Businesses must determine how to use scarce resources to operate productively. This is often a matter of weighing various factors and making a choice based on how each of these factors is affected.

Read each of the situations below and in each case, consider the following factors:

• Opportunity cost
• Marginal cost
• Marginal revenue/benefit

For each situation:

1. Describe the best course of action with respect to the factors above.
2. Analyze the decision from an economic viewpoint, including:
   1. What were the marginal benefits?
   2. What were the marginal costs (include not just dollar-costs, but also any opportunity costs)?
   3. How did you compare the marginal costs with the marginal benefits?
   4. Were there any sunk costs involved? Did you include them in your analysis?

Case 1: A business that produces small appliances, such as blenders, toasters, and the like, is considering expanding its blender line. This might require additional space, labor, and management time devoted to planning and executing the expansion. How would your analysis change if you operated this business in a country that had a command-and-control type of economy, as opposed to if you owned it in the U.S.?

Case 2: A business that uses part time employees to provide tutoring services to students is considering expanding during midterm and final weeks. However, to lure extra tutors, they need to pay higher rates or shift some of their temporary employees from other locations (schools in different cities).

Case 3: Think about a recent economic decision. This could be anything from a recent purchase to a job change. How did you make the decision?