could result in overall higher prices for consumers since various competitors are all pricing the same to maximize their profits.

Suppose that kenji, an economist from an am talk radio program, and lucia, an economist from a school of industrial relations, are arguing over health insurance. the following dialogue shows an excerpt from their debate: lucia: a popular topic for debate among politicians as well as economists is the idea of providing government assistance for health benefits. kenji: i think it is oppressive for the government to tax people who take care of themselves in order to pay for health insurance for those who are obese. lucia: i disagree. i think government funding of health insurance is useful to ensure basic fairness. the disagreement between these economists is most likely due to . despite their differences, with which proposition are two economists chosen at random most likely to agree? lawyers make up an excessive percentage of elected officials. minimum wage laws do more to harm low-skilled workers than them. tariffs and import quotas generally reduce economic welfare.

You are the manager of the packaging department in a cookie factory. (obviously, the packaging employees cannot eat the cookies that are transferred in during the period.) after your employees insert cookies into colorful packages (step 1) for display on store shelves, the packages of cookies are then boxed using cardboard cartons (step 2) for shipment to stores. each unit of product is represented by a carton of packaged cookies. the packaging department began the period with 1,000 units of cookies. during the period, 5,000 units of cookies were transferred in from the baking department and 5,500 units of cookies were transferred out to the finished goods department. the number of units of cookies in the ending inventory of the packaging department equals:

Shrieves casting company is considering adding a new line to its product mix, and the capital budgeting analysis is being conducted by sidney johnson, a recently graduated mba. the production line would be set up in unused space in the main plant. the machinery’s invoice price would be approximately $200,000, another $10,000 in shipping charges would be required, and it would cost an additional $30,000 to install the equipment. the machinery has an economic life of 4 years, and shrieves has obtained a special tax ruling that places the equipment in the macrs 3-year class. the machinery is expected to have a salvage value of $25,000 after 4 years of use. the new line would generate incremental sales of 1,250 units per year for 4 years at an incremental cost of $100 per unit in the first year, excluding depreciation. each unit can be sold for $200 in the first year. the sales price and cost are both expected to increase by 3% per year due to inflation. further, to handle the new line, the firm’s net working capital would have to increase by an amount equal to 12% of sales revenues. the firm’s tax rate is 40%, and its overall weighted average cost of capital, which is the risk-adjusted cost of capital for an average project (r), is 10%. define “incremental cash flow.” (1) should you subtract interest expense or dividends when calculating project cash flow?