KU The Determinant Change of Price and Quantity Demanded Analysis

This week we are going to examine what happens in a market when the government intervenes in the market and introduces price controls. In particular we are going to examine what happens when the minimum wage is increased.

Assignment Instructions:

1. View the two videos above and videos 1, 2 and 7 under the Week Two Videos. You may also wish to view the other videos for a deeper understanding of price controls.
2. Visit The Faces of <5 for more perspectives on a $15 minimum wage.
3. Read Chapter 6 in your textbook in careful detail. Pay close attention to the graphs in Figures 1 – 5. Focus on Figure 5 in particular. You may also wish to review the CBO Report CBO Report – Alternative Formats on employment and income impacts of an increased minimum wage.
4. Read Should the Minimum Wage Be $15 an Hour? on pages 120 – 121 in the text.
5. Based on the videos, the readings and any additional research you decide to do (remember to cite and reference all your sources) what you do think will be the market impact(s) of the proposed increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour?
   1. Will the proposed increase help workers? And if so which part(s) of the labor market will be helped?
   2. Which part(s) of the labor market will hurt by the proposed increase? How will they be hurt?
   3. What will happen to the prices of goods and services produced with minimum wage labor?
6. What is your conclusion? Is this proposal a good idea or not? Explain why.
7. Post your views to the discussion board and refer to at least two different concepts from this week’s Chapters. Your illustration of concepts MUST include an explanation why you think they are are relevant to the week’s topic using specific information from the articles, videos and other research that you have done. Key concepts are listed at the end of every chapter. To facilitate identification and grading, please use CAPITAL LETTERS to name and define them.

For this assignment you will find a news article (not a blog, not Wikipedia, not an opinion article, a news article) that describes a change in supply, demand or both in a real world market. The learning objective is to understand how supply and demand impacts markets and prices.

Begin by downloading and studying:

• Supply and Demand Graphs.pptx Supply and Demand Graphs.pptx – Alternative Formats
• SupplyAndDemandGraphs2.doc SupplyAndDemandGraphs2.doc – Alternative Formats
• researchProjectRubric.pdf researchProjectRubric.pdf – Alternative Formats

Assignment History

• Find one or two news articles from the Internet that illustrate a shift in supply and/or demand. The article(s) need to illustrate at least two of the four graphs. This may require two articles. The article(s) must be recent (within the last six months), and MUST NOT be from an encyclopedia or reference website that discusses demand and supply.
• DO NOT use blogs.
• The best articles are about changes in the price and/or sales of a particular product. You then have the opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of supply and demand shifts as you explain the changes in price and quantity experienced by the product you choose. RECOMMENDATION: READ THE SAMPLE PROJECT: Under the Getting Started link.
• Summarize the article. (Do not quote the article, but explain it as if you were telling someone about it. If you do use direct quotes or paraphrases, remember that citations and references are required.) If you use more than one article, then citations are required.
• Explain which graph in our collection – A, B, C, or D – illustrates the shift that you identify by describing the change in equilibrium quantity. Remember to illustrate the shifts shown in at least two of the four graphs.
• Some articles may describe a situation where both curves shift. This is not common but it is possible.
• Do use paragraphs in your post, and remain focused on what is in the article.
• Provide a full URL link to the article along with an APA-formatted reference to the article at the bottom of your submission.
• Important: This is a Microeconomic course. Do not choose an article discussing Macroeconomic issues: Inflation, unemployment, trade deficit, government budget deficit, etc.
• Video demonstrating how to look for an article: 

THIRD homework:

Note: The video has Closed Captioning. To activate it, start the video, mouse over the bottom of the video and click on the CC icon, then select from the menu.

This week we shall look at Monopolistic Competition. This is where you, as a consumer, spend most of your time. In Monopolistic Competition, there are many companies selling similar but not identical products. Put differently, the goods are close, but not perfect substitutes.

Because of the relative ease of substitution, companies often compete by advertising, services (for stores), brand names, brand loyalty and product differentiation more than by price. Thus, prices of competing products tend to be close, but not identical as they are in Perfect Competition.

Since this market is where you – as a consumer – spend most of your time and a lot of your money, this week you are going to look at this market in action in your daily life. When you go shopping this week, pay close attention to product prices and what information they tell you about how the products compete.

A grocery store is a good example. Look at the soda aisle and by viewing the prices and the product locations on the shelves, which products are close substitutes, sufficiently differentiated that they have brand loyalty (i.e., a higher price), etc. Do the same with canned vegetables. Or undertake the same observational experiment in another type of store you regularly frequent.

Assignment Summary:

1. Watch the video above and under the Week 4 Videos, watch all videos.
2. Then go to a store, as discussed above, and observe. Observation is a well-established method of real world research. It will probably be easier and perhaps more informative if you pick on one product line to observe and observe by brand name. In particular, look for:
   1. product prices,
   2. product packaging (design, colors, logos, etc.); and,
   3. product shelve placement relative to other similar products.
3. Based on what you observe can you identify:
   1. which products/brand names compete most closely with each other? Are they placed close to each other on the shelves or far apart?
   2. which products/brand names are aimed at cost conscious consumers? Where are these on the store shelves for grocery stores?
   3. which are aimed at higher end consumers? Where are these on the store shelves for grocery stores?
   4. which products/brand names have a narrower market and command brand loyalty? This one could be tricky to figure out.
4. Share what you find with the class on the discussion board.
   1. What do you think you have learned from this activity?
   2. What have you learned about monopolistic competition?
5. Post your views to the discussion board and refer to at least two different concepts from this week’s Chapters. Your illustration of concepts MUST include an explanation why you think they are relevant to the week’s topic using specific information from the articles, videos and other research that you have done. Please remember to use CAPITAL LETTERS.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU ADD SOMETHING NEW to the discussion.

1. Post on three different days for a minimum of three posts. Failure to meet these minimum posting requirements results in point loss
2. 1. Include a word count on each post. All of your posts should sum to a minimum of 500 words.
   • Each post submitted should be between 150 and 250 words. Keep them short, specific, and clear.
   • Use paragraphs as appropriate.
   • Very lengthy posts do not provide an incentive to be read.
   • Remember to document all use of sources by using citations and references.These should be in APA format.
   • Please review Plagiarism Powerpoints ( PLAGIARISM.ppt PLAGIARISM.ppt – Alternative Formats ) and be sure to provide references (APA.ppt), including URLs where appropriate, to all works that you cite.

Now click on the "Week 4 DISCUSSION" title above to go to the discussion forum. You can start a new thread by clicking on the Create Thread button at the top. You can also respond to an existing post by clicking the Respond button at the bottom of the post.