Econ hw

Principles of Microeconomics

ECON 22060 Homework #1 Name:______________________

1. Budget Constraints:

a. Assume that your income is $250. You can either pizzas or tanks full of gasoline. Each pizza will cost you $10 and it will cost you $25 to fill your tank with gasoline. Complete the table.

b. Assume your income falls to $200. The price of gasoline and pizza does not change. Complete the table.

c. Assume that your income is still $200. The price of a tankful of gasoline falls to $20 but the price of pizza does not change. Complete the table.

d. On the following page, graph all three of these scenarios. You may graph all of these using the same graph.

2. You go to the Horseshoe Casino and you are very lucky at the black jack table – winning $25,000! You are trying to decide whether you should spend the money now or wait to spend it in 15 years. The interest rate is 3%.

a. Complete the table below to help you make your decision.

b. Graph this budget constraint

c. Would you have more or less incentive to consume in the future if the interest rate went to 6%? Why?

3. Jessica can write 2 novels or 6 songs in one year.

Brett can write 1 novel or 4 songs in a year’s time.

a. Who has the absolute advantage in novels? Who has the absolute advantage in songs?

b. Calculate the opportunity cost per unit of each good for each person to demonstrate who has the comparative advantage in novels and who has the comparative advantage in songs.

4. Identifying Comparative Advantage:

The table below represents the cost of production in Japan and Malaysia for the production of rubber and steel.

a. Productivity:

Calculate the amount of rubber and steel each worker can produce in Japan.

Calculate the amount of rubber and steel each worker can produce in Malaysia.

b. Which country has the absolute advantage in the production of rubber and which country has the absolute advantage in the production of rubber?

c. Assume the each country has 40 employees who can devote their time to either the production of rubber or the production of steel. Calculate the production options for Japan and draw the PPF in the space provided on the next page. Clearly label your graph.

Draw the PPF for Japan in the space below:

d. Assume the each country has 40 employees who can devote their time to either the production of rubber or the production of steel. Calculate the production options for Malaysia and draw the PPF in the space provided on the next page. Clearly label your graph.

Draw the PPF for Malaysia in the space below:

e. Calculate the opportunity cost per unit of each good for each country to demonstrate who has the comparative advantage in rubber and who has the comparative advantage in steel.

f. Fill in the table below based on the following information.

Row 1: Assume the countries are self-sufficient and that they are both going to devote half of their employees to the production of each good.

Row 2: Assume that Japan is going to shift 4 employees from producing steel and allow them to produce rubber instead. Also, Malaysia has decided to shift 10 employees from the production of rubber to allow them to produce steel. Show the gain or loss to each country for each good in row 2.

Row 3: Show production for each country and in total after the shift in production.

g. Based on the information in the table above, can either of these countries benefit from trade? Why or why not? You must explain your answer in order to get credit.

Quantity of

Gasoline

(tankful)

$ Spent on

Gasoline

Quantity

of

Pizza

$ Spent on

Pizza

0

2

4

6

8

10

Consume in

the Present

Save in

the Present

Consume in

the Future

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

JapanMalaysia

ProductionAmount of LaborAmount of Labor

500 tons of Rubber2 workers5 workers

500 tons of Steel1 worker2 workers

RubberSteelRubberSteelRubberSteel

1Self Sufficient

2Gain/Loss

3Production after Specialization

JapanMalaysiaTotal

Quantity of

Gasoline

(tankful)

$ Spent on

Gasoline

Quantity

of

Pizza

$ Spent on

Pizza

0

2

4

6

8

10

Quantity of

Gasoline

(tankful)

$ Spent on

Gasoline

Quantity

of

Pizza

$ Spent on

Pizza

0

2

4

6

8

Applied Sciences

Architecture and Design

Biology

Business & Finance

Chemistry

Computer Science

Geography

Geology

Education

Engineering

English

Environmental science

Spanish

Government

History

Human Resource Management

Information Systems

Law

Literature

Mathematics

Nursing

Physics

Political Science

Psychology

Reading

Science

Social Science

Home

Blog

Archive

Contact

google+twitterfacebook

Copyright © 2019 HomeworkMarket.com