Chapter 1: Preliminaries

PART I

INTRODUCTION

MICROECONOMICS AND MARKETS

CHAPTER 1

PRELIMINARIES

TEACHING NOTES

The first two chapters reacquaint students with the microeconomics that they learned in their introductory course: Chapter 1 focuses on the general subject of economics, while Chapter 2 develops supply and demand analysis. The use of examples in Chapter 1 facilitates students’ complete understanding of abstract economic concepts. Examples in this chapter discuss markets for prescription drugs (Section 1.2), introduction of a new automobile (Section 1.4), design of automobile emission standards (Section 1.4), the minimum wage (Section 1.3), and real and nominal prices of eggs and education (Section 1.3). Discussing some of these, or another, example is a useful way to review some important economic concepts such as scarcity, making tradeoffs, building economic models to explain how consumers and firms make decisions, and the distinction between competitive and non-competitive markets. Parts I and II of the text assume competitive markets, market power is discussed in Part III, and some consequences of market power are discussed in Part IV of the text.

Review Question (2) illustrates the difference between positive and normative economics and provides for a productive class discussion. Other examples for discussion are available in Kearl, Pope, Whiting, and Wimmer, “A Confusion of Economists,” American Economic Review (May 1979).

The chapter concludes with a discussion of real and nominal prices. Given our reliance on dollar prices in the chapters that follow, students should understand that we are concerned with prices relative to a standard, which in this case is dollars for a particular year.

Review questions

1. It is often said that a good theory is one that can in principle be refuted by an empirical, data-oriented study. Explain why a theory that cannot be evaluated empirically is not a good theory.

There are two steps in evaluating a theory: first, you should examine the reasonability of the theory’s assumptions; second, you should test the theory’s predictions by comparing them with facts. If a theory cannot be tested, it cannot be accepted or rejected. Therefore, it contributes little to our understanding of reality.

2. Which of the following two statements involves positive economic analysis and which normative? How do the two kinds of analysis differ?

a. Gasoline rationing (allocating each year to each individual an annual maximum amount of gasoline that can be purchased) is a poor social policy because it interferes with the workings of the competitive market system.

b. Gasoline rationing is a policy under which more people are made worse off than are made better off.

Positive economic analysis describes what is. Normative economic analysis describes what ought to be. We know from economic analysis that a constraint placed on supply will change the market equilibrium. Statement (a) merges both types of analysis. First, statement (a) makes a positive statement that gasoline rationing “interferes with the workings of the competitive market system.” Second, by making the normative statement (i.e., a value judgment) that gasoline rationing is a “poor social policy,” statement (a) confines itself to a conclusion derived from positive economic analysis of the policy.

Statement (b) is positive because it states what the effect of gasoline rationing is without making a value judgment about the desirability of the rationing policy.

3. Suppose the price of unleaded regular octane gasoline were 20 cents per gallon higher in New Jersey than in Oklahoma. Do you think there would be an opportunity for arbitrage (i.e., that firms could buy gas in Oklahoma and then sell it at a profit in New Jersey)? Why or why not?

Oklahoma and New Jersey represent separate geographic markets for gasoline because of high transportation costs. If transportation costs were zero, a price increase in New Jersey would prompt arbitrageurs to buy gasoline in Oklahoma and sell it in New Jersey. It is unlikely in this case that the 20 cents per gallon difference in costs would be high enough to create a profitable opportunity for arbitrage, given both transactions costs and transportation costs.

4. In Example 1.2, what economic forces explain why the real price of eggs has fallen while the real price of a college education has increased? How have these changes affected consumer choices?

The price and quantity of goods (e.g., eggs) and services (e.g., a college education) are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. The real price of eggs fell from 1970 to 1985 because of either a reduction in demand (consumers switched to lower-cholesterol food), a reduction in production costs (improvements in egg production technology), or both. In response, the price of eggs relative to other foods decreased. The real price of a college education rose because of either an increase in demand (e.g., more people recognized the value of an education), an increase in the cost of education (e.g., increase in staff salaries), or both.

5. Suppose that the Japanese yen rises against the U.S. dollar; that is, it will take more dollars to buy any given amount of Japanese yen. Explain why this increase simultaneously increases the real price of Japanese cars for U.S. consumers and lowers the real price of U.S. automobiles for Japanese consumers.

As the value of the yen grows relative to the dollar (and if the costs of production for both Japanese and U.S. automobiles remain unchanged), more dollars exchange for fewer yen. In response to the change in the exchange rate, the purchase of a Japanese automobile priced in yen requires more dollars. Similarly, the purchase of a U.S. automobile priced in dollars requires fewer yen.