tailieunhanh - Sách Microeconomics, 7/E - Robert Pindyck, Daniel Rubinfeld

Fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s operate all over the United States. Therefore the market for fast food is a national market. This statement is false. People generally buy fast food within their current location and do not travel large distances across the United States just to buy a cheaper fast food meal. Given there is little potential for arbitrage between fast food restaurants that are located some distance from each other, there are likely to be multiple fast food markets across the country | Chapter 1 Preliminaries PART I INTRODUCTION MARKETS AND PRICES CHAPTER 1 PRELIMINARIES 1 Chapter 1 Preliminaries QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 1. It is often said that a good theory is one that can 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 to consider when 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 to each individual a maximum amount of gasoline that can be purchased each year is a poor social policy because it interferes with the workings of the competitive market system. Positive economic analysis describes what is. Normative economic analysis describes what ought to be. 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. We know from economic analysis that a constraint placed on supply will change the market equilibrium. Second statement a makes the normative statement . a value judgment that gasoline rationing is a poor social policy. Thus statement a makes a normative comment based on a conclusion derived from positive economic analysis of the policy. 2 Chapter 1 Preliminaries b. Gasoline rationing is a policy under which more people are made worse off than are made better off. Statement b is positive because it states what the effect of gasoline rationing is without making a valuejudgment about the desirability of the rationing policy. 3. Suppose the price of unleaded regular octane gasoline were 20 cents per gallon higher