1. Which of the following industries is the best example of an oligopoly?

A. Corn production

B. Automobile production in the United States

D. Production of t-shirts

C. Pizzerias in New York City

2. Oligopolistic firms have a special constraint, not faced by other types of firm. What is it?

A. Demand

B. The reaction of rival firms

C. Costs

D. The need to play games

3. Of the following markets, which is most likely to have contestable markets

A. Nuclear power generation

B. Trucking

C. Dentistry

D. Automobile manufacturing

4. Market coordination is easier with which of the following?

A. Many smaller firms

B. A few firms of same size

C. One large and many small firms

D. More than four firms

5. Oligopolistic interdependence is the need to do which of the following?

A. Pay close attention to the actions of rival firms

B. Pay attention to the actions of the government

C. Pay attention to their internal costs

D. Pay attention to their inputs

Unit 9

Discussion Board

Please use your own experiences and the knowledge you have gained from this week’s readings to answer the following topics and questions. Make sure you use economic concepts in your main contribution.  

The purpose of this assignment is to understand the terms import and export, and then explain the advantages or disadvantages of buying imports rather than buying domestic products. You could, for instance, write about an imported automobile, stereo, or household appliance that you bought or considered buying. Include all of the following points in your discussion.

1. If you were a retailer, would you want to sell domestically made goods or imported items? Please explain why you made this choice.
2. If you wanted to sell a good or service to customers in other countries, what sorts of items do you think you could export?
3. In your opinion, should the United States’ Federal Government support companies that want to enter export markets? Please explain.

Babcock and Marks (2010) reviewed survey data from 2003-2005, and obtained an average of u = 14 hours per week spent studying by full-time students at 4-year colleges in the United States. To determine whether this average has changed in the past 10 years, a researcher selected a sample of n = 64 of today’s college students and obtained an average of M = 12.5 hours. If the standard deviation for the distribution is σ = 4.8 hours per week, does this sample indicate a significant change in the number of hours spent studying? Use a two-tail test with alpha = .05. List, number, state, and clearly show all 4 steps of the hypothesis test. For step 2, state alpha and describe the critical regions of the test statistic distribution. Step 4 must also answer the question posed in the problem. Clearly show all calculations steps to get answers including formulas needed to solve this problem. Answers must be typed or word processed.

Recently the U.S. Department of Education released a report on online learning stating that blended instruction, a combination of conventional face-to-face and online instruction, appears more effective in terms of student performance than conventional teaching. You decide to poll the incoming students at your institution to see if they prefer courses that blend face-to-face instruction with online components. In an SRS of 300 incoming students, you find that 213 prefer this type of course.

(a) What is the sample proportion who prefer this type of blended instruction? (Round your answer to two decimal places.)

(b) If the population proportion for all students nationwide is 85%, what is the standard deviation of p̂? (Round your answer to four decimal places.) σp̂ = ?

(c) Using the 68–95–99.7 rule, if you had drawn an SRS from the United States, you would expect p̂ to fall between what two percents about 95% of the time? (Round your answers to two decimal places.)

Amount Spent on Energy: The table to the right shows the amount spent (in dollars) on energy in one year for a random sample of households from four regions in the United States. Conduct a test at the alpha equal .05 level to determine if there is a difference in the mean amount spent in dollars on energy Run the ANOVA analysis using excel data analysis tools on this sheet to show the work. Answer the following questions on the answer sheet: 2a. State the Null Hypothesis 2b. What is the Resulting F value? 2c. What is the resulting F critical value? 2d. What is the p value? 2e. What is the decision (accept or reject the null hypothesis?

Lets use our imagination to explore differing perspectives on the crises in Europe and the United States: Try to put yourself in the position of a Greek worker, let's say a nurse or a clerk. How do you feel about demands on your government from the European Union and European Central bank that you pay and pension be dramatically cut? Or, perhaps there are recommendations that your job be cut. Provide a brief description. Compare and contrast this perspective with the perspective of a German worker, let's say an autoworker or a technology company. How do you feel about demands on your government to bail out the Greek economy?

Next, try to put yourself in the position who has lost his or her job in the financial crisis, say in 2009, and, consequently, can no longer afford mortgage payments, let's say an autoworker, a construction worker or other worker, or someone working in the financial industry. How do you feel about legislation that like TARP and ARRA? Be specific in your response.

Jacksonville Corp. is a U.S.‑based firm that needs $500,000. It has no business in Japan but is considering one‑year financing with Japanese yen, because the annual interest rate would be 3 percent versus 5 percent in the United States. Assume that interest rate parity exists.

a) Can Jacksonville benefit from borrowing Japanese yen and simultaneously purchasing yen one year forward to avoid exchange rate risk? Explain.

b) Assume that Jacksonville does not cover its exposure and uses the forward rate to forecast the future spot rate. Determine the expected effective financing rate. Should Jacksonville finance with Japanese yen? Explain.

c) Assume that Jacksonville does not cover its exposure and expects that the Japanese yen will appreciate by either 3 percent, 2 percent, or 1 percent, and with equal probability of each occurrence. Use this information to determine the probability distribution of the effective financing rate. Should Jacksonville finance with Japanese yen? Explain.

Directions: Answer the following questions on a separate document. Explain how you reached the answer, or show your work if a mathematical calculation is needed, or both. Submit your assignment using the assignment link above.

A. In your own words, please identify two different stock exchanges in the United States. Describe the similarities and differences between the two stock exchanges. Identify one stock from each of the two stock exchanges.

B. Using the two stocks you identified, determine the free cash flow from 2013 & 2014. What inference can you draw from the companies’ free cash flow?

C. Using the most recent financial statements for both stocks, prepare two financial ratios for each of the following categories: liquidity ratios, asset management ratios, and profitability ratios. You should have a total of six ratios for each stock, per year. What challenges, strengths, or weaknesses do you see? Please be articulate.

Please provide the Stata commands and outputs where necessary, thank you.

4. The following are data on

y = quit rate per 100 employees in manufacturing

x = unemployment rate

The data are for United States and cover the period 1990-2002.

(a) Estimate the regression and report the results

(b) Construct a 95% confidence interval for β.

(c) Test the hypothesis H₀ : β = 0 against the alternative β=0 at the 5% significance level.

(d) Test Normality of the residuals using Jarque-Bera test.

(e) What is likely to be wrong with the assumptions of the classical normal linear model in this case? Discuss.