1. )According to a news report on WFDD Radio, there is a shortage of school bus drivers for the Winston-Salem-Forsyth County School District. The current pay rate for school bus drivers in that area is $13.63 per hour. According to the Director of Transportation for the School District, "That's pretty good money, but nobody wants to drive a bus." Is the reason for the shortage the fact that "nobody wants to drive a bus?" Explain how the school district can fix the shortage of bus drivers.

2.) For each part of this question, explain whether the given statement makes Good Economic Sense. "Explain" means state whether the statement makes sense or not and then give an appropriate economic reason why the statement does or does not make sense.

a. In an analysis of housing prices, a newspaper reporter wrote, "when there is a shortage of something, consumers will eventually give up trying to buy it, so the demand for that thing decreases, and the price falls until the market is finally in equilibrium." Does this statement make Good Economic Sense?

b. During the last couple of months, the prices of food products in the U.S. have been rising. At the same time, the quantities of food products consumed in the U.S. have been increasing. An online news analysis said, "the higher price of food combined with the increased quantity of food purchased shows that the so-called Law of Demand does not apply to necessary products such as food." Does this statement about the Law of Demand make Good Economic Sense?

c. A small city has a summer baseball team that plays its games at the local high school field. The team is popular with local residents who come to watch the games. But many fans are unhappy that there is a shortage of parking near the field, so they have to park farther away than they would like to. One fan wrote a letter to the local newspaper, urging people to get to the games earlier, saying that arriving early would eliminate the shortage of parking. Does this fan's advice make Good Economic Sense?

3.) An article in Rolling Stone magazine complained about the high prices of tickets to concerts. One superstar musician was quoted as saying, "It just isn't worth $150 to see me play. No one should have to pay that much to go to a concert." That musician and his band routinely play to sold-out arenas around the country where the average ticket price is $150.

a. Evaluate the argument that the price of tickets is "too high."

b. Suppose that this musician lowered the price of tickets to his band's concerts to $75. What would be the result?

4. According to a story that first appeared in the New York Daily News recently, there is a national shortage of clowns. According to the story, the reason for the shortage is that fewer people grow up wanting to become clowns. Cyrus Zavieh, the president of New York Clown Alley, says that "American kids these days are thinking about different careers altogether. They're thinking about everything other than clowning."

In a microeconomic sense, what would tell us that there really is a shortage of clowns? What causes a shortage? What is the microeconomic solution to a shortage of clowns? Explain your answer.

5.) An article in the online magazine Slate declared that a company called American Giant produces "the best hoodie ever made." When the article appeared shortly before Christmas, orders flooded into the company for the $89 hoodie. The company's production could not keep pace with the orders, so that a shortage of American Giant hoodies soon developed. How could American Giant eliminate the shortage of its hoodies? A full credit answer will explain the cause of the shortage as well as the solution to the problem.

6.) During discussion of a legal case, the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said, "If people don't buy cars, the price that those who do buy cars pay will have to be higher." In other words, if people buy fewer cars, the price of cars will go up. Does Scalia's statement make Good Economic Sense?