Hello! I am having some problems with my hw for microeconomics. This is the professor's requirements and I feel like I answered the question well in my essay. However, my feedback from the professor seems like I wrote many parts wrong. I have attached my writing in here too. Can I know which part to improve my essay? How does minimum wage increase affect the labor market? What does it mean by binding or non-binding? How does taking out automation affect the market for goods? Thank you!

THE SITUATION

In San Francisco, the fear of losing jobs to automation after an increase to the minimum wage has motivated two similar policy proposals aimed at discouraging or banning automation. As a student of economics and someone who will soon enter the job market, you find this issue interesting and relevant. [For simplicity, assume these policies are only occurring in or are only proposed for the San Francisco area. Also assume the ban is for automation in general, not just delivery robots.]

THE PROMPT

Write a letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors regarding the two policy proposals under consideration: a tax on automation (Ms. Kim's proposal) or a ban on automation (Mr. Yee's proposal). Your letter should:

• Brieflyexplain the economic impact of a minimum wage increase (moving from nonbinding to binding) in the labor market, and its extended effect on the automation market as well as the market for a good which may be produced using labor, automation or some combination of the two;

Combining automation with laborers will bring it back to equilibrium

• Identify one of the two proposed policies and construct an argument, based in the economics you've learned in class, for why youopposethe policy.
  • You, personally, may oppose both policy proposals, but your paper should focus on only one policy, given the word count limit.
  • Your argument of opposition should not be based in your support for the other proposed policy.
  • While your letter is a normative economic assessment, majority of the letter should consist of positive economic analysis. [While you may have strong opinions on this subject based in moral or ethical reasoning, the purpose of this assignment is to see your ability to use the economic tools you've learned to analyze the situation.]
  • Explain the economic impact of this policy proposal on these same markets, highlighting the economic reasoning for opposing the policy;
  • Start your analysis assuming the minimum wage increase already occurred.

Items to keep in mind:

• The Board of Supervisors likely has some knowledge of economics. Your explanations may assume priorgeneralknowledge consistent with our coverage of Supply, Demand, Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus, and Efficiency (Chapters 3, and 4). The supervisors understand the definitions of these terms, but not necessarily how they interact specifically to this problem. For example, the Board of Supervisors do not immediately understand how a price change in the labor market affects related markets.

My paper:

Dear San Francisco Board of Supervisors,

Greetings! I am writing this letter to clarify my opposition to the proposal that suggested a ban on automation advocated by Mr. Yee. In the cut-throat job market, the minimum wage-least required salary that employers pay for employees-has increased significantly to 15 dollars per hour in San Francisco, leading to changes in automation and labor market. Employers consider to apply automation as it helps offset rising labor costs and generate greater amounts of output effectively. From Mr. Yee's perspective, banning automation brings profits for the market concerning job opportunities. However, as a student of economic, knowing the essence of automation, I believe a ban on automation contributes to more negative impacts and positive ones for two reasons.

Firstly, banning automation reduces the overall efficiency of production in the market. It is rare to find manual production that employs pure labors nowadays because of technology improvement; instead, the majority of companies involves both automation and labor. If automation was banned, labors become responsible for all production process, which is not only time-consuming but also high-priced. Labors spend a lot more time in production than automation can as the efficiency of machines is definitely higher. In addition to efficiency, the production costs increase as well. Labors produce manually is a slow and ineffective process compared to automated process. Even though employing automation is costly, it enables to generate huge amount of output within relatively short time, thus counteracting the production costs with potential revenue. To sum up, banning automation imposes negative impacts on the outcome of market.

Additionally, a ban on automation limits choices for consumers, thus negatively affecting the market from both the demand and supply side. Demand for goods of labor market and automation plays a crucial role in profiting market: if consumers' demand for goods and service provided by the market decreases dramatically, the market will be no longer competitive, facing surplus in production for a long time, which ending up with shutting down. Hence, it is elementary to care about consumers' preferences. Imagine banning automation, buyers can only choose high prices of products as producers raise the production costs due to high-cost pure labor process. Besides rising prices, consumers also face a dilemma that there only left limited types of products to choose as manual production process can hardly offer diverse goods compared to automated process. In other words, lower supplies accompanied with increased pricing in the market leas to inflation. Under this circumstances, the demand for goods decrease greatly, which not only affects the prospect of the market, but also impacts people's happiness negatively.

To put it into a nutshell, based on the consideration of decreasing market efficiency and declining demand for goods produced by the market, I am in favor of opposing the banning policy. Automation plays a key role in adjusting the market, which not only provides greater outputs but also creates job opportunities as well.

Feedback from professor:

Understanding: Concepts and Accuracy - Missing Elements - "Labors produce manually is a slow and ineffective process compared to automated process. Even though employing automation is costly, it enables to generate huge amount of output within relatively short time, thus counteracting the production costs with potential revenue." - There are a lot of assumptions within this sentence that don't have to be made. Explore the relationship between the goods of labor and automation. How does the increase in minimum wage impact supply/demand for automation - explore equilibrium here. - "...the market will no longer be competitive" - This is inherently wrong. The market is always competitive. - Why would demand for goods/services decrease? Moreover, would the market for goods and services would experience a surplus or wouldn't it just reach a new equilibrium? - "...as producers raise the production costs" - the producers are not raising product cost - this is government intervention - No need to mention inflation as this is beyond the scope of this course (and is a macroeconomic concept). - "...also impacts people's happiness negatively" - this isn't necessarily based in any economic reasoning... we're mainly concerned with the prompt at hand. - "consumers also face a dilemma that there only left limited types of products to choose..." - this is not a conclusion we can necessarily make in this assignment. - Look into the supply and demand of the subsequent goods market. What is increasing/decreasing as a result of the ban essentially forcing firms to turn to labor which is already at a high cost? Understanding: Linking Concepts - Missing Elements "Employers consider to apply automation as it helps offset rising labor costs and generate greater amounts of output effectively" - you are referring to two markets here: the one for automation and the one for subsequent goods. How did you come to this conclusion? How does the supply/demand curves change to achieve this? - Overall, there should be more of an analysis of how the minimum wage increase affects the labor market, automation market, and market for subsequent goods/services. - "If automation was banned, labors become responsible for all production process, which is not only time-consuming but also high-priced" - How did you make this conclusion again? Give an analysis on the supply and demand. Understanding: Conciseness - Exceeds Expectations Critical Thinking: Interpreting Sources - Missing Elements - Remember that a works cited page is required for this assignment. Likewise, using in-text citations to bolster your argument is also required. Critical Thinking: Analysis of Case Study - Missing Elements - Overall, the assignment should be an analysis on the potential effect a ban on automation would have, not the strengths that having automation currently has that we would not experience if it was not there. Response Alignment with Audience - Meets Expectations - I would use and define terms more often - for example, what is minimum wage inherently. - There should be a distinction between binding and nonbinding in your assignment.