Read the second Management Focus feature in the text (Chapter 9), “NAFTA’s Tomato Wars,” then answer the following questions 1) Was the establishment of a minimum floor price for tomatoes consistent with the free trade principles enshrined in the NAFTA agreement? Why or why not? 2) Why, despite the establishment of a minimum floor price, have imports from Mexico grown over the years? 3) Was the Commerce Department right to establish a new minimum floor price, rather than scrap the agreement and file an anti-dumping suit against the Mexican tomato producers? Who would have suffered? Response should be a minimum of 150 words total and contain no quotes.

“In the years between 1815 and 1848, two rival political programs appeared, reflecting rival sets of hopes. Some Americans felt largely satisfied with their society the way it was, slavery and all, especially with the autonomy it provided to so many individual white men and their local communities. They wanted their familiar America extended across space. Other Americans, however, were beguiled by the prospect of improvement to pursue economic diversification and social reform, even at the risk of compromising some precious personal and local independence. They envisioned qualitative, not just quantitative, progress for America.”

Explain this passage from Daniel Walker Howe in a more or less narrative style essay. What are these “rival political programs,” what specifically did they want America to look like, and in what ways did they advocate for their respective visions? Furthermore, what is the difference between “qualitative” and “quantitative” progress and how do they differ? Finally, how does the Civil War, and it's lead up, figure in these conflicting visions?

Question 3. A 1-year European put option on a stock with strike price of $50 is quoted as $7; a 1-year European call option on the same stock with strike price $30 is quoted as $5. Suppose you long one put and short one call (one option is on 100 share).

a) Draw the payoff diagram for your put position and call position.

b) After 1-year, stock price turns out to be $45. What is your total payoff? What is your total profit/loss?

Compare and contrast the four different market structures (perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly). Select an organization with which you are familiar and identify the market structure of that organization. Evaluate the effectiveness of this structure for the organization. For your selected organization, summarize the factors that affect labor supply and demand.

How did the personality of George W. Bush influence his foreign policy initiatives and rhetoric regarding the 2001 Afghanistan war and the 2003 Iraq war? Do you think that a different president would have acted differently given the circumstances? Explain using Margaret Hermann's typology of leadership styles, the rational actor model, and the bureaucratic model of decision-making.

What has been the legacy of the Arab Spring on the Middle East and on Syria.

We showed an example in which the consumer has preferences for consumption with the perfect complement property. Suppose, alternatively, that leisure and consumption goods are perfect substitutes. In this case, an indifference curve is described by the equation:

u=al+bC

where a and b are positive constants and u is the level of utility. That is, a given indifference curve has a particular value for u, with higher indifference curves having higher values for u.

a) Show what the consumer’s indifference curves look like when consumption and leisure are perfect substitutes, and determine graphically and algebraically what consumption bundle the consumer will choose. Show that the consumption bundle the consumer chooses depends on the relationship between a/b and w, and explain why.

b) Do you think it likely that any consumer would treat consumption goods and leisure as perfect substitutes?

c) Given perfect substitutes, is more preferred to less? Do preferences satisfy the diminishing-marginal-rate-of-substitution property?

In Ch.12, the concept of risk and return is discussed. In 500 words or more, discuss the historical return and risks on various types of investments. Additionally, briefly explain the implications of market efficiency.

Having no internet access can make getting a job and even shopping for a good deal harder. This difference is called the “digital divide”, and is added to the reasons that getting out of poverty is hard. How do you think information technology (internet) has affected social classes? Has it brought the classes closer together, separated them more, or had no effect? Explain how/why.

An auto-service establishment has estimated its monthly cost function as follows:
TC = 6000 + 10 Q
where Q is the number of cars it services each month and TC represents its total cost. The firm is targeting 35,000 net monthly profit servicing 2000 cars.
a. What price should the firm charge in order to realize the targeted profit?
b. What would be its (cost-based) markup ratio?
b2. Now suppose the demand curve the firm faces is: Q = 3000 - 50 P. Is the firm going to achieve its profit goal? Explain.
c. If your answer to (b) is "no", what would be the optimal markup ratio for this firm?

1. Is there necessarily a trade-off between equity and efficiency?

give an example when there is and another one for when there isn't a trade-off

2. Does the rate of income mobility within a person's lifetime matter for how we assess/ measure inequality?

3. Does the rate of intergenerational income mobility matter for how we assess/measure inequality?

Juliette and Andrew regularly go to the movies, where they like to consume popcorn and slushies. At the movies, Juliette’s utility function is given by UJ=√P×S, where P is the number of cups of popcorn, and S is the number of slushies she consumes. Andrew’s utility function is given by UA=P+S.

a. Compute the utility Juliette and Andrew receive from the following combinations of popcorn and slushies:

b. Suppose that Juliette and Andrew are each consuming 2 popcorns and 2 slushies. Who gets the most happiness from her or his movie snacks?

Juliette

It's not possible to say.

Both get equal happiness.

Andrew

c. Suppose that Juliette has consumed 2 popcorns and 3 slushies. What is the approximate marginal utility Juliette will receive if she eats another cup of popcorn?

0.49

0.45

0.61

0.55

What is the approximate marginal utility she will receive if, instead, she drinks another slushie?

0.45

0.38

0.61

0.55

d. When Andrew is consuming 1 popcorn and 1 slushie, another popcorn will increase his utility by 1 unit. When Andrew is consuming 8 popcorns and 1 slushie, another popcorn will again increase his utility by 1 unit.

Which assumption of consumer preferences might Andrew’s particular utility function violate?

Transitivity

For most goods, more is better than less

Completeness and rankability

The more a consumer has of a good, the less one is willing to give up of something else to get more of it

Juliette’s utility function appears to violate the same assumption.

False

True

During a meeting, two analysts are discussing the level of interest rates the economy has experienced recently. One analyst remarks: "We are going through a change in the inflation expectations as we have an inverted yield curve. Surely the investors are expecting lower interest rates and lower inflation in the future." Comment on the analyst's statement, do you agree or disagree, why? Explain.

Please, explain how cultural and demographic factors could affect the country's strategy in the new market (give specific examples):

explain how international trade and intellectual property factors could affect the country's market entry,

explain how currency and foreign exchange issues can affect the company's strategy and performance.