Write a well reasoned one page argument on NCAA policies regarding amateurism and the student athlete model.  Include each of the following:
1.  Address at least one of the 13 myths from the assigned article.
2.  Andy Schwartz (the author of the 13 myths article and frequent contributer in anti-trust cases against the NCAA) proposes the NCAA simplifies to the three following rules.  How would NCAA athletics change if this policy was adopted?
(a)  All athletes must meet the University criteria for being a full-time student.
(b)  You can play for 4 years.  (redshirts permitted)
(c)  You cannot play if you have played your sport at a major league level.  (This means semi-pro and minor league players are eligible.)

a) Read the attached NY Times article.

b) Write a report (clearly typed in a MS-Word file using MS-Word). Your report should be broken into two sections:

Section 1: Summary of the article (first paragraph): Tell me what the article is about and what major points the author is making, and his/her conclusions in a paragraph (5-10 sentences long at the most). Do not copy/paste excerpts from the article. Summary should be in your own words and should be based on your understanding of the issue covered in the article. No copying/pasting from various sources (just in your own words).

Section 2: Your thoughts on the article (at the most two paragraphs long): Critically evaluate author’s findings. For example, tell me why you agree or disagree with the author or his/her points, by supporting your own points by giving examples, or by providing convincing evidence for your points. You could also highlight the shortcomings of the article. (e.g., Do you share or do not share any of the economists’ point of view outlined in the NY Times article? Why? Why not?). Again no copying/pasting from various sources (just in your own words).

** Read the attached article and answer the questions **

Moderna shares jump along with broader market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed at records Monday after a second set of upbeat test results from a potential Covid-19 vaccine lifted shares of companies that have been walloped by the pandemic.

A)

Question 1:  What news from Moderna caused the positive market moves on Monday?

Question 2:  How have small company stocks performed recently?  What index did the article use to measure small company stock performance?

Question 3:  How will stimulus affect the markets and do you forsee any risk that could mitigate the affect from the stimulus?

Question 4: What have other asset classes signaled to the market about their economics expectations going forward? Do you agree or disagree?

Question 5:  Does the speed of production concern you?  Would you take the initial deployment of the Covid Vaccine?  If not, when would you consider taking it?

(Separate your response by question number)

B) 

Post a link of One article that supports One of your responses to the questions above and/or provides more insight on the subject discussed in the article.

Answer the following questions in your text and submit the answers and any supporting spreadsheets to the Week Five Dropbox.

Application Question 2, page 255

The following paragraphs provide a description of the competition between Home Depot and Lowes on selling flowering plants:41
41 Miguel Bustillo, The Garden Gloves Come OffBig Box Retailers Battle to Engineer Prettier, Sturdier, Longer-Lasting Blooms, Wall Street Journal (Online) April 27, 2011.

In the spring Home Depot and Lowes engage in an annual arms race to engineer and develop new scientifically altered versions of common flowering plants that are designed to bloom brighter or withstand neglect longer. The goal in particular is to sell something the other guy doesnt.
Home Depot is the worlds largest home-improvement chain with $68 billion in annual revenue, while Lowes is the second-largest with $49 billion in annual revenue. Although spring is the peak selling season for all merchandise, plants and trees are used to entice consumers into the stores. Analysts estimate that for every dollar customers spend on plants, they spend $3 on accessories such as hoses, shovels, and gloves. Both companies employ weather forecasters to advise them on when plants should appear in stores in different parts of the country.
Lowes uses a team of Ph.D. horticulturalists to choose among a thousand possible blooms developed by breeders around the world. After determining how the plants grow in different climates, the growers test mass production of hundreds and then thousands of plants. Both retailers try to secure exclusive rights to popular new varieties, although sometimes they are exclusive in name only.
Lowes uses a greenhouse complex in Huntersville, NC to grow plants and conduct consumer focus groups where customers can identify the flower varieties they most admire. Home Depot uses another greenhouse complex in Mills River, NC, two hours west, for the same purpose.

Discuss how the oligopoly models presented in this chapter apply to the behavior of Home Depot and Lowes.

Application Question 3 , page 287

The following discussion pertains to the pricing policies of Linear Technology Corp.:65

65 George Anders, In a Tech Backwater, a Profit Fortress Rises, Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2007.

The semiconductor industry Linear Technology Corp. has maintained strong profitability by operating at the fringes where competition is low and margins are high. This midsize company makes 7,500 arcane, unglamorous products that solve real-world problems for a long list of customers, including analog chips that are too cheap for customers to haggle over, but perform chores too important to ignore. Many of Linears chips cost less than 50 cents to build and sell for three to four times as much, but customers seldom complain about the markup.

Linear made a 39% profit on its $1.1 billion sales in 2006, more than five times the average for U.S. industrial companies. However, other bigger chip makers, including Texas Instruments Inc., Richtek Technology Corp. of Taiwan, and Freescale Semiconductor Inc. of Austin, Texas, are now moving into the market and others may follow suit. Unlike in the digital chip world, in which a single winning design bought by a few big customers can yield huge profits, Linear would rather see its order book packed with small to midsize orders from companies too busy to haggle over prices. Intermec Inc., which makes mobile data scanners, uses Linear chips to obtain extra life from its devices batteries. The chips total cost is less than 5% of the materials budget. Performance is crucial for this company; price is not.

Traditionally the dozen or so major analog chip companies have tiptoed around one anothers product lines, helping keep profit margins high. Each company established its strength decades ago, making it easy to extend existing product families and deepen relations with longtime customers. We chip away a little at each others specialties, says Jerald Fishman, chief executive of Analog Devices. But there isnt a lot of direct competition.

Discuss how price elasticity of demand influences the pricing strategies of Linear Technology Corp. What market model best describes this industry? Explain.

This week the focus changes from the microeconomic factors that affect management decisions, i.e., market structures, costs, and pricing strategies to the larger events found in macroeconomics such as level of income, employment, and output.

The framework utilized to provide an overall measurement of economic activity is called the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

1 – Review the most current GDP measurement for the U.S. and one other country. Identify any differences between the two measurements and explain why the differences exist, i.e., the components of the measurements are different.

Part of macroeconomics is the spending behavior of individuals and what factors influence this behavior. One factor that significantly influences individual spending is consumer credit.  Following the subprime market debacle financial institutions have increased their requirements for credit: referred to as tightening credit. Based on what has happened with consumer credit in the past few years complete the following task

2 – How has the tightening of consumer credited effected individual spending and in turn the U.S. economy? Has this strategy by the financial institutions helped our economic recovery?

Answer the following questions in your text and submit the answers and any supporting spreadsheets.

Application Question 2, page 319

From the Bureau of Economic Analysis Web page (www.bea.gov), compare real GDP for 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. Show the percentage change in real GDP over each of those decades. Do the percentages of GDP spent on consumption (C), investment (I), government (G), exports (X), and imports (M) differ significantly among those years? Are there changes in the balance of trade over the period? Explain.

Application Question 1, page 359

Use the aggregate expenditure model developed in this chapter to explain the following statements:

A – Coming amid continued turmoil in the financial and credit markets, the report sent stocks lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 146.70 points Friday to close at 11,893.69.

B – Administration officials said they were confident conditions would improve as tax rebates that are part of the recent $152 billion economic-stimulus package begin to reach consumers.

C – The Fed is expected to cut interest rates again to prop up the economy.

The paper should address the issue of a separate tax system for Ontario.  As you have learned, Ontario assesses tax by having taxpayers fill out a separate form calculating the tax.  In the past, Ontario simply determined its tax by taking a straight percentage of the federal tax, a system still used by some provinces (this approach is sometimes called a tax-on-tax or TOT system).  A number of years ago (about 20), Ontario went to a separate calculation, but still uses the federal definition of taxable income (this is called a tax-on-income or TOI system).  In contrast, Quebec has taxpayers fill out an entirely separate tax return, defining taxable income differently than the federal government does (the Quebec system has been in effect far longer than Ontarios).  Some people think that Ontario should follow Quebecs lead, and move to a separate tax return; other people believe that Ontario has already gone too far, and that the complications in doing separate calculations impose a needless cost on taxpayers.

Your paper should begin by detailing some of the ways in which Ontarios calculation of tax liability differs from that used by the federal government.  Look at three different taxpayers in three different income categories: a low-income taxpayer with income of $30,000; a middle-income taxpayer with income of $80,000; and a high-income taxpayer with income of $300,000.  Keep the calculations relatively simple by ignoring all deductions and credits except the basic personal amount.  That is, ignore any C.P.P. or E.I. contributions and all Ontario property and sales tax credits, as well as the Ontario tax reduction.  Compute the average and marginal tax rates for each taxpayer first for the federal system alone, and then for the provincial system alone.  In practical terms, does it matter very much (that is, would the net results for the three taxpayers be much different if Ontario simply used a TOT system rather than a TOI system)?  Is the Ontario system more or less progressive than the federal system (note that it is quite hard to compare progressivity between tax systems, so you may only be able to make some general statements here)?  In what other ways does the Ontario system differ from the federal system?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a separate tax calculation (as opposed to a TOT system)?

You should then go back and try to determine why Ontario made this change.  This will be hard (I did not turn up much in a casual search), so it is OK to speculate on why this happened.  Do you think it was a good idea or a bad idea?  Explain your reasoning.

Finally, why does Quebec go even further than Ontario in breaking its system away from the federal system?  Should Ontario move closer to the Quebec model (explain why or why not)?  Interestingly, in the area of consumption taxes, Quebec and Ontario for a long time went in opposite directions.  That is, Quebec harmonized its provincial sales tax with the G.S.T. very early on, while Ontario had a separately defined sales tax base until very recently.  Comment on this apparent paradox that is, on the fact that Quebec has chosen to have a less harmonized income tax, but was very quick to adopt a more harmonized sales tax.