University of California at Berkeley
Haas School of Business

Economic Analysis for Business Decisions

EWMBA 201A
Fall 2007


Professor Meghan Busse
Office hours: Saturday 1-2 p.m., and by appointment
e-mail: meghan@haas.berkeley.edu
Telephone: (510) 642-4060; Fax: (510) 643-5180
Office: F645

Syllabus


Course description and syllabus, Fall 2007



Video stream


If you'd like to watch the video stream of past classes, you can find it here.

Class materials


This section contains materials handed out in class (such as in-class exercises or overheads). It also contains solutions to in-class exercises. This section also contains blank graphs for graphs that are drawn frequently on the board for those who feel that a head start helps them spend more time listening and less time copying from the board. If you wish to use for class, you must print them out yourself in advance and bring them to class. They will NOT be provided in class. In most cases, 6-10 copies should be sufficient.

Session 7, October 7

Price discrimination exercise (Webflix), with solution
Eight lessons (Course take-aways)

Session 6, September 29

Aluminum case preparation instructions (This should be in your course reader packet, and is posted with the reader materials on Study.Net )
Aluminum cost data (Spreadsheet of cost data to use in aluminum industry case preparation)
Blank market power graph
Market power exercise (Boring drill bits), with solution

Session 5, September 22

Blank cost curve graph
Blank firm-market graph
Blank long run competitive equilibrium (LRCE) graph
Marginal and average exercise (Wal-Mart), with solution
Long run competitive equilibrium exercise (Mini-mills), with solution
A note on the graphs used on the board during session 5

Session 4, September 15

Blank cost curve graph
Economic profits exercise (DulTex), with solution
Shut down exercise (EastWind Airlines), with solution

Session 3, September 8

Blank isoquant graph
Cost minimization lecture notes
Opportunity cost exercise (Kodak film and silver), with solution
Sunk cost exercise (Bombasticelli Metal Stamping), with solution
Cost allocation exercise (Ayup Whale Watch), with solution

Session 2, August 25

Blank market axes graph
Blank production function graph
Blank isoquant graph
Elasticity exercise (Cobresur copper), with solution
Production lecture notes
Isoquant-isocost exercise (Southwest winglets), with solution

Session 1, August 18

Blank supply and demand graph
Blank market axes graph
Arbitrage exercise (Trading wheat in Chicago and Kansas City), with solution
Supply and demand overheads
Supply and demand exercise (Hilltop Packaging), with solution


Problem sets


Problem set 1
Problem set 1 answers
Problem set 2
Problem set 2 answers
Problem set 3
Problem set 3 answers
Problem set 4
Problem set 4 answers
Problem set 5
Problem set 5 answers
Problem set 6
Problem set 6 answers

Practice problems

This section lists practice problems. These are generally simpler than homework problems, and are good for review and making sure that you have your numerical problem solving skills well in hand.

Pindyck and Rubinfeld textbook

Chapter 2: Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 7a, 10; Exercises 1a-c, 2a-c
Chapter 4: Questions 7, 11; Exercises 7ab, 9, 12, 13
Chapter 6: Questions 5, 7, 8, 10; Exercise 5
Chapter 9: Question 7; Exercise 6, 7, 12

Pindyck and Rubinfeld study guide

Chapter 1: 1, 5
Chapter 2: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26
Chapter 4: 4, 8, 9a, 13ab, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
Chapter 6: 4, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23
Chapter 9: 5, 19

Meghan Busse, et al.

Midterm practice problems
Midterm practice answers
Practice problems: Production
Practice problems: Costs
Practice problems: Long run and short run, entry and exit
Practice problems: Market power
Final exam practice problems
Final exam practice problem answers


Problems from previous years' exams


Midterm preparation memo
Problems from old midterms
Answers to problems from old midterms

Final exam preparation memo
Practice problems from old finals
Answers to practice problems from old finals

Exams and exam solutions


Midterm exam, Fall 2007
Midterm exam answers, Fall 2007
Final exam, Fall 2007
Final exam answers, Fall 2007

Extras


This is extra material that is related to the course. It is entirely optional reading.