Wages are determined by the interaction of supply and demand in labor markets. The shortages of workers in many industries will impact the wages that both firms will need to offer, and the wage workers will receive. Explain how firms will be able to deal with the shortage of workers in a strong labor market. This assignment will require 3-5 paragraphs.

Discuss why cash flow planning is important for small businesses.

1. Income per capita is one of several measures of economic development that has been reported over the years.  Answer the following questions about income per capita and the evolution of measuring economic development.

1. If the average annual income per capita in Niger is 210,000 West African Francs and the exchange rate is 600 West African Francs per $1, then what is the annual income per capita in Niger in US dollars? Based on this calculation, is the average person living above or below the absolute poverty line in Niger? Explain your answer.
2. Define Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in your own words.  If the PPP exchange rate in Niger is 210 West African Francs per $1, then what is the annual income per capita in Niger in US dollars?  Comparing this to your calculations from part A, are the people in Niger doing better or worse than you originally thought?
3. How did Amartya Sen revolutionize the measurement of economic development?  What are the three core values of economic development that we focus on today?

2. We discussed in detail the differences between the demographics of the population and population growth in developing countries compared to those that have already developed. Please answer the following questions with regard to population differences between developed and developing nations.

1. Describe what is meant by the dependency burden.  Compare the dependency burden in developing nations to that of developed ones and describe why the dependency burden is worse for developing countries
2. Developed countries have stricter immigration laws now compared to when they were first developing over 200 years ago.  Name at least one way in which this positively and negatively influences the growth of developing nations
3. Briefly define Population-Weighted Relative Convergence.  Is convergence happening according to this measure?

• Identify the classes of employees protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
• Why was Affirmative Action put into place?
• Do you think Title VII and Affirmative Action are still necessary? Why or why not?

How do you think balancing happens - meaning, what type of factors should be considered when the government cuts funds from one program to fund another?

As you’ve been studying the soft drink market, you’re quite convinced that consumer income is declining in the marketplace. At this same time, Frosty Cola’s production department has notified you that the costs of carbonated water and sugar have increased significantly. You have also come across the following data: Income elasticity of demand for Frosty Cola = -1.5

Using supply/demand analysis, what do you think is going on in the market for Frosty Cola right now? Illustrate and explain.

The focus of this problem is the Coase Theorem. There are several sub-parts to this problem. Please read each part carefully. In each case, the logic underlying your answer should be explicitly explained.

Consider a doctor whose ability to examine patients was disrupted by the noise of machinery operated by a confectioner (candy maker) in an adjacent building. The historic economic and legal view toward such a situation was simple: the confectioner's noise was harming the doctor and it ought to be restrained. Coase's insight was that this view completely overlooked the reciprocal nature of the problem: if we prevent the noise, we harm the confectioner. While answering the following questions, please keep this insight in mind.

Part 1

Suppose the benefit to the confectioner of continuing to make the noise is 40, while the cost of the noise to the doctor is 60. If the confectioner's only alternative to making the noise is to shut down, and the doctor cannot relocate his business, what is the efficient solution to the problem?

Part 2

If the confectioner is made liable for the damage, will he continue the production of candy? [To be liable for the damage means being required to compensate the doctor for any damage caused by the noise.]

Part 3

Suppose the law changes and now the confectioner is not liable for the damage to the doctor. How will this affect the confectioner's decision to shut down? Explain carefully.

Part 4

Suppose the data are changed. Suppose now that the benefit to the confectioner of operating is 60, and the benefit to the doctor in a noise-free environment is only 40. What is the efficient outcome in this case? Explain how the efficient outcome is reached under the two alternative allocations of the liability for damage.

Part 5

Revert to the cost and benefit assumptions of part 1. Except now the confectioner has the option of installing a soundproofing device that will completely eliminate the noise from his machines. The cost of this is 20, which means that if he installs it, his net gain from operating will fall from 40 to 20. As in part 1, the doctor will gain 60 if there is no noise (another way of saying that he will incur a cost of 60 if there is noise). What is the efficient outcome in this case? Again, explain the process by which the efficient outcome will be achieved if

a) the confectioner is liable for damage;

b) the confectioner is not liable for damage.

1. Identify five to ten policies the government uses to stabilize the economy. From this list, select two or three policies that have affected you directly. (These policies might include lower interest rates for college loans, car loans, or home loans, or perhaps a tax cut.)

2. Write a two- to three-page essay in which you summarize the arguments for and against using fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the economy. Your essay should address the following:

• How did the policy (or policies) affect you? Were you able to do something you could not have done otherwise? Was something taken away from you? Were the results of the policy positive for you? Did you benefit from them?
• Have you or anyone you know been affected negatively by one of these policies?
• As a general rule, do you think it’s a good idea for the government to use fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the government? Why or why not?

Which of the following values is most likely to be the elasticity of demand coefficient for insulin? Select one: a. -400.00 b. -100.00 c. -0.05 d. -1.00

reflection statement: Atleast 600 words. What are the top 2 issues you believe are facing the Human Resources Profession? Explain in detail/reasoning for your choices and what actions could be taken to work through these issues? How will you apply what you already know or what you have learned about Human Resources?

Benchmarking activity in healthcare?

Clinical practice benchmarking?

Conclusion of benchmarking in healthcare?

1. Suppose there are two firms in a market producing differentiated products. Both firms have MC=0. The demand for firm 1 and 2's products are given by:

q₁(p₁,p₂) = 5-2p₁+p₂

q₂(p₁,p₂) = 5-2p₂+p₁

a. First, suppose that the two firms compete in prices (i.e. Bertrand). Compute and graph each firm's best response functions. What is the sign of the slope of the firms' best-response functions? Are prices strategic substitutes or complements?

b. Solve for the Nash equilibrium prices and quantities when the two firms play Bertrand. Calculate the firm's profits.

c. Next, assume firms compete in quantities (i.e. Cournot). Solve for firm 1 and 2's inverse demand functions (i.e. solve the demand equations for p as a function of q).

d. Compute and graph each firm's best response functions. What is the sign of the slope of the firms' best-response functions? Are quantities strategic substitutes or complements?

e. Solve for the Nash equilibrium prices and quantities when the two firms play Cournot. Calculate the firm's profits.

f. Compare the market outcomes in parts (a) and (c). Is the equilibrium outcome more competitive under price or quantity competition?

What are "scarce resources" and how do we compensate for the use of these resources? Explain why we need efficient allocation of scarce resources as opposed to effective allocation. Define economics

n July 2007, Apple released the iPhone at a price of $599. Only two months later, the company dropped the price by 33% to $399. The early iPhone customers were angry about the sudden drop in price and felt they had overpaid for the product. See the letter below that Steve Jobs wrote to these customers. not surprisingly, members of the news media received the message and shared it with the general public.

INSTRUCTIONS: Write a clear and concise assessment of whether or not you think this is an effective business communication. Provide support for your answer. Organize your response into a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Use the appropriate format for business writing.

***

Letter from Steve Jobs

To All iPhone Customers:

I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of the iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale. After reading every one of these emails, I have some observations and conclusions.

First, I am sure that we are making the correct decision to lower the price of the 8GB iPhone from $599 to $399, and that now is the right time to do it. iPhone is a breakthrough product, and we have the chance to "go for it" this holiday season. iPhone is so far ahead of the competition, and now it will be affordable by even more customers. It benefits both Apple and every iPhone user to get as many new customers as possible in the iPhone "tent." We strongly believe the $399 price will help us do just that this holiday season.

Second, being in technology for 30+ years I can attest to the fact that the technology road is bumpy. There is always change and improvement, and there is always someone who bought a product before a particular cutoff date and misses the new price or the new operating system or the new whatever. This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you'll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.

Third, even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.

Therefore, we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. Details are still being worked out and will be posted on Apple's website next week. Stay tuned. We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers.

We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple.

Steve Jobs

Apple CEO

1. 2. Top Gun Marketing, Inc., offers overhead banner fly-by promotion services using their Cessna aircraft and banner creation facilities. The Padres Island firm specializes in restaurant promotion via fly-bys at outdoor events and other high traffic centers, where each 10 minute increment of advertising costs $300. Over the past year, the following relation between fly-by advertising and incremental restaurant guests per month has been observed:

Sales (units) = 5,200 + 50A - 0.5A²

Here A represents a 10-minute fly-by advertisement, and sales are measured in numbers of restaurant guests.

Pete Mitchel, manager for the Padres Island firm, has been asked to recommend an appropriate level of advertising. In thinking about this problem, Mitchel noted its resemblance to the optimal resource employment problem he had studied in a managerial economics course that was part of his MBA program. The advertising-sales relation could be thought of as a production function with advertising as an input and sales as the output. The problem is to determine the profit-maximizing level of employment for the input, advertising, in this "production" system. Mitchel recognized that to solve the problem he needed a measure of output value. After consultation with the restaurant, he determined that the value of output is $10 per guest, the net marginal revenue earned by the client (price minus all marginal costs except fly-by advertising).