INTRO Economics

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Most automobile drivers probably exceed the legal speed limits somewhat when they think they can get away with it. Does this imply they would vote for higher speed limits if given a chance?
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WEEK 6

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

5. Use an average of 350 – 500 words to answer each of the prompts below (1,400 to 2,000 words total)

Assignment:

1. Most automobile drivers probably exceed the legal speed limits somewhat when they think they can get away with it. Does this imply they would vote for higher speed limits if given a chance?

2. Each of the 10 families on a suburban block is likely to have its own power lawn mower. Why don’t families more often share a single lawn mower? Try to enumerate the principal transaction costs that stand in the way of such a cooperative arrangement.

3. Do the relative salaries of humanities professors and football coaches at major state universities reflect the relative value of football and humanities? Do they reflect the number of years that professors and coaches must spend acquiring an education? The number of hours they work? The difficulty or unpleasantness of their work? Why do the football coaches usually receive salaries that are so much higher, often even higher than the university president?

4. Should high school history and English teachers be paid as much as science and math teachers?

A. Suppose a school district pays all high school teachers with the same years of experience the same salary, regardless of teaching field, and that this produces a surplus of history and English teachers, and a shortage of science and math teachers. Would this create a case for salary differentials?

B. How could the problem of concurrent surplus and shortage be solved without paying science and math teachers more than history and English teachers?

C. Why has the policy of identical wages in fact produced shortages of science and math teachers, along with surpluses of history and English teachers in many school districts? What factors have contributed on the demand side? On the supply side?

WEEK 7

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

5. Use an average of 350 – 500 words to answer each of the prompts below (1,400 to 2,000 words total)

Assignment:

1. Does a junk dealer contribute to GDP? What about a fine-antique dealer? How? Why?

2. During the most recent recession—the so-called Great Recession—the United States government increased the amount of time an individual was eligible for unemployment benefits from a maximum of 26 weeks to a maximum of 99 weeks. How is this likely to change the incentives facing the unemployed? (To be eligible for unemployment benefits, one must be “looking for work” and not have refused “suitable work”) What might this do to the unemployment rate measured in the economy in general?

3. Today, most of our monetary transactions are done with plastic or via bank apps, all of which are easily tracked. Even craft vendors at small town festivals use apps on their smart phones and tablets to accept cashless payments. Some argue that actual bills and coins are no longer necessary in today’s world except in cases where illegal goods and services are being exchanged. Do you agree or disagree with this? Could our society be cashless? How could you give your niece $25 for her birthday? What behaviors would have to change for that to occur? Who would resist, and why? Who would benefit? What would the risks and/or rewards be of be cashless?

4. Adam Smith complained in The Wealth of Nations that many people confused money with wealth. Is this accurate?

A. Doesn’t a person’s wealth increase when he or she acquires more money?

B. If any one person’s wealth increases when he or she acquires more money, doesn’t it follow logically that more money for everyone means more wealth for everyone?

C. What would happen if the government of India tackled the problem of poverty by printing more rupees and distributing them generously to the poorest people in the country?

WEEK 8

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

5. Use an average of 350 – 500 words to answer each of the prompts below (1,400 to 2,000 words total)

Assignment:

1. Suppose every member of Congress genuinely believes that government expenditures are excessive and ought to be reduced by at least 10 percent. Why would this not be sufficient to assure a 10 percent reduction?

2. Why do so many members of Congress believe that the federal government should subsidize local projects, such as improvements in bus or subway systems in major cities?

A. Who would benefit from construction of a subway system in a large city?

B. Can you think of a public-interest argument for having taxpayers across the country pay for a local subway system?

C. If you knew that your taxes were going to go up $10 a year in order to finance a subway in some distant city, would you write a letter of protest to your legislator?

D. If your city were being considered for a large federal grant to subsidize an improvement in the local public transportation system, would you expect your local government officials to go to Washington and lobby actively for it? Would you expect your congressional representatives to support it? Would you form a more favorable opinion of local officials and congressional representatives if your city proved successful in its grant application?

3. Should countries with vast natural resources be required to help those with little-to-no natural resources? For example, oil-rich Qatar, which provides free health care to all its natural citizens, be required by law to provide health care to all of the citizens of Tanzania because its government doesn’t have the same type of natural resources? Explain your answer.

4. How important is economic growth? Does it really make people better off in the long run? Or, as the question is sometimes misleadingly put, “Can money buy happiness?”

A. Our desires and satisfactions are often relative not only to what others have but also to what we ourselves have become accustomed to. A small amount of tasteless food can be the source of immense satisfaction to a very hungry person. Is the marginal satisfaction gained by upgrading from codfish to jumbo prawns or from processed cheese to brie as great as the marginal satisfaction in going from one cup of rice per day to two? The marginal cost of the last improvement is surely far less.

B. Advocates of zero economic growth are principally concerned about the deleterious effects of economic growth on the environment. Does economic growth necessarily lower the quality of the environment?

C. The behavior of almost everyone indicates that people believe they will be better off if they earn a larger income, because a larger income means the ability to acquire more of what they want almost, but not quite, without regard to what it is that they want. But to what extent is this desire for more relative to what others have? If everyone else in the society is also acquiring more, how much satisfaction will I obtain from getting more? Will the marginal benefit exceed the marginal cost?

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