Consider an economy with 500 people in the labor force. At the beginning of every month, 5 people lose their jobs and remain unemployed for exactly one month; one month later, they find new jobs and become employed. In addition, on January 1 of each year, 20 people lose their jobs and remain unemployed for six months before finding new jobs. Finally, on July 1 of each year, 20 people lose their jobs and remain unemployed for six months before finding new jobs.

a. What is the unemployment rate in this economy in a typical month?
b. What fraction of unemployment spells lasts for one month? What fraction lasts for six months?
c. What is the average duration of a completed spell of unemployment?
d. On any particular date, what fraction of the unemployed are suffering a long spell (six months) of unemployment?

Walmart’s scm system walmart is famous for its low prices, and you may have experienced its low prices first-hand. at least, you have probably seen its motto, “always low prices— always.” one of the biggest reasons walmart is able to sell at prices lower than almost everyone else is that it has a superefficient supply chain. its it-enabled supply chain management system is the envy of the industry because it drives excess time and unnecessary costs out of the supply chain. so, because walmart can buy low, it sells low. as a matter of fact, if your company wants to sell items to walmart for it to sell in its stores, you will have to do business with it electronically. if your company can’t do that, walmart won’t buy anything from you. log on to walmart’s web site (), search for supplier information, and find out what walmart’s requirements are for its suppliers to do business with it electronically. prepare a brief summary of its requirements for presentation in clas

Consider how health insurance affects the quantity of health care services performed. suppose that the typical medical procedure has a cost of $160, yet a person with health insurance pays only $40 out of pocket. her insurance company pays the remaining $120. (the insurance company recoups the $120 through premiums, but the premium a person pays does not depend on how many procedures that person chooses to undergo.) consider the following demand curve in the market for medical care. use the black point (plus symbol) to indicate the quantity of procedures demanded if each procedure has a price of $160. then use the grey point (star symbol) to indicate the quantity of procedures demanded if each procedure has a price of $40. q d at p=$160 q d at p=$40 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 price of medical procedures quantity of medical procedures demand if the cost of each procedure to society is truly $160, the quantity that maximizes total surplus is procedures. economists often blame the health insurance system for excessive use of medical care. given your analysis, the use of care might be viewed as excessive because consumers get procedures whose value is than the cost of producing them.

Consider the local telephone company, a natural monopoly. the following graph shows the monthly demand curve for phone services and the company’s marginal revenue (mr), marginal cost (mc), and average total cost (atc) curves. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 price (dollars per subscription) quantity (thousands of subscriptions) d mr mc atc 8, 60 suppose that the government has decided not to regulate this industry, and the firm is free to maximize profits, without constraints. complete the first row of the following table. pricing mechanism short run long-run decision quantity price profit (subscriptions) (dollars per subscription) profit maximization marginal-cost pricing average-cost pricing suppose that the government forces the monopolist to set the price equal to marginal cost. complete the second row of the previous table. suppose that the government forces the monopolist to set the price equal to average total cost. complete the third row of the previous table. under average-cost pricing, the government will raise the price of output whenever a firm’s costs increase, and lower the price whenever a firm’s costs decrease. over time, under the average-cost pricing policy, what will the local telephone company most likely do