Practice in Applying Economic Reasoning

1. Practice in Applying Economic Reasoning Microeconomics Unit 1 Lesson 4

2. Objectives • Describe and give examples of the law of comparative advantage. • Explain how both parties in a trade gain from voluntary exchange. • Describe and analyze the economic way of thinking. • Identify the opportunity costs of various courses of action involving a hypothetical problem. • Apply scarcity concepts to a variety of economic and noneconomic sitations.

3. Introduction • This lesson reinforces some of the economic-reasoning ideas that were introduced in Lesson 1. • Emphasizing marginalism, a concept used throughout the course. • In Activity 7, marginal or additional benefits are compared with marginal or additional costs. • Activity 8 is a problem set that illustrates the idea that economic principles affect all kinds of behavior, not just financial, business or consumer behavior.

4. Activity 7“Is the Benefit of Doing anything Worth the Cost of Doing It Well?” • The marginal benefits and marginal costs associated with a choice will determine the effects and wisdom of our decisions.

5. Would a master’s degree and a doctorate degree be likely to build the human capital of the student? (Yes / No) In the process of building knowledge, would the doctorate degree be the best example of doing a job well? (Yes / No) (B) Assuming that inflation and interest rates are considered in these data, what is the optimal degree for this person to earn at the university? Master’s Degree

6. Which criterion did you use to determine the optimal degree this person should obtain? (Total / Marginal) benefit = (total / marginal) costs • Since inflation is already factored into the data, what is the most likely reason that the cost of a doctorate degree rose to such a high level? MB = $100,000 MC = $100,000 The person’s earning power is greater as he or she gets older. The higher degree also increases earning power. Going to school longer means these potential earnings are sacrificed, which increases the opportunity cost.

7. Wrapping garbage neatly before taking it to the trash can, raking leaves on a windy day, hand-drying dishes after they have been run through a dishwasher’s dry cycle and similar tasks seem to push the credibility of value in doing a job well. • Give examples of job requests you have heard that illustrate severely declining marginal benefits. • Give estimates of the opportunity cost of accomplishing these tasks. • Consider a group of small or large electronic items that you have thought about buying. Do you always choose the highest-priced goods? Explain your answer. • If you wanted to eliminate “senioritis,” how would you change the college-acceptance process and/or the incentives offered by high school instructors? People frequently don’t purchase the highest-priced goods because the marginal benefit of the highest quality is not worth the additional cost. You could make college acceptance conditional on work during the entire senior year. This would raise the cost of senioritis and provide an incentive for seniors to study harder.

8. Activity 8 – Thinking in an Economic Way • True, false or uncertain, and explain why? “The best things in life are free.” • Is life priceless? Give at least four examples to support your opinion. Use the concept of opportunity cost in your answer.

9. Teachers are usually displeased when students cheat on tests. Which of these methods intended to stop cheating would be most effective? Why? • Teachers should say nothing and trust the students to be fair. If people are treated responsibly, they will act responsibly. • Teachers should give lectures on morality and explain to the students how their actions are not only dishonest but may hurt their classmates. • Teachers should walk around the room when giving tests, give the students alternate tests and make sure the students understand they will fail if they are caught cheating. Only (C) involves opportunity costs for the student who is cheating. For some people, the opportunity cost of cheating is their conscience. Students compare benefits and costs when contemplating cheating. For those with weak consciences, other costs must be substituted to discourage them. If the costs of cheating are greater than the benefits, cheating will not occur.

10. True, false or uncertain, and explain why? “The economic concept of scarcity is not relevant to a modern economy such as the United States. Americans are surrounded by vast quantities of unused goods. For example, food fills the supermarkets, and every car dealer has many cars in the showroom and lot. Americans are surrounded by plenty, not scarcity.” False. Scarcity is a relative concept, not an absolute one. Resources are scarce compared with wants. Unsold stocks of goods do not prove that scarcity does not exist because these goods still have a price. If there were no scarcity, we could produce everything we wanted at a price of zero.

11. True, false or uncertain, and explain why? “Money is one of America’s most important economic resources.” False. Money is not a resource. If the government prints more money, it does not affect the number of goods and services used to satisfy our wants.

12. An economics professor got a new job in a new town. When she arrived in the new town, she wanted to rent an apartment. She pulled into the first gas station she saw, filled up her tank and drove around inspecting apartments. She rented the tenth apartment she inspected. Does her behavior make sense economically, or did she fail to practice what she preaches? Use marginal benefit and marginal cost analysis in your answer. Her behavior does make sense economically. The benefits of finding a cheaper gas station were not as high as the opportunity cost. It was not until the tenth apartment that the additional benefits and additional benefits and additional opportunity costs of searching for apartments were equal. This makes sense. After all, a good place to live at a reasonable cost is more important than saving a few cents on a gallon of gas.

13. 7. Tina is an outstanding lawyer. She also word processes faster than anyone else in her town. Tom word processes at half the speed of Tina. Tom is not a lawyer. Should Tina hire Tom? Why or why not? Use the concept of absolute and comparative advantage in your answer. Tina should hire Tom. The key is the law of comparative advantage. Tina sacrifices an hour of legal fees if she does her own word processing. She can probably pay several Toms to word process for less than she can earn in an hour as a lawyer. Therefore, she specializes in law, and Tom specializes in word processing.