2024 – Week 1 Assignment 1 Economic Decisions In Chapter 1 of the course text you read about

Week 1 Assignment 1

 

Economic Decisions

 

In Chapter 1 of the course text, you read about three important decision pitfalls in economic decisions. One of these is the pitfall of ignoring implicit costs.

 

Assume that you are considering a 7-night vacation to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in March. You estimate the total cost of the trip to Fort Walton Beach at $1,250, including discounted airfare. However, a resort at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is offering 3 free nights with a 7-night stay. The advertised value of this special 3-night free offer is $397. In addition, you must use a $200 flight coupon that you received from an airline last December to compensate you for a 6-hour flight delay. After applying the $200 flight coupon and the $397 for the 3 free nights, the total out-of-pocket cost for the trip to Myrtle Beach is $1,100.

 

Submit by Day 7 a 300- to 700-word paper which addresses the following:

 

Based on the total explicit and implicit costs, should you take the trip to Fort Walton Beach or to Myrtle Beach? Explain your answer and support it with total cost estimates (explicit plus implicit) for each trip option.

 

Assignments must bein APA style and format. Information on APA style is available at theWalden Writing Center.

In addition to fully answering the assignment’s questions, each assignment will be evaluated for clarity of writing, critical analysis of the issues, proper use of references to support the positions taken, and adherence to APA standards.

 

Week 1 Learning Resources

This page contains the Learning Resources for this week. Be sure to scroll down the page to see all of this week’s assigned Learning Resources.

Required Resources

Readings

• Frank, R. H., & Bernanke, B. S. (2010). Principles of microeconomics, brief edition (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
  • Chapter 1, “Thinking Like an Economist” (pp. 3–33)

    Chapter 1 introduces the concept of scarcity and presents the unavoidable fact that our needs and wants are unlimited and that the resources available to satisfy them are limited. The chapter also explains that, in an environment of scarcity, making choices on the basis of a comparison of costs and benefits is a useful approach to decision making.

    Focus on the inputs to the process of comparing costs and benefits. In addition, review the appendix, “Working with Equations, Graphs, and Tables.” This appendix provides a review of some of the mathematical skills you need to use in this course.

Media

• Kahn Academy. (2014k). Marginal utility [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/choices-opp-cost-tutorial/marginal-utility-tutorial/v/marginal-utility

  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 12 minutes.

• Kahn Academy. (2014e). Equalizing marginal utility per dollar spent [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/choices-opp-cost-tutorial/marginal-utility-tutorial/v/equalizing-marginal-utility-per-dollar-spent

  Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 8 minutes.

Optional Resources

• Frank, R. H., & Bernanke, B. S. (2011). Principles of microeconomics, brief edition (2nd ed.) [Supplemental material]. Retrieved from http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/0077316770/student_view0/index.html