Cellulon, a manufacturer of home insulation, wants to develop guidelines for builders and consumers on how the thickness of the insulation in the attic of a home and the outdoor temperature affect natural gas consumption. In the laboratory, it varied the insulation thickness and temperature. A few of the findings are:

On the basis of the sample results, the regression equation is:

yˆ y⁢^⁢  = 146.26 − 2.82x₁ − 2.06x₂

1. How much natural gas can homeowners expect to use per month if they install 6 inches of insulation and the outdoor temperature is 48 degrees F? (Round your answer to 2 decimal places.)

2. What effect would installing 7 inches of insulation instead of 6 have on the monthly natural gas consumption (assuming the outdoor temperature remains at 48 degrees F)? (Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)

3. The regression coefficients b₁ and b₂ are negative? Is this logical?

1. Which of the following contributed to the severity of the Great Depression of the 1930s?

a. large increases in tax rates in 1932 and again in 1936

b. large increases in the money supply during the early 1930s

c. a reduction in tariffs protecting many U.S. industries

d .a substantial tax rate reduction, which led to large deficits and high interest rates during the early 1930s

2. When a firm or an enterprise obtains more funds from government and less from consumers, the enterprise will

a. be less likely to provide political candidates with campaign contributions than firms that do not benefit from government funding.

b. spend more time trying to influence politicians and less time trying to meet the preferences of consumers.

c. have more incentive to control costs because of the government funding.

d. be driven more by market forces than by politics.

3. Once the criterion for receipt of an income transfer is established,

a. only those people whom the transfer is intended to help will qualify for the transfer.

b. the net gain derived by the transfer recipients will exceed the spending on transfer program.

c. the incentive to modify behavior in order to qualify for the transfer decreases.

d. people will modify their behavior in order to qualify for the transfer, decreasing their net gain from the transfer.

4.  Which person is more likely to have more wealth upon retirement?

a person who has invested 5 percent of their income into an equity mutual fund beginning at age 22

a professional who bought some of their company's stock beginning at age 30

a person who has invested 5 percent of their income into a stock portfolio beginning at age 50

a person who has invested 5 percent of their income into government bonds beginning at age 22

Explain the difference between "user value" and "existence value." Define both and explain the importance of each when measuring the benefits of environmental goods.

8. Write a critical summary of this NY Times article “Higher Minimum Wage May Have Losers”

A competitive firm’s short run supply curve is equivalent to the portion of its marginal cost curve which lies above its average variable cost curve. Explain fully why this is the case.

B. Define economic rent. Suppose a competitive firm is able to earn economic profit due to using an especially high-quality and scarce resource. Explain (in words and/or with a graph) how in the long run owners of the scarce resource are able to capture the economic profit from firms.

1. What is the World Trade Organization (WTO? When was the WTO created and how is it related to the GATT?
2. Roughly how many countries are members of the WTO and what are the broad issues related to agriculture that are being debated in WTO negotiations?
3. Why does the world need organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO)? In other words, what is the role of the World Trade Organization?

how does critical thinking play a part in studies during a course

GDP increased from $16.55 trillion to $17.28 trillion. What was the growth rate of GDP?

The farmer produces 105 pounds of oranges at a total cost of $1.13 per pound. He sells all of the oranges to firm F for $1.66 per pound. Firm F produces 60 gallons of orange juice at a total cost of $3.60 per gallon (including the amount paid to the farmer for the oranges). Firm F sells 55 gallons of juice to consumers for $5.11 per gallon. There are no other firms in this simple economy. What is the value added by firm F?

The Good’n’Fresh Grocery Store has two checkout lanes and four employees. Employees are equally skilled, and all are able to either operate a register (checkers) or bag groceries (baggers). The store owner assigns one checker and one bagger to each lane. A lane with a checker and a bagger can check out 41 customers per hour. A lane with a checker only can check out 25 customers per hour.


a. In terms of customers checked out per hour, what are total output and average labor productivity for the Good’n’Fresh Grocery Store?

Instructions: Enter your response for total output as a whole number and round your response for average productivity to one decimal place.

Total output:    customers per hour.

Average productivity:    customers per hour, per worker

b.  The owner adds a third checkout lane and register. Assuming that no employees are added, what is the best way to reallocate the workers to tasks?

• Two lanes with only checkers and one lane with a checker and a bagger.

• Two lanes with a checker and bagger and one lane left empty.

Instructions: Enter your response for total output as a whole number and round your response for average productivity to one decimal place.

What are total output and average labor productivity (in terms of customers checked out per hour) now?

Total output:    customers per hour

Average productivity:    customers per hour, per worker

c. The owner adds a fourth checkout lane and register. Assuming that no employees are added, what is the best way to reallocate the workers to tasks?
     

• Two lanes with one checker and one bagger each.

• Do not use the fourth lane.

• Four lanes with checkers only.

Instructions: Enter your response for total output as a whole number and round your response for average productivity to one decimal place.

Total output:    customers per hour

Average productivity:    customers per hour

     
The owner adds a fifth checkout lane and register. Assuming that no employees are added, what is the best way to reallocate the workers to tasks?

• Two lanes with only checkers and one lane with a checker and a bagger.

• Do not use the fifth lane.

• Two lanes with one checker and one bagger at each.

Do you observe diminishing returns to capital in this example?

• No, adding all five lanes will increase output.

• Yes, adding a fourth lane will not increase output

• Yes, adding a fifth lane will not increase output.

• Yes, adding a third lane will not increase output

Many nations, including the U.S., use various tools to restrict trade. What kind of arguments can you imagine for pursuing such policies? Are these valid arguments? Please support your answer.

What are the salient features of the Kyoto protocol? To what extent can the Paris agreement on climate change benefit from the lessons learnt from the Kyoto protocol? Discuss.