cause? How much have the oil prices increased? How serious is it and why “I” need to write this paper?

b. what the paper is for

Actually, this paper analyzes how oil prices affect the macroeconomics and assesses quantitatively how an increase in oil prices is likely to affect growth and inflation in the Europe.

c. how the paper will be organized

2.2 An overview of oil price developments in history

In this section, various evidences and data will be provided to make us clearer about the historical development.

2.3 Using a tool/model to go on with a further analysis

In this section, the author describes how oil prices affect the economic and presents a model used for the assessment.

2.4 A comparison with other models

The author provides a full range of currently available assessments. More specifically, this section contains:

The comparison of results

The comparison of methods (process)

The characteristics of the model the author used

2.5 Conclusion

Generally speaking, the author tells us these things in this section:

What the paper shows us

The result of the experiment/calculation

What conclusion the author gets from the results

Any solution to this problem

3 After the main body

Usually, there are only references .If we want to get further information about the topic, we can find these resources. Sometimes, there is an appendix. It gives us more details about the complicated model used in this paper.

 

Language

1.      The language is organized in a logical way. The words and sentences are organized into a good order.

2.      Proper words are used. The writer seldom goes to extremes when he analyzes the problem.

3.      A lot of numbers and examples are used in this paper

4.      The words, actually, are not too difficult to understand. The author always gives readers definitions or clarifications of professional words. (To tell the truth, although the words are not very hard to understand, the thought of the author is not easy for me, who has too little economic knowledge.)

 

That is my analysis of the characteristics of an effective research paper.

 

 

      嗨，其实这个题目不太适合我，一点都没接触过research writing的人，哪里谈得到improve呢？不过，也只好凑合着写写原因了。

原因十分简单，亦有三：

1、   我想，学术论文写作是一个大学生应有的基本技能，最起码，在毕业的时候是一定用得到的，所以学会写学术论文是很有必要的。

2、 其实在上篇文中也说过，论文写作与我所学的专业的联系还是很密切的，所以它对我将来的专业学习也是很有帮助的。

3、  我认为写出一篇学术论文并非一件易事，它可以使我们更有逻辑、更加系统地看待问题。

以上即本人的三个原因。

点点滴滴，愿你我共同分享.

See you on Thursday!

Hello everyone! This is Yang Fan, a freshman from the Faculty of Economics. Last time, when I was on the public space of pkuwriting, I was really surprised to find someone in our class is also named Yang Fan. Really a big surprise! Last week, I finally registered for this course, so, nice to meet you all especially “Yang Fan”, aha!(So, if you like, you can call me little Yang!  )

I hope we can become friends by attending the same course, sharing everything together. I wish I can learn as much as possible and get help from you, who are almost my brothers and sisters!