Help For Your Introductory Economics Course

It’s a really big week in ECO-201.  Have no fear, your resources for survival are here… Milestone Two Resources: How to use the spreadsheet to create a graph for the supply and demand section ***Use the link in the announcements of Brightspace or the General Questions Discussion Board to access the Excel spreadsheet that will help you create your required graphical representation of data*** Milestone Two Tips: How to Write an Exemplary Section on Supply and Demand (Example Included) Milestone Two Tips: Writing an Exemplary Section on Elasticity of Demand Milestone Two Tips on Critical Element “Price Elasticity of Demand: Pricing Decisions” Tips on Milestones Two and Three: Help With Using Financial Statements Milestone Two Tips to Get Started with Writing About Demand Milestone Two Tips to Get Started with Writing About Supply Milestone Two Rubric Milestone Two Video APA guidelines Historical Webinars on the  ECO YouTube Channel Homework 4 Resources: Sample Problem: Economic P...

Melanie is a hairdresser and is able to provide haircuts for 8 people each day at a total cost of $50. If Melanie performed 9 haircuts it would cost her $60. What is the marginal cost of providing the 9 th haircut? To solve this problem, we first need to understand what marginal cost is and then figure out how to calculate it. Marginal cost is the additional cost to a firm of producing one more unit of a good or service. In this case, the problem is asking for the marginal cost of going from 8 haircuts to 9 haircuts. To calculate the marginal cost you take the cost of 9 haircuts and subtract the cost of providing 8 haircuts. $60 - $50 = $10. The marginal cost of providing the 9 th haircut is $10.

Kirsten is earning $40,000 per year as a stylist in Sally’s Salon. She has worked hard to save $60,000 and is currently earning 5% annual interest on her savings account. She decides to quit her job at Sally’s Salon and uses her savings to open her own hair salon. In the first year of ownership, her salon earns revenues of $200,000 and has explicit costs of $157,000. What is Kirsten’s profit (or loss) in the first year? Economic profit is the total revenues minus total opportunity costs of all inputs used, or the total of all implicit and explicit costs. For this example we know the following for the first year: Revenue = $200,000 Explicit costs = $157,000 The implicit costs include Kirsten’s foregone salary from giving up her previous job of $40,000 for the year and lost interest from invested savings ($60,000 saved * 5% annual interest so the interest forgone for the year is $3,000) Economic profit = Revenues – explicit costs – implicit costs Economic profit = $200,000 – 157,000 – 40...

One of the critical elements covered in the material this week is to analyze information and data related to the demand and supply for your firm’s product(s) to support your recommendation for the firm’s actions . You will include a graphical representation of the data and information used in your analysis . In a previous post I discussed the different aspects of demand that you could cover in your paper. You’ll want to think in terms of the factors mentioned that can impact demand for your firm (income, prices of related goods, tastes, population, demographics, and expected future prices) and make recommendations to the firm based on what you know from that research. This post will focus on how to analyze supply in this post since we haven’t covered that in detail yet and provide some ideas of concepts related to supply that could be applied to your firm. You don’t need to discuss everything I cover in this post; this is just to provide some ideas to help you get started on your rese...

One of the critical elements covered in the material this week is to evaluate the trends in demand over time and explain their impact on the industry and on the firm . But how do you evaluate the trends in demand over time and explain their impact on the industry and the firm? Here are some ideas of concepts that could be applied to your firm to help you evaluate the trends in demand. You don’t need to discuss everything I cover in this post; this is just to provide some ideas to help you get started on your research! Market demand is the demand by all the consumers of a given good or service. Find out who your customers are and provide detail on them. Use annual sales data to find out how much of the product is purchased. You should have received the Supply and Demand Help Excel Spreadsheet via email that will help you walk through the process of gathering and analyzing data. The main question to ask yourself as you analyze the data is: how has the annual sales data changed over time?...

In this portion of your paper you will need to accurately assess how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growths. A good place to look to help you answer this question is in section 6.3 of your text: The Relationship between Price Elasticity of Demand and Total Revenue (pg. 181-184). When you write this section you should already have used several of the 5 determinants of elasticity of demand to determine whether or not your firm’s product faces an elastic or inelastic demand curve. If you are struggling with that section, look for an announcement posted this week that goes through these 5 determinates at length. Before we get into the relationship between elasticity of demand and total revenue, we should first understand what total revenue is and how it is calculated. Total revenue is the total amount of funds a seller receives from selling a good or service, which is calculated by multiplying the price per unit by the number of units sold. ...

In order to receive an exemplary score on the 3 different elements of the elasticity of demand section, you’ll need to meet the following criteria: - Analyze available data and information to justify how the price elasticity of demand for the firm’s product was determined and use research to illustrate these claims ( see underlined text in the sample paper for an example of how to meet these criteria ). In other words, be sure to state whether you have concluded the demand for your good is elastic or inelastic and use specific evidence to explain why. While you may be able to find enough information to calculate the price elasticity of demand, this is not required. You can use research on the factors of consumer responsiveness or evidence based on pricing and revenue growth to support your claim. - Explain all 5 factors that affect consumer responsiveness to price changes for the product using the concept of price elasticity of demand as a guide (see bold text in the sample paper) . T...

There are five determinants that we can use to determine whether the demand for your product is likely to be elastic or inelastic. You should cover at least two or three of the following characteristics to receive a score of proficient (or all five to receive an exemplary) and apply them to your product to support your determination of elastic or inelastic demand. Here is an example of the application of these determinants to gasoline, as we previously covered in a discussion board assignment. The availability of close substitutes to the good : Thinking back to module two, we learned that substitutes are goods and services that can be used for the same purpose.  If consumers have few options for substitutes, as in the case of gasoline, when the price rises the quantity demanded only falls slightly.  If few substitutes are available, the demand for the good tends to be more inelastic.  The demand for a good with many substitutes tends to be more elastic. The passage of ti...