Q1. Please read the article "Comparative Advantage and American Jobs" from Wall Street Journal in 2011. According to this article, Former president Obama created a Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to address the job crisis in the U.S. As pointed out by the author, one of the principles that can guide the council away from repeating past errors is that "A competitive America does not mean competitive success for every American industry." Based on what we have learned in the class about comparative advantages and given the globalization of our economy, what is your suggestions to Former President Obama if you were in the council? What industries are important to us in which we need to be competitive? Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfbu1uvbgjztsh6/Comparative%20Advantage%20and%20Americ an%20Jobs.pdf?dl=0 Q2. Please read the article "Oil Prices: What's Behind the Drop? Simple Economics" from New York Time. In the section "Why did the price of oil drop in the first place?", the author explained some reasons for why the oil price dropped. Please use the language and diagrams we have learned in the class to interpret these reasons. In the section "Who benefits from the price drop?", the author mentioned that natural gas price has fallen as well. Please use the diagrams we have learned in the class explain why so. Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ano2caj7zunp5ic/Oil%20Prices_%20What%E2%80%99s%20 Behind%20the%20Drop_%20Simple%20Economics%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Ti mes.pdf?dl=0 Q3. Please read the article "Taiwan Tries to Revive Its Banana Export Industry". What kind of impact does the banana industry make to the banana market? Which shifter of the demand or supply curve they are trying to use? Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/75exg7o3j32mw17/Taiwan%20Tries%20to%20Revive%20Its%20Ba nana%20Export%20Industry%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf?dl=0 Q4. Suppose you are an airline company manager. The total cost of a flight is $100,000. (fuel, food, beverage, etc.) and 200 seats are installed in the plane. So the average cost of each seat is $500. The flight is about to take off and there are 10 seats empty. Now a customer wants to take the flight but only want to pay $300. Should you let this customer board? Please use one of the ten principles we have learned in the class explain your answer. Q5. When unemployment rate is high, some people suggest that the government should create jobs to help the unemployed workers and lower the unemployment rate. However, according to some economists, this policy may not be as good as it appears because its effect on the unemployment rate is limited and it costs taxpayers' money. Please use the 4 th principle we have learned in the class, "people respond to incentives", discuss this issue and explain why its effect is limited. Specifically, what kind of incentives does this policy provide to the unemployed who are looking for a job? How the incentives affect the unemployment rate? Hint: Unemployment rate is high if many workers who want to have a job but cannot find one, or they don't accept the job offers they got and keep searching.