Economics 310

Essay Assignment

Economics 310

Fall 2020

Students are required to write an essay of at least 2,500 words. The essay must be typed, double-spaced with no more than one-inch margins. The title page of the essay must be the essay rubric with the student’s name and information filled in. The essay is worth 30 points. Students should read the rubric carefully before starting the assignment and follow instructions. Points will be taken off if this is not done.  Late essays will not be accepted forr any reason other than a medical emergency verified by note from a medical professional.

Essay Topic   The essay is based on the article “Egg prices rose as cartons flew off shelves” which is on the essay module in Canvas. Essay should have two parts.

Part 1: Consumer behavior and the demand curve.  This part of the essay should explain the model of consumer choice and apply it to the egg market as described in the article. The structure of this part of the  essay should be as follows:

1. Explanation of the model of consumer choice and how it is related to the demand curve. You must explain in your own words what the model of consumer choice is and how it is used to derive the demand curve. There must be at least on paragraph on each of the following: the budget line, indifference curves and how the demand curve is derived from the model. (This material is in chapters 3 and 4 of Browning and Zuppan.)
2. Application of the model. You must explain the  direction of the   demand shift and the reason why demand is shifting and what in the article  led you to your conclusions about the source and direction of the shift in demand.   You should  include at  two graphs, a sdemand graph which shows which way the demand curve is shifting and a graph of the model of consumer choice, i.e. indifference curves and budget line which shows why demand is shifting.

Part 2: Perfectly competitive model. This part of the essay should apply the perfectly competitive model to the egg market as described in the article.

1. Explain why the perfectly competitive model is the appropriate model to explain the the changes of price and output in the egg market. Use the perfectly competitive model to explain what happens to price and output and firm profits in the egg market in the short run as a result of the demand shift discussed in part 1 of the essay. Your explanation must include a demand and supply graph for the market as whole and a graph of firm.
2. Based on the article how long will it take to see a long run adjustment? Explain your answer. What do you expect this adjustment to be? Again explain why your answer is correct.

All explanations and graphs must be your own work. You should not quote the textbook or any other source. You must explain the models and conclustion in your own words. Graphs also must be your own work. Do not cut and paste graphs from other sources. All axis must be labeled and the labels must be consistent with the text of your essay.

Warning: I want you to explain these economic principle using your own words. There should be no quotations from the textbook or any other source in your paper. As indicated in the grading rubric I will take 5 points off the grade of anyone who quotes the text or any other source in their explanations. Any one who takes so much as a sentence from another source without documenting it will fail the class and be reported to the University for Plagiarism.