《初级宏观经济学》试卷

武汉大学2011—2012学年第一学期期末考试

经济与管理学院20XX级数理经济与金融专业

《初级宏观经济学》A卷

1.(16 points)Explain the following concepts

production possibilities frontier opportunity cost equilibrium

price elasticity of demand consumer surplus deadweight loss

free-rider discrimination

2. (10 points) List and briefly explain the ten principles of economics.

3. (10 points) Greater consumption of alcohol leads to more motor vehicle accidents and , thus, imposes costs on people who do not drink and drive.

a. Illustrate the market for alcohol, labeling the demand curve, the social-value curve, the supply curve, the social-cost curve, the market equilibrium level of output, and the efficient level of output.

b. on your graph, shade the area corresponding to the deadweight loss of the market equilibrium.(Hint: the deadweight loss occurs because some units of alcohol are consumed for which the social cost exceeds the social value.) Explain.

4. (12 points) A commercial fisherman notices the following relationship between hours spent fishing and the quantity of fish caught:

a. What is the marginal product of each hour spent fishing?

b. Use these data to graph the fisherman’s production function. Explain its shape.

c. The fisherman has a fixed cost of $10 (his pole). The opportunity cost of his time is $5 per hour. Graph the fisherman’s total-cost curve. Explain its shape.

5. (12 points) In recent years some policy makers have proposed requiring firms to give workers certain fringe benefits. For example, in 1993 President Clinton proposed requiring firms to provide health insurance to th eir workers. Let’s consider the effects o f such a policy on the labor market.

a. Suppose that a law required firms to give each worker $3 of fringe benefits for every hour that the worker is employed by the firm. How does this law affect the marginal profit that a firm earns from each worker? How does the law affect the demand curve for labor? Draw your answer on a graph with the cash wage on the vertical axis.

b. If there is no change in labor supply, how would this law affect employment and wages?

c. Why might the labor supply curve shift in response to this law? Would this shift in labor supply raise or lower the impact of the law on wages and employment?

d. The wages of some workers, particularly the unskilled and inexperienced, are kept above the

equilibrium level by minimum-wage laws. What effect would a fringe-benefit mandate have for these workers?

6. (12 points) Suppose there are two possible income distributions in a society of ten people. In the first distribution, nine people would have incomes of $30,000 and one person would have an income of $10,000. In the second distribution, all ten people would have incomes of $25,000.

a. If the society had the first income distribution, what would be the utilitarian argument for redistributing income?

b. Which income distribution would Rawls(liberalist) consider more equitable? Explain.

c. Which income distribution would Nozick(libertarian) consider more equitable? Explain.

7. (8 points) The welfare system provides income to some needy families. Typically, the maximum payment goes to families that earn no income; then, as families begin to earn income, the welfare payment decline s gradually and eventually disappears. Let’s consider the possible effects of this program on a family’s labor supply.

a. Draw a budget constraint for a family assuming that the welfare system did not exist. On the same diagram, draw a budget constraint that reflects the existence of the welfare system.

b. Adding indifference curves to your diagram, show how the welfare system could reduce the number of hours worked by the family. Explain, with reference to both the income and substitution effects.

c. Using your diagram from part (b), show the effect of the welfare system on the well-being of the family.

8. (20 points) The four types of markets structure are perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly and monopolistic competition..

a. List the key attributes of monopolistic competition. Draw a diagram to show the long-run equilibrium,which a firm faces, in a monopolistically competitive market. Point market quantity and efficient scale.

b. How does the long-run equilibrium, which a firm faces, in a perfectly competitive market? Draw a diagram to show the demand curve and supply curve, and explain.

c. What is the Prisoners’ Dilemma? Why there exit the Prisoners’ Dilemma in an oligopolistic market ? When is it possible for oligopolists to cooperate?

d. Draw a diagram to show monopoly profit and deadweight loss in a monopolized market. Are there demand curve and supply curve in a monopolized market? Why or why not?