ECO 561 Week 6 Signature Assignment Research Analysis for Business (Starbucks) NEW

Purpose of Assignment
This week students will review and revise their Week 3 Research Analysis for Business Signature Assignment based on economic analysis and the feedback provided by their facilitator. Students will also expand their Week 3 analyses to evaluate the challenges of expanding their chosen company’s production to a foreign market.

About Your Signature Assignment
This signature assignment is designed to align with specific program student learning outcome(s) in your program. Program Student Learning Outcomes are broad statements that describe what students should know and be able to do upon completion of their degree. The signature assignments might be graded with an automated rubric that allows the University to collect data that can be aggregated across a location or college/school and used for program improvements. 

Assignment Steps 

Revise your Week 3 assignment, Research Analysis for Business, using the feedback provided by your facilitator. This Week 6 report should only include one conclusion, so you will need to rewrite the conclusion you included in your Week 3 assignment, Research Analysis for Business. 

Select a foreign market in which to expand your chosen product. If you wish, you may use one of the countries your team analyzed in their Week 5 Comparative and Absolute Advantage Assignment. 

Prepare a minimum1,750-word report addressing the points listed below. The use of tables and/or charts to display economic data over the time period discussed is highly encouraged, you may submit any economic data in Microsoft® Excel® format in a separate file. You may use the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Federal Reserve of St. Louis’s FRED data, the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, and World Trade Organization, or other appropriate sources you might find on the Internet or in the University Library. The new sections of your report should:
• Evaluate current global economic conditions and their effects on macroeconomic indicators in your selected country. Provide forecasts for population growth, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, GDP per capita growth, export growth, and sales growth.
• Evaluate any competitors’ existing production in the chosen country.
• Assess sales forecasts in the selected country by using the Federal Reserve of St. Louis’s FRED data, the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, World Trade Organization, or other appropriate sources you might find on the Internet or in the University Library.
• Categorize the type of economy that exists in your selected country as closed, mixed, or market. What is the difference between these types of economies and how might this affect your expansion?
• Assess how your chosen country’s current credit market conditions, especially interest rates and the availability of financing, affect demand for your product or service and your planning or operating decision for your production in that country.
• Analyze the role of the selected country’s central bank on that country’s economy.
• Compare the availability, education, and job skills of the work force in the selected country. Discuss any additional challenges of international production, such as political stability, availability of government financing or other incentives, threat of capital controls, and exchange rate risks.
• Explain any additional supply chain challenges you anticipate if attempting to make your product in your chosen country and selling the product in other countries.
• Based on the data gathered and analysis performed for this report write a conclusion in which you:
• Create business strategies, including price and non-price strategies, based on your market structure to ensure the market share and potential market expansions and explore global opportunities for your business in a dynamic business environment and provide recommendations.
• Develop a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production by synthesizing the macroeconomic and microeconomic data presented.
• Propose how the firm’s position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take your recommended action.
• Recommend strategies for the firm to sustain its success going forward by evaluating the findings from demand trends, price elasticity, current stage of the business cycle, and government.
• Recommend any comparative advantages your company will have over competitors currently operating in that country, and defend your position, either for or against, expanding your company’s production into your chosen country based on your research. 

Integrate with the Week 3 Individual Assignment, and incorporate corrections and suggestions from the instructor’s feedback. The final report should be a minimum of 2,800 words. 

Cite a minimum of three peer reviewed sources not including the textbook. 

Include all peer-reviewed references and government economic data sources/references from Week 3. 

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

ECO 561 Week 5 Team Assignment Comparative and Absolute Advantage (USA, China, France) NEW

Develop a minimum 1,050-word analysis of the international economy in which you do the following:
Research each country below, using resources such as the CIA World Fact Book, World Bank data, World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Federal Reserve Bank. Research each of your three chosen country’s economic, political, and cultural development:
• USA
• France
• China

• Analyze measures of economic growth and of comparative and absolute advantage in international trade.
• Use tables and/or graphs to compare the following economic statistics/indicators of your three chosen countries for the most recent year available and for 2009 (the trough of the last economic cycle):
• Country Real GDP
• Country CPI
• Country Real Exports
• Country Real Imports
• Country Unemployment Rate
• Country Industrial Production
• Discuss reasons why the economic growth of the three countries varies. How does international trade influence the strength of the economy worldwide?
• Discuss the following for each country:
• At least two products that have provided the country an absolute advantage in trade (if any).
• At least two products that have provided the country a comparative advantage in trade.
• Factors that might have prevented any of your three chosen countries from achieving absolute and/or comparative advantages.
Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources. 

ECO 561 Week 4 Assignment Inflation and Analyses of Monetary Policies Presentation (2 PPT) NEW

ECO 561 Week 4 Assignment Inflation and Analyses of Monetary Policies

ECO 561 Week 4 AssignmentInflation and Analyses of Monetary Policies (2 Papers) NEW

Inflation and Analyses of Monetary Policies
Purpose of Assignment
This assignment will introduce students to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data and provide students with the skills to calculate inflation and interpret the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Note: The BLS is the primary source of information on inflation, but their data is re-posted in other sources, such as the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRED site, among others.
Assignment Steps
Use an internet search or the University Library to locate information on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Internet sites you might find useful include the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Federal Reserve of St. Louis FRED web site although you are allowed to use other sources.
Develop a minimum 700-word analysis of inflation by including the following:
• Choose a product or service you currently consume/use, such as apparel or educational services, that is included in the CPI’s “market basket.” Find the annual CPI index numbers for your chosen good or service for the years 1995, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Enter those index numbers in an Excel® file and calculate the percent change (inflation rates) in those index numbers from 1995 to 2005, from 1995 to 2010, and from 1995 to 2015.
• Analyze the trends in overall inflation over the last five years and whether your income has kept pace with inflation. How has inflation over the last five years affected you and/or your family?
• Discuss how a business manager, such as a human resources manager, might use CPI statistics.
Cite a minimum of three scholarly, peer-reviewed references.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment.

ECO 561 Week 3 Assignment Research Analysis for Business (Starbucks) NEW

Research Analysis for Business

Scenario: Imagine you are a business consultant to a Business. You have been asked to analyze, advise, and create recommendations on how the firm can ensure its future success in its current market.
Prepare a minimum 1,050-word analysis of economic data and business data to explain how the core economic principles impact the sustainability of the firm and what actions the firm can take to ensure success.
Address the following:
• Identify the market structure your chosen firm operates in, analyze your chosen firm’s current market share, and identify the firm’s local/global competitors. Analyze the barriers to entry in this market to illustrate the potential for new competition and its impact on your firm’s future in the market. Hints: Be sure you review the barriers to entry discussed in the course text. You might consider presenting the data graphically.
• Identify and explain trends in current macroeconomic indicators for last three years including:
• Current stage of the business cycle.
• Real gross domestic product (GDP).
• Inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI).
• Unemployment rate.
• Federal funds rate.
• Current rate for borrowing funds such as the so-called “prime rate.” Note: A requirement of the Week 1 Influence of Economics on Household Decision Making report was to gather data on the CPI, GDP, and interest rates, so you should consider reviewing the feedback you received on the Week 1 report.
• Evaluate trends in demand over last three years and explain their impact on the industry and the firm. Include quarterly (last two quarters) and annual sales (last three years) figures for the product your firm sells. Create business strategies by analyzing information and data related to the demand for and supply of your firm’s product(s) to support your recommendation for the firm’s actions. Remember to include a graphical representation of the data and information used in your analysis.
• Examine available, current data and information, such as pricing and the availability of substitutes, and explain how you could determine the price elasticity of demand for your firm’s product. Assess how the price elasticity of demand impacts the firm’s pricing decisions and revenue growth.
• Apply the concepts of variable and fixed costs to your firm for informing its output decisions. For instance, analyze how different kinds of costs (labor, research and development, raw materials) affect the firm’s level of output.
• Based on the data gathered and analysis performed for this report write a conclusion in which you:
• Create business strategies, including price and non-price strategies, based on your market structure to ensure the market share and potential market expansions and explore global opportunities for your business in a dynamic business environment and provide recommendations.
• Develop a recommendation for how the firm can manage its future production by synthesizing the macroeconomic and microeconomic data presented.
• Propose how the firm’s position within the market and among its competitors will allow it to take your recommended action.
• Recommend strategies for the firm to sustain its success going forward by evaluating the findings from demand trends, price elasticity, current stage of the business cycle, and government policies.
Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed references and a minimum of two government economic data sources/references.
Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

ECO 561 Week 2 Government Interventions Vs Market-Based Solutions

The theory of market economies emphasizes freedom of choice and limited government intervention. The classic argument for government intervention is market failure – the inability of the market economy to correct itself from a dysfunctional state (such as the Great Depression).

Examine one case of significant government intervention as it relates to your current industry of employment or an industry in which you are interested in working.

Examples of intervention programs include, but are not limited to:

US agriculture support programs

Low income support programs (Food Stamps, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families)

Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Obamacare

Low income rent controls and housing vouchers

Government promoting renewable energy sources, discouraging fossil fuel sources

Develop a 16-slide presentation including detailed speaker notes or voiceover including the following:

Describe the intervention and detail its history.

Analyze the arguments for government intervention as opposed to arguments for market-based solutions.

Examine who may be helped and who may be hurt by the selected government intervention.

Examine externalities and/or unintended consequences of such intervention.

Determine the cost trend of the intervention program since its implementation.

Evaluate the success or failure of the intervention in achieving its objectives and develop conclusions.

Defend the use of or discontinuation of the selected intervention.

Note: The use of tables and/or charts to display economic data over the time period discussed is highly encouraged.

Cite a minimum of three scholarly references.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

ECO 561 Week 1 Assignment Influence of Economics on Household Decision (2 Papers, 1000 words) NEW

Purpose of Assignment
To locate, retrieve, and evaluate the effects of macroeconomic indicators on your own decision making.
Assignment Steps
Resources: Tutorial help on Excel® and Word functions can be found on the Microsoft® Office website. There are also additional tutorials via the web offering support for Office products.
Scenario: Consider your last big purchase such as a car, appliances, home repairs, home purchase, computer equipment, college tuition, or another “big-ticket” item, which are often purchased using loans/financing (by borrowing money). Also consider your decision-making process that led you to choose a particular make, model, or brand of the product (or service) you purchased and whether it was the right time to make the purchase given economic conditions at the time of your purchase. While analyzing your decision, keep in mind everything from interest rates to the prices of complementary and substitute goods are driven by human economic behavior.
Develop a minimum 1,050-word analysis of your decision-making process in which you include the following:
• Retrieve statistics on Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and on Real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) by year for the last ten years. You can retrieve those statistics from internet sources including, but not limited to, the Federal Reserve of St. Louis’s FRED web site, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) web site, or another credible source of your choice. Post these statistics in a single worksheet of an Excel® workbook and submit your Excel® file with your report. In your report, discuss the latest 10-year trends in both GDP and PCE. Also discuss how the trends in GDP compare with trends in PCE. You are encouraged to include graphs of these statistics in your report; you could create the graphs in Excel®and copy them into your report.
• Retrieve statistics on the Effective Federal Funds Rate and on the Consumer Price Index: All Items Less Food and Energy by year for the last 30 years. You can retrieve those statistics from internet sources including, but not limited to, the Federal Reserve of St. Louis’s FRED web site, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) web site, or other credible sources of your choice. Post these statistics in a single worksheet of an Excel® workbook and submit your Excel® file with your report. In your report, discuss how the trends in the Effective Federal Funds Rate compare with trends in inflation. If you took out a loan to pay for your “big-ticket” purchase, what was the interest rate on your loan? Were interest rates rising or falling at that time?  Were interest rates relatively high or low at that time? You are also encouraged to include graphs of these statistics in your report.
• Discuss the influence of any Federal government or state government programs, such as tax credits or tax deductions for energy-saving/efficiency purchases, on your decision to make your last big purchase; or if government incentives did not factor into your decision, explain why not.
• Develop conclusions about the economy’s influence on personal and business decision-making relative to purchases of big-ticket items, investments, or other major purchases.
Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources. Note: The Federal Reserve of St. Louis, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics can be cited to fulfill this requirement.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment. Be sure you submit your paper as well as the two required Excel® files.

ECO 561 Final Exam Guide NEW

1) Suppose that in the clothing market, production costs have fallen, but the equilibrium price and quantity purchased have both increased.
Based on this information you can conclude that
A. the supply of clothing has grown faster than the demand for clothing
B. demand for clothing has grown faster than the supply of clothing
C. the supply of and demand for clothing have grown by the same proportion
D. there is no way to determine what has happened to supply and demand with this information

30) A firm under monopolistic competition will earn
A. a positive economic profit as it has some monopoly power
B. zero economic profit as it sets P = MC
C. zero economic profit as its P = ATC
D. a positive economic profit as it sets MC = MR