Hong Kong Dollar Commemorative Banknote
News Commentary Worksheet
Suggested Answer
A. Comprehension Questions
Please answer the following questions after reading the news article.
1. What product did the people queue for?
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Hong Kong Dollar Commemorative Banknote.
2.
Why did they need to queue up for a long time?
(1)The Banknotes are limited in supply
(2) Selling on first-come-first-served basis.
3.
Who were queuing for the banknotes? Put a () for correct answers.
(1)
Students
(2)
Doctors
(3)
Housewives

________

(4)
Lawyers
_________
(5)
Elderly

(6)
Gangsters

B. Economic Analysis
4. What is opportunity cost?
The highest-valued option forgone.
5.
What is full cost? What is the full cost of queuing for buying the Banknotes?
Explain.
The full cost of an action refers to the highest-valued alternative use of money and
the highest-valued alternative use of time. The full cost is the money spent on the
banknotes and the alternative use of time (e.g the income forgone).
6.
Why did those types of people chosen in question 3 queue for buying the
Banknotes, but not the other types? Explain your answer in terms of opportunity
cost.
People who queued for buying the banknotes were those with lower income,
therefore, paying the same price for the banknotes, they gave up less income for
waiting in lines than those with higher income ( e.g. doctors and lawyers). Their
opportunity cost of queuing up (highest-valued option forgone) was relatively
lower. So they were more likely to queue for buying the Banknotes.
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C. Issue Inquiry
7. (i) Does harsh weather affect the opportunity cost of outdoor queuing for buying
the banknotes?
The cost of queuing will change only if there is a change in the value of the
highest-valued option forgone, and it will NOT change if there is only a change in
the value of the chosen option. The harsh weather would only reduce the value of
the chosen option but not affect the highest-valued option forgone, so as the
opportunity cost.
(ii) Can you think about a situation that will increase the opportunity cost of
queuing for buying the Banknotes?
Free Answers.
8. Did you queue for the Commemorative Banknote?
Free Answers.
Why?
Teachers should remind students to provide reasons on Economic basis.
9. According to our analysis, people who have high full cost would not queue up for
buying the Commemorative Banknote. Please suggest some methods that can lower
the full cost of buying the Banknotes, so that more types of people will be attracted
to buy them. Besides, explain the pros and cons of these methods.
Free Answers.
(1) On-line Application: This can reduce the queuing time but will discriminate
those who don’t know how to access to the Internet.
(2) Allotment: This can reduce the waiting time but the procedure is complicated i.e.
queuing for the application form, submitting the form, checking the result and
buying the banknotes.
Remarks:
A guideline on writing a news commentary is prepared for students. Teachers can make
use of this worksheet if necessary. Please refer to Annex I.
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Annex I
Hong Kong Dollar Commemorative Banknote
News Commentary
Name: ___________________ (
)
Class: ___________________
Marks: _________________
Date: _________________
Writing Guideline:
A piece of well-constructed news commentary involves THREE main components.
They are (1) news summary, (2) economic analysis and (3) issue inquiry. You may
follow the guidelines of this worksheet to write your news commentary.
This news is about _______________________________________
You can
_______________________________________________________
prepare a
news
_______________________________________________________
summary
_______________________________________________________
with
reference to
_______________________________________________________
Q. 1-3
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
This issue involves
You have to
(concepts)
,
which shows ____________________________________________
make an
economic
analysis in
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
this part.
_______________________________________________________
You can
finish it with
_______________________________________________________
reference to
Q. 4-7
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________.
If you want to discuss Q.7 in detail, you may start with:
After you
have analyzed
the issue, you
have to
choose some
interesting
parts for
I think that the harsh whether does/ does not affect the opportunity
cost of outdoor queuing for buying the Banknotes because……
If you want to express your opinion in Q.8-9, you may start with:
I did/did not queue for the commemorative banknotes because……
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
further
________________________________________________________
inquiry.
To finish this
part, you can
express your
ideas with the
help of either
Q.7 or Q.8-9.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________.
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