Comments on hw5

I was mistaken when I thought there was something in chapter 6 about unemployment. Everything is in chapter 8. Read up to p. 214. For problem 2, just pay close attention to the "box" on p. 214.

We discussed measuring unemployment and the unemployment rate on Tuesday.

You should be able to complete the assignment for next Tuesday.

Class canceled Thursday Oct. 28

Please be advised: Class this afternoon is canceled due to illness.

Watch this weblog later today or Friday for any information regarding any assignments. In the mean time, continue reading the chapter on elasticity, in particular, the part on price elasticity of demand.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

JJ

Answer key to sample problems for test 2

1-A, 2-B, 3-B, 4-C, 5-B, 6-A,
7-A, 8-B, 9-D, 10-C,
11-D, 12-C, 13-C, 14-C, 15-B, 16-C,
17-A, 18-C, 19-B, 20-B, 21-A/D*,
22-C, 23-C, 24-A, 25-C,
26-B, 27-C, 28-D, 29-D, 30-B, 31-D, 32-B,
(repeated: 33-B, 34-D, 35-B) 36-C, 37-A,
38-A, 39-B, 40-D, 41-A, 42-C, 43-D, 44-A,
45-C, 46-B, 47-A, 48-B, 49-E, 50-B,
51-A, 52-B, 53-C, 54-C, 55-E.

comment on 21: The demand for milk will certainly increase, driving up the price and quantity. The effect on the supply side could be debatable. In microeconomic analysis of a firm supply of a good, it is discovered that the supply decision is based only on marginal cost. Here you are told there is a costly advertising campaign. Does the cost of an advertising campaign vary with the level of output or is it a "fixed" or "one time" cost? If this is (and arguably could be) more like a fixed cost, the supply decisions would not change (and supply would not move) and the answer would be A. However, if you argue that the supply would decrease then unambiguously price will rise but the combined effect of decrease in supply and increase in demand would leave us uncertain about equilibrium quantity. This is a tough argument and if appeared on a test, I would accept both. But I hope to avoid such unclear problems on a test. (Sorry.)

Let me know if you think there are any errors. I may be online briefly tonight, but I'm feeling like I need to be in bed early. I'll try to be on AIM in the morning or during office hours if you have any questions.

Good Luck

Comment on cell phone usage

I just wanted to let you know that I have been noticing an increased use of cell phone usage in class. I know today we were doing no calculations so you shouldn't have been needing to do calculations.

So what's your excuse?

Ok, that was snarky. But I think you get my point. I told you day one that I can see what you are all doing and when you have your cellie in your lap below your desk, you draw attention to yourself.

Just a reminder, cell phone use is inappropriate in class.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Also, you should be reading Chapter 5, not chapter 4.

Jack

Test 1 grade distribution

Here is the distribution of scores for test 1, with an approximate grade scale. I say approximate because no letter grade is recorded, only the raw score, which is appropriately weighted.

First, some descriptive statistics (out of a possible 35 points):

average = 26.21 (74.88%)
median = 27 (77.14%)
mode = 29 (82.86%)
standard deviation = 4.54

You can divide your raw score by 35 (and multiply by 100) to get your percentage score.

Based on the statistics above, here is, what I believe to be, a fair grade scale:

A range: 30.5 and higher (9 occurrences)
B range: 26.5 to 30 (17 occurrences)
C range: 21.5 to 26 (17 occurrences)
D range: 17 to 21 (3 occurrences)
F range: below 17 (2 occurrences)

Congratulations to those who did well. For those who did not perform as well as you would have liked, it is suggested you spend more time regularly with the material.