This closing case explores the political and economic situation in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez and, after Chavez’s death, Nicolas Maduro. When Chavez, who was elected president in 1998, ran on a platform against corruption and economic mismanagement, Venezuela’s economy was in a deep recession. Once in office, Chavez consolidated his hold over the government by drafting a new constitution that put him in power until 2012. Chavez died in 2013, but during his presidency, Venezuela was considered to be only "partly free." Economically, things were also difficult for Venezuela. Chavez did achieve some gains. Unemployment, though still high, fell to 7.6 percent in 2013 from its high of 14.5 percent in 1998. Similarly, poverty remained a problem despite falling from 50 percent to 28 percent in 2012. Yet, corruption was rampant, and there was a move to take certain industries into state ownership, with the oil industry being a particular target. Following his death, the situation for his successor, Nicolas Maduro, became worse. The decline in the price of oil resulted in economic collapse with inflation reaching 275 percent, the poverty rate above 30 percent, and considerable value reduction of the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar. The result was heavy losses in December 2015 parliamentary elections which saw the opposition gaining a majority of seats over the ruling United Socialist Party.

How do you think that Chavez’s unilateral changes to contracts with foreign oil companies affected future investment by foreigners in Venezuela?

The market price of cheeseburgers in a college town increased recently, and the students in an economics class are debating the cause of the price increase. some students suggest that the price increased because the price of beef, an important ingredient for making cheeseburgers, has increased. other students attribute the increase in the price of cheeseburgers to a recent increase in college student enrollment.1. the first group of students thinks the increase in the price of cheeseburgers is due to the fact that the price of beef, an important ingredient for making cheeseburgers, has increased. (what happened to demand and supply, shift to the right or left)2. the second group of students attributes the increase in the price of cheeseburgers to the increase in college student enrollment. (what happens to demand and supply, shift to the right or left)3. suppose that both of the events you analyzed above are partly responsible for the increase in the price of cheeseburgers. based on your analysis of the explanations offered by the two groups of students, how would you figure out which of the possible causes was the dominant cause of the increase in the price of cheeseburgers? (choose a, b, c, or d)a)if the price increase was small, then the supply shift in the market for cheeseburgers must have been larger than the demand shift. b)if the equilibrium quantity of cheeseburgers decreases, then the demand shift in the market for cheeseburgers must have been larger than the supply shift. c)if the equilibrium quantity of cheeseburgers decreases, then the supply shift in the market for cheeseburgers must have been larger than the demand shift. d)whichever change occurred first must have been the primary cause of the change in the price of cheeseburgers.

Garcia industries has sales of $200,000 and accounts receivable of $18,500, and it gives its customers 25 days to pay. the industry average dso is 27 days, based on a 365-day year. if the company changes its credit and collection policy sufficiently to cause its dso to fall to the industry average, and if it earns 8.0% on any cash freed-up by this change, how would that affect its net income, assuming other things are held constant? a. $241.45b. $254.16c. $267.54d. $281.62e. $296.44

Search engines generate revenue through pay-per-click (each time a user clicks a link to a retailer’s website); pay-per-call (each time a user clicks a link that takes the user to an online agent waiting for a call); or pay-per-conversion (each time a website visitor is converted to a customer)