Figure 6
c. The Hawks might choose a point like H, with many guns and not much butter. The Doves might choose a point like D, with a lot of butter and few guns. d. If both Hawks and Doves reduced their desired quantity of guns by the same amount, the Hawks would get a bigger peace dividend because the production possibilities frontier is much steeper at point H than at point D. As a result, the reduction of a given number of guns, starting at point H, leads to a much larger increase in the quantity of butter produced than when starting at point D. Chapter 3: Q4
a. Since a Canadian worker can make either two cars a year or 30 bushels of wheat, the opportunity cost of a car is 15 bushels of wheat. Similarly, the opportunity cost of a bushel of wheat is 1/15 of a car. The opportunity costs are the reciprocals of each other.
b. See Figure 4. If all 10 million workers produce two cars each, they produce a total of 20 million cars, which is the vertical intercept of the production possibilities frontier. If all 10 million workers produce 30 bushels of wheat each, they produce a total of 300 million bushels, which is the horizontal intercept of the production possibilities frontier. Since the tradeoff between cars and wheat is always the same, the production possibilities frontier is a straight line.
If Canada chooses to consume 10 million cars, it will need 5 million workers devoted to car production. That leaves 5 million workers to produce wheat, who will produce a total of 150 million bushels (5 million workers times 30 bushels per worker). This is shown as point A on Figure 4.
c. If the United States buys 10 million cars from Canada and Canada continues to consume 10 million cars, then Canada will need to produce a total of 20 million cars. So Canada will be producing at the vertical intercept of the production possibilities frontier. But if Canada gets 20 bushels of wheat per car, it will be able to consume 200 million bushels of wheat, along with the 10 million cars. This is shown as point B in the figure. Canada should accept the deal because it gets the same number of cars and 50 million more bushes of wheat.
Figure 4
Chapter 4: Q1
a. Cold weather damages the orange crop, reducing the supply of oranges. This can be seen in Figure 6 as a shift to the left in the supply curve for oranges. The new equilibrium price is higher than the old equilibrium price.
b. People often travel to the Caribbean from New England to escape cold weather, so demand for Caribbean hotel rooms is high in the winter. In the summer, fewer people travel to the Caribbean, since northern climes are more pleasant. The result, as shown in Figure 7, is a shift to the left in the demand curve. The equilibrium price of Caribbean hotel rooms is thus lower in the summer than in the winter, as the figure shows.
Figure 6a Figure 7b
c. When a war breaks out in the Middle East, many markets are affected. Since much oil production takes place there, the war disrupts oil supplies, shifting the supply curve for gasoline to the left, as shown in Figure 8. The result is a rise in the equilibrium price of gasoline. With a higher price for gasoline, the cost of operating a gas-guzzling automobile, like a Cadillac, will increase. As a result, the demand for used Cadillacs will decline, as people in the market for cars will not find Cadillacs as attractive. In addition, some people who already own Cadillacs will try to sell them. The result is that the demand curve for used Cadillacs shifts to the left, while the supply curve shifts to the right, as shown in Figure 9. The result is a decline in the equilibrium price of used Cadillacs.
Figure 8c Figure 9c
Chapter 5: Q2
a. For business travelers, the price elasticity of demand when the price of tickets rises from $200 to $250 is [(2,000 - 1,900)/1,950]/[(250 - 200)/225] = 0.05/0.22 = 0.23. For vacationers, the price elasticity of demand when the price of tickets rises from $200 to $250 is [(800 - 600)/700] / [(250 - 200)/225] = 0.29/0.22 = 1.32.
b. The price elasticity of demand for vacationers is higher than the elasticity for business travelers because vacationers can choose more easily a different mode of transportation (like driving or taking the train). Business travelers are less likely to do so since time is more important to them and their schedules are less adaptable. Chapter 6: Q2
a. The imposition of a binding price floor in the cheese market is shown in Figure 3. In the absence of the price floor, the price would be P1 and the quantity would be Q1. With the floor set at Pf, which is greater than P1, the quantity demanded is Q2, while quantity supplied is Q3, so there is a surplus of cheese in the amount Q3 – Q2.
b. The farmers’ complaint that their total revenue has declined is correct if demand is elastic. With elastic demand, the percentage decline in quantity would exceed the percentage rise in price, so total revenue would decline.
c. If the government purchases all the surplus cheese at the price floor, producers benefit and taxpayers lose. Producers would produce quantity Q3 of cheese, and their total revenue would increase substantially. But consumers would buy only quantity Q2 of cheese, so they are in the same position as before. Taxpayers lose because they would be financing the purchase of the surplus cheese through higher taxes.
Figure 3a
Chapter 7: Q8
a. The effect of falling production costs in the market for computers results in a shift to the right in the supply curve, as shown in Figure 14. As a result, the equilibrium price of computers declines and the equilibrium quantity increases. The decline in the price of computers increases consumer surplus from area A to A + B + C + D, an increase in the amount B + C + D. Prior to the shift in supply, producer surplus was areas B + E (the area above the supply curve and below the price). After the shift in supply, producer surplus is areas E + F + G. So producer surplus changes by the amount F + G – B, which may be positive or negative. The increase in quantity increases producer surplus, while the decline in the price reduces producer surplus. Since consumer surplus rises by B + C + D and producer surplus rises by F + G – B, total surplus rises by C + D + F + G.
Figure 14A Figure 15b
b. Since adding machines are substitutes for computers, the decline in the price of computers means that people substitute computers for adding machines, shifting the demand for adding machines to the left, as shown in Figure 15. The result is a decline in both the equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity of adding machines. Consumer surplus in the adding-machine market changes from area A + B to A + C, a net change of C – B. Producer surplus changes from area C + D + E to area E, a net loss of C + D. Adding machine producers are sad about technological advance in computers because their producer surplus declines. c. Since software and computers are complements, the decline in the price and increase in the quantity of computers means that the demand for software increases, shifting the demand for software to the right, as shown in Figure 16. The result is an increase in both the price and quantity of software. Consumer surplus in the software market changes from B + C to A + B, a net change of A – C. Producer surplus changes from E to C + D + E, an increase of C + D, so software producers should be happy about the technological progress in computers. d. Yes, this analysis helps explain why Bill Gates is one the world’s richest men, since his company produces a lot of software that is a complement with computers and there has been tremendous technological advance in computers.
Figure 16
Chapter 13: Q4
a. The following table shows the marginal product of each hour spent fishing: Hours 0 1 2 3 4 5 Fish 0 10 18 24 28 30 Fixed Cost $10 10 10 10 10 10 Variable Cost $0 5 10 15 20 25 Total Cost $10 15 20 25 30 25 Marginal Product --- 10 8 6 4 2 b. Figure 7 graphs the fisherman's production function. The production function becomes flatter as the number of hours spent fishing increases, illustrating diminishing marginal product.
Figure 7b Figure 8c
c. The table shows the fixed cost, variable cost, and total cost of fishing.
Figure 8 shows the fisherman's total-cost curve. It slopes up because catching additional fish takes additional time. The curve is convex because there are diminishing returns to fishing time?each additional hour spent fishing yields fewer additional fish. Chapter 14: Q9
a. Figure 9 illustrates the situation in the U.S. textile industry. With no international trade, the market is in long-run equilibrium. Supply intersects demand at quantity Q1 and price $30, with a typical firm producing output q1.
Figure 9
b. The effect of imports at $25 is that the market supply curve follows the old supply curve up to a price of $25, then becomes horizontal at that price. As a result, demand exceeds domestic supply, so the country imports textiles from other countries. The typical domestic firm now reduces its output from q1 to q2, incurring losses, since the large fixed costs imply that average total cost will be much higher than the price.
c. In the long run, domestic firms will be unable to compete with foreign firms because their costs are too high. All the domestic firms will exit the industry and other countries will supply enough to satisfy the entire domestic demand.
Chapter 15: Q4
a. Figure 5 illustrates the market for groceries when there are many competing supermarkets with constant marginal cost. Output is QC, price is PC, consumer surplus is area A, producer surplus is zero, and total surplus is area A.
Figure 5a Figure 6b
b. If the supermarkets merge, Figure 6 illustrates the new situation. Quantity declines from QC to QM and price rises to PM. Area A in Figure 5 is equal to area B + C + D + E + F in Figure 6. Consumer surplus is now area B + C, producer surplus is area D + E, and total surplus is area B + C + D + E. Consumers transfer the amount of area D + E to producers and the deadweight loss is area F. Chapter 16: Q2
a. OPEC members were trying to reach an agreement to cut production so they could raise the price.
b. They were unable to agree on cutting production because each country has an incentive to cheat on any agreement. The turmoil is a decline in the price of oil because of increased production.
c. OPEC would like Norway and Britain to join their cartel so they could act like a monopoly. Chapter 23: Q1
a. Consumption increases because a refrigerator is a good purchased by a household. Investment increases because a house is an investment good.
Consumption increases because a car is a good purchased by a household, but investment decreases because the car in Ford’s inventory had been counted as an investment good until it was sold.
Consumption increases because pizza is a good purchased by a household.
Government purchases increase because the government spent money to provide a good to the public.
Consumption increases because the bottle is a good purchased by a household, but net exports decrease because the bottle was imported.
Investment increases because new structures and equipment were built.
Chapter 24: Q4
a. Since the increase in cost was considered a quality improvement, there was no increase registered in the CPI.
b. The argument in favor of this is that consumers are getting a better good than before, so the price increase equals the improvement in quality. The problem is that the increased cost might exceed the value of the improvement in air quality, so consumers are worse off. In this case, it would be better for the CPI to at least partially reflect the higher cost.
Chapter 25: Q4
The opportunity cost of investing in capital is the loss of consumption that results from redirecting resources towards investment. Over-investment in capital is possible because of diminishing marginal returns. A country can \in capital if people would prefer to have higher consumption spending and less future growth. The opportunity cost of investing in human capital is also the loss of consumption that is needed to provide the resources for investment. A country could \?for example, if the best job a Ph.D. in philosophy could find is managing a restaurant.