Question: Consider how you have resolved ethical dilemmas

> Distinguish between a carbon-tax and a cap-and-trade strategy for reducing carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases (that are believed by many scientists to be causing global warming). Which of the two strategies do you think would have the mo

> A price ceiling will result in a shortage only if the ceiling price is ____________ the equilibrium price. a. less than b. equal to c. greater than d. louder than

> In a sentence, describe the meaning of the phrase “invisible hand.”

> Why is money not considered to be a capital resource in economics? Why is entrepreneurial ability considered a category of economic resource, distinct from labor? What are the major functions of the entrepreneur?

> Explain why zoning laws, which allow certain land uses only in specific locations, might be justified in dealing with a problem of negative externalities. Explain why in areas where buildings sit close together tax breaks to property owners for installin

> Why are shortages or surpluses more likely with preset prices, such as those on tickets, than flexible prices, such as those on gasoline?

> Suppose the total demand for wheat and the total supply of wheat per month in the Kansas City grain market are as shown in the table below. Suppose that the government establishes a price ceiling of $3.70 for wheat. What might prompt the government to es

> Real (inflation-adjusted) tuition costs were nearly constant during the 1960s despite a huge increase in the number of college students as the very large Baby Boom generation came of age.  What does this suggest about the supply of higher education durin

> Ted and Fred are the owners of a gas station. They invested $150,000 each and pay an employee named Lawrence $35,000 per year. This year revenues are $900,000, while costs are $940,000. Who is legally responsible for bearing the $40,000 loss? a. Lawrenc

> What is meant by the term “creative destruction”? How does the emergence of MP3 (or iPod) technology relate to this idea?

> In the accompanying graph, is the slope of curve AA’ positive or negative? Does the slope increase or decrease as we move along the curve from A to A’? Answer the same two questions for curve BB’.

> Because investment and capital goods are paid for with savings, higher savings rates reflect a decision to consume fewer goods for the present in order to be able to invest in more goods for the future. On average, households in China save 40 percent of

> What are economic resources? What categories do economists use to classify them? Why are resources also called factors of production? Why are they called inputs?

> Use marginal cost/marginal benefit analysis to determine if the following statement is true or false: “The optimal amount of pollution abatement for some substances, say, dirty water from storm drains, is very low; the optimal amount of abatement for oth

> Look at Tables 4.1 and 4.2, which show, respectively, the willingness to pay and willingness to accept of buyers and seller of bags of oranges. For the following questions, assume that the equilibrium price and quantity will depend on the indicated chang

> The LoJack car recovery system allows the police to track stolen cars. As a result, they not only recover 90% of LoJack-equipped cars that are stolen but also arrest many auto thieves and shut down many “chop shops” that take apart stolen vehicles to get

> What effect will each of the following have on the demand for small automobiles such as the Mini-Cooper and Fiat 500? a. Small automobiles become more fashionable. b. The price of large automobiles rises (with the price of small autos remaining the same

> When asked for investment advice, humorist Will Rogers joked that people should "buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff."  Explain his advice in terms of the supply and demand model.

> Label each of the follow scenarios with the correct combination of price change and quantity change. In some scenarios, it may not be possible from the information given to determine the direction of a particular price change or a particular quantity cha

> Suppose that the demand and supply schedules for rental apartments in the city of Gotham are as given in the table below. a. What is the market equilibrium rental price per month and the market equilibrium number of apartments demanded and supplied? b.

> What do economists mean when they say “price floors and ceilings stifle the rationing function of prices and distort resource allocation”?

> Franklin, John, Henry, and Harry have decided to pool their financial resources and business skills in order to open up and run a coffee shop. They will share any profits or losses that the business generates and will be personally responsible for making

> Some large hardware stores such as Home Depot boast of carrying as many as 20,000 different products in each store. What motivated the producers of those individual products to make them and offer them for sale? How did the producers decide on the best c

> The accompanying graph shows curve XX’ and tangents at points A, B, and C. Calculate the slope of the curve at these three points. 50 (12, 50) ,a c' (16, 50) B 40 30 A (2, 10) (26, 10) 10 Graph for Problem 7 O 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

> What are the two major ways in which an economy can grow and push out its production possibilities curve? a. Better weather and nicer cars. b. Higher taxes and lower spending. c. Increases in resource supplies and advances in technology. d. Decreases in

> Referring to the table give below: suppose improvement occurs in the technology of producing forklifts but not in the technology of producing automobiles. Draw the new production possibilities curve. Now assume that a technological advance occurs in prod

> How does the slope of a budget line illustrate opportunity cost and trade-offs?  How does a budget line illustrate scarcity and the effect of limited incomes?

> Suppose there are three buyers of candy in a market: Tex, Dex, and Rex. The market demand and the individual demands of Tex, Dex, and Rex for candy are given in the table below. a. Fill in the table for the missing values. b. Which buyer demands the lea

> Potatoes cost Janice $1 per pound, and she has $5.00 that she could possibly spend on potatoes or other items. If she feels that the first pound of potatoes is worth $1.50, the second pound is worth $1.14, the third pound is worth $1.05, and all subseque

> What should be done to restore the reputation of the CAI?

> Why would CAI want to keep Mortenson in a “visionary” capacity?

> From a business ethics perspective, which was worse, the conduct of the CAI board or the conduct of Mortenson himself? Why?

> Do people have the right to seek assistance in dying?

> What might the phrase “right to die” mean?

> Does being near the end of one’s life make the decision to end it justified?

> Critics of Milgram’s research have argued that the physical separation between the participant and the teacher in one room and the learner in the other made it easier for the participant to inflict the shocks. Do you think that made a difference? Why or

> If Mortenson’s claims have misled donors, should the CAI return the money? Why or why not?

> How does the conduct of the CAI board relate to this case?

> Would the CSR policies of an organization influence your decision to use their products or services? Why or why not?

> How could this issue of patient privacy have been handled in a more ethical manner?

> Based on the evidence presented in this case study, was Mortenson’s work at the CAI an example of deliberate fraud or mismanagement? Defend your position.

> Do people have the right to give assistance in dying?

> The participants were introduced to the learners as equal participants in the study—that is, volunteers just like them. Do you think that made a difference in the decision to keep increasing the voltage? Why?

> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: One rainy evening I wandered into a shop, where I left my name-brand umbrella in a basket near the door. When I was ready to leave, my umbrella was gone. There were seve

> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: My friend works for a company that manages fund-raising events for nonprofit organizations—mostly gala benefits and auctions. Since these events all take place in the sa

> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: I’m a regular customer of a men’s clothing mail-order company, and it sends me new catalogs about six times a year. I usually order something because the clothes are goo

> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: My dad takes me to a lot of baseball games and always buys the cheapest tickets in the park. When the game starts, he moves to better, unoccupied seats, dragging me alon

> Why do we study ethics?

> What would you do if your resolution of an ethical dilemma turned out to be the wrong approach and it actually made things worse?

> What should VW be doing to recover from this scandal?

> Would organizations really be paying attention to CSR if customers and federal and state agencies weren’t forcing them to? Why or why not?

> Is it unrealistic to expect others to live by the Golden Rule?

> If each of us has a unique set of influences and values that contribute to our personal value system, how can that be applied to a community as a whole?

> Why should we be concerned about doing “the right thing”?

> You are riding in a taxicab and notice a $20 bill that has obviously fallen from someone’s wallet or pocketbook. What do you do?

> You buy a candy bar at the store and pay the cashier with a $5 bill. You are mistakenly given change from a $20 bill. What do you do?

> You are the manager of a nonprofit orphanage. At the end of the year, a local car dealer approaches you with a proposition. He will give you a two-year-old van worth $10,000 that he has just taken as a trade-in on a new vehicle if you will provide him wi

> You are shopping in a department store and observe a young man taking a watch from a display stand on the jewelry counter and slipping it into his pocket. What do you do?

> You are having a romantic dinner with your spouse to celebrate your wedding anniversary. Suddenly, at a nearby table, a man starts yelling at the young woman he is dining with and becomes so verbally abusive that she starts to cry. What do you do?

> You live in a small Midwestern town and have just lost your job at the local bookstore. The best-paying job you can find is at the local meatpacking plant, but you are a vegetarian and feel strongly that killing animals for food is unjust. What do you do

> Has Müller’s commitment to “maximum transparency” helped or hindered the situation? Explain your answer.

> Visit the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (CSEP) at the Illinois Institute of Technology: http://ethics.iit.edu. a. What is the stated mission of CSEP? b. Identify and briefly summarize a current CSEP research project. c. Explain the pu

> Consider the company you currently work for (or one you have worked for in the past). What initiatives could they start to be more socially responsible? How would you propose such changes?

> Has BP been successful in its move “Beyond Petroleum”?

> If Wakefield had disclosed the source of the funding of his study and his interest in the experimental vaccine, would that have added credibility to his campaign against MMR? Why or why not?

> Why did Wakefield lose his license to practice medicine?

> What were the perceived conflicts of interest in Wakefield’s research activities?

> How can BP begin to restore its reputation going forward?

> BP chief executive Tony Hayward argued that “changing the culture of a 100,000 person company couldn’t happen overnight.” He had been in charge for three years before the Deepwater Horizon spill. Were critics right to expect more change than they saw?

> Both sides claimed in media interviews that they had won their case. Was there victory here? Explain why or why not.

> How could senior executives have approached this situation differently?

> Was Instagram’s response to the PR crisis over the change in the TOS appropriate? Why or why not?

> Was DPS considering the interests of all stakeholders in this battle? Explain why or why not?

> When you consider Milton Friedman’s position on corporate responsibility in Chapter 4, is it possible to defend DPS’s demand for lower hourly wages?

> How could Quezon City officials ensure that there is a more equitable distribution of wealth?

> The GMC found that Wakefield brought his profession into disrepute with his conduct. What could he have done differently to share his concerns about MMR?

> Do you think you could be an ethics officer? Why or why not?

> Does the role of an ethics officer bring real value to an organization, or is it just “window dressing” to make the company look good?

> Your company wrote its code of ethics in 1986. You have been assigned to a team that has been tasked with updating the code to make it more representative of current business ethics issues like the Internet and modern business technology. What are your r

> You have been asked to join a team as a representative of your department. The team has been tasked with the development of an ethics training program to support the company’s new code of ethics. What would your recommendations be?

> Would organizational integrity make a difference in your loyalty to a company? Why or why not?

> When Brad took his complaint to the local media, a spokesperson for the city finance office pointed out that the city’s property taxes were paying for the emergency services that were currently working overtime to help everyone impacted by the storm. Is

> What prompted Instagram to change the terms of service (TOS) agreement?

> Which ethical theories could be applied here?

> Review the commitment of the Charity Commission (the regulator for charities in England and Wales) at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission/about. a. What are the stated priorities of the commission? b. What guidance does the com

> Does TOMS buy-one-give-one-away model make it a more ethical company than a traditional manufacturer donating money to a charity? Why?

> The PGEP/Payatas project is being promoted as a win-win project for all parties involved. Is that an accurate assessment? Why or why not?

> Do you think the board of directors of Bausch & Lomb made the right decision in choosing not to fire Zarrella? Why or why not?

> Would you describe Foxconn’s response as an example of proactive or reactive ethics? Why?

> If the company has operated on “wafer-thin margins,” will the Indian and Japanese deals make it a more ethical company? Why or why not?

> Was Foxconn’s response sufficient to stop any future suicide attempts? Why or why not?

> Is the Warby Parker model more or less effective than the TOMS model? Explain your answer.

> Mycoskie designed the TOMS model from the ground up. Could an established company improve its ethical standards by launching a model like TOMS? How?

> Is it ethical for covered entities to be excused from getting patient permission to use their private information for routine purposes? Why or why not?

> Why would customers pay such a high price for a simple linen shoe or pair of sunglasses?

> If patients lack the language skills or education to understand the significance of informed consent or the use of a placebo, is it ethical to allow them to participate in the drug trial? Why or why not?

> What regulations are in place to oversee the professional and ethical management of these trials?

> Identify three factors that are driving pharmaceutical companies to host clinical drug trials overseas.

> If Apple is committed to addressing working conditions at Foxconn factories, should “no worse than any other factory in China” be an acceptable benchmark? Why or why not?

> Review the CSR policies of a Fortune 100 company of your choice. Would you classify its policies as ethical, altruistic, strategic, or a combination of all three? Provide examples to support your answer.