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SHOPPING WITH SPIDERS
Julie wanted to buy a new pair of boots. A major blizzard made it
clear that her old boots, although still stylish, leaked badly.
As soon as the roads were passable, Julie could go to the mall, which has
several shoe stores. Julie could visit these stores, compare the
quality and prices of their boots, and make her choice.
Or she could shop at the off-price mall down the road. It has fewer
stores, but the prices are good. She found some nice shoes there last
month.
Or she could shop from a catalog without having to leave the house.
Each mail delivery recently has brought another six catalogs, but Julie has
her favorites. She could look through the catalogs, make her choice,
and order by mail or phone. Buying a pair of boots can be as easy as
dialing an 800 number and paying by credit card. However, Julie really
likes to try on shoes and boots before buying, and she cannot do that by
catalog.
Julie's friend Holly told her that she is thinking about shopping in
cyberspace over the World Wide Web. Holly uses a computer at college
to log onto the World Wide Web. She uses a "web browser" called the
Navigator. At first, she had a hard time surfing the Web, but then she
found a spider or search engine. A spider captures and indexes
documents on the Web. The best spiders capture and index a million
documents a day. Holly uses a spider called Yahoo. She told
Julie that she could type in "shoes" and "boots" and find Web pages from
manufacturers and stores from all over the world.
Holly told Julie that she doesn't actually buy things over the Web
because she is afraid people could find and use her credit card number.
Instead, she calls the companies she is interested in , gets more
information, and then makes her purchase. Someday, however, most
shopping could be done by people using spiders on the Internet. But it
still would be fun to go to the mall.
Questions for Discussion 1. For who
is Julie looking out when she shops for boots? 2. Why are stores
willing to sell boots to Julie? 3. How does Julie benefit from her
ability to buy boots from many manufacturers and from dozens of stores and
catalogs? 4. Why do catalogs exist? Why do companies put pages
on the Internet? 5. How does the boot manufacturer benefit from the
market economy? 6. How do we know that both Julie and the store will
benefit when she buys boots? 7. Does a market require people to meet
personally? 8. What markets have you participated in this week?
ESSAY 1. List and explain
three features of a market economy.
2. What is the role of profits in a market economy?
3. Describe three markets that you or your family
participated in during the past week. For example, if you worked for
pay, you participated in a labor market. If you bought or sold stock,
you participated in a stock market. If you bought a CD, you
participated in a market for goods and services. For each of your
examples, be specific about your role or your family's role in that market.
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