CAS EC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: High Tech, Absolute Advantage, Autarky

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3 Nov 2016

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Lecture 13: efficiency vs. equity and international trade. Efficiency and equity: efficiency describes how much value an economy creates as compare to its potential. Refers to the size of the pie: equity describes the degree of fairness in the division of value that the economy creates. Refers to how the pie is cut up. Very rich along side of very poor is often unfair. Central and northern european countries have a per-capita income similar to that of the us, but their distribution of income far more equitable. In europe, the ratio of top-20% / bottom-20% is about 5, but it is more than 8 in the us. 3 and planes because resources required for their production is cheaper. China has a comparative advantage over the us in producing trains (compared to planes) because the opportunity cost of a train in terms of planes sacrificed is lower in china (china sacrifices plane while us sacrifices 2)

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1) For each of the following goods, state whether it is a normal good, a luxury, a necessity, or an inferior good. (Sugar)<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

a) Inferior. Increases in income lead to less use of sugar. However, rich people do not use much less sugar than poor people, so elasticity is positive but greater than 1.

b) Inferior. Increases in income lead to slightly more use of sugar. However, rich people do not use much more sugar than poor people, so elasticity is positive but less than 1.

c) Normal and necessity. Increases in income lead to slightly more use of sugar. However, rich people do not use much more sugar than poor people, so elasticity is positive and greater than 1.

d) Normal and necessity. Increases in income lead to slightly more use of sugar. However, rich people do not use much more sugar than poor people, so elasticity is positive but less than 1.

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2) A perfectly competitive firm sells its good for $24. If marginal cost is three times the quantity produced, how much does the firm produce? Why?

a) Assuming perfect competition, the firm is producing where MR = MC. If the price is $24, and MC is three times the quantity, it is producing 72 units.

b) Assuming perfect competition, the firm is producing where MC is twice MR. If the price is $24, then MC = $48. This means that the firm is producing 12 units.

c) Assuming perfect competition, we do not have enough information to determine how much the firm is producing.

d) Assuming perfect competition, the firm is producing where MR = MC=P. Since price is $24, MR also is $24. If MC is three times the quantity, it is producing 8 units

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3) State the law of supply.

a) Quantity supplied rises as price increases, other things constant. Quantity supplied falls as price decreases, other things constant.

b) Supply increases as price falls. Supply decreases as price rises.

c) Quantity supplied rises as price falls, other things constant. Quantity supplied falls as price increases, other things constant.

d) Supply increases as price increases. Supply decreases as price decreases

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4) If marginal cost is increasing, what do we know about average cost?

a) If marginal cost is increasing, average costs could be rising, falling, or constant. The direction of average costs depends upon whether marginal cost is higher or lower than average cost.

b) If marginal cost is increasing, average costs are rising. As the cost of the next item produced is rising, the average cost of all the items produced must also be rising.

c) If marginal cost is increasing, average costs are falling. Marginal costs only increase at very high levels of production. When items are mass-produced (because of economies of scale) their average costs always fall, even when marginal costs begin to increase.

d) Average cost is constant and always lower than marginal cost because of the law of decreasing marginal productivity. As more items are produced marginal costs increase (the same as productivity decreasing), but average costs remain constant because the total number of items produced is also increasing

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5) (The president of Lebanon Valley College proposed the following tuition program: provide a 50 percent tuition reduction for those graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class, 33 percent reduction for those in the top 20 percent, and 25 percent reduction for those in the top 30 percent. All scholarship recipients were also required to maintain a minimum GPA. The comptroller estimated that the elasticity of demand for these students was greater than 1.)

Why did the program distinguish among top-performing students?

A) The program distinguished among top students because they were the least likely to respond to scholarships, keeping expenses related to scholarships down.

B) The program distinguished among top students because the top students demanded greater scholarships. The only way to achieve equilibrium was to supply more scholarships to these students.

C) The program distinguished among top students because their elasticities likely differed. The top 10 percent were likely being offered scholarships at other academic institutions, giving them greater choices, which made their elasticities greater.

D) The program distinguished among top students because their elasticities likely differed. The top 10 percent were likely being offered scholarships at other academic institutions, giving them greater choices, which made their elasticities lower.

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6) Say that equilibrium price fell and quantity remained constant. What would you say was the most likely cause?

a) The supply curve shifted left and the demand curve shifted left.

b) The supply curve shifted right and the demand curve shifted right.

c) The supply curve shifted right and the demand curve shifted left.

d) The supply curve shifted left and the demand curve shifted right.

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7) A firm has just decreased its price by 10 percent over last year's price, and it found that quantity sold decreased 20%. What The firm comes to you and wants to know its price elasticity of demand ?

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8) Name two advantages of the behavioral model.

Select all that apply.

a) They better match observed behavior.

b) Each model depends on a specific context and they are not easily generalized to other contexts.

c) Broader building blocks free researchers to look for more patterns in the data.

d) Irrational behavior results in complicated models that are often difficult to solve.

e) They assume people are rational, which better matches reality.

f) All economists agree the assumptions of the behavioral model are realistic.

viridianweasel299

1. According to a WSJ article, in Britain, drug companies are paying for nurses to study patient charts to identify people with chronic illnesses. "The nurses then recommend which patients should be called in for a check-up and perhaps prescribe new treatment. The work is part of what the industry calls "disease management programs," which the companies say improve care for people with illnesses like diabetes, asthma, or heart disease." Source: Jeanne Whalen, "Drug Makers Finance Nurses for U.K. Doctors." Wall Street Journal, 30 May 2007, Page B1. Which of the following best explains the actions of the drug companies? Select one:

a. Drug companies see this program as a way of educating patients about the various drug choices available to them

b. The companies see this program as a way to market their own products

c. The companies are committed to improving patient care in Britain

d. The companies are doing their part to ease the health care crisis in Britain

2. According to the economic way of thinking, Select one:

a. The value of a good is determined by the cost of the resources used to produce that good

b. A nation's wealth can be increased by shifting the production possibilities frontier inward.

c. Innovation makes it possible to produce good without giving up the production of another good

d. Costs are incurred when scarce resources are used to produce goods.

3. All of the statements are true about markets except Select one:

a. Markets excel at wealth creation because they often provide incentives for self-interested individuals to take socially beneficial actions

b. Markets function even without an administrator to coordinate the consumption and production plans of buyers and suppliers, respectively

c. The most equitable way to distribute goods and services is through markets

d. Markets are generally an efficient way to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and resources

4. An institutional arrangement that provides people with opportunities and procedures for exchanging goods, services, and resources is called: Select one:

a. Barter

b. A social economy

c. Traded.

d. A market

5. Concerned that California's high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes were not operating at full capacity and therefore not easing congestion as much as they could. In 2006, California lawmakers authorized the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to distribute 85,000 stickers to owners of gasoline-electric hybrid cars. Which of the following are the consequences of this policy?

(i) The stickers increased the demand for hybrid vehicles that qualified for stickers. (ii) The price of hybrid vehicles increased. (iii) The HOV lanes became clogged with hybrid vehicles which further aggravated congestion. Select one:

a. (i) and (ii) only b. (i), (ii) and (iii) c. (ii) and (iii) only d. (i) only

6. Consider the following policy: To make sure that poor people receive emergency treatment, the U.S. government forces emergency rooms to offer free care to poor patients. Which of the following is a consequence of this policy? Select one:

a. Hospitals in poor neighborhoods are likely to close their emergency rooms because of the high cost of providing free treatment to poor patients

b. Hospitals will have to offer higher salaries to doctors and nurses to induce them to work in poor neighborhoods

c. More hospitals are likely to open emergency care facilities in poor neighborhoods because of increased demand

d. The wait time in emergency rooms will fall.

7. Consider the following three statements: (i) The slump in the housing market has led to an increase in unemployment in the housing construction market. (ii) The Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged, motivated by the slump in the housing market. (iii) The California Air Resources Board passed a regulation requiring that 10% of all large automobiles sold in California from 2008 onward be zero-emissions vehicles: cars powered by electricity or alternative fuels like hydrogen. Which of the statements is a macroeconomics issue? Select one:

a. (ii) only b. (i), (ii) and (iii) c. (i) and (ii) only d. (ii) and (iii) only

8. Consider the following three statements: (i) The slump in the housing market has led to an increase in unemployment in the housing construction market. (ii) The Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged, motivated by the slump in the housing market. (iii) The California Air Resources Board passed a regulation requiring that 10% of all large automobiles sold in California from 2008 onward be zero-emissions vehicles: cars powered by electricity or alternative fuels like hydrogen. Which of the statements is largely a microeconomics issue? Select one:

a. (i) and (iii) only b. None of the above statements is a microeconomics issue c. (iii) only d. (i) only

9. Consider the following two medical procedures for a particular chronic illness. Procedure X has a very high patient survival rate, but patients are likely to suffer significant brain damage that greatly diminishes one's quality of life. Procedure Y has a much lower survival rate, but if a patient survives she is able to lead a full and normal life. If surgeons are compensated only if their patients survive, how will this policy affect the treatment for this illness?

Select one:

a. More of procedure X will be performed although patients are likely to suffer significant brain damage

b. Surgeons have no incentive to treat this illness

c. More of procedure Y will be performed because patients will able to lead full and normal lives

d. Patients have no incentive to seek treatment for this illness

10. Daikin, Possner, and Zoe are discussing what it means to say that people respond to incentives. Here is an extract from their conversation. Daikin: It means that people are required to behave in a cooperative fashion so that the citizens of a nation can coexist peacefully. Possner: It means that people act in ways that society approves. No rational person will do business with immoral characters. Zoe: It means that people undertake certain actions if they know that doing so will result in some form of material reward that they will not otherwise receive. Whose view accords with the economic way of thinking? Select one:

a. Only the views of Daikin and Zoe exhibit the economic way of thinking.

b. Possner's view is the only one that exhibits the economic way of thinking.

c. All three of their views exhibit an economic way of thinking.

d. Zoe's view is the only one that exhibits the economic way of thinking.

whitespider552

Need help revising, and recommendation for a conclusion.

Throughout this paper is my understanding of what I have learned in class chapters 1-4, expressing my understanding and opinions. Economics is the study of how we deal with scarce resources. Microeconomics specially deals with business in the home country exclusively. This type of economics affects small businesses in the home country only. On the other hand, macroeconomics concerns our national welfare concerning trade and international business.

I believe that many things affect our economy on a microeconomics level. Things such as our understanding of our country in reflection to the world are very important. That is why we study ourselves before we study the macroeconomic principle of the world. Understanding ourselves is what microeconomics teaches us. Working from the inside out. The world is a place where there are differences in our wants and what we get. That is what makes items scarce. That is what positive economics is. Positive economics deals with what is and what we have. The other type of economics is called normative statements. This deals with what we should receive instead of what is and deserved to some extent. It's our scarce resources that determine our allocation of resources and how we use our resources and time. This is where opportunity costs come in, giving up something to do something. A successful business or country never ignores opportunity costs. We must ensure that we have a comparative advantage instead of the absolute advantage. Our resources must be used to achieve maximum output. Comparative is met when we have fewer opportunity costs to make some certain products than the other person or entity.

My initial understanding was scarcity was oil potentially running out, but we have so much of it that you can always find more with techniques such as fracking. Now it's obvious to me, one of our most scarce resources is time. You cannot avoid the 8,760 hours in a year. I understand that people have unlimited wants but limited resources. Everything has a cost and we must make a choice as we don't have unlimited farms, factories workers, etc. scarcity forces choices and this ties in with opportunity cost, for every gun made, a theft from the hungry is made. The opportunity cost not being used to feed the poor, but to make guns. And I find it easy to understand no one can have everything choices must be made on benefits. If I'm going to school, imp giving up making cash, as I'm giving up money for an education, I value education more. Scarcity is also related to the invisible hand. As it's an achievement that leads free markets and capitalism through competition for scarce resources.

My understanding of the invisible hand is a person neither intends to promote public interest and does not know how much he is promoting it. Only intending on his own gain. Without being his intention a person can be lead by the invisible hand to do good for society by pursuing one's own self-interest. Going into equity and efficiency the invisible hand does ensure both equity and efficiency. People work in their selfish ways to maximize profit while also contributing to the economy as a whole. It can also be argued that as the invisible hand wants to ensure efficiency, it cannot guarantee efficiency, because it can fail to produce an efficient allocation of resources, which in turn lead to a market failure. It can also be argued that it can't guarantee equity because not everyone gets a fair price. The way I like to remember efficiency is with a real-life example, like a reduction in the number of workers needed to produce a particular good for a particular amount. Equity refers to the ownership interest in an asset, for example, if a person owns a house with a market value of $800,000 and owes $100,000 on the mortgage leaving a $700,000 equity in the home.

It can be predicted that if the price of beef increases - ceteris paribus-the quantity of beef demanded by buys will decrease. In other words, if the price of beef increases, then the quantity of beef increases, then the quantity of beef demanded will decrease because all things have to be equal. In-class lecture thought me all other things remaining the same. Economists use ceteris paribus to determine the effect of a factor when all other factors have been held the same and helps simplify the study and get a more refined data set.

Economists deal with many issues that pertain to assuring that both a countries domestic output is efficient and that there is an effective trade balance. This means that there are a balance and limit on the amount of imports. Also, this means home production must be able to meet export demands. There are many factors that affect the production of goods and their effect on shifting the production possibilities frontier. This involves evaluating every detail including knowing the products and any close substitutes and compliments. It also involves knowing how an action or other external force will affect demand. This is called price elasticity; Substitutes are products that can replace any given product or service. An example of this would be Coke and Pepsi. The presence of substitutes affects price elasticity because if there are other options, then any change to the price or quality of the product will cause a shift of the demand curve. O course, price is a huge reason why the demand for a product decreases or increases yet it doesn't shift the curve because of the price only. This price change will cause a domino effect that will end with the shifting of the demand curve because it will cause an increase or decrease in demand of the substitute good if the price change is either lower or higher respectively. This price change serves as a catalyst that will change people's desire to spend more money on a more expensive product and that will instead choose to buy the substitute good for cheaper or buy more of the desired product. The change in the price of actual products will not shift the demand curve yet the change of the price of substitutes will because it serves to change people's purchasing behavior. On the other hand, compliments serve to boost demand when there is a decrease in price. The use of complementary goods is dependent upon another product. An example of this would be hot dogs and buns. If the price of hotdogs decreases then, conversely, the demand for hot dog buns will increase because of this change in price. In this scenario, the decrease in price will cause a positive shift in the demand curve because of people's desire and willingness to buy more buns. This is an example of a demand shifter. There are a few other demand shifters. The shifters of the demand curve are changes in expectations, disposable income, price of substitute goods and complements, tastes and preferences, and population size and composition. Changes in income affect the demand curve because if income is lower then people tend to save any extra income instead of wasting it. Disposable income is minimized and spending is lower. This also causes people to see a perceived value of things and distinguishing between what is necessary and what is a relative luxury. The lower the income, the higher the saving and avoidance to spend. An example of this would be if someone needs to buy some medication and it is relatively expensive, that doesn't mean that someone won't buy the medication just because it is expensive. It is necessary. Other factors that contribute to spending and demand are having a price ceiling and price floor. Having a price ceiling is a limit on the price of the product this is a government-imposed idea that is meant to protect consumers from unfair pricing and other conditions that may be malicious or obscure. This affects demand because if there is a price ceiling there is a limit on profit on a unit-to-unit basis. The other factor is the price floor. This price floor was created to encourage competition and affect consumers' willingness to pay because sometimes this new price may be higher than the original price. This causes a negative impact on a product that has a less than wanted perceived value. Many factors contribute to economic prosperity and certainly do help assure that information is analyzed and implemented into an economic and business plan.

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CAS EC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: High Tech, Absolute Advantage, Autarky

CAS EC 101 Full Course Notes

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