Tag: Economics

Our Week 2 discussion focused on the ins and out of macroeconomic identities, the definition of GDP, and related measurement issues. These are mere building blocks you need to begin to think critically about the macro issues of the day. So instead of our DB looking backward to Week 2, we’ll use it to look forward to Week 3, where we review the macroeconomics of labor markets.

As some of you already know, from time to time I find it useful to ask you to consider new arguments being made, whether they be in recently published studies, books, or what have you, to give you a sense of how you can do this for the rest of your lives long after this course ends. After all, in my view, that’s what matters most.

So this week, take a look at a short, readable Planet Money (National Public Radio – NPR) review of a new book to be published next month titled, “The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work,” written by a well-known European economist Jan Eeckhout. By the way, a good deal of this work was published last year in the Harvard-based Quarterly Journal of Economics, one of the world’s top five economic journals. So rest assured that this book is not by any means an off-the-wall entry into the current debate.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2021/05/11/994856975/why-soaring-stocks-could-be-bad-news-for-the-economy

You’ll find that the review contains a summary of the core conclusions derived from the economics of monopolies, which some of you who’ve taken microeconomics will most surely recognize. What’s most provocative here, perhaps, is what this implies about the overall (aggregate) labor market, our Week 3 topic.

Your task? Summarize in the first paragraph of your primary post Professor Eeckhout’s thesis, as reviewed in the Planet Money piece. In your next paragraph, make a case against the author’s core argument. Be specific. So where do you stand on this issue? Also, assuming economic advisors in the current Administration are familiar with Professor Eeckhout’s analysis, which no doubt they are, discuss the pros and cons of creating a “Federal Competition Agency,” as reviewed in the Planet Money piece. Should the Biden team make such a proposal? Why or why not? Finally, a minimum of two additional commentary post

Best wishes for an enlightening discussion about a topic that will certainly be with us for some time. The upshot, though, perhaps, is that it’s not obvious anymore which political party might benefit most from exploiting it. TO INCLUDE 2 PEER RESPONSE.

For this discussion, please investigate an industry market failure that has occurred within the last 10-years in the U.S. Identify the events that led to the market failure.

Discuss steps that should have been taken to self-correct the market failure and steps that are being taken to eliminate the need of another government bailout in the future. Is your chosen industry currently operating efficiently?

Locate a recent article or event (published within the last year) that highlights your relevant microeconomics topic. Use the Hunt Library, newspapers, new stations, or other credible sources to discuss how your topic aligns with microeconomics. Include the following in your discussion:

• State the article or event you selected.
• Identify the microeconomic concept(s).
• Describe your findings.
• Analyze the relevance to real-life applications.

1. Research past dividend history for the following companies (both of which trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange) and based on your analysis, project what the future dividends and dividend growth might be. (Yes – this will be a guess, and probably a rough one at that). Assume that the appropriate discount rate (“r” that we used in class) is 6%. Calculate what you believe the stock price of each company should be using the Dividend Discount Model. Explain any discrepancies between your calculated stock price and the current stock price of the company.

a.Empire Company

b.Linamar

2.Use the comparables method to calculate what the stock price should be for both Empire Company and Linamar.

I’m working on a finance discussion question and need support to help me study.

SHORT-TERM FINANCING AND OPTIONS CONTRACT

Jeff Warren, the CFO and the board of directors of Baldwin Inc. have taken enough time to discuss capital budgeting, dividend policy, and capital structure and now want to focus their attention on short-term finance and cash planning of the company. The board is considering the ways to improve the working capital management of the company. They are also discussing various sources of short-term financing and the minimum amount of money to borrow in the short-term to finance inventory and accounts receivable associated with sales growth. Jeff opened the meeting with the statement that the company must investigate its cash cycle and find ways to improve it because he has noticed a deterioration in the cash flow management of the firm.

Jeff was worried that the inventory period of the company has increased from 70 days in the previous year to 80 days in the current year and the accounts receivable period has also increased from 47 days in the previous year to 55 days in the current year whilst the accounts payable period remains the same at 52 days. He explained that if the two components of cash cycle i.e., operating cycle and accounts payable period are not improved, the company might need to borrow $5.5 million short-term next year to fill the gap between short-term cash inflows and cash outflows.

Jeff presented to the board the following ratios to show how the company has performed over the past two years:

Exhibit 1: Asset Utilization Ratios of Baldwin Inc.

Asset Utilization Ratios

2019

2020

Inventory turnover

5.14 times

4.5 times

Inventory period

70 days

80 days

Accounts Receivable period

47 days

55 days

Accounts Payable period

52 days

52 days

Operating cycle

117 days

?

Cash cycle

65 days

?

The Credit manager of the company, Josh Waters explained that the company can change some aspects of its short-term financial policy and find alternative financing policies to fund current assets to improve its working capital management. Another board member, Jacky Jackson was of the view that cash budget is a primary tool of short-term financial planning that can be used to improve the cash management of Baldwin Inc. She believed that having short-to-medium term cash budget for the next five years can help the company identify its short-term financial needs or opportunities and the required amount needed to borrow for the next five years. In that way the company will be able to arrange for short-term finance in advance to reduce the risk of cash shortages. With the expected improvement in current asset management of the company, some investors believe that the company’s stock price will increase. One investor, Desmond Clinton is of the opinion that buying a call option on the stock will give him the right to purchase more of the stock of the company now at a fixed price before the price of the stock jumps up. The stock price of Baldwin is currently $25. The exercise price is $30 per share. The call option and put option on the company’s stock expires in one year.

The board is determined to improve the company’s short-term financial management policies and wants you to assist them achieve that objective.

1. Using the ratios presented by Jeff, the board chairman wants you to calculate the following and explain what they mean to all the board members:

         i).       Operating cycle of the company for 2020

         ii).     Cash cycleof the company for 2020

2.   Given the asset utilization ratios, do you think the cash management of Baldwin Inc. has improved or worsened over the past year and why? Suggest two ways to improve the cash cycle of the company

3.  The board is concerned that the net working capital might be declining and not meet the $800,000 minimum requirement of the company. The company has a cash balance of $300,000, other current assets of $1.8 million and current liabilities of $1.3 million. Should the board worry about the company’s net working capital?

4.  The board wants to adopt a restrictive short-term financial policy to improve on its cash management. Identify three aspects of restrictive short-term financial policy the company should consider.

5.   The cash budget shows that the company will need $2.5 million to finance its working capital needs in next three years. List five sources of short-term financing the company can use to raise the money.

6. Explain to Desmond Clinton the difference between a call option and a put option.

Goal: The goal of this paper is simple, but also deliberately vague.  I want you to pick some topic in developmental economics and write a research paper on it.  You may, for example, write a paper addressing some of the contradictions we will discuss.  You may, for example, write a paper explaining why this or that reading/paper is incorrect.  You may, for example, write a paper critiquing the key assumptions of development economics or the methodology I am using for the class.  You may, for example, write a paper explaining why some idea you have ought to be tried to help developing economies.  Or something else!  It’s really up to you.  The paper may be as technical or non-technical as you want. 

I need help with a Macro Economics question. All explanations and answers will be used to help me learn.

Watch a movie

(too big to fail) or (inside the job)

Write a synopsis about the movie after watching it. And what do you think of the movie?

Please write the work clearly

You must choose two books from the
list below. You will write an essay describing how these books relate to the themes we discussed
in class. The paper should start with an introduction that lays out what books you have chosen
and briefly describes their main hypotheses. You should then spend a significant portion of the
paper overviewing the main arguments of the books. Please explain what the arguments are and
how the author(s) substantiate the arguments. Importantly, you must then discuss how do these
arguments relate to the material we’ve covered in class? Finally, evaluate whether the books you
chose complement each other or are they critiques?

The paper should be typed in a reasonable font. Double spaced with reasonable margins. The
paper should be around 15 pages (but this is only a guideline). The paper is due on Friday, July
23 at 5 pm EST. I will only accept pdf ’s emailed to me. The subject line of your email
should be “EH Essay” and the name of the essay pdf should be “your last name EH
Essay”.. For every 24 hours the paper is late, your paper grade will be reduced by one half of a
letter grade (i.e. 5%).

1. Timur Kuran. The long divergence: How Islamic law held back the Middle East. Princeton
University Press, 2012

2. Deirdre N McCloskey. The bourgeois virtues: Ethics for an age of commerce. University of
Chicago Press, 2010

3. Kenneth Pomeranz. The great divergence: China, Europe, and the making of the modern
world economy, volume 28. Princeton University Press, 2009

4. Philip T Hoffman. Why did Europe conquer the world? Princeton University Press, 2017

5. Walter Scheidel. The great leveler: Violence and the history of inequality from the stone age
to the twenty-first century. Princeton University Press, 2018

6. Robert C Allen. The British industrial revolution in global perspective. Cambridge University
Press, 2009

7. Joel Mokyr. The Enlightened economy an economic history of Britain 1700-1850. Yale
University Press, 2010

8. Jared Rubin. Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West got rich and the Middle East did
not. Cambridge University Press, 2017

9. Noel D Johnson and Mark Koyama. Persecution & toleration: The long road to religious
freedom. Cambridge University Press, 2019

10. Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson. The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the
Fate of Liberty. Penguin Press, 2019

11. Douglass C North, John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R Weingast. Violence and social orders: A
conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge University Press,
2009

12. Jared M Diamond. Guns, germs and steel: a short history of everybody for the last 13,000
years. Random House, 1998

Some Topics that we discussed in the class:

1. The Black Death and It’s Consequences

2.Trade and Exchange

3. Institutions and Constitution

4. Colonialism as a Natural Experiment

5. Health & Infrastructure

Learning Goal: I’m working on a developmental economics project and need a sample draft to help me learn.

Read the attached on the association between Income and life expectancy in the United States and Vietnam (two different PDFs). Submit a summary and a critique of the attached material. Provide more insights and more references. Write about 1200 words in any format. Within the summary/critique, also answer the following:

Although the two countries are very different, what are the similarities and the differences between these two countries as far as income life-expectancy relationship is concerned?

Here are links to two other articles that you must use :).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28034…

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/vietnam/overv…

Write a 1000 word essay on the topic below. The wordcount is similar to 3-4 pages double spaced in Microsoft Word.

Identify which school of thought makes the most sense to define today’s economy: Classical, Neoclassical (first generation), or Neoclassical (second generation). In order to make your case you will need to clearly describe the characteristics of each of these three schools of thought and compare and contrast each of them with the characteristics of today’s economy. The strength of the arguments for each case should guide you in making your decision and drawing a conclusion about the appropriate characteristics of this economy.

Analysis will be given preference over pontification.