On Mermaid island ( a closed economy in the SR), The Mermaids are in a pickle. Someone has decided to counterfeit money. Unfortunately, the counterfeiter is excellent at her job and it is impossible to know the difference between the real and fake money.
Their economy can be expressed as:
C = 50+0.95(Y-T)
T = 2000
G =2000
I = 1000-50r
M = 10000
P = 2
L(r,Y) = Y -200r
While the initial impact of the counterfeit money (M=10,000 to 20,000) is that output will jump, some are worried that the inhabitants will stop using it as a medium of exchange, and the economy would be reduced to bartering – creating a depression.
Your job, as a policy maker is to see how you might be able to neutralize the impact of the money and increase demand,
Good Luck! May you return from Mermaid Island! Answer the following questions:
Question 1 (2 points)
Calculate the initial situation (M=10,000) and show the resulting aggregate variables in a table format. (similar to case 2)
Calculate the situation with increase money supply (M=20,000) and show the resulting aggregate variables in a table format next to a).
Question 2 (2 point)
The government has tasked you with neutralizing the impact of the additional money in circulation, you can ONLY use fiscal policy (G, T or a combination of both) (the central bank does not want to reduce its own money supply) to bring back the interest rate to where it was.
Find 2 fiscal options to return r to 15 and show the resulting aggregate variables in a table format
Question 3 (1 points)
Could the government, instead of using fiscal policy, change investor behaviours (change the function)? Propose a policy which would bring back the interest rate top where it was. Make sure you also talk of how it impacts the economies agents and aggregate values (C,I,S,… and Y).
Your policy proposal idea is just a best guess, but the function (I) you use does need to be correct.
Question 4 (1 points)
Could the government, instead of using fiscal policy, change Consumer behaviours (change the function)? Propose a policy which would bring back the interest rate top where it was. Make sure you also talk of how it impacts the economies agents and aggregate values (C,I,S, … and Y).
Question 5 ( 2 points)
What mermaid Island was scared of taking place; that the fake money would result in inflation has taken place, prices have increased 5 fold as Mermaids are scared they will get fake money. (P=2 to P=10). Find the new equilibrium of the Island (C,I,S, r ,… and Y).
This questions is independent of question 2,3 and 4.
Question 6 ( 2 points)
What do you propose – as a fiscal policy – to do to being back this economy to where it was (the initial Y) if you can?
In this question, your tasked with dealing with dealing with the collateral damage that inflation has created. A LOT of variables will be impacted when you do something. Are all outcomes bad or are there some that are ok?
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.
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.
