Keyword: material flow

Cash for Clunkers - Used Cars (4/14/2000)

Used cars are but one example of used goods that embody older environmentally unfriendly technology. Ideally, they should be deprived of a second life. But such capital punishment often creates hardship for people who must depend on such used goods for their livelihood.

Keywords: air pollution, clunkers, environment, Ford, material flow, pollution quotas, recycling, smog credits, used cars

Happy Returns (3/7/2002)

Returned merchandise that would have been scrapped or sold at big discounts are given a second life after being refurbished with cheap Mexican labor.

Keywords: consumer electronics goods, end-of-life cycle, labor cost, material flow, Mexico, NAFTA, no-questions-asked, phones, refurbishing, refurbishment, restocking fee, return policy, Super Bowl problem

One-Price Law – Making an Illegal Buck (2/27/2007)

Artificially-imposed price difference between markets can lead to flow of goods from short-supplied areas to well-supplied areas to equalize their effective prices.

Keywords: arbitrage, China, diesel, gasoline, Hong Kong, material flow, one-price law, price control, red oil, smuggling, subsidy, tax, Vietnam