As you know, the United States has consistently run a trade deficit for the past forty years. In which quarter(s), did the trade deficit fall?

Suppose a firm faces a fixed price of output, 푝푝= 1200. the firm hires workers from a union at a daily wage, 푤푤, to produce output according to the production function 푞푞= 2퐸퐸12. there are 225 workers in the union. any union worker who does not work for this firm is guaranteed to find nonunion employment at a wage of $96 per day. a. what is the firm’s labor demand function? b. if the firm is allowed to choose 푤푤, but then the union decides how many workers to provide (up to 225) at that wage, what wage will the firm set? how many workers will the union provide? what is the firm’s output and profit? what is the total income of the 225 union workers? c. now suppose that the union sets the wage, but the firm decides how many workers to hire at that wage (up to 225). what wage will the union set to maximize the total income of all 225 workers? how many workers will the firm hire? what is the firm’s output and profit? what is the total income of the 225 union workers? [hint: to maximize total income of union, take the first order condition with respect to w and set equal to 0.]

In canada, the reference base period for the cpi is 2002. by 2012, prices had risen by 21.6 percent since the base period. the inflation rate in canada in 2013 was 1.1 percent. calculate the cpi in canada in 2013. hint: use the information that “prices had risen by 21.6 percent since the base period” to find the cpi in 2012. use the inflation rate formula (inflation is the growth rate of the cpi) to find cpi in 2013, knowing the cpi in 2012 and the inflation rate. the cpi in canada in 2013 is round up your answer to the first decimal. 122.9 130.7 119.6 110.5

Consider the following two projects. both have costs of $5,000 in year 1. project 1 provides benefits of $2,000 in each of the first four years only. the second provides benefits of $2,000 for each of years 6 to 10 only. compute the net benefits using a discount rate of 6 percent. repeat using a discount rate of 12 percent. what can you conclude from this exercise?