Micro Economics Take Home portion of the final Exam

Chapter 10

1.     Farmer Dorr figures that her fixed costs are $2,000, and the relevant portion of her total cost curve is:

 

                                          Thousands of                   Total Cost

                                               Bushels           (in thousands of dollars)

                                                    10                                   10.70

                                                    11                                   11.45

                                                    12                                   12.25

                                                    13                                   13.10

                                                    14                                   14.00

                                                    15                                   15.00

                                                    16                                   16.10

                                                    17                                   17.32

                                                    18                                   18.75

                                                    19                                   20.30

 

            a)  Calculate Farmer Dorr’s schedules of average cost, marginal cost, total variable cost, and average variable cost.

            b)  If Farmer Dorr is a perfect competitor, what level of output should she produce, if the market price is:

                  (i)  $1.50   (iii) $0.92

                  (ii) $1.00   (iv) $0.82

     

2.     Draw the relevant diagrams for a typical farm, and for the market as a whole, when the market for wheat is in long run equilibrium. Assume the farm faces perfect completion. (hint, make sure to include Demand, MC, MR and AC on the firms graph based on what we learned about perfect competitors and show the profit maximizing quantity (you will not be able to calculate but show it on the graph) for that farmer). Show the market equilibrium at $3.50/bushel and 1200 thousand bushels of wheat.

 

3.     Xander Harris is considering whether to buy a corn and soybean farm in Iowa. The farm will cost $800,000, and Xander will be able to pay this from profits his recently deceased mother made on the stock market and willed to him. He estimates that if he does not run the farm, and keeps his current job as an economic forecaster, he will be able to earn $40,000 a year. The prevailing interest rate is 9 percent. Xander’s only motive is to maximize his income.

            a)  Should he buy the farm, and become a farmer from an accounting viewpoint if his accountant tells him the annual profit from the farm is likely to be:

                  i)    $160,000?

                  ii)   $100,000?

                  iii) $50,000?

b)    Since he is currently an economist, Xander decides to recalculate the profit figures in a) according to the logic used by economists rather than accountants. What profit figures does he come up with? Do these new figures cause him to change his mind about becoming a farmer?

 

4.     What examples of perfectly competitive markets can you think of in the economy?

a-The most common example used for perfect competition is agriculture.

While agriculture does not fit these assumptions perfectly, it comes closer to perfect competition than to any other market structure. 

            Other

example, areas suitable to growing corn are generally also very suitable to grow soybeans.  Similar equipment is used to plant, cultivate and harvest corn and soybeans.  If corn prices have been low, corn farmers could easily switch to growing soybeans the next year

example, there are a limited number of meat processors that handle pork and poultry reducing the competition on the buying side of the market.  In time, we may have to adjust our interpretation of at least some of the agricultural markets, but for the moment the best fit still appears to be perfect competition.

5.     The text states that four conditions are necessary for the existence of a perfectly competitive market. Discuss in your own words each one.

            a)  Numerous participants: Roughly how many sellers do you think are needed to make a market perfectly competitive?

            b)  Homogeneity of product: How would perfect competition be altered if buyers could distinguish between the products of different producers?

            c)   Freedom of entry and exit: How might this condition be violated? What sorts of barriers to entry or exit might exist?

            d)  Perfect information: What exactly needs to be known, and by whom, in order to make competition perfect?

 

 

Chapter 11

 

6.     Slash and Burn is a monopolist that can sell its output at these prices and with these total costs:

 

                                         Output             Price       Total Cost

                                                4                   $27                 $28

                                                5                     26                   34

                                                6                     25                   42

                                                7                     24                   52

                                                8                     23                   64

                                                9                     22                   88

                                              10                     21                 105

                                              11                     20                 125

                                              12                     19                 148

                                              13                     18                 174

                                              14                     17                 204

 

            a)  What level of output will Slash and Burn choose to produce? What will the selling price and profit be?

            b)  Suppose that Slash and Burn produced at the level that a perfectly competitive industry would, with marginal cost equal to price. What would be the output, price and profit?

 

7.     Explain why it is incorrect to speak of a monopolist’s supply curve.

            It doesn’t make sense to talk about a monopolist’s supply curve.

Notice that a supply curve shows us how much output a firm will produce under any given market price.

• But this concept doesn’t make sense in relation to a monopolist who sets a price, rather than taking it from the market as given.

 

Chapter 12

8.     In the beach city of Santa Barbara, California, there are seven bathing suit stores, each with the same schedule of costs and each facing an identical demand curve. Swim N Style is a typical store:

                                       Suits sold
                                       (per hour)          Price Total Cost                  TR              MR        AC

                                                1                   $68                  $70

                                                2                     66                    80

                                                3                     64                    85

                                                4                     62                    90

                                                5                     60                  100

                                                6                     58                  115

                                                7                     56                  136

                                                8                     54                  164

                                                9                     52                  200

                                              10                     50                  245

 

            a)  Calculate total revenue, marginal revenue, marginal cost and average cost at each level of sales for the store.

            b)  If Swim N Style is a profit maximizer, what number of suits will it sell per hour? What will its price and profit be?

                 

9.     Seventeen new bathing suit stores enter the Santa Barbara market, joining the seven that already existed. As a consequence, the demand schedule facing Swim N Style (and all other stores) falls, while the cost schedules remain constant as in Problem 1:

 

                                       Suits sold

                                       (per hour)          Price

                                                1                $31.50

                                                2                  28.50

                                                3                  25.50

                                                4                  22.50

                                                5                  19.50

                                                6                  16.50

                                                7                  13.50

                                                8                  10.50

                                                9                    7.50

                                              10                    4.50

 

            a)  What number of suits will Swim N Style sell now?

            b)  What price will it charge, and what will its profit be?

            c)   What is the average cost per swimsuit sold?

            d)  How many swimsuits are sold in Santa Barbara each hour, and what is the total cost incurred?

            e)  From your calculations in Problem 1, identify the sales level at wh

 

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