1. In his book, Rewarding Work: How to Restore Participating and Self-Support to Free Enterprise (Harvard University Press, 197), economist Edmund Phelps offers this plan to help the working poor: apply tax credits for "qualified employers" or hire disadvantaged people for "eligible jobs." Evaluate this plan in terms of market incentives, one of the ten principles of economics, to work and current welfare programs. Is the Phelps' plan an improvement over current government policies? Discuss.

2. The availability of investment capital is critical for a market economy to grow. Explain how this investment capital is transformed into fixed capital goods, new technology, and cost reduction using new methods of production. Also, explain how interest rates impact the availability of investment capital.

3. Your text, on page 629, lists three arguments for trade restrictions. Since economists do not favor trade restrictions, and this is a course in Managerial Economics, make the case as an economist against trade restrictions for these three items. Are there any arguments for trade restrictions that most economists would support? Discuss.

4. Who was responsible for the global financial crisis of 2007-2009? Free-Market capitalism, government intervention, or a combination of both? Identify the causes of the crisis, the steps the private and public sector took to resolve it, and what leaders should do to keep it from happening again. Remember, banks are profit making firms who supply capital to suppliers of goods and services.