Questions
If x1 and x2 are the factors of production of a typical firm, output price is...

If x1 and x2 are the factors of production of a typical firm, output price is p, price of x1 and x2 are w1 and w2, respectively and the firm’s production function is:

           f (x1, x2) = x1^3 x2^3

i. Write up firm’s short run and long run profit maximization problem. Show firm’s short run profit maximization graphically please.

ii. Using the information above can you write the cost minimization problem for this firm if the firm decides to produce y1 level of output? Please show graphically how the firm minimizes its costs. What is the alternative method we can use to find the optimal quantity of x1 and x2 to solve the cost minimization problem for the firm? Explain.

iii. If the firm’s factor demand functions for x1 and x2 are as follows:

   x1= p ^3/ (27 w1^2 w2)

   x2= p ^3/ (27 w1 w2^2)

a. How the optimal quantity of each input changes when price of input changes?

b. How the optimal quantity of one input changes when price of other input changes?

c. How the optimal quantity of each input changes when price of that input changes?


In: Economics

The standard recommendation for automobile oil changes is once every 5000 miles. A local mechanic is...

The standard recommendation for automobile oil changes is once every 5000 miles. A local mechanic is interested in determining whether people who drive more expensive cars are more likely to follow the recommendation. Independent random samples of 45 customers who drive luxury cars and 40 customers who drive compact lower-price cars were selected. The average distance driven between oil changes was 5187 miles for the luxury car owners and 5389 miles for the compact lower-price car owners. The sample standard deviations were 424 and 507 miles for the luxury and compact groups, respectively. Assume that the two population distributions of the distances between oil changes have the same standard deviation. You would like to test if the mean distance between oil changes is less for all luxury cars than that for all compact lower-price cars.

Let μ1 denote the mean distance between oil changes for luxury cars, and μ2 denote the mean distance between oil changes for compact lower-price cars. Suppose the test statistic for this case is -2. Calculate the p-value. Round your final answer to the nearest ten thousandth (e.g., 0.1234).

In: Statistics and Probability

Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at WorldCom. She had worked there for five...

Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at WorldCom. She had worked there for five years when the fraud was uncovered and received two promotions during that time. Vinson’s salary increased from $50,000 when she started to $80,000 in 2002. Vinson reported to Buford Yates, director of general accounting, who reported to David Myers, senior vice president and controller, who then reported to CFO Scott Sullivan. (See Figure 1 for an organizational chart.) A hard worker who often stayed late or brought work home, Vinson considered herself lucky to land the job at WorldCom, as it was located in her hometown of Clinton, Miss. Vinson graduated from Mississippi College in 1978 and married her college sweetheart, Tom Vinson, a printing-equipment salesman who earned $40,000 a year. The couple had one daughter and lived a typical suburban lifestyle. Prior to working at WorldCom, Vinson worked as an accountant for various banking enterprises in Louisiana and Kansas City from 1978 to 1996. She also earned the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential during that time.

Problems began to emerge in the telecommunications industry in the late 1990s. The industry had over expanded, and every company was beginning to feel the effects, including WorldCom. By 2000, WorldCom’s expenses were increasing faster than revenues. In September 2000, WorldCom had to find $828 million to meet earnings targets expected by Wall Street. Vinson and her accounting colleagues found $50 million, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Senior management instructed her and her accounting coworkers to reduce reserve accounts for line costs to cover this shortfall. Reserves had been set aside based on estimates of potential losses, but they needed to have enough reason to reduce the reserve. Meeting earnings targets wasn’t a valid reason. Sullivan pressed Myers and Vinson’s boss, Yates, to make this adjustment. Yates told his accounting team that he had reservations, too, but that Sullivan promised this was a one-time adjustment. They all agreed to go along with the accounting adjustment. Vinson felt uncomfortable with this and considered resigning. The corporate accounting department’s discomfort with the entries prompted Sullivan to call the accountants into his office. He used an analogy that WorldCom was an aircraft carrier, and they needed to land the planes that were in the air. He urged them to wait until the planes had landed, and then they could leave the company if they still wanted to. Sullivan assured them that nothing they would do was illegal and that it wouldn’t be repeated. After talking to her husband, Vinson decided against resigning because of her family’s dependence on her salary and health insurance. In April 2001, the gap in meeting earnings targets was $771 million. The reserve pools weren’t large enough to cover this gap. Sullivan’s new strategy was to shift line costs, recorded as expenses, to capital expenditure accounts. Yates objected. Sullivan insisted it was the only way to cover this gap. Vinson and her coworker both felt cornered; this was clearly fraudulent accounting. The only choices now were to resign or make the entries. The three-person accounting team identified the capital accounts to use, and Vinson made the entries to transfer the $771 million. She backdated entries to February in the computer system and then indicated to colleagues at WorldCom that she was going to look for another job. These entries continued quarterly through April 2002. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) was informed of the problem in June 2002 as a result of the efforts of the WorldCom internal audit team. The SEC would ultimately charge CFO Scott Sullivan, Controller David Myers, and accountants Buford Yates, Troy Normand, and Betty Vinson. According to the SEC complaint: “At the direction of WorldCom senior management, Vinson and other WorldCom employees caused WorldCom to overstate materially its earnings in contravention of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for at least seven successive fiscal quarters, from as early as October 2000 through April 2002. Vinson knew or was reckless in not knowing, that these entries were made without supporting documentation, were not in conformity with GAAP, were not disclosed to the investing public, and were designed to allow WorldCom to appear to meet Wall Street analysts’ quarterly earnings estimates

Paraphrase one of Yates’ arguments?

This argument best describes the ____________________________________ “reason and rationalization” of GVV because?

In response to Mr. Yate’s argument, Betty and Troy could have countered?

In: Operations Management

Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at WorldCom. She had worked there for five...

Betty Vinson was the director of management reporting at WorldCom. She had worked there for five years when the fraud was uncovered and received two promotions during that time. Vinson’s salary increased from $50,000 when she started to $80,000 in 2002. Vinson reported to Buford Yates, director of general accounting, who reported to David Myers, senior vice president, and controller, who then reported to CFO Scott Sullivan. (See Figure 1 for an organizational chart.) A hard worker who often stayed late or brought work home, Vinson considered herself lucky to land the job at WorldCom, as it was located in her hometown of Clinton, Miss. Vinson graduated from Mississippi College in 1978 and married her college sweetheart, Tom Vinson, a printing-equipment salesman who earned $40,000 a year. The couple had one daughter and lived a typical suburban lifestyle. Prior to working at WorldCom, Vinson worked as an accountant for various banking enterprises in Louisiana and Kansas City from 1978 to 1996. She also earned the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential during that time.

Problems began to emerge in the telecommunications industry in the late 1990s. The industry had over expanded, and every company was beginning to feel the effects, including WorldCom. By 2000, WorldCom’s expenses were increasing faster than revenues. In September 2000, WorldCom had to find $828 million to meet earnings targets expected by Wall Street. Vinson and her accounting colleagues found $50 million, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Senior management instructed her and her accounting coworkers to reduce reserve accounts for line costs to cover this shortfall. Reserves had been set aside based on estimates of potential losses, but they needed to have enough reason to reduce the reserve. Meeting earnings targets wasn’t a valid reason. Sullivan pressed Myers and Vinson’s boss, Yates, to make this adjustment. Yates told his accounting team that he had reservations, too, but that Sullivan promised this was a one-time adjustment. They all agreed to go along with the accounting adjustment. Vinson felt uncomfortable with this and considered resigning. The corporate accounting department’s discomfort with the entries prompted Sullivan to call the accountants into his office. He used an analogy that WorldCom was an aircraft carrier, and they needed to land the planes that were in the air. He urged them to wait until the planes had landed, and then they could leave the company if they still wanted to. Sullivan assured them that nothing they would do was illegal and that it wouldn’t be repeated. After talking to her husband, Vinson decided against resigning because of her family’s dependence on her salary and health insurance. In April 2001, the gap in meeting earnings targets was $771 million. The reserve pools weren’t large enough to cover this gap. Sullivan’s new strategy was to shift line costs, recorded as expenses, to capital expenditure accounts. Yates objected. Sullivan insisted it was the only way to cover this gap. Vinson and her coworker both felt cornered; this was clearly fraudulent accounting. The only choices now were to resign or make the entries. The three-person accounting team identified the capital accounts to use, and Vinson made the entries to transfer the $771 million. She backdated entries to February in the computer system and then indicated to colleagues at WorldCom that she was going to look for another job. These entries continued quarterly through April 2002. The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) was informed of the problem in June 2002 as a result of the efforts of the WorldCom internal audit team. The SEC would ultimately charge CFO Scott Sullivan, Controller David Myers, and accountants Buford Yates, Troy Normand, and Betty Vinson. According to the SEC complaint: “At the direction of WorldCom senior management, Vinson and other WorldCom employees caused WorldCom to overstate materially its earnings in contravention of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for at least seven successive fiscal quarters, from as early as October 2000 through April 2002. Vinson knew or was reckless in not knowing, that these entries were made without supporting documentation, were not in conformity with GAAP, were not disclosed to the investing public, and were designed to allow WorldCom to appear to meet Wall Street analysts’ quarterly earnings estimates

Paraphrase one of Yates’ arguments?

This argument best describes the ____________________________________ “reason and rationalization” of GVV because?

In response to Mr. Yate’s argument, Betty and Troy could have countered?

In: Operations Management

If you can achieve significant abnormal returns then price changes are predictable, and the other way...

If you can achieve significant abnormal returns then price changes are predictable, and the other way around (which means that if price changes are predictable, then you can achieve significant abnormal returns) (True or False)?

In: Finance

The permanent income theory of consumption predicts that saving responds less to permanent changes in income...

The permanent income theory of consumption predicts that saving responds less to permanent changes in income than temporary changes in income.

A detailed explanation would be very much appreciated! Thank you kind souls

In: Economics

The mid- to late 20th century was filled with amazing changes and events in professional nursing....

The mid- to late 20th century was filled with amazing changes and events in professional nursing.

Select one of these changes or events, describe it, and explain how that change or event has impacted quality of nursing practice today.

In: Nursing

History of China economy Illustrated timeline of changes from the early days until today (should include...

History of China economy

Illustrated timeline of changes from the early days until today (should include as long as a period example as possible – 1930 to 2017). Include Important and highlighted changes over the years.

In: Economics

reflect on the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Discuss how they are co-dependant on each...

reflect on the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. Discuss how they are co-dependant on each other and how one would be affected by changes in the other. Discuss how changes to either would affect living things.

In: Biology

What is the rationale behind making a scope change once the project has started? What needs...

What is the rationale behind making a scope change once the project has started? What needs to be considered before making changes to the project? What steps should be taken to determine if these changes should be made?

In: Operations Management