Economics
Chapter 1
1- (Rational Self-Interest) Discuss the impact of rational self-interest on each of the following decisions:
a. Whether to attend college full time or enter the workforce full time
b. Whether to buy a new textbook or a used one
2- (Resources) To which category of resources does each of the following belong?
a. A taxicab
b. Computer software
c. One hour of legal counsel
d. A parking lot
3- (Micro versus Macro) Determine whether each of the following is primarily a microeconomic or a macroeconomic issue:
a. What price to charge for an automobile
b. Measuring the impact of tax policies on total consumer spending in the economy
c. A household’s decisions about what to buy
d. A worker’s decision regarding how much to work each week
Chapter 2
4 (Opportunity Cost) You can either spend Spring Break working at home for $80 per day for five days or go to Florida for the week. If you stay home, your expenses will total about $100. If you go to Florida, the airfare, hotel, food and miscellaneous expenses will total about $700. What’s your opportunity cost of going to Florida? (Hint: Answers may vary)
5. (Shifting Production Possibilities) Determine whether each of the following would cause the economy’s PPF to shift inward, outward, or not at all:
a. An increase in average length of annual vacations
b. An increase in immigration
6. (Production Possibilities) Under what conditions would an economy be operating inside its PPF? On its PPF? Outside its PPF?
7. (Specialization and Exchange) Explain how the specialization of labor can lead to increased productivity.
8. What are your future plans? Do you think learning economics will play an important role in achieving your goals in the near future? Briefly discuss.
9. Do you face the problem of scarcity in your life? Can you think of any example?
10. WEB Question. What Can I Do with an Economics Degree?
The U.S. Department of Labor (Links to an external site.) (www.dol.gov (Links to an external site.)) is the agency of the U.S. federal government charged with matters pertaining to the American workforce. One of its arms is the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Links to an external site.) (www.bls.gov (Links to an external site.)), which is responsible for the important tasks of collection, organization, and distribution of data concerning employment and work in the U.S. Every other year, BLS publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook (Links to an external site.) (www.bls.gov/oco/ (Links to an external site.) ). The OOH describes for workers in a wide range of occupations what they do on the job, their working conditions, the training and education that they need, what they can expect to earn, and what their employment prospects are in the future.
In the wake of the most recent publication of the OOH (Links to an external site.), Shelly Schwartz of CNNfn (Links to an external site.) (http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2000/08/18/career/q_degreeeconomics/ (Links to an external site.)) posted an article about the job market faced by holders of degrees in economics. In it she discusses and summarizes some of the information provided by the OOH. She also provides a link to Inomics (Links to an external site.) (http://www.inomics.com/cgi/show (Links to an external site.)), an example of a site that caters to job-searching economists. Please go to the CNN (Links to an external site.) article and read through it, and then to the OOH (Links to an external site.) website. Once at the OOH site, click on the link for “A-Z Index” and find the listing for “Economists and market and survey researchers.” (Links to an external site.)(http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos055.htm (Links to an external site.)) Once you have read through these sites, please answer the following questions:
a) According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, what do economists study and do?
b) According to the CNNfn (Links to an external site.) article http://money.cnn.com/2000/08/18/career/q_degreeeconomics/ (Links to an external site.), what are the top three types of jobs for economics graduates?
