Economics for the Soul

Suppose student A is enrolled in a university economics class due to a supply of economic classes offered and the demand by the university administration and core curriculum requirements. He has not had a math-related class for more than 6 years due to an extreme allergic reaction which often manifests itself by a shortness of breath, fits of rage, and frequent episodes of trichotillomania. He has ten hours to study or work each day and his test scores relate to the amount of time he spends studying, as seen in the following demand schedule.

Quantity (hrs)                   Score (%)
0                                          0
1                                           5
2                                          10
3                                          20
4                                          35
5                                          55
6                                          62
7                                          66
8                                         69
9                                         72
10                                       73.5

Assume Student A is in a perfectly competitive market, answer the following questions.
A) Graph the above information. What is the optimal time to study for student A? (hint: notice the diminishing marginal product)
B) What would be the marginal benefit of studying for one more hour each day? Would it be worth it?
C) In the short run, should he stay open or should he temporarily shut down? In the long run, will he exit the market? Explain.
D) Is Economics 110 a sunk cost?

These Days, It's All About Babies

I learned the other day why my blog audience is so pathetically small. To be fair, I guess I can't blame it on a singular event or factor. Doing that would be like blaming the entire success of the movie Titanic on the sinking ship. It's not that I want my blog to attract lots of attention as much as it is to help people believe that I'm still alive and kicking.

As I was perusing through the other blogs I like to read, I came across Stephanie and Lon's blog about the adventures of their baby, Eden. I admit, it was a great blog which included some really sweet pictures of their baby surrounded by entertaining commentary. I really can't compete with that. What impressed me the most about their blog was the amount of comments that were posted at the end of it. If blog viewership was measured by the number of comments in each blog, Stephanie and Lon's blog compared to mine would be similar to the circulation of the New York Times compared to the Davis County Clipper. Does anyone read the Clipper anyway?

So, the lesson that I learned from reading Stephanie and Lon's blog is that it is all about the babies. That's the only thing people are interested in nowadays. This little realization of mine didn't help my situation any. You see, I don't have a baby, I'm not a baby, nor do I have close access to a baby that I could borrow to blog about. What I have done, however, is dusted off some of my very own baby pictures from the Farmer family vault, some of which have never been seen by my own blood, in hopes to increase my blog audience. Enjoy!



This is a nice picture of me swimming when I was only eight months old. Water has always seemed like my natural habitat.



Halloween was always a fun time at the Farmer's. However, I wasn't too fond of getting my picture taken in a pumpkin and it took me nearly ten more years to eat pumpkin pie.



This was an awful day in my life. The physical scars healed quickly, but the emotional scars have lasted to this very day.

There you go, people. I delivered what the world really wants to see. Babies. I hope you enjoyed my stroll through memory lane!