Unit 2 Case Study

Only 1 paragraph

Read the LAST Word piece, “Government Failure” in the News, in Chapter 17. Investigate the use of special-interest lobbyists for some of these articles. The process of lobbying legislatures is itself a big business. State legislatures are under the same kind of pressure from interest groups as the Senate and the House of Representatives. Provide an example to discuss how special interests can succeed in perpetuating policies that are opposed by the majority of voters because the costs of organizing and motivating groups to take political action increase with group’s size.

Construct thoughtful, detailed responses to the answers contributed by at least three of your classmates.

Unit 2 Assignment

According to the law of demand, if price increases, quantity demanded of a good or service will decrease or vice versa. Price elasticity of demand tells us how much quantity demanded will decrease when price increases or how much quantity demanded will increase if price decreases.

On the other hand, according to the law of supply, if the price increases, quantity supplied of a good or service will increase. Similarly, if price decreases, quantity supplied will decrease. The degree of sensitivity (responsiveness) of production/supply to a change in price is measured by the concept of price elasticity of supply.

Total revenue is calculated as the quantity of a good or service sold multiplied by its market price. Thus it is a measure of how much money a company makes from selling its product. The core objective of a firm is maximizing profit. One of the ways to maximize profit is increasing total revenue. The firm can increase its total revenue by selling more items or by raising the price. Among others, this depends on the nature of the price elasticity of demand. Moreover, the length of time is an important factor in determining price elasticity of demand and supply.

·                   Explain the relationship between the price elasticity of demand and total revenue. What are the impacts of various forms of elasticities (elastic, inelastic, unit elastic, etc.) on business decisions and strategies to maximize profit? Explain using empirical examples.

·                   Is the price elasticity of demand or supply more elastic over a shorter or a longer period of time? Why? Give examples.

·                   What are the impacts of government and market imperfections (failures) on the price elasticities of demand and supply?

The Assignment should be a minimum of five pages in length, excluding title page and reference page. Your paper must incorporate several quality references, and it must be organized in APA format.

Submit your paper to the Unit 2 Dropbox by the end of Unit 2.

Discussion

The law of demand states that a fall in the price of a good raises the quantity demanded, and the increase in price leads to a decrease in quantity demanded. The price elasticity of demand measures the responsiveness of the quantity demanded to a change in price. Demand for a good is said to be elastic if the quantity demanded responds substantially to changes in the price, and the percentage change in quantity demanded is greater than the percentage change in price. Demand is said to be inelastic if the quantity demanded responds only slightly to changes in the price, which indicates that the percentage in price is greater than the percentage in quantity demanded.

However, the extent of responsiveness of quantity demanded to a change in price depends on the nature of a particular good or service in the market. The price elasticity of demand partly depends on the availability of close substitutes. When a large number of substitutes are available, consumers respond to a higher price of a good by buying more of the substitute goods and less of the relatively more expensive good. In addition, goods or services that are considered necessities tend to have less elastic (more inelastic) demand, whereas goods or services that are considered luxuries have more elastic (less inelastic) demands.

• Explain why the demand for the good or service provided by the organization you work for is elastic or inelastic. How does this influence pricing decisions?
• Provide examples on how the availability of close substitutes affects price elasticity of demand.
• Give specific examples of necessities or luxuries, and explain how they affect price elasticity of goods or services.

Externalities come about when individuals impose costs on or provide benefits to others but do not consider those costs and benefits when deciding how much to consume or produce. Thus externality is a cost or benefit received by a person not involved in a market transaction, and therefore not reflected in the market price of the commodity being transacted. There are two types of externalities: positive externalities and negative externalities.

A positive externality exists when an individual or firm making an economic decision does not receive the full benefit of the decision. In this case, the social benefit is greater than the benefit that goes to the individual or firm.

A negative externality occurs when an individual or firm making a decision does not have to pay the full cost of the decision. If a good has a negative externality, then the cost to society is greater than the cost consumer is paying for it.

Both positive and negative externalities result in market inefficiencies unless proper action is taken.

• Describe your understanding of externalities by providing an example of a positive externality and a negative externality.
• Why do positive and negative externalities lead to inefficiency in the market economy?
• How can externalities be addressed using the private sector to reduce market distortions of externalities?
• What government policies help deal with positive and negative externalities by reducing inefficiency?