Module 1-4 Journal Entries (24%)

Module 1 Journal Entries (6%)

Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: In less than 100 words, describe your opportunity cost
of studying economics today.

Note

Please keep your journal entries in a document called “ECON 1901 Journal_First
Name_Last Name_ DD_MM_YYYY” and submit the document at the end of Module 4
and again at the end of Module 7. Throughout the course, keep adding your journal
entries to the same document as you complete them, making sure you name each
entry and include the journal topic/question as well as your answer. 

Rubric

Description Marks
Provides an appropriate example from everyday life. 10
Total 10
Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry after watching the 2 following videos:

View Transcript

Laura Lamb (n.d.)

View Transcript

Laura Lamb (2020, June 16)

Consider a simple economy that uses all its resources to produce two goods, guns
and butter. Suppose the economy is currently using all its resources to produce all
guns and no butter. Using this example,

1. Make a table for this economy putting in values that illustrate increasing
opportunity costs,
2. Explain how and why increasing opportunity costs occur as the economy
moves from producing all guns to all butter.
Rubric

Description Marks
Creates a table with values illustrating increasing opportunity costs. 6
Explains how and why increasing opportunity costs occurs. 4
Total 10
Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry after watching the following video: In less than 150
words, explain what goods Patti and Charlie have a comparative advantage in
producing and how you know.

View Transcript

Khan Academy (2011, December 30) CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US

Rubric

Description Marks
Explains what goods Patti and Charlie have comparative advantage in producing. 6
Explains how they arrived at the answer. 4
Total 10
Module 2 Journal Entries (6%)

Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: Think of a product whose demand or supply has been
affected during the covid-19 pandemic. Identify a determinant of either supply or
demand that has changed resulting in a new equilibrium. Describe with an
explanation in less than 200 words and a graph, illustrating the original equilibrium,
a shift in one curve, and the new market equilibrium.

Rubric

Description Marks
Identifies a product affected (in demand and supply) by the Covid-19 pandemic. 2
Identifies a supply or demand determinant. 3
Draws a graph illustrating the concept. 2.5
Explains the concept. 2.5
Total 10
Journal Entry
Complete a Journal Entry: With reference to the table of "Real World Elasticities"
and the determinants of elasticities discussed in this section, answer the following
questions in a journal entry between 150 and 300 words:

1. Why is the price elasticity of demand for eggs is much lower than for peanut
butter?
2. Why does Mountain Dew have the highest elasticity?
3. Why is the price elasticity of demand for rice is much lower than for beef?

Rubric

Description Marks
Explains why the price elasticity of demand for eggs is much lower than for peanut
3
butter.
Explains why Mountain Dew has the highest elasticity. 3
Explains why the price elasticity of demand for rice is much lower than for beef. 3
Total 9
Module 3 Journal Entries (6%)

Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: Consider the market for cheeseburgers in Canada,

where P= 20 -0.5Qd & P = 4 + 0.5Qs, where Q is one burger.

 Calculate the equilibrium price and quantity of cheeseburgers.

 Calculate consumer surplus.
 Calculate producer surplus.
 Calculate total surplus.
 Now, suppose the government implements a tax on cheeseburgers in an
attempt to reduce fast food consumption. The new supply curve, with the tax
is: P= 6 + 0.5Qs. Calculate the change in consumer surplus, producer surplus
and total surplus.

Rubric

Description Marks
Correctly calculates the equilibrium price and quantity of cheeseburgers. 2
Correctly calculates consumer surplus. 2
Correctly calculates producer surplus. 2
Correctly calculates total surplus. 1
Correctly calculates the change (after the new tax on cheeseburgers is implemented) in
3
consumer surplus, producer surplus and total surplus.
Total 10
Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: Address the following questions, in 200–300 words,

using the concept of “cultural norms”, as discussed in the video on the tragedy of
the commons and "Aboriginal Perspectives on Sustainable Development". (Be sure
to use your own words and quotation marks with referencing where applicable).
How can Canadian society learn from Indigenous culture to deal with problems
associated with common-property resources (tragedy of the commons)? Do you
think that Canadian culture can evolve to adopt Indigenous perspectives on
sustainability? Explain.

View Transcript

Marginal Revolution University. (2015, June 26) CC BY-ND 4.0

Rubric

Description Marks
Articulates thoughts on how Canadian society can learn from Indigenous culture to deal
7
with problems associated with common-property resources (tragedy of the commons).
Explains thoughts on how Canadian culture can evolve to adopt Indigenous perspectives
3
on sustainability.
Total 10
Module 4 Journal Entries (6%)

Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: Using the concepts in Section 6.1 and 6.2 (up to the
subsection “from utility to demand”) along with concepts learned in Module 3,
answer the following:

Raj loves burgers, but eventually tires of them. Raj’s willingness to pay for each
additional burger per week in illustrated in the table below:

1. If Raj eats five burgers per week, what is the total value he places on his
weekly burgers?
2. If the market price of a burger is $6, how many burgers will Raj buy and eat
in one week?
3. If the market price of a burger is $6, what is weekly consumer surplus Raj
gets from eating burgers? 
Burgers Raj’s willingness to pay
First $15
Second $13
Third $10
Fourth $7
Fifth $5
Sixth $2
Seventh $0
Rubric

Description Marks
Correctly calculates the total value Raj places on his weekly burgers. 2
Correctly calculates how many burgers Raj buys and eats in one week if the market price
4
of a burger is $6.
Correctly calculates the weekly consumer surplus that Raj gets from eating burgers if the
4
market price of a burger is $6.
Total 10
Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: In your own words, explain the concept of a Giffen good
and summarize the research results of Jensen and Miller (2008) found in "The
Search for Giffen Goods". Explain the significance of their research results and what
it implies about demand curves.

Rubric

Description Marks
Explains the concept of a Giffen good. 3
Summarizes the research results of Jensen and Miller (2008). 4
Explains the significance of Jensen and Miller's (2008) research results and what it
3
implies about demand curves.
Total 10
Journal Entry

Complete a Journal Entry: Song’s budget for coffee and pizza is $100 per month.
The price of a cup of coffee is $5 and pizza is $10.

 Draw Song’s budget constraint (label the budget constraint "a")

 What is the slope of Song’s budget constraint?
 Song’s monthly budget for coffee and pizza falls to $80. Illustrate the change
on the graph in part a (label the budget constraint "b")
  Based on Song’s new monthly budget of $80, the price of pizza falls to $5.
Illustrate the change on the graph in a (label the budget constraint "c").

Rubric

Description Marks
Draws Song’s budget constraint (labels the budget constraint a). 2.5
Identifies the slope of Song’s budget constraint. 2.5
Illustrates the change on the graph in part a (label the budget constraint b) when Song’s
2.5
monthly budget for coffee and pizza falls to $80.
Illustrates the change on the graph in part a (label the budget constraint c) when the price
2.5
of pizza falls to $5 (still based on Song’s new monthly budget of $80).
Total