Random Cartoons

After overcoming the odds to seek out viable cartoons, I have finally managed to secure two of them, both from The Sunday Times. The first is as follows:



This cartoon shows a member of a developed nation (judging from the immaculate suit he wears) tussling with a (presumely African) member of an impoverished nation, over a ear of corn/maize.

From the statement uttered by the guy from the developed nation, "Let go of my fuel!", it can thus be inferred that he seeks to utilise it as biofuel, while for the African guy, the maize is probably food to him. The battle over what to use the maize for illustrates firstly, scarcity, since the need to fight over the maize (the resource in ths case) implies that there is a limited supply of it that is unable to satisfy the demand for it. Hence, a choice has to be made amongst the two alternative uses of the maize, which will incur opportunity cost no matter which choice is made.

The context of the cartoon is in the light of a decrease in the supply of maize, and of rising prices of maize. It thus highlights one of the reasons why the price of maize has been rising in the past few years - due to the increasing exploration of the usage of maize as biofuel. It also highlights the sorry plight of the African natives, many of whom depend upon maize as one of their staple foods. With the developed nations importing large amounts of maize from these less developed nations, and with the increased demand, in addition to the decreased supply, driving prices up, the quantity of maize available to the natives has decreased greatly, and many of the poorer ones find themselves unable to afford the maize. Thus, this shows that biofuels (at least those utilising maize) can have significant negative external costs as well.

Zhe Wei