Crowdsourcing is a set of principles, processes, and platforms to get things done that includes putting out an open call to a group and managing the responses and output. Crowdsourcing can be like outsourcing in a bigger way because instead of contracting to one known entity, you are putting a call out to a bigger group, often a global online community, to either get many to participate or to find the person you need by casting a much wider net. There are crowdsourcing companies that perform specific types of work such as translations (Gengo, Smarting), transcription (CastingWords), even design and marketing work (99Designs, CrowdSpring). Each company operates differently. In the case of transcription or translation, you give work to a company like CastingWords or Gengo, and they, in turn, put the job out to their "crowd" of workers from around the world. They are like the middleman to helping you get the work done, and their distributed workforce can be less costly to them so they pass on their savings to your organization.

1. Check out a few of these crowdsourcing companies. What are your thoughts? Do you think they are effective? Why or why not?

2. Which type of leadership is most likely to include the use of crowdsourcing?

3. Can you think of other areas in businesses that can benefit from the use of crowdsourcing? What are they?

How do store closures affect wages and spending? How do these factors affect employment? How do these factors affect the demand curve? Will these factors cause the demand curve to move or shift? Explain.

Social Media Exercise #12

Casper makes and sells memory foam mattresses through its Web site. Unlike many mattress retailers, Casper sells just one mattress, though in all available sizes, including one for dogs. It prices the mattresses below that of most brick-and-mortar mattress stores and offers a 100-day trial period to help nudge customers into clicking the "buy" button. The young company doesn't spend a lot on advertising, so building brand recognition and preference is key to achieving sales. One way the firm does so is through its @Casper Twitter account, which tweets in the persona of a Casper mattress, especially late at night when those having trouble sleeping are likely to be perusing social media. The tweets are often amusing and timely one-liners about sleep, though followers are likely to find humorous memes, GIFs, and videos, as well as links to information about sleep and insomnia in the timeline.

1. Go to Twitter.com and search for @Caspers and look through recent tweets in the account's timeline. How is Casper using humor and pop culture to build brand loyalty?

2. What is the role of humor in Casper's tweet? In what ways does humor move customers closer to making a purchase, if at all?

Consider a market with two identical firms, Firm A and Firm B. The market demand is ? = 20−1/2?, where ? = ?a +?b . The cost conditions are ??a = ??b = 16.

a) Assume this market has a Stackelberg leader, Firm A. Solve for the quantity, price and profit for each firm. Explain your calculations.

b) How does this compare to the Cournot-Nash equilibrium quantity, price and profit? Explain your calculations.

c) Present the Stackelberg and Cournot equilibrium output using a diagram.

d) The crude oil market can be described as a Nash-Cournot market, in which Saudi Arabia acts as Stackelberg leader. Do you agree with this statement?

The small open economy of Hundred Acre Wood has a fixed exchange rate and is initially in short-run equilibrium. An outbreak of COVID-19 occurs and as a result money demand rises AND autonomous consumption falls. Suppose policy makers would like to keep fluctuations in the unemployment rate as small as possible, this implies the best policy reaction would be to:

a) increase the money supply (only)

b) Increase taxes (only)

c) Increase the money supply, cut taxes and cut government spending on goods and services

d) cut government spending on goods and services and increases taxes (ONLY)

e) Decrease the money supply, cut taxes, and cut government spending on goods and services

f) Cut government spending on goods and services (only)

g) Decrease the money supply (only)

g) INcrease the money supply, increase taxes and increase government spending on goods and services

h) INcrease government spending on goods and services and/or cut taxes (only)

i) Increase government spending on goods and services; and revalue the fixed exchange rate

j) Cut taxes and revalue the fixed exchange rate

k) Decrease the money supply, increase taxes government spending on goods and services

.) Suppose that the USD has been significantly appreciating against the Japanese yen over the last several months and that the Federal Reserve is considering sterilized direct intervention to reverse this trend. What sterilized intervention steps would the Fed take to reverse the recent USD appreciation? That is, clearly and explicitly state the exact steps taken (and the timing of steps: Are the steps taken sequentially? Or are they taken at the same time?) to engage in the necessary sterilized direct intervention. Be sure to clearly specify which currencies are being exchanged and what government securities are being bought and sold (and by whom) – the details are important. (40 points).

1. Which of the following are included and which are excluded in calculating this year’s GDP? Explain in each instance.

(a)       A homeowner who mows her own lawn

(b)       A decline in the average hours worked per week

(c)       Business expenditures on pollution control equipment

(d)       Income from illegal drug activities

(e)       The person who purchases a health care product

Question 4: Verbally and graphically explain whether the Fed can achieve its dual goals of price level stability and full employment if it pursues activist policies during each of the following. Assume the economy was operating at full employment in the short run before the shock. a. Due to the coronavirus, consumers stay home and stop discretionary spending.   b. Due to the coronavirus, interruptions in the supply chain plague U.S. industries making it harder, if not impossible, to receive intermediate goods as needed for production.

assume a pencil manufacturer is employing resources C and D in such quantities that the MRPs of the last units are $80 and $50 respectively. The price of resource C is $90 and the price of D is $35. To maximize profits what changes in resource usage must this firm make?.

What economic, political, and social objectives drive integration for SAFTA?

What are some of the criticism against the Human Development Index, and discuss.(10)

(The subject is "Natural and Resource Environmental Economics")