Earl sells lemonade in a competitive market on a busy street corner in Philadelphia. His production function is f(x1, x2) = x1^1/3 x2^1/3, where output is measured in gallons, x1 is the number of pounds of lemons he uses, and x2 is the number of labor-hours spent squeezing them. a. Does Earl have constant, decreasing, or increasing returns to scale?
b. Let w1 and w2 denote the cost of a pound of lemon and the wage rate for lemon squeezers, respectively. Write down Earl’s cost minimization problem.
c. Solve Earl’s cost minimization problem.
d. What is Earl’s cost function?

Alyeska services company, a division of a major oil company, provides various services to the operators of the north slope oil field in alaska. data concerning the most recent year appear below: sales $18,000,000 net operating income $6,300,000 average operating assets $35,200,000 1. compute the margin for alyeska services company. (round your answer to 2 decimal places.) 2. compute the turnover for alyeska services company. (round your answer to 2 decimal places.) 3. compute the return on investment (roi) for alyeska services company. (round your intermediate calculations and final answer to 2 decimal places.)

When cell phones were first entering the market, they were relatively large and reception was undependable. all cell phones were essentially the same. but as the technology developed, many competitors entered, introducing features unique to their phones. today, cell phones are only a small fraction of the size and weight of their predecessors. consumers can buy cell phones with color screens, cameras, internet access, daily planners, or voice activation (and any combination of these features). the history of the cell phone demonstrates what marketing trend?

(a) what do you think will happen if the price of non-gm crops continues to rise? why? (b) what will happen if the price of non-gm food drops? why?