1、2.What opportunity costs did you incur in reading this chapter? 2 AACSB:There are many other things you could have done with your time instead of reading this chapter. The most desired activity you gave up is the opportunity cost.(你有时间可以做许多其他的事情而不是阅读本章。你放弃了你最想做的活动就是机会成本。)3.How would you answer the q
2、uestion in the News Wire on page 5? Why? 3 AACSB:There was a spike of anxiety in 2008-09 regarding the ability of the U.S. economy to continuously crank out more goods. Today many Americans still worry about the resiliency of our economic system and our many resource limitations. The general definit
3、ion of economics the study of how best to allocate scarce resources among competing uses allows for the potential of brilliant minds to help the economy continue to grow. Additional resources, new technologies, insightful entrepreneurial strategies, and great minds working on economic development pr
4、ovide tremendous hope for future growth in our economy and the associated increase in our standard of living. 4.Why might it be necessary to reduce consumer spending in order to attain faster economic growth? Would it be worth the sacrifice? Reflective Thinking BT: CreateOne choice any society must
5、make is whether to use its resources to produce consumer goods or whether to produce capital with those same resources. To increase economic growth it may be necessary to produce more capital. As a result, it may be necessary to reduce output of consumer goods so resources are available to produce m
6、ore capital goods. Whether it is worth the sacrifice depends on which one society values more, current consumption or future consumption. 5.In a purely private market economy, how is the FOR WHOM question answered? Is that optimal?FOR WHOM? is one of the three basic economics questions. The other tw
7、o questions determine how large of an economic pie to bake (WHAT?) and how we will bake it (HOW?). This FOR WHOM question deals with how to slice the pie. Should some get larger or smaller slices than others? The focus is on how an economys output is distributed across members of society. In a purel
8、y private market economy, those who are willing and able to purchase a slice of pie will receive the slice. Markets are efficient; however, neither markets nor governments always have the right answers. There are certainly times (market failure) when the market generates suboptimal economic outcomes
9、. 6.Why doesnt North Korea reduce its military and put more resources into food production (News Wire, p. 11)? What is the optimal mix of “guns” and “butter” for a nation?North Korea doesnt reduce its military and put more resources into food production because the North Korean government apparently
10、 believes that a large military establishment is essential to their well-being and security. The optimal mix of “guns” and “butter” depends on values and, therefore, the answer to this question will depend on the values of the individual or in this case, the government answering it.7.If taxes on the
11、 rich were raised to provide more housing for the poor, how would the willingness to work be affected? What would happen to total output? Analytic BT: AnalyzeGiven the standard assumptions about market participant reactions, we would expect that those being taxed more would reconsider their choices
12、between work and leisure. Since their reward for working would now be less (after taxes) they could be expected to work less. Poor people, too, might work less if they get free or subsidized housing. Changes in the work incentives facing both the rich and the poor would lead to less total output.8.W
13、hat kind of knowledge must central planners possess to manage an economy efficiently? 4 AACSB:A central planner will make all the decisions for an economy including what goods are produced, at what prices they are sold, and who gets to have them. For example, a central planner places workers at a br
14、ead factory, tells them how much bread to bake, and specifies who is allowed to eat this bread. The WHAT, HOW, and FOR WHOM outcomes are all directed by the central government (planner). A central planner would need to be omniscient in order to manage an economy efficiently. He/she would need to kno
15、w the desires of consumers, consumer ability to pay, productivity of inputs (such as capital and labor), and technological capabilities. It is simply unreasonable to believe that a central planner could ever have such vast and comprehensive knowledge.9.POLICY PERSPECTIVES Why cant we produce at poin
16、t X2 in Figure 1.6? Will we ever get there? 5 AACSB:X2 is beyond the resources available for production because it is outside of the curve. The only way to get there would be to increase the resources available.10.POLICY PERSPECTIVES What public sector or private sector output would you cut back in
17、order to make more resources available for increased health care?Everyone wants more and better health care, and nearly everyone agrees that even the poorest members of society need reliable access to doctors and hospitals. Yet, the resources used to expand health care services could be used to prod
18、uce something else. The opportunity costs of expanded health care are the other goods we could have produced (and consumed) with the same resources. These other goods include military spending, education spending, infrastructure (roads, internet, sewage) development, and police protection, just to n
19、ame a few. PROBLEMS1.According to Figure 1.1, what is the peace dividend (releasing resources from military purposes) from reducing military output from 0G to 0E?Answer: 0D 0FExplanation: In Figure1.1, the move from 0G to 0E along the military goods axis moves the economy from point X to point C on
20、the production possibilities curve. As a result, the economy will move from 0F to 0D and gain additional consumer goods.(从0G到0E沿轴移动的军事物资经济从X点到C点在生产可能性曲线的移动。因此,经济将从中获得更多的消费品.)LO 01-02Topic: The Central Problem of Scarcity Three Basic Economic Questions AACSB: AnalyticBlooms: Level 2 Understand2.Draw
21、a production-possibilities curve based on Table 1.1, labeling combinations A-F. What is the opportunity cost of increasing missile production (a)From 50 to 100?(b)From 0 to 150?Answers:(a) 15 houses(b) 45 houses(a) The opportunity cost of increasing production from 50 to 100 missiles is a reduction
22、in the production of houses from 90 to 75, or a loss of 15 houses. (b) Increasing missile production from 0 missiles (point A) to 150 missiles (point D) results in a loss in the production of houses from 100 to 55, or 45 houses. Three Basic Economic Questions Level 3 Apply3.Assume that it takes six
23、hours of labor time to paint a room and three hours to sand a floor. If all 24 hours were spent painting (a) How many rooms could be painted by one worker?(b) If a decision were made to sand two floors, how many painted rooms would have to be given up?(c) Illustrate with a production-possibilities c
24、urve. (a) 4 room(s) painted(b) 1 room(s) painted(c) (a) If a worker spends 24 hours painting rooms and he/she can paint one room in 6 hours then this worker can paint 4 rooms (= 24 hours / 6 hours per room).(b) Because it takes 3 hours to sand 1 floor, it would take a worker 6 hours to sand 2 floors
25、. Therefore, a worker must give up painting 1 room, which also takes 6 hours to complete.(c) The various production possibilities are plotted with “Rooms Painted” on the vertical axis and “Floors Sanded” on the horizontal axis. Thus, if a worker spends all of his/her time painting, 4 rooms can be pa
26、inted (0, 4). On the other hand, if a worker spends all of his/her time sanding, 8 floors can be sanded (8, 0). The three alternative points in between those two extremes are (2, 3), (4, 2), and (6, 1). LO 01-01 Level 4 Analyze4.Suppose it takes 4 hours of labor time to hang sheetrock in a room and
27、2 hours to tape and plaster a wall. If one person spent an entire 8 hour day hanging sheetrock,(a) How many rooms could be hung?(b) Illustrate with a production-possibilities curve.(c) If another worker became available for an 8 hour workday, illustrate the resulting change in production possibiliti
28、es.(a) 2 rooms hung(b) & (c)(a) If it takes 4 hours to hang sheetrock in a room and a worker spends an entire 8 hour workday doing this, 2 rooms can be completed within this time.(b) One worker can use all of his or her 8 hour day and hang either 2 rooms of sheetrock or 4 walls of tape and plaster. Thus, the two endpoints are 0 walls 2 rooms (0, 2) and 4 walls 0 rooms (4, 0).(c) With two workers each putting in an 8 hour workday, the production-possibilities curve would shift to the right (and in fact d
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