Francis Michaud Econ-103 Assignment Fall 2018 .docx

Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Fall 2018 Econ-103
Assignment Due: November 28th, 2019
Homework: Article
Instructions:
1- Select one article that relates to an economic subject. The
article should be long
enough to allow you to complete this assignment. However,
there is no minimal (or
maximum) length to the article that you select. You can also
select a small portion of
a book if you want.
To help you, I include some potential articles here (but feel free
to choose a different
one if you want). Unfortunately, you cannot pick an article on
the minimum wage
since I’ve already presented an example using such an article

(You can discuss with
me, if you think your discussion would be different from mine).
a. Proposed Article 1: Empty Shelves in Venezuela
Things you should consider: What is going on in
Venezuela? What kind of policies is the government using?
What is the impact of such a policy from an economic point
of view (Use graphs to help you answer)?
b. Proposed Article 2: Trump's Tariffs
Things you should consider: What is a tariff? How do they
affect the economy? Who benefits and who suffers from
tariffs (Use graphs to help you answer)?
c. Proposed Article 3: Carbon Tax
Things to you should consider: What is a Carbon tax? What
kind of market failure is the tax trying to address? What is
the impact of not having a tax from an economic point of
view (Use graphs to help you answer)?
Once you selected an article, you should:

a. Summarize the article in roughly 0.5 to 1.5 pages (Line
Spacing 1.5 lines).
b. Explain some of the economic concepts that the article is
presenting using
the material seen in class in roughly 1 to 2 pages. (Graphs do
not count
towards the number of required pages.)
https://www.economist.com/news/americas/21640395-
government-offers-no-solutions-mounting-economic-crisis-
empty-shelves-and-rhetoric
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43512098
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-it-
works-sort-of-what-canada-can-learn-from-bcs-carbon-tax/
Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
2- Presentation: Your assignment should look professional. It
should include:
a. A title page (with Instructor name, Course name, Institution
name, your name,
date and assignment name).
b. Make sure that you proofread the document. Some mistakes
are acceptable,

but mistakes in every sentences are not.
c. A header at the bottom of each page with your name and the
assignment
name.
d. A bibliography with at least 2 references used to complete
the assignment.
3- The assignment will be submitted no later than November
28th, 2019 at the
beginning of class. Feel free to submit your assignment at any
time before this date if
it is completed. An assignment that is submitted pass the above
mentioned deadline
will be penalized at a rate of 10% per day, starting immediately
after the beginning of
class.
4- If points 1, 2 or 3 above are not respected, in part or in full,
the instructor reserves
the right to refuse your assignment. Furthermore, you should
ask yourself this basic
question: “Would Francis submit a report that looks like this to
his boss?” If the
answer to this very simple question is “No” your assignment

will not be accepted.
a. If the instructor refuses your document, it will be returned to
you within 48
hours of submission. You will forfeit 20% of the full mark on
the
assignment and will be given 72 hours to submit an acceptable
copy of your
assignment.
b. If this second submission is of unacceptable quality, it will
not be graded and
you will be awarded 0% on your assignment for Econ-103.
Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Assignment 1:
The Minimum Wage and its
Impact on welfare.

Assignment Presented by:
Francis Michaud
C*******
Econ 103
Principles of Microeconomics
Submitted to:
Francis Michaud
Camosun College
October 10th, 2019

Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Part A (Roughly 1 page of text):
For this assignment, I selected the following two articles The
argument in the floor and How the
minimum wage promotes ageism.
The first article discusses the debate in economics regarding the
minimum wage. One side of the
argument, using the basic logic that was introduced in the
course, argues that the minimum wage
hurts the poor. For this reason, many economists oppose
minimum wages. On the other side of the
debate are economists who argue that because firms have
monopsony power, the minimum wage
may actually improve both employment and pay. Until the
1990s, most economists sided towards
the traditional argument that the minimum wage hurts the poor.
However, in the 1990s, Card and Krueger published novel
research that seemed to imply that the
consensus opinion was wrong. They found that following an
increase in the minimum wage in

New Jersey, not only did wage go up, employment also
increased! Economists on both sides of
the argument started publishing research papers on the subject
and today the debate has matured.
The article goes on to describe some of the research done on
both sides of this debate. Finally, they
discuss the introduction of the minimum wage in the U.K.
Apparently, the minimum wage in the
U.K. boosted wages across the income distribution and reduced
inequalities.
They go on to discuss that bastions of economic orthodoxy, like
the IMF or the OECD now argue
that a moderate minimum wage does no harm and probably does
some good.
The second article reviews a research article that argues that a
different minimum wage, based on
age, may lead to unemployment for young workers. It includes
two graphs that show the salary of
workers as they approach and pass 18 years old and the
unemployment rate for these workers. The
author spends a significant amount of time discussing the
discontinuity (the jump in

unemployment) and other “controls” that the authors of the
research paper used. He concludes that
the minimum wage change probably causes the unemployment
jump that is observed.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-
economics/2012/11/24/the-argument-in-the-floor
https://fee.org/articles/how-the-minimum-wage-promotes-
ageism/?utm_source=zapier&utm_medium=facebook
https://fee.org/articles/how-the-minimum-wage-promotes-
ageism/?utm_source=zapier&utm_medium=facebook
Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Part B (Roughly 1.5 pages of text):
Both articles discuss the impact of a minimum wage. As such, I
begin by discussing what we have
seen in class about this subject. For this section, I propose that
you follow using the following
graph:

If we consider the market for unskilled labour, we have the
demand for labour (Firms that wish to
hire unskilled labour) and the supply of labour (Workers who
are looking for a job). If the
government imposes a binding price floor on this market the
price of labour, the wage, will move
from �∗ to ��. (Ragan, 2017, p. 93)
Notice, that it is important that the price floor be binding. A
non-binding price floor would be set
below the equilibrium wage (�∗ ). However, it would not have
any impact on the market for
unskilled labour. (Ragan, 2017, p. 93)
Once the price floor is set, there will be an excess supply of
labour (Ragan, 2017, p.96). The
quantity supplied of labour will be �� and the quantity
demanded will be ��. This will lead to

�
�
��
��
�∗
D
S
�
�
�
Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
unemployment as much more workers are looking for work
(��) than firms who are willing to hire
them (��).
Finally, we can find the Consumer Surplus and the Producer
Surplus before and after the policy.
It is clear from our graph that the consumer surplus shrunk. It

was area A+B+C on our graph
initially and now it is only area A. However, we cannot
conclude if the Producer Surplus (The
surplus that goes to workers) increased or decreased after the
implementation of the policy. The
producer surplus went from area D+E to area D+B. It is unclear
if area B will be smaller or greater
than area E (It will depend on the slope and intercepts for the
demand and supply curves). I believe
that this is the argument from the opponents of the minimum
wage. The minimum wage boosts
the wage of unskilled workers but decreases total employment
and increases unemployment. It is
impossible to say if the impact will be positive or negative for
workers.
The article also discusses the idea that economists have been
arguing about this issue for a long
time (I could discuss the difference between normative and
positive statements here, but I leave it
out to give you things to discuss in your own assignment). I
believe the reason this debate as lasted
for so long is that it can be hard to distinguish between
correlation and causation. Causation arises

when 1 variable causes another variable to change while
correlation arises when 2 variables move
together (Ragan, 2017, p.31). It is important to understand that
with correlation the relationship
between 2 variables might be purely based on luck. This makes
it hard for economists to establish
if the changes in unemployment and wages are caused by the
minimum wage or simply a
correlation. I used the second article because it demonstrate this
point quite clearly. The author
spends a lot of effort trying to argue that other variables were
accounted for or that no other
“discontinuity” exist. I believe the author is doing this to
convince the reader that the link between
the change in the minimum wage and unemployment is in fact
causal and not simply a correlation.
Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Bibliography:
I leave my bibliography out, I believe you have enough sources
to figure out how to complete it.

Francis Michaud
Econ-103 Assignment
Grading Rubric:
Grade 0 3 5
Presentation
An element from point 2
(presentation) is missing.
3 or more of the elements
from point 2 (presentation)
were not of the expected
standard.
1 or 2 elements from
point 2 (presentation)
were not of the
expected standard.

All elements from
point 2 (presentation)
were of the expected
standard.
Grade 0 6 10
Party A:
Summary
The summary is missing.
Some of the ideas in the
article are not summarized
correctly or are simply
wrong.
Many important points of
the article were omitted.
The summary is present

but some minor
mistakes (1 or 2) in
summarizing the article
were made. These
mistakes do not alter
the meaning of the
article.
The summary omits an
important point of the
article.
The article is perfectly
summarized. All of
the major points of the
article are present.
Part B:
Discussion
The discussion is missing.

The discussion is factually
wrong on 3 or more minor
points. The writer did not
demonstrate understanding
of these concepts.
The discussion is factually
wrong on 1 or more major
points. The writer did not
demonstrate understanding
of these concepts.
The discussion was
done.
It present no major
mistakes. It might be
factually wrong on 1 to
3 minor points.
The discussion was

done.
There are no mistakes
in the discussion.
MGT 4323 _ List of Movies for Cross Cultural Management
Water (2005)
Genre: Drama
This movie features: Lisa Ray, John Abraham and Seema
Biswas
It involves Indian culture.
The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into
poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a
relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape
the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is
from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Genre: Comedy
This movie features Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Archie
Panjabi, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Ameet Chana.
It involves Sikh and American cultures.
The daughter of orthodox Sikh rebels against her parents'
traditionalism by playing on a soccer team.
The Namesake (2006)
Genre: Drama
This movie features Irfan Khan, Kal Penn, Jagannath Guha,
Tabu, Jacinda Barrett and Zuleikha Robinson.

It involves Indian and American cultures.
"The Namesake" is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by
Jhumpa Lahir. The film shows the clash of Indian and American
cultures, which becomes more visible as a result of a generation
gap between the main characters. The featured locales are
Calcutta and New York.
Not Without My Daughter (1990)
Genre: Drama
This movie features Sheila Rosenthal, Alfred Molina and Sally
Field.
It involves Iranian and American cultures.
Betty and Sayyed Bozorg "Moody" Mahmoody have been
married for seven years and have got a four-year-old daughter
called Mahtab. Moody is an Iranian and has been living in the
United States of America for twenty years. When their holidays
in Iran are over Moody tells Betty that he has lost his job in
America and that they will stay with his family in Iran and will
never return to America.
Outsourced (2006)
Genre: comedy
This movie features Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Asif Basra
and Matt Smith.
Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) works in a customer call center
in Seattle until his job, along with those of the entire office, is
outsourced to India. It is bitterly ironic that Todd is asked to
travel to India to train his own replacement. Todd realizes that
he has to learn a lot about India, America and (especially) about
himself.
Syriana (2005)
Genre: Drama / Thriller
This movie features George Clooney, Matt Damon, Kayvan
Novak, Amr Waked, Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey Wright,

Alexander Siddig and Chris Cooper.
It involves Arab, American and Pakistani cultures.
"Syriana" is a political thriller that unfolds against the backdrop
of intrigue in the global oil industry. The movie tells the stories
of people entangled in this web of corruption.
Fools Rush In (1997)
Genre: Romantic comedy
This movie features Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek.
It involves Mexican-American and American cultures.
Sparks fly and cultures collide in this romantic comedy about a
casual night of passion that turns into the love of a lifetime.
Alex Whitman is a New Yorker sent to Las Vegas to oversee a
construction project. There he meets Isabel Fuentes, and some
serious chemistry brings them together for one night. But Alex
doesn't see Isabel again until three months later, when he learns
she is pregnant. On a whim and prayer, he proposes. However,
there's more to marriage than a Vegas chapel and an Elvis
impersonator, as Alex and Isabel soon learn.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Genre: Drama / Biography
This movie features Don Cheadle, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Nick
Nolte, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix and Jean Reno.
It involves African, Belgian and Canadian cultures.
The film is about what happened in 1994 in the East African
country of Rwanda. It tells the true-life story of Paul
Rusesabagina, a Hutu man, married to a Tutsi woman, who is
the manager of a luxury hotel in the capital city of Rwanda,
Kigali. When the genocide begins, he becomes the host of a
huge number of Tutsi refugees, protecting them from the
murderous Hutu militia.
Lost In Translation (2003)
Genre: Drama / Comedy
This movie features Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni

Ribisi, Fumihiro Hayashi, Anna Faris, Diamond Yukai, Takashi
Fujii and Nao Asuka.
It involves Japanese and American cultures.
Bob Harris is an American actor who is doing some commercial
shootings and TV-shows in Japan. Charlotte accompanies her
husband, a photographer, who is constantly away working
during their stay in Tokyo. Both are looking for the meaning of
their lives, both of them have difficulties adjusting to the
surroundings and, additionally, they both have trouble getting to
sleep. They begin to explore the city together and to talk about
their lives back home, their encounters and their feelings as
strangers to Japanese culture.
Mao's Last Dancer (2009)
Genre: Drama / Biography
This movie features Bruce Greenwood, Chi Cao, Kyle
MacLachlan and Joan Chen.
It involves Chinese and American cultures.
A drama based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin, a
remarkable ballet dancer. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from
a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and
taken to the Beijing Dance Academy to study ballet. After harsh
training hours and incredible determination, Li was discovered
by Ben Stevenson, one of the world’s most respected ballet
teachers, a choreographer and the Artistic Director of the
Houston Ballet, and invited to come to the Houston Ballet as an
exchange student.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Genre: Comedy / Romance
This movie features Nia Vardalos, John Corbett and Michael
Constantine.
It involves American, Greek and Greek-American cultures.
Toula Portokalos is 30, Greek, and works in her family's

restaurant, "Dancing Zorba's", in Chicago. Everyone in the
Portokalos family worries about her because she is still
unmarried. After taking some computer classes at college, she
lands a job at her aunt's travel agency where she meets Ian. Ian
is a high school teacher, who is tall and handsome, but one
problem remains - he isn't Greek.
Babel (2006)
Genre: Drama
This movie features Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Mohamed
Akhzam, Said Tarchani, Boubker Ait El Caid, Mustapha
Rachidi, Adriana Barraza, Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble, Gael
García Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Rinko Kichuchi and Satoshi
Nikaido.
It involves Mexican, American, Moroccan and Japanese
cultures.
Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan
desert, touching off an interlocking story involving four
different families.
Under the Same Moon (La misma luna) (2007)
Genre: Drama
This movie features: Eugenio Derbez, Kate del Castillo and
Adrian Alonso
It involves Mexican and American cultures.
A young Mexican boy travels to the U.S. to find his mother
after his grandmother passes away. The movie tells the parallel
stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the
hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works
illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in
Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and
Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt
to reunite. Along the way, mother and son face challenges and
obstacles but never lose hope that they will one day be together
again.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Genre: Drama/Romance/Thriller
This movie features: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Saurabh
Shukla
It involves Indian culture.
A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant
on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He
is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being
interrogated, events from his life history are shown which
explain why he knows the answers.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
Genre: comedy | drama
This movie features: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith
British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they
believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than its
advertisements, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins
to charm in unexpected ways.
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
Stars: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy
As the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining
vacancy - posing a rooming predicament for two fresh arrivals -
Sonny pursues his expansionist dream of opening a second
hotel.
A Separation (2011)
Genre: Drama
This movie features: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami and Sareh
Bayat
It involves Iranian culture
A married couple is faced with a difficult decision - to improve

the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in
Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's
disease.
Gung Ho (1986)
Genre: Comedy
This movie features: Michael Keaton, Gedde Watanabe, George
Wendt
It involves Japanese and American cultures.
When a Japanese car company buys an American plant, the
American liaison must mediate the clash of work attitudes
between the foreign management and native labor.
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Genre: comedy
This movie features: Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali
Shetty
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event
planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado
about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India. The
groom is an Indian living in Texas, and all relatives from both
families, some from distant places like Australia, come to New
Delhi during the monsoon season to attend the wedding.
Persepolis (2007)
Genre: Animation
This movie features: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve,
Gena Rowlands
It involves Iranian culture
Coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young
Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution.
Million Dollar Arm (2014)
Genre: Biography
This Movie Features: Stars: Jon Hamm, Aasif Mandvi, Alan
Arkin

It Involves Indian and American Cultures (inspired by a true
story)
In 2008, J. B. Bernstein is a sports agent who finds his business
being seriously outplayed by his deep-pocketed competitors.
Inspired by reality shows and Indian cricket games on TV,
Bernstein gets the bold idea of finding cricket players in India
and training them to become pro baseball players in America.
After a long search, Bernstein finds two talented, but non-
cricket playing, youths, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel.
Together, Berthstein takes his prospects to Los Angeles where
they find mastering a new sport in a foreign land a daunting
challenge. As these boys struggle amid an alien culture,
Bernstein must find a way to make their dream come true.
What Will People Say (2017)
Stars: Maria Mozhdah, Adil Hussain, Ekavali Khanna, Rohit
Saraf
Sixteen year-old Nisha lives a double life. At home with her
family she is the perfect Pakistani daughter, but when out with
her friends, she is a normal Norwegian teenager. Nisha's parents
decide to kidnap her and place her with relatives in Pakistan.
Here, in a country she has never been to before, Nisha is forced
to adapt to her parents' culture.
Big Sick (2017)
Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter
Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student
Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash.
When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds
himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's
expectations, and his true feelings.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
This Movie Features: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle

Yeoh |
This contemporary romantic comedy, based on a global
bestseller, follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore
to meet her boyfriend's family.
_____________
https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home
Disclaimer: Descriptions of movies were taken from The
Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
The IMDb site allows you to search for movies based on a
specific theme (e.g., you can look for all movies that illustrate
cross cultural relationships)

Francis Michaud Econ-103 Assignment Fall 2018 .docx

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Francis Michaud Econ-103 Assignment Fall 2018 .docx