Economics Questions part two

by | Apr 10, 2018 | Main

 

Task 2: Elasticity
For each pair of items in questions 1 and 2, determine which product is more price elastic (would
have a higher price elasticity of demand in absolute value). Explain your answer including
identifying the determinant of elasticity.
1. Holiday to Europe and a bag of rice. (1 mark) –
2. Weetbix (a brand of cereal) and electricity used in your home. (1 mark)

Read the following excerpt and answer question 4.
Need a kindergarten spot in Mongolia? Play the lottery.

Mongolia’s baby boom is pushing its schools to breaking point, with desperate parents facing the stark choice of relying on a lottery system or paying for pricey private classes in capital Ulaanbaatar. Spots in coveted government-funded kindergartens, for children aged two to five, are determined by an online ballot. Those who miss out risk being left out of the early years education system altogether — unless they can afford a feepaying option. The city’s publicly funded kindergartens have space for just half of the 146,000 children between the ages of two and five who live there, according to the municipal education department. Experts blame the shortage on bad government policy and poor long-term planning. The majority of Mongolia’s state-run schools were built during the Soviet era, and relatively few new facilities have been added since the country became democratic in 1990. Those who do get in face crammed classrooms and overburdened teachers as resources are stretched. The overcrowding also poses health risks, with germs and the flu being passed around, leaving hospitals struggling to attend to a high number of sick children. Those with a high enough income no longer even bother with the ballot as the private options offer better learning environments. “There were enough warning signs, but not enough measures taken,” Batjargal said. Birth rates soared in the Year of the Golden Pig in 2007, as Mongolians believe that year brings wealth, but little was done in anticipation of the extra demands on resources as those babies grew up. The government is building schools in the ger, or slum, districts of Ulaanbaatar, but the country’s debt problems have restricted spending. Author Khaliun Bayartsogt, Ulan Bator (AFP) Source: Seven News, Yahoo web site (https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/37266208/need-akindergarten-spot-in-mongolia-play-the-lottery/)

4. Given the information in the article use the demand and supply framework to analyse the market for government provided childcare services. In a separate graph analyse the market for private childcare services. In your answer discuss the elasticity of supply in each case and contrast between the two markets. In addition, identify any shortage or surplus in each market. (4 marks) –

Task 3: Costs of Production
1. Suppose the total cost of producing 10 000 tennis balls is $60 000 and the fixed cost is $20 000. What is the variable cost? When output is 10 000, what are the average variable cost and the average fixed cost? (1 mark) – Maximum number of words 40 + calculations

2. Suppose you go to university and live in a residential college on campus. You pay the college for your room and board. Assume that you would have had to move out of home (with your parents) whether you went to university or taken up a full time job, and that you used some of your savings as payment for tuition). What are two examples of an explicit opportunity cost of attending university? What are two examples of an implicit opportunity cost of attending university? What is an example of a cost of attending university that is not an opportunity cost? (2 marks) – Maximum number of words 100

Task 4: Market Power
2. Explain why a firm in a perfectly competitive market charges the market price (as set by the market demand and market supply curve). How is this different to a firm in a monopolistically competitive market? (2 marks) –

Task 5: Business Strategy
Assume that two interior design companies, Alistair and Baine, are competing for customers and, if they both advertise, they would each earn $30 million in profits. If neither advertises, they each earn $50 million in profits. If one advertises and the other doesn’t, the firm that advertises earns $40 million in profit while the other earns $20 million in profit.
1. Present the information above in the form of a payoff matrix. Let Baine be the row player and Alistair the column player. (1 mark) – No words are required only payoff matrix
2. Define Nash equilibrium. What is (are) the Nash equilibrium(s) in this game. Explain. (2 marks) –
3. Define dominant strategy. Is there a dominant strategy for Baine and, if so, what is it? Explain. (2 marks)

 

Sample Solution

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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