Proposals to reduce patent length for drugs are sometimes made, but some critics argue that such a change would result in even higher prices during the patent period as companies would need to recover drug development costs more quickly. is this argument valid if drug companies maximize profits? explain in economics terms.

Which of the following statements is correct? a. two firms with identical sales and operating costs but with different amounts of debt and tax rates will have different operating incomes by definition. b. free cash flow (fcf) is, essentially, the cash flow that is available for interest and dividends after the company has made the investments in current and fixed assets that are necessary to sustain ongoing operations. c. retained earnings as reported on the balance sheet represent cash and, therefore, are available to distribute to stockholders as dividends or any other required cash payments to creditors and suppliers. d. if a firm is reporting its income in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, then its net income as reported on the income statement should be equal to its free cash flow. e. after-tax operating income is calculated as ebit(1 - t) + depreciation.

When the federal reserve buys and sells bonds to member banks, it is called a. monetary policy b. reserve ratio c. interest rate adjustment d. open market operations

An important application of regression analysis in accounting is in the estimation of cost. by collecting data on volume and cost and using the least squares method to develop an estimated regression equation relating volume and cost, an accountant can estimate the cost associated with a particular manufacturing volume. consider the following sample of production volumes and total cost data for a manufacturing operation. production volume (units) total cost ($) 400 4000 450 5000 550 5400 600 5900 700 6400 750 7000 compute b 1 and b 0 (to 2 decimals if necessary). b 1 b 0 complete the estimated regression equation (to 2 decimals if necessary). = + x what is the variable cost per unit produced (to 1 decimal)? $ compute the coefficient of determination (to 4 decimals). note: report r 2 between 0 and 1. r 2 = what percentage of the variation in total cost can be explained by the production volume (to 2 decimals)? % the company's production schedule shows 500 units must be produced next month. what is the estimated total cost for this operation (to 2 decimals)? $