代做LUBS2140 Intermediate Microeconomics Semester Two 2022/2023代写Java编程

LUBS2140

Intermediate Microeconomics

Semester Two 2022/2023

Section A - Answer all questions

200 words per question

Question 1

Figure 1 shows a utility function for an individual. What are the individual’s risk preferences? Explain your answer.

Figure 1

(10 marks)

Question 2

Table 1 shows the proportion of UK adults that are smokers, the average price of a  pack of cigarettes and the mean income (adjusted for inflation) in the UK for the last 20 years. You are working as an economist for the Government Economic Service   and you have been asked to consider what measures can be used to reduce the proportion of cigarette smokers. Use the data in Table 1 and what you know about   Marshallian demand to make and explain your recommendations. Is there any other data that you would request in addition to the below?

Table 1: UK Cigarettes Smokers, Cigarette Prices and Income.

Year	Proportion of cigarette smokers (All persons aged 16 and over)	RPI: Average price - Cigarettes 20 king size filter	Mean real equivalised household disposable income of individuals (adjusted for CPI)
2021	12.7	1152	38994
2020	14.5	1111	39218
2019	15.8	1077	37724
2018	16.6	1023	37330
2017	16.8	954	37956
2016	16.1	930	38078
2015	17.8	888	36875
2014	18.8	840	36153
2013	19.2	776	34735
2012	20.4	710	35421
2011	19.8	652	36240
2010	20.3	586	37689
2009	21.0	543	36420
2008	21.1	531	38670
2007	20.9	502	37397
2006	22.0	476	36621
2005	23.9	457	35461
2004	24.6	439	34037
2003	26.0	424	33635
2002	25.9	414	32733
2001	26.9	412	30341

Source: ONS (2023)

(10 marks)

Question 3

What is segment AB depicting in Figure 2? Explain the diagram using an example.

Figure 2

(10 marks)

Question 4

A producer has the following problem:

According to producer theory, what variables would get the producer to increase the demand for labour? What variables are missing from the theory? Explain. (10 marks)

Section B - Answer two questions

600 words per question

Question 5

Alex has an Instagram account and is keen to become an ‘influencer’ . Alex has noticed that they will get one new follower each time they post two pictures of a cat and three pictures of food. It takes Alex 30 minutes to find and take a picture of a cat and 20 minutes to order and take a picture of their food.

Unfortunately, Alex tends to be quite busy during an average week. They sleep nine hours a day, work for 50 hours a week and find that other activities (such as actually  eating and travelling) take up around 47 hours a week. Alex can spend the remaining time trying to get as many new followers on Instagram per week as they can.

(a) What is Alex’s utility function? Explain. Draw a set of indifference curves for Alex. (4 marks)

(b) What is Alex’s budget constraint? Explain. Draw this on your diagram for (a). (6 marks)

(c) What is the optimal number of new followers that Alex can get in a week? Explain and show your calculations. (8 marks)

(d) Alex is unhappy about the number of new followers that they can get per week. Using what you know about demand functions in this situation, what can Alex do to increase the number of followers per week? What factors that are not part of the demand function could Alex use to get more followers per week? Explain. (12 marks)

Question 6

Eli owns a social media site that is worth £44 million. There is a 25% chance that the value of shares will become worth £20 million. Eli is hoping to convince an insurance company to provide cover at a fair rate of £0.25 per £1 of cover. Eli’s utility function   is u = w 1/2

(a) Prove that at a ‘fair rate’, Eli will purchase full insurance coverage. (8 marks)

(b) Sketch the utility of wealth diagram for Eli with wealth on the x-axis and utility on the y-axis. Ensure that you indicate the total cost of the insurance to Eli and the maximum amount that Eli would be willing to pay for the insurance. (8 marks)

(c)  If the insurance premium is YK , where K  is the coverage, then a fair rate of insurance is when Y  = π , where π  is the probability of the insurance company having to pay out. Show what would happen to Eli’s optimal insurance coverage if the insurance company opted to charge a rate of Y above the fair rate. (6 marks)

(d) Do you think that an insurance company would provide full cover at the fair rate? Explain. (8 marks)

Question 7

Tim’s Coffee shop is planning to produce and sell 300000 coffees in 2023. Tim’s Coffee Shop’s production function is:

f(L, K) = 40L0.8 K 0.2 ,

Where L and K are the inputs of labour and capital, respectively. Tim’s Coffee Shop’s fixed cost of production is £10000. Wages per hour are £20 and rent per hour is £10. Tim’s Coffee Shop has a fixed cost of £10000.

(a) Find Tim’s Coffee Shop’s total cost function. (8 marks)

(b) Tim’s Coffee Shop has a rival who has the following total cost function:

TC = 1000 + 10Q2  + Q.

(i)       What is the rival coffee shop’s short run supply curve if fixed costs are sunk? (6 marks)

(ii)       The rival coffee shop makes a total revenue of £2000. What should they do in the long run? (6 marks)

(c) Many coffee shops have been closing due to the ‘cost of living’ crisis. Explain the decisions that these coffee shops are making using producer (cost) theory. Does the theory need any additions to help explain the phenomenon we casually observe?

Explain. (10 marks)