The policy of naming each product differently is known as branding.

Aprice ceiling is “binding” if the price ceiling is set below the equilibrium price. suppose that the equilibrium price is $5. if a price ceiling is set at $6, this will not affect the market in any way since $5 remains a legally allowable price (since $5 < $6). a price ceiling of $6 is called a “non-binding” price ceiling. on the other hand, if the price ceiling is set at $4, the price ceiling is “binding” because the natural equilibrium price is $5 but that is no longer allowed. what happens when there is a binding price ceiling? at a price below the equilibrium price, quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied. there is a shortage. normally, price increases eliminate shortages by increasing quantity supplied and decreasing quantity demanded. in this case, however, price increases are not allowed past the price ceiling. we therefore predict that the observed market price will be right at the price ceiling and there will be a permanent shortage. the observed quantity bought and sold will be dictated by the quantity supplied at the price ceiling. although consumers would like to buy more, there are no more units for sale

Define the marginal rate of substitution between two goods (x and y). if a consumer’s preferences are given by u(x,y) = x3/4y1/4, compute the consumer’s marginal rate of substitution as a function of x and y. calculate the mrs if the consumer has chosen to consumer 48 units of x and 16 units of y. show your work. (use the back of the page if necessary.

You are working on a bid to build two city parks a year for the next three years. this project requires the purchase of $249,000 of equipment that will be depreciated using straight-line depreciation to a zero book value over the three-year project life. ignore bonus depreciation. the equipment can be sold at the end of the project for $115,000. you will also need $18.000 in net working capital for the duration of the project. the fixed costs will be $37000 a year and the variable costs will be $148,000 per park. your required rate of return is 14 percent and your tax rate is 21 percent. what is the minimal amount you should bid per park? (round your answer to the nearest $100) (a) $214,300 (b) $214,100 (c) $212,500 (d) $208,200 (e) $208,400