EconS 101.02 Writing Assignment #2

Email submissions will not be accepted. You must submit this assignment to NetTutor. Please write an essay that answers the following questions. (Do not answer each part individually.) Be sure to explain the reasons for your answers. 1. Examine the information on quantity of airline tickets (regardless of origin or destination) sold from the graph in the link: https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/press_releases/bts016_13. The average price for an airline ticket (regardless of origin or destination) is below: Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Average Airfare ($) 390 376 385 346 369 387 391 the quantity of airline tickets sold in 2009 compared to 2007? the price of airline tickets sold in 2009 compared to 2007? a. What happened to b. What happened to c. Explain how both could have happened at the same time. HINT: It has to do with demand, not supply. Decide if there is movement along the demand curve or if there is a shift in the demand curve. d. If there is a shift in the demand curve, identify what the cause of that shift is. HINT: What happened to the national economy from 2008 until halfway through 2009? How would that event either create movement along the demand curve or a shift the demand curve? 2. The excel file WR2data contains data on the monthly price of gasoline and bread over time, from May 2005 through September 2017. a. What do you notice about the price of gasoline relative to the price of bread? b. How do changes in the expectation of future prices of crude oil (a resource used as an input into the production of gasoline) impact the competitive price of gasoline? c. How sensitive does the supply curve of gasoline appear to be with respect to changes in the expected future price of crude oil relative to the supply curve of bread with respect to the expected future price of wheat? (Wheat is a resource used as an input into the production of bread.) d. Suppose that during this same time from May 2005 through September 2017, the quantity of gasoline sold in the United States does not change very much. What can you conclude about the price elasticity of demand for gasoline? (Is the demand curve elastic or inelastic?) How do you know? HINT: When you pull up to a gas station, do you choose to purchase less gas if the price is higher than it was a day earlier? Grading Rubric Please include your name, instructor’s name , course and section number 2 (EconS 101.02), and writing assignment (assignment 2) on the top of your assignment. Your essay will be assessed as either “Meets Expectations” or “Needs Improvement” in each category. If your essay needs improvement, you will be given feedback from NetTutor to help you revise it. You can then re-submit the essay to NetTutor for another try - but you only get one second chance. If you take materials or quotes from sources, you must provide citations/references in a standard format. Criterion Needs Improvement Meets Expectations Writing The writing is difficult to follow and/or poorly organized. Transition sentences are absent or ineffective. Typos and/or grammatical errors distract the reader. Source material citations/references needed, but are missing or incorrect. Ideas are well-organized. Transition sentences effectively connect one idea to the next. The essay is free of typos and grammatical errors. Sources properly cited and referenced. Application of economic analysis Does not provide the correct economic justification for why we observe prices and quantities changing in the way they do. Fails to explain elasticity in the context of gasoline and food prices correctly. Provides the correct economic justification for why we observe prices and quantities changing in the way they do. Explains elasticity in the context of gasoline and food prices correctly.