Case Study: Supply and Demand

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Question Description

In this assignment, we are going to analyze the changes in market demand and market supply for a commodity (a good or a service). In addition, we will also analyze how the changes in demand and supply affected the market price and production of this commodity. To do so, we will are going to address the key factors (determinants) that have caused the shift in demand and/or the shift in supply. The goal here is to provide an objective analysis of the forces that have caused this change in order to better understand the behavior of the market and to determine the potential growth or decline for this commodity. Some of the commodities that have experienced a drastic change (an increase or a decrease) in supply and/or demand in recent years are organic foods, cage-free eggs, social media, higher education, online education, healthcare services, online banking, online shopping, DVD players, digital cameras, fidget spinners, health clubs, bottled water, landlines, Cash for Gold, and fried food. You could use one of these commodities for your study or choose one you are familiar with or prefer.

To start, select a commodity that you wish to analyze to determine changes in its market demand, market supply, equilibrium quantity (output), and equilibrium price.

Your research should be structured with consistent and clear thoughts. It should be supported by facts and data, and you must base your results on these facts. Your conclusions should be thorough and based on your findings and understanding of supply and demand determinants.

Writing Style and Page Number Requirements

Font Type: Times New Roman or Arial

Font Size: 12

Spacing: Double

Number of Pages: Four to six pages, along with a separate Title page and a separate References page

Outside Sources

Using External Sources: When you use information, facts, or data from external source (articles, news, facts, etc.) in your case study, you must properly cite the sources you obtain the information from using the APA format. A link to APA writing style resources is provided at the bottom of this page.

Structure and Requirements

  • Title Page
    • Title of the paper
    • Name of the author
    • E-mail address of the author
    • Class name
    • Professor’s name
    • Date
  • Introduction

    Describe your commodity and the market that commodity targets. Also, state when, how, and why it became popular or less popular. In addition, state the factors (demand determinants and supply determinants) that have caused its supply and demand to change and how those changes affected its price. Basically, why has demand and supply for that commodity changed?

  • Data

    Obtain data from at least three credible sources (not Wikipedia) to provide facts about the changes in demand and supply.

    Use tables, graphs, and figures to support your argument. You could use figures that show the changes in demand and supply, as well as changes in the market price for the commodity.

  • Analysis

    Use the findings from your data section to fully explain the growth or decline pattern of the supply and demand. Is the commodity growing or is it declining, and why? If it is growing, state the factors that led to its growth. If it is declining, state the factors that led to its decline.

  • Conclusion

    Provide your own final thoughts, opinions, and understanding of the outcome. Do you believe this commodity is profitable for its producers? Or should they provide something different instead? Should they modify the commodity? Moreover, if you were to produce this commodity, what would you do to increase your revenue?

  • Reference List

    Use at least three professional sources to support your argument. The references need to be in APA format. To learn more about APA format, click on the link below.

Production and Costs

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Question Description

For Module 1, you did research on consumer demand and pricing for your business idea. Continue with the same business idea that you wrote about for Module 1, but now look at the cost side of your business.

Do some research on various potential start-up expenses for your business based on research on wages, office space rental rates, etc., in your home town. More specifically, write a three-page paper answering the following questions:

  1. What do you think the main expenses will be for your business? Make sure to discuss labor, rent, equipment, and any other major expense you can think of.
  2. Do some research on the internet or from your own personal contacts to get a ballpark estimate of how much the specific expenses are in your home town for the items that you listed in your answer to Question 1 above. You can use Craig’s List or similar webpages to get an idea about wages for different positions that you may need to hire for, and there are many webpages that have advertisements for renting commercial property in different parts of the country.
  3. Finally, break down your expenses into fixed plus variable costs. Make sure to cite two of the required background readings as justification for your classifications of your different expenses into the fixed and variable cost categories.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Answer the assignment questions directly.

  • Stay focused on the precise assignment questions. Do not go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
  • Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you find articles on the Internet, make sure they are from a credible source.
  • Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 11- 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the “Writing Style Guide,” which is found under “My Resources” in the TLC Portal.

Required Reading

To start off this module, watch the following videos which will give you an introduction to some of the main concepts for this module. Pay special attention to the discussion about fixed versus variable costs and accounting versus economic profit:

Clifford, J., & Hill. J. (2016). Revenues, profits, and price. CrashCourse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWImfFax8Ew

The following book will give you a relatively simple introduction to the key concepts covered in the module. In addition to the concepts, make sure to go carefully through the numerical examples. Read Chapter 7 of the following book (use the “Contents” tab to navigate though Sections 7.1, 7.2., and 7.3):

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/Images/1938168240.png

Taylor, T. (2014) Principles of Microeconomics. OpenStax College. http://cnx.org/contents/6i8iXmBj@11.2:75YRzeYw@8/Introduction-to-Cost-and-Indus

Now go to this slightly more advanced book chapter that will cover the concepts from this module from the point of view of a business manager. Pay special attention to the tables and numerical examples:

http://www.businessexpertpress.com/files/imagecache/bep-title-cover-lg/images/covers/9781606495124_0.jpgMarburger, D. R., & Peterson, R. (2013). Chapter 4: What your cost accountant can’t measure: The economic theory of production and costs. Economic Decision Making Using Cost Data: A Manager’s Guide. New York, NY: Business Expert Press. [EBSCO eBook Collection. Note: to find the book enter only the title of the book in the library search engine]

Respond to classmate’s answers

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Question Description

Make sure to respond to each of them. Try to include any relevant microeconomic concepts or thinking as derived from your readings. Thank you!!

#1: Global coffee and competition.
Starbucks knows the market. This allows Starbucks to maintain a comparative advantage in China, although competitors have their own advantages, Starbucks easily adapts and markets products and services effectively. The stores are placed in highly trafficked areas of wealth and high demand, leading to large crowds of groups gathering in this hangout spot between work and home. Starbucks strategically alters menu items and store layouts according to geographical store location. Although sales had a 2-percent drop in recent years due to failure to adopt local technologies such as delivery, they drastically improved delivery technologies and are now excelling among their strong competitor, Luckin. This is all thanks to their ability to adapt and innovate to become uniform with whatever demographic they are trying to appeal to, while still being able to standout with high quality products and service.

#2: How high can Tariffs rise?
Initially, I don’t think that this economic initiative will show success. As stated in the article, the 25% increase would begin to cost the average household $770 more annually. This is because, China cannot simply afford to take on increased tariffs on their exports unless they increase their selling price promptly. As stated in the article, “You can’t have a 25% increase and not have an effect on retail prices,” said Stephen Kellogg. I believe the fundamental goal that may be reached is spending less money to support an economy in a different country, and eventually turning inward and beginning to manufacturing more products locally. America is severely dependent on the manufacturers stationed in China, most household items that surround you were imported from China. America is supporting their economy which is costing us now. The raised tariffs essentially is passing on costs to consumers. Another contributor also added, “The desire to not be dependent on China is here to stay,” said Thomas Baert, a CFL co-owner. I believe Donald Trump’s goal here is for Americans to begin shopping locally and supporting America’s own economy. Slowly but surely, the increase of tariffs on Chinese imports may very well achieve this.

#3: France and Free Markets!
Free market provides the competition between companies and companies. It leads to the diverse options for consumer to shop with multiply choices. While EU free market is more popular and development, US free market is shrunk and undeveloped. No wonder why US cellphone plans or airfares is less expensive than EU cost for 2 decades. US began to create more competition in their market in a good sign. However, it is not an optimistic way to go. Based on the article, Democrats and Republicans still have the viewpoint of anti- monopoly power. I think U.S somehow is prefer “merger” more than “ competition”. Since, Antitrust doctrine is still surround. Justice Department in charge of controlling cellphone business and it is difficult to down cellphone plan cost. In contrast, French’s billionaire supports great offer for cellphone lines with limited data in Free Market. In my viewpoint, it’s a struggling way for U.S. in creating competition when U.S still having a limited market.

paraphrasing

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Question Description

Completeparaphrasing of answers with changing of sentence structure

Assignment Questions

Q. 1. During the Second World War, Germany’s factories were decimated. It also suffered many human casualties, both soldiers and civilians. How did the war affect Germany’s production possibilities curve?

Q. 2. What assumptions about the economy must be true for the invisible hand to work? To what extent are those assumptions valid in the real world?

Q. 3. Are differences in geography behind the differences in absolute advantages?

Answer: –

– Q.1: During World War II, most of the resources in Germany were shifted from consumer production into military production in order to fulfill the needs of the war. In addition, millions of German Men, which represented a huge proportion of German human capital, were killed in the war. Moreover, many other resources, especially the physical capital, were damaged due to the unstoppable attacks from the Allied Forces, which resulted in a huge collapse in many industries. Adding all these factors together, we can conclude that Germany lost enormous amounts of resources, which can be represented by a big shift inwards for Germany’s production possibilities curve.

– Q.2: The market is driven by two main powers which comprise the idea of the invisible hand.
The first power is self-interest which drives the consumers, and the second one is competition which drives businesses. Both self-interest and competition act as an invisible hand in the market, and work on pushing both parties to obtain as much gains as they could.

If we took a deeper look at our real world, we would notice how true and valid the idea of invisible hand is. Self-interest makes the consumer search for the best choice that he could get by checking all the available alternatives for his desired product among the producers.
Competition, on the other hand, drives the companies to produce their goods at the highest possible quality and cut their prices down in order to maximize their profits, which would eventually benefit the consumers as well.

– Q.3: The absolute advantage is the country’s or firm’s ability to produce greater amounts of goods and services than others by using the same amount of resources. Geography plays a key role in the firm’s or country’s absolute advantage in producing a particular good. For Example, Switherland has no maritime outlets, which is a big challenge to that country when it comes to shipping and exporting its goods. As a result, it gathered all available resources that it has and channeled it towards light industries, such as producing fancy watches. Over the last few decades, Switherland has developed an absolute advantage in producing watches, which would easier for Switherland to use airplanes in order to transport this product.

PAD 505 Strayer Week 2 Policy Brief

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Question Description

Assignment 1: Policy Brief

Due Week 2 and worth 180 points

The Federal Budget and how it gets made is a complex and lengthy process that has important implications for Federal and State agencies. Obviously, funding for each agency is going to affect that agency’s budget. Likewise, federal funding for social programs, education, and other programs such as disaster relief affects how states fund those programs in their own budgets. Using the e-Activity from Week 1, “2017 America First – A Blueprint to Make America Great Again”, compare the federal budget with the budget of one of the departments listed below and note how they are interconnected.

  • “Department of Energy”
  • “Department of Commerce”
  • “Department of Defense”
  • “Department of Education”
  • “Department of Homeland Security”
  • “Social Security Administration”

In a two- to three-page paper (not including cover and reference page), address the following:

  1. Summarize the mission and budget of the department you selected.
  2. Does the proposed budget of the department you chose include policy actions to reduce the deficit in the near future?
  3. Does the proposed budget put the government on a path to reduce the federal debt within a decade to a sustainable percentage of GDP?
  4. Does the proposed budget align revenues and spending closely over the long term?
  5. Does the proposed budget restrain major entitlement programs or introduce changes in spending and tax policies that will have cumulative beneficial fiscal effects over time?

Your assignment must follow these requirements:

  • Include a short introduction and use the questions as section headers.
  • Please include at least three references, not including the president’s budget and the budget of the department of your choice (peer-reviewed not required, as most of your sources will be within the last one to three years).
  • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

  • Analyze the basic skills and tools needed for budgeting for public sector agencies and / or departments.
  • Evaluate a budgeting system at any governmental level.
  • Analyze the scope and sequence of budgeting in terms of sources of revenues, purpose of government expenditures, budget cycles, budget preparation, and debt administration.
  • Analyze the steps required for budgeting, such as preparing a budget, making a financial plan, conducting a cost-benefit analysis, and making budget decisions.
  • Use technology and information resources to research issues in public budgeting and finance.
  • Write clearly and concisely about public budgeting and finance using proper writing mechanics.

Click here to view the grading rubric.

Economics Research Paper Proposal

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Question Description

I want a proposal about gender disparities, and it needs to be more specific, such as gender disparities in working career.

How to find resource:

The purpose of this handout is to show you how to

  • search for articles in the database EconLit
  • find cited references in Social Sciences Citation Index
  • finding and assessing information on the web

Before we tackle the topics above here is some background information.

A working paper or discussion paper is a paper that is in progress. The author is still working on it and is posting it on the web in order to inform the community of his current work and to solicit feedback from other scholars. When posted, it has not yet been published by a journal although it may have been submitted to a journal for consideration. A reference to a published article will not be described as a working paper or discussion paper and it will have the name and date of the journal clearly listed in the citation.Please note that just posting a paper on the web does not constitute publication-anybody can do it. Scholarly publication means that the paper has successfully undergone a preliminary screening by a journal editor who may have rejected the paper for any number of reasons (poorly written, paper topic is inappropriate given the journal’s readership, fails to use standard methods for research investigation, no evidently new propositions, data set is parochial and of limited interest to the journal’s readership), but who requests several scholars experienced in the field to critically review the paper and to offer an opinion as to its suitability for publication. A critical peer review scrutinizes the reported research to assess whether or not the research passes tests that would include, but would not be limited to the following: (1) that its contents are correct, (2) that it contributes some new knowledge, and (3) that it assures some degree of originality and validity of the paper’s reported research results. Peer review means that several other scholars with experience rigorously investigating similar questions as posed in the submitted paper are asked to read and comment on the paper by the editor of a scholarly journal. The scholars selected by editors to review and offer an opinion as to the submitted paper’s suitability for publication are called referees. Their (referees’) reports are passed along to the authors of the submitted paper.This does not mean that you cannot cite a working paper or discussion paper-quite the contrary: such papers usually contain the most recent information available and have often been through a certain informal degree of refereeing by the author/s.

Essay 2 Macroeconomics

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Question Description

In your own words, define and describe:

  • Capitalism 150 words, advantages/disadvantages
  • Socialism 150 words, advantages/disadvantages

Note: Make sure to leave 1 blank line between each answer.

Directions:

  • Use Times New Roman, 12pt font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins.
  • Do not repeat the questions in your submission; just provided responses.
  • Provide three (3) references in APA format.
  • Use your own wording.
  • Must be submitted as a word document (doc, docx) — Canvas will not accept other filetypes.
  • Must be independently researched.
  • Must be completely free of grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors.
  • One point will be deducted for each violation (please take it seriously).
  • Essays will be checked for plagiarism using Turnitin.com’s plagiarism framework. You will be able to see the percentage of your essay that has been matched to other sources on the web and make the necessary adjustments to resubmit before the due date. Keep this percentage as low as possible!

Essay Rubric

Essay Rubric
Criteria Ratings Pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeContent
2.0 pts

Excellent

All questions have been answered thoroughly and met the word count criteria

 1.0 pts

Satisfactory

All questions have been answered but have less than the word count minimum criteria

 0.0 pts

Unsatisfactory

One or more questions were not answered and have less than word count minimum criteria

2.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeReferences
1.0 pts

Excellent

Provided three (3) references formatted properly

 0.5 pts

Satisfactory

Provided less than 3 references or references are not formatted properly

 0.0 pts

Unsatisfactory

Provided less than 3 references and the references are not formatted properly

1.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeOriginality
1.0 pts

Excellent

The essay is an original work and all works by other authors are cited

 0.5 pts

Satisfactory

The essay is an original work and most works by other authors are cited

 0.0 pts

Unsatisfactory

The essay has numerous instances of works by other authors who were not cited

1.0 pts

Total Points: 4.0

sources and citations assignment

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Question Description

Gears- Part 1, Sources and Citations Assignment

  1. SOURCES AND CITATION ASSIGNMENT

Purpose- To explain primary sources, secondary sources and tertiary sources.

1A. Discuss the relevance and usefulness of each of these types of sources to economics research.

1B. From the list of sources below

  1. Identify 7 sources in total – 3 primary, 3 secondary, and 1 tertiary source.
  2. Explain why each source is the type that it is and give a brief summary of what the source is about, ensure that your summary shows your understanding of the source.
  • In 7 sentences, one for each identified source, show how you will cite each source as an in-text-citation in a report and present a list of works cited page (You must use MLA formatting).

NOTE: The format to answer this question is such that you identify a source (primary/secondary/tertiary), then explain why it is the type and give its summary, finally give a sample in-text citation of the source. Then move to the second source till you have identified all seven sources required.

Sources

  1. Card, David, and Alan B. Krueger. 1994. “Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.” American Economic Review. Vol. 84, No. 5 (December), pp. 772-93
  2. Government data on minimum wage, Current Population Survey (CPS) https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html (Links to an external site.)
  3. Minimum wage laws in the US. https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm (Links to an external site.)
  4. Rattenhuber, Pia. “Building the Minimum Wage: The Distributional Impact of Germany’s First Sectoral Minimum Wage on Wages and Hours across Different Wage Bargaining Regimes.” Empirical Economics, vol. 46, no. 4, June 2014, pp. 1429–1446.
  5. Card, David. 1992. “Do Minimum Wages Reduce Employment? A Case Study of California, 1987-1989.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Vol. 46, No. 1 (October), pp. 38-54.
  6. Currie, Janet, and Bruce Fallick. 1996. “The Minimum Wage and the Employment of Youth: Evidence from the NLSY.” Journal of Human Resources. Vol. 31, No. 2 (Spring), pp. 404-28.
  7. Fiscal Policy Institute. 2004. State Minimum Wages and Employment in Small Businesses. New York: Fiscal Policy Institute.
  8. Neumark, David, and William Wascher. 1995a. “Minimum Wage Effects on Employment and School Enrollment.” Journal of Business and Economics Statistics. Vol. 13, No. 2 (April), pp. 199-206.
  9. Skedinger, Per. 2006. “Minimum Wages and Employment in Swedish Hotels and Restaurants.” Labour Economics, Vol. 13, No. 2 (April), pp. 259-90.
  10. Waltman, Jerold L. Minimum Wage Policy in Great Britain and the United States. Algora Pub, 2008.
  11. Henderson, David R. “Raising the Minimum Wage Would Not Reduce Illegal Immigration.” The Minimum Wage, edited by Noah Berlatsky, Greenhaven Press, 2012.

Robots are taking our jobs

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Question Description

✅ Instructions:

Research and find answers the following questions by using articles from current or past events from any major publication (electronic or print edition) to be your research references. Articles that appear in economic journals or business magazines such as The Economist are good resources. In addition, articles that appear in blogs or newspapers are good sources for further research. Several links to good references are available under the Content and the Announcement section on the class website as well as a sample and guildlines for your research.

The objective of the paper is to summarize, analyze, critique, support (or question) the articles, and relate the articles to your research questions. The paper must show an analysis of a real world situation using economics concepts, framework, and theories to suggest such as what the problems are, why there are the problems, how to fix the problems, what the pros and cons of each solution are, and how it will affect each group of people.

    • Remember: Your assignment is to write a research paper, NOT a dictionary or a section of a textbook or a newspaper article or a Wikipedia. Use economics theories and concepts to analyze real world economic problems.
    • Each paper must have a minimum of 750 words but should not over 1,200 words excluding title, quotes, and references. A paper between 700-749 words will receive a maximum of a “C+” or lower. A paper below 700 words will receive a maximum of a “C” or lower depending on a quality of a paper.
    • Submit in Doc, Docx, or RTF format only. Any other format will not be graded.

    ______________________________________________________________

✅ Research topic and Questions✅

Robots are taking our jobs

Applied Topics: Price control, technology advancement and

unemployment

Research Questions:

1. Robots and new technology are taking away jobs from human. In 2008-2010

Our government has bailed out U.S. automakers to save millions of jobs, not

just factory workers but also dealership related jobs and auto repair related

jobs. Should our governments intervene or stop robots and new technology

taking jobs away from us? Should governments offer other alternatives to those

who will lose job?

2. Minimum wage is going up. Fast food chains are starting using machine

(kiosk) to take order instead of minimum wage workers? Should we stop

technology from progressing? What is the overall economic impact to the

economy?

___________________________________________________

Possible articles to answer the research questions (don’t forget to find more

articles)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/self-driving-trucks…

https://app.box.com/s/9gr9yr81lbjqkgs9ybnilw2u7ks4…

https://app.box.com/s/wjgwlpnf2qopbdhgokoq7r9p1568…

https://app.box.com/s/xqj4i4ndlgpvv8ec8hehwvnkifbi…

https://app.box.com/s/pabr6mnccsyox6wygt29uqorvem4…

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-27/meet-sam…

Writing help

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Question Description

Reading: David H. Autor, “Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the ‘other 99 percent,’” Science, 23 May 2014, 843-851.

Proposition #1: “More people are falling behind today because they’re lazy. In the U.S. anyone willing to work can earn a decent living. The income distribution is the same as the effort distribution. People who work hard earn a good living. Lazy people stay poor. The income distribution has been skewing because of a growing culture of dependency. It used to be shameful to accept handouts from the government, but now it’s perfectly acceptable. So, more people opt out of the labor force and sit around collecting handouts from the rest of us. Of course, their incomes are going to be lower than those in the top tiers.” Proposition #2: “The incomes of the rich and poor have been growing farther apart due to purposeful policy decisions that have favored the rich at the expense of the poor. Starting with Ronald Reagan’s financial deregulation, and continuing with successive Republican attacks on New Deal and Great Society social programs to finance tax cuts for their Wall Street cronies, government policy in this country has systematically channeled the rewards of our immensely productive economy towards the rich and away from the poor. America needs to open the gateway to prosperity for all through fair tax policies, decent minimum wages, better public schools, aid to low-income college students, and a universal health care system.” Assess the degree to which each of those propositions is consistent with David H. Autor’s wellresearched explanation of the same phenomenon. That is, for each of the propositions tell me whether or not Autor would agree that the underlying factor described in the proposition is the major cause of the pattern of income inequality since the 1970s. (2 paragraphs) 1) Begin with a topic sentence that concisely states your judgment about how consistent the two propositions are with Autor’s analysis, and complete that paragraph with a summary of Autor’s explanation. Be sure to mention some of the factors Autor identifies as having contributed to an increase in the demand for highly-educated workers and a decrease in the demand for lesseducated workers. 2) In your second paragraph, discuss the degree to which the two propositions are consistent with Autor’s analysis. Is one more consistent than the other?