INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
Total Marks 80 – Weighting: 20%
The Individual Assignment relates to the following Learning Outcomes:
• Recognize and communicate the importance of microeconomics in the Australian
and global economies
• Knowledge and understanding: Recognize how principles of microeconomics are
relevant in understanding decision-making by individuals, business and government
• Problem solving: Apply theoretical understanding of microeconomics to real life
economic problems
• Ethics: Demonstrate ability to evaluate economic theory and real world applications
in the context of equity considerations
These learning outcomes support development of the following Graduate Capabilities:
• Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens
• Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills
• Problem Solving and Research Capability
• Effective Communication
• No extensions will be granted except in cases where an application for ‘Disruptions to
Study’ has been approved.
• Late submission will incur a penalty of 10% per day of total available marks.
• Submissions will not be accepted beyond 96 hours past submission deadline.
PLAGIARISM
• Avoid plagiarism. The consequence of plagiarism is zero mark.
• You may work with other students at the preparatory stage. However, the final
version of the assignment should be written in your own words.
• Note that Turnitin will compare your submission against others’ as well as internet
sources.
PART 1 (32 MARKS)
Suppose that the market for unskilled labour is a competitive market and can be described
by the following demand and supply curves:
? = 60,000 – 5,000?
? = 5,000? – 35,000
? is wage rate per hour for labour; ? and ? are demand and supply for unskilled labour,
both measured in hours.
Answer the following questions. Present your working and reasoning where needed.
Answers without working or reasoning will result in loss of marks.
Q1. [4 marks] Calculate the equilibrium wage rate and quantity of labour employed and
draw a diagram to illustrate your answer.
Q2. [4 marks] Show on the same diagram and calculate the size of the:
a) Consumer/firm surplus
b) Producer/worker surplus
c) Total Surplus
PART 2 (12 MARKS)
Consider the market for pocket calculators that is initially in equilibrium at a price of $20.00 per calculator and 10,000 calculators are exchanged per week. Then the demand for pocket calculators increases because consumer incomes increase from $800 per week to $900 per week, so that at a price of $20.00 per calculator the demand for calculators rises to 12,000 calculators. This results in a new equilibrium in the market for pocket calculators at a price of $24.00 per calculator and 11,000 calculators exchanged per week.
Answer the following questions. Present your working and reasoning where needed.
Answers without working or reasoning will result in loss of marks.
Q1. [4 marks] Draw a diagram representing what has happened in the market for pocket
calculator.
Q2. [4 marks] Using the mid-point method, calculate the income elasticity of demand
between pocket calculators and consumer income. What does this tell you about the
relationship between pocket calculators and consumer income?
Q3. [4 marks] Using the mid-point method, calculate the price elasticity of supply for pocket calculators. Interpret the result.