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Article Analysis Paper

Article Analysis Paper
Angela D. Nicol
University of Phoenix
ECO 365 Economics
Professor Nima Rasakhoo, PhD
Due Date March 9, 2009

Introduction
The best way to review an article is to have a solid understanding of American trends in consumption patterns. The author has found that to achieve this goal one must first have an understanding of the basic principles of economics. This paper will define the following terms in detail and explain how they relate to the problem of society’s dependency on oil. The terms being defined are economics, microeconomics, the law of supply, the law of demand, and identify the factors that lead to the change in supply and demand. This paper will also summarize the article entitled “Ending America's oil addiction: a quarterly report on consumption, prices and imports first quarter 2008” written by Mark Cooper.
25% of the world’s petroleum products are consumed by the United States and only 3% of the world’s reserves are produced by the United States. This is due partly to the fact that the U.S. does not have the crude oil resources to keep up with the rising demand for gasoline consumption has cause the U.S. to import more. Mark Cooper implied in his article “Ending America’s Oil Addiction,” the surge in crude oil prices can be reduced in large part to the simple concepts of supply and demand (Cooper, 2008).
Economics
“Economics is the study of how human beings coordinate their wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political reality of the societies” (Colander, 2008, p 4). Economics is the science which deals with the manufacturing and furnishing products to consumer and the consumption of products. Human behavior patterns that are studied to show the attempts to fulfill a person’s wants and needs can be included in the science of economics.

Microeconomics
“Microeconomics is the study of individual choice, and how that choice is influenced by economic forces” (Colander,...