ECON 312 Week 3 Discussion Questions

Download:

ECON 312 Week 3 Discussion Questions

·       A Firm’s Shut Down Decision (graded)

Say you are the manager of a perfectly competitive firm selling a product. Your business is making a loss because total revenue is less than total costs. What would you do--shut down or continue to operate? Use hypothetical numbers to explain. Information you need to provide include--state the product you are selling, the price of the product, the quantity of the product you produce, fixed costs, total cost, figure out total revenue, total and average variable costs. Then go ahead and make your decision. Explain carefully why it makes better sense to shut down rather than continue to operate or to continue to operate rather than shut down, as the case may be. How do fixed costs play a role in your analysis? What is the difference between shutting down and going out of business? 

·       Market Structure Classification (graded)

Think about a firm that you have done business with recently. What industry does this firm belong to? For example, McDonald's is a firm in the fast food industry. What market structure would this industry fall under? What are the names of other firms in this industry? Is it monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly, or perfect competition? Justify your classification of the firm. Use the characteristics/features of the different market structure to determine which market structure to classify your chosen firm.