Econ 110 Research Paper
Econ 110 (L3) Midterm Exam
Spring, 2007
Part I: Multiple Choice Questions – 50%
Part II: Essay Questions – 50%
Question 1 (15%)
a) A professor would prefer to have all students attending lectures and have all question answered in class, than to give extra office hours to answer those questions raised by individual students. Explain his rationale based on economic theory you have learned.
MC of lecturing an extra student is almost 0 during usual lecture hours but would be much higher if each student is dealt with separately during office hours.
b) It is mentioned in class that a fair and random assignment of “A”s to students is usually not allocative efficient. Do you think there is any exception to this observation?
Yes. With luck, the random assignment can still have all students aligned according to their MB, from high to low. Giving “A”s to those above MC is still allocative efficient. …show more content…
Senator who is concerned about the impact of a recently proposed excise tax on the welfare of her constituents. You explained to the Senator that one way of measuring the impact on her constituents is to determine how the tax change affects the level of consumer surplus enjoyed by the constituents. Based on your arguments, you are given the go-ahead to conduct a formal analysis, and obtain the following estimates of demand and supply: [pic] and [pic] .
a) Graph the supply and demand curves.
b) What are the equilibrium quantity and equilibrium price?
c) How much consumer surplus exists in this market?
d) If a $2 excise tax is levied on this good, what will happen to the equilibrium price and quantity?
e) What will the consumer surplus be after the tax?
a. See Figure
Spring, 2007
Part I: Multiple Choice Questions – 50%
Part II: Essay Questions – 50%
Question 1 (15%)
a) A professor would prefer to have all students attending lectures and have all question answered in class, than to give extra office hours to answer those questions raised by individual students. Explain his rationale based on economic theory you have learned.
MC of lecturing an extra student is almost 0 during usual lecture hours but would be much higher if each student is dealt with separately during office hours.
b) It is mentioned in class that a fair and random assignment of “A”s to students is usually not allocative efficient. Do you think there is any exception to this observation?
Yes. With luck, the random assignment can still have all students aligned according to their MB, from high to low. Giving “A”s to those above MC is still allocative efficient. …show more content…
Senator who is concerned about the impact of a recently proposed excise tax on the welfare of her constituents. You explained to the Senator that one way of measuring the impact on her constituents is to determine how the tax change affects the level of consumer surplus enjoyed by the constituents. Based on your arguments, you are given the go-ahead to conduct a formal analysis, and obtain the following estimates of demand and supply: [pic] and [pic] .
a) Graph the supply and demand curves.
b) What are the equilibrium quantity and equilibrium price?
c) How much consumer surplus exists in this market?
d) If a $2 excise tax is levied on this good, what will happen to the equilibrium price and quantity?
e) What will the consumer surplus be after the tax?
a. See Figure