DEVRY ECO312 WEEK 3 AND WEEK 4 DISCUSSIONS

WEEK 3A Firm’s Shut Down Decision (graded)Say you are the manager of a perfectly competitive firm selling a product. Your business is making a loss because total revenue is less than total costs. What would you do–shut down or continue to operate? Use hypothetical numbers to explain. Information you need to provide include–state the product you are selling, the price of the product, the quantity of the product you produce, fixed costs, total cost, figure out total revenue, total and average variable costs. Then go ahead and make your decision. Explain carefully why it makes better sense to shut down rather than continue to operate or to continue to operate rather than shut down, as the case may be. How do fixed costs play a role in your analysis? What is the difference between shutting down and going out of business?Market Structure Classification (graded)Think about a firm that you have done business with recently. What industry does this firm belong to? For example, McDonald’s is a firm in the fast food industry. What market structure would this industry fall under? What are the names of other firms in this industry? Is it monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly, or perfect competition? Justify your classification of the firm. Use the characteristics/features of the different market structure to determine which market structure to classify your chosen firm.WEEK 4GDP (graded)Go to the Bureau of Economic Analysis website, www.bea.gov, and access the BEA interactively by selecting “National Accounts” and then “National Income and Product Account Tables.” Select “Frequently Requested NIPA Tables,” and find Table 1.1.1 on GDP. What is the current GDP growth rate for the U.S.? Examine the trend over the past few years. What trends interest you? What stage of the Business Cycle would the U.S. economy be in currently given the trends? Why might GDP not be considered an accurate measure of economic well-being of a country? Identify at least three limitations of GDP as a measure of economic well-being. There is a handy handout in the drop box for using the Government website, be sure to check it out it will take you step by step.Unemployment and Inflation (graded)Go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm, and click on “Employment Situation Summary” to get the most up-to-date summary of unemployment in the U.S. or the “Employment Situation Summary Table A. Household data, seasonally adjusted.” What interests or surprises you about the summary table? How does that rate compare with the rate in the previous month or quarter? Discuss the differences in unemployment rates by gender, age, education, etc.This section lists options that can be used to view responses.