11 Topics in Mathematics and Economics (Essay Sample)

Please choose 11 topics from the 26 (except 1 & 2) on the handout and write a paragraph or two about each one. Make sure you answer all questions under each topic.

ECON 152 – Microeconomics Internet Assignments

There are 26 assignments listed below ….select thirteen (13) for this course.

Farm commodity prices—Supply and demand in action The U.S. Department of Agriculture, www.nass.usda.gov, publishes charts on the prices of farm products. Go to the USDA home page and select Charts and Maps and then Agricultural Prices (under Economics). Choose three farm products and determine whether their prices (as measured by "prices received") have generally increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the past three years. In which of the three cases, if any, do you think that supply has increased more rapidly than demand? In which of the three cases, if any, do you think that demand has increased more rapidly than supply? Explain your reasoning.

Changes in demand—Baby diapers and retirement villages Other things equal, an increase in the number of buyers for a product or service will increase -demand. Baby diapers and retirement villages are two -products designed for different population groups. The U.S. Census Bureau Web site, http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/index.html, shows population projections for the United States. View the population projections for the United States for the next few years (click National, National Population Projections, Summary Tables, Table 2). Which group is growing faster, children under the age of five or senior adults (65 and older)? What products might see an increase in demand because of these population changes?

The price of gold—Today, yesterday, and throughout the year Visit www.goldprices.com and use the chart to find the very latest price of gold. Compare that price to the price at the beginning of the day. Next, select "1 year" at the bottom of the chart. What was the highest price during the last 12 months? The lowest price? Assume the price fluctuations observed resulted exclusively from changes in demand. Would the observed price changes have been greater or less if the gold supply had been elastic rather than inelastic? Explain.

Price, cross, and income elasticities—How do they relate to alcohol and cigarettes? Go to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Web site, www.nber.org, and select New Working Papers. In the Google search space, type "alcohol." Use the titles and summaries of the papers to answer the following questions relating to elasticity: (a) Do the mentally ill have perfectly inelastic demands for cigarettes and alcohol? (b) Does alcohol consumption increase in bad times? (c) What is the effect of cigarette taxes (and smuggling) on the consumption of alcohol? What does that imply about the cross elasticity of demand between the two? (d) Is binge drinking among college students sensitive to the price of alcohol?

The ESPN SportsZone—To fee or not to fee?
The ESPN cable TV network runs a major sports information site at www.espn.com. Most of the content is free, but ESPN has a premium membership (see its "Insider") available for a monthly or an annual fee. Similar, but fee-free, sports content can be found at the Web sites of CNN Sports Illustrated, sportsillustrated.cnn.com, and CBS Sports Line, www.cbssports.com. Since ESPN has put a price tag on some of its sports content, it implies that the utility of a premium membership cannot be found at a no-fee site and is therefore worth the price. Is this the case? Use the utility-maximization rule to justify your subscribing or not subscribing to the premium membership.

Here is $500—Go spend it at Walmart Assume that you and several classmates each receives a $500 credit voucher (good for today only) from Walmart Online. Go to www.walmart.com and select $500 worth of merchandise. Use Add to Cart to keep a running total and use Review Cart to print your final selection. Compare your list with your classmates' lists. What explains the differences? Would you have purchased your items if you had received $500 in cash to be spent whenever and wherever you pleased?

The world's 10 largest firms—What are their sources of economies of scale? Find the Forbes 2000 list of the world's largest firms at www.forbes.com/lists. From the top 10 list, select three firms from three different industries and discuss the likely sources of the economies of scale that underlie their large size.

Corporate annual reports—Identify fixed and variable costs Use Google's search engine at www.google.com to locate the home page of a company of your choice. Find and review the company's income statement in its annual report and classify the nonrevenue items as either fixed or variable costs. Are all costs clearly identifiable as either fixed or variable? What item would be considered accounting profit? Would economic profit be higher or lower than this accounting profit?

You are a pure competitor—What was your revenue yesterday? Suppose that you operate a purely competitive firm that buys and sells foreign currencies. Also suppose that yesterday your business activity consisted of buying 100,000 Swiss francs at the market exchange rate and selling them to U.S. travelers to Switzerland for a 3 percent commission. Go to the Federal Reserve Web site at www.federalreserve.gov and select, in order, Economic Research and Data Download Program, and Foreign Exchange Rates. What was your total revenue in dollars yesterday (be sure to include your commission)? Why would your profit for the day be considerably less than this total revenue?

Is farming perfectly competitive? Consider whether the US farming industry is perfectly competitive. Go to the US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service website (http://www.ers.usda.gov/Emphases/Competitive/), click "Farm Income," and consider the information in the articles on family farms. Does farming in the US have the characteristics of perfect competition?

Is Microsoft a monopoly—What did the courts conclude? In 2002 a U.S. court of appeals imposed remedies relating to a lower court's findings that Microsoft had a monopoly in personal computer (PC) operating systems and had maintained its monopoly through illegal actions. At the U.S. Justice Department's Web site, www.usdoj.gov, use the DOJ Agencies listing to find Antitrust Division and then Antitrust Case Filings. Locate U.S. v. Microsoft and select District Court filings and then Court's Findings of Fact (11/5/99). On what basis did the court conclude that Microsoft was a monopoly (see Market Share)? What was Microsoft's market share of Intel-compatible PC operating systems? Of all operating systems, including those of Apple computers? What -evidence did the court cite in claiming that Microsoft charged above-competitive prices (see Microsoft's Pricing Behavior)?

Getting to know your state regulatory commission Go to www.yahoo.com or some other standard search engine and type "public utility commissions" in the search box. Find the utilities commission for the state where you reside (or another state if you cannot find the Web site for your state commission). What industries does the state commission regulate? How many specific firms are registered or regulated? List the names of 10 such specific firms. Why are these and the other firms regulated?

Bookselling on the internet—How do sellers differentiate identical books? Use a search engine to find the current listings on the New York Times best-seller lists. Choose one hardbound book of fiction and one hardbound book of nonfiction from the top-five lists. Next find the price, including shipping to your address, of your two books at both Amazon, www.amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, www.barnesandnoble.com. Is one company less expensive? Identify the non-price competition that might lead you to order from one company rather than the other.

Market shares—Top-10 lists Advertising Age, at www.adage.com, compiles statistics on the market shares of some familiar products. Click on "Data Center" and then on "Marketer Family Trees." Consider the advertising of the various companies and the market types in which the companies operate. Give two examples of advertising for companies operating in oligopolies. Does the amount spent on advertising surprise you? Why or Why not?

The FTC and the antitrust division—recent legal actions Go to the FTC Web site, www.ftc.gov, to find press releases by selecting News. Briefly summarize two antitrust (not false advertising) actions taken by the FTC over the past 12 months. Next, go to the Web site of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, www.usdoj.gov/atr/index.html, and look under Recent Antitrust Case Filings. Briefly summarize two antitrust -actions taken by the Antitrust Division during the past 12 months.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission—What is it and what does it do? What are the major functions of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, www.cpsc.gov? Name two products from the current Most Wanted list (in the left column) and explain why they are dangerous. From Recalls and Product Safety News, identify two product categories of interest to you. List three specific product recalls for each of your two product categories and briefly explain the main reason for each recall.

How much family income does it take to be in the richest 5 percent? Go to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, www.census.gov, and select "Income" (under People), "Historical Income Tables (CPS)," and "Income Inequality." What is the lower limit of household income for the richest 5 percent of families in the most recent year listed? Do the historical data in the table suggest the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer in absolute terms? Return to the site's tables (under households) and determine what has happened to the relative income share of the richest 5 percent of households over the last 10 years listed.

Is poverty on the rise or on the decline? Go to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, www.census.gov/, and select "Poverty" (under People). Use the data provided to answer the following questions:
a.  Is the number of people living below the official government poverty level higher or lower than it was in the preceding year? Than it was a decade earlier?
b.  Is the poverty rate (in percent) higher or lower than it was in the preceding year for the general population, children under 18, blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and whites?
c.  How many states had increases in the poverty rate compared to the preceding year?

Health expenditures per capita—Going up or down? Go to the Web site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, www.cms.hhs.gov, and use the search box to find information on health expenditures per capita for the United States. What was the level of such expenditures in 1990? In 2008? For the most recent year shown? Is the level of expenditures per capita projected to rise or to fall over the next 5 years? Find information on health expenditures as a percentage of GDP. Contrast the percentage for the latest year shown with the percentage projected for the most distant future year shown. Is the health care problem going away?

The uninsured—Who are they? Visit the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, www.census.gov, and select "Health Insurance." Find information on people without health insurance coverage by selected characteristics. For the latest year shown, which region of the country had the largest number of uninsured people? What percentage of the total uninsured were Asian, black, Hispanic, and white? What percentage were under 35 years of age? What percentage worked full time?

Legal immigrants—Who received the green cards? Go to the Web site of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, www.dhs.gov, and select "Immigration," then "Immigration Statistics," and the "Publications." Find the Annual Flow Report on U.S. Legal Permanent Residents for the latest year. How many people became legal U.S. permanent residents in that year? What percentage were family-sponsored immigrants? How many were married? What percentage of legal immigrants were 34 years or younger? What percentage, 65 or older? Which five countries supplied the most legal immigrants? What were the top five states of residence of new legal immigrants in that year and what percentage of the total immigration did they comprise?

Foreign-born population—Which countries have the most? The United Nation's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, tracks the total number of foreign-born people by nation. Find its Web site via a www.google.com search for "UN Population Division home page." Then select International Migration and find the International Migration Wall Chart. Which five countries have the most foreign-born residents in absolute terms? Which five countries have the greatest percentage of foreign-born residents? Why do the two lists differ so substantially?

Trade liberalization—The WTO Go to the Web site of the World Trade Organization (www.wto.org) to retrieve the latest news from the WTO. List and summarize three recent news items relating to the WTO.

The U.S. international trade commission—What is it and what does it do? Go to www.usitc.gov to determine the duties of the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC). How does this organization differ from the World Trade Organization? Go to the Information Center and find News Releases. Identify and briefly describe three USITC "determinations" relating to charges of unfair international trade practices that harm U.S. producers.

The U.S. balance on goods and services—What are the latest figures? The U.S. Census Bureau reports the latest data on U.S. trade in goods and services at its Web site, www.census.gov/indicator/www/ustrade.html. In the latest month, did the trade balance in goods and services improve (that is, yield a smaller deficit or a larger surplus) or deteriorate? Was the relative trade strength of the United States compared to the rest of the world in goods or in services? Which product groups had the largest increases in exports? Which had the largest increases in imports?

The yen-dollar exchange rate The Federal Reserve Board of Governors provides exchange rates for various currencies for the last decade at http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5a. Use the most current release. Has the dollar appreciated, depreciated, or remained constant relative to the Canadian dollar, the European euro, the Japanese yen, the Swedish krona, and the Swiss franc since 2000?