Exam coming up pretty soon and I just need to see the step by step solutions to these problems in order to make sure I am doing them correctly.
Greatly appreciated!
1. Workers in a certain job are trained by the company, and the company calculates that to recoup its investment costs the workers’ wages must be $5 per hour below their marginal productivity. Suppose that after training, wages are set at $5 below marginal productivity, but that developments in the product market quickly (and permanently) reduce marginal productivity by $2 per hour. If the company does not feel it can lower wages or employee benefits, how will its employment level be affected in the short run? How will its employment level be affected in the long run? Explain, being sure to define what you mean by short run and long run!
2. The manager of a major league baseball team argues: “Even if I thought Player X was washed up, I couldn’t get rid of him. He’s in the third year of a four-year, $24 million deal. Our team is in no position to eat the rest of his contract.” Analyze the manager’s reasoning using economic theory.
3. Assume that the labor supply curve to a firm is the one given in Problem 1 above that is, (E=5W). If the firm’s marginal revenue product of labor (MRPL) 240 – 2E, what is the profit-maximizing level of employment (E* ) and what is the wage level (W * ) the firm would have to pay to obtain E *workers?
4. Major league baseball teams scout and hire younger players whom they then train in the minor leagues for a period of three to five years. Very few of their trainees (perhaps 5 percent) actually make it to the major leagues, but if they do they are bound to the team that owns their contract for a period of five years. After five years, the player can become a "free agent" and choose any major league team on which to play.Keeping in mind that the major league teams pay the costs of, but derive no revenues from, their minor league teams, what would be the most important predictable effects of allowing players to become free agents immediately upon entry into the major leagues?
5. A minimum wage will influence different labor markets differently. In four separate market diagrams, illustrate the following cases: (i) a competitive market in which causes a 50% reduction in labor demand; (ii) a competitive market in which the minimum wage does not causes a % reduction in labor demand; (iii) a monopsony market where the minimum wage increases employment; (iv) a monopsony market where the minimum wage decreases employment. (Hint under the monopsony model of minimum wages, the effective marginal expenditure curve has a horizontal range at the level of the minimum wage and then jumps to rejoin the original marginal expenditure curve.)