Ms. T. Potts, the treasurer of Ideal China, has a problem. The company has just ordered a new kiln for $530,000. Of this sum, $63,000 is described by the supplier as an installation cost. Ms. Potts does not know whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will permit the company to treat this cost as a tax-deductible first-year deductible expense or as a capital investment. In the latter case, the company could depreciate the $63,000 using the five-year MACRS tax depreciation schedule. Assume the tax rate is 40% and the opportunity cost of capital is 8%. Calculate the value of the tax shield 1 and tax shield 2. (Note: Use Tax shield 1 as an expense treatment and tax shield 2 as 5 year MACRS.)

Who is better at multi-tasking? in business, employees are often asked to perform a complex task when their atten-tion is divided (i. e., multi-tasking). human factors (may 2014) published a study designed to determine whether video game players are better than non–video game play-ers at multi-tasking. each in a sample of 60 college stu-dents was classified as a video game player or a non-player. participants entered a street crossing simulator and were asked to cross a busy street at an unsigned intersec-tion. the simulator was designed to have cars traveling at various high rates of speed in both directions. during the crossing, the students also performed a memory task as a distraction. two variables were measured for each student: (1) a street crossing performance score (measured out of 100 points) and (2) a memory task score (measured out of 20 points). the researchers found no differences in either the street crossing performance or memory task score of video game players and non-gamers. “these results,” say the researchers, “suggest that action video game players [and non-gamers] are equally susceptible to the costs of dividing attention in a complex task”