What does the process of specialization do for an economy?
a. it eliminates unemployment.
b. it makes production more efficient.
c. it fosters competition.
d. it makes labor easier to control.

Acompany that makes shopping carts for supermarkets and other stores recently purchased some new equipment that reduces the labor content of the jobs needed to produce the shopping carts. prior to buying the new equipment, the company used 6 workers, who produced an average of 79 carts per hour. workers receive $16 per hour, and machine coast was $49 per hour. with the new equipment, it was possible to transfer one of the workers to another department, and equipment cost increased by $11 per hour while output increased by four carts per hour. a) compute the multifactor productivity (mfp) (labor plus equipment) under the prior to buying the new equipment. the mfp (carts/$) = (round to 4 decimal places). b) compute the productivity changes between the prior to and after buying the new equipment. the productivity growth = % (round to 2 decimal places)

The prebisch–singer hypothesis concludes that: a. technology lowers the cost of manufactured products, so developing countries should see an increase in their terms of trade. b. developing countries experience a long-run decline in their terms of trade, as the demand for primary products in higher-income countries declines relative to their demand for manufactured goods. c. because of unfair trading practices, labor in developing countries is exploited. d. opec has been responsible for a slowdown in the world's standard of living.

Warren company plans to depreciate a new building using the double declining-balance depreciation method. the building cost $870,000. the estimated residual value of the building is $57,000 and it has an expected useful life of 20 years. assuming the first year's depreciation expense was recorded properly, what would be the amount of depreciation expense for the second year?