Assignment 1
Your assignment is to write a short (2-3 page, double-spaced, typed) essay. Identify at least one important entrepreneur that you would consider an "entrepreneurial legend" and state why you consider the person to be (or have been) exemplary. You must also identify at least one economic decision made by this entrepreneur that was significant in their success and provide a detailed example of that decision. Your reason for selecting the person should include examples of managerial economics and should include other criteria such as social responsibility and ethics.
Assignment 2
Your assignment is to write a short (2-3 page, double-spaced, typed) essay identifying and describing two markets of your choosing; the first characterized by an elastic demand and the second one by an inelastic demand. Indicate why your choices have the relative elasticities they do. Hint: Use the determinants of elasticity to sort why some products are elastic and others are inelastic.
- Market One: What are some of the goods you purchase in your life for which your demand is most elastic? Why?
- Market Two: What are some of the goods you purchase in your life for which your demand is highly inelastic? Why?
Assignment 3
Write a short (2-3 page, double-spaced, typed) essay identifying and describing the conditions you observed for a business in Monopolistic Competition or a Differentiated Oligopoly who differentiates their product. Your paper should also provide brief market analysis including the state of the market before and after the differentiation, as well as the observed changes that resulted. Specifically, the following questions should be addressed:
- What type of market structure was the product or service in when the differentiation occurred?
- What is the differentiation? Describe specifically what the differentiation was and tell us what that means for rational business price and production decisions.
- What was the observed change in the equilibrium price and quantity in the market, as well as the company?
- Evaluate the result of the observed change from perspectives of efficiency and equity drawing upon price/cost margins for your explanation.
- Evaluate whether the decision to differentiate the product was a good move for that business at that time.
- Evaluate whether the decision to differentiate the product was a good economic decision for that business at that time. That is, were economic or normal profits realized as a result?
Assignment 4
Write a short (2-3 page, double-spaced, typed) essay identifying and describing the current state of the health care industry using the tools we have studied this semester. You will find an overview of the economics of health care in chapter 30 and a discussion of Medicare in Chapter 5. Also, a list of pros and cons related to this industry along with a short explanation of health insurance and how it relates to the debate in the Content area. You are asked to develop your own solution to this social issue. Your answer in terms of what you think is the socially optimal solution versus the economic least cost solution, but you must understand and explain the economic costs of your decision.