After completing the reading assignments, compose a response to the following questions: How do a company’s goals, constraints, incentives and market rivalry affect its economic decision-making? To wh

A well -designed organization rewards employees who identify and consummate profitable transactions or who stop unprofitable ones ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Kidney Transplants ● Two prominent hospitals recently refused patients for kidney transplants because the organs were from “directed donations” • The kidneys were meant for specific people ● Demand for organs is high – far exceeding supply – and many never receive them ● Despite high demand and low supply, buying and selling organs is illegal ● Why? ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Apartments Suppose you want to move from Detroit to Nashville ● First, you would try a two -way trade ● Failing that, you’d try a three -way connection with another city ● Need to find correct trades with correct timing = difficult! ● Like with kidney transplants, compatibility problems lead to inefficiency Detroit Nashville Detroit Nashville Los Angeles ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Capitalism 101 To identify money -making opportunities, you must first understand how wealth is created (and sometimes destroyed ) ● Key note : Wealth is created when assets are moved from lower to higher -valued uses ● Definition : Value = willingness to pay Desire + Income = You want something + you can pay for it ● Key note : Voluntary transactions, between individuals or firms, create wealth • Meaning, people create wealth by pursuing self -interest ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Housing Example A house is for sale:

● The buyer values the house at $130,000 • This is the buyer’s top dollar – willingness to pay ● The seller values the house at $120,000 • This is the seller’s bottom line – won’t accept less The buyer and seller must agree to a price that “splits” surplus between buyer and seller. Here, $ 128,000 ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Surplus The buyer and seller both benefit from this transaction:

● Buyer surplus = buyer’s value minus the price $130,000 - $128,000 = $2,000 buyer surplus ● Seller surplus = the price minus the seller’s value $128,000 - $120,000 = $8,000 seller surplus ● Total surplus = buyer + seller surplus = difference in values $2,000 + $8,000 = $10,000  $130,000 - $120,000 = $10,000 $10,000 are the gains from trade ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Wealth -Creating Transactions ● Which assets do these transactions move to higher - valued uses?

• Factory Owners • Corporate Raiders • Real Estate Agents • Insurance Salesman • Investment Bankers ● Discussion : How does eBay create wealth? ● Discussion : Which individual has created the most wealth during your lifetime? ● Discussion : How do you create wealth? ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Do Mergers Create Wealth? ● Do mergers follow the wealth -creating engine of capitalism? Do they move assets to a higher -valued use?

• Our largest and most valuable assets are corporations ● Ex: Dell -Alienware merger: • In 2006, Dell purchased Alienware , a manufacturer of high -end gaming computers • Dell left design, marketing, sales and support in Alienware’s hands • Dell took over manufacturing though, using its expertise to build Alienware’s computers at a much lower cost ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Do Mergers Create Wealth? ● However, many mergers and acquisitions do not create value • If they do, value creation is rarely so clear ● To create value, the assets of the acquired firm must be more valuable to the buyer than to the seller ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Does Government Create Wealth? ● Discussion : What’s the government’s role is wealth creation? • Enforcing property rights and contracts legal tools that facilitate wealth creating transactions • Ensures that buyers and sellers keep gains from trade ● Discussion : Why are some countries so poor? • No property rights • No rule of law ● Discussion : Much of the justification for government intervention comes from the assertion that markets have failed. One money manager scoffed at this idea. “The markets are working fine, but they’re giving people answers that they don’t like, so people cry market failure.” ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages The One Lesson of Economics ● Definition : An economy is efficient if all assets are employed in their highest -valued assets • This is an unattainable, but useful benchmark ● The One Lesson of Economics : The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups ● Must look at the intended and unintended effects of policies to understand their efficiency ● The economist’s solution to inefficient outcomes is to argue for a change in public policy ● Business person’s solution is to try to make money on the inefficiency ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages The One Lesson of Business ● Definition : Inefficiency implies the existence of unconsummated, wealth -creating transactions ● The One Lesson of Business : The art of business consists of identifying assets in lower valued uses and devising ways to profitably moving them to higher valued uses ● In other words, make money by identifying unconsummated wealth -creating transactions and devise ways to profitably consummate them ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Destroying Wealth Anything that stops assets from moving to higher valued uses is destroying wealth • Taxes Destroy Wealth: • By deterring wealth -creating transactions – when the tax is larger than the surplus for a transaction • Subsidies Destroy Wealth: • Example: flood insurance encourages people to build in areas that they otherwise wouldn’t • Price Controls Destroy Wealth: • Example: rent control (price ceiling) in New York City deters transactions between owners and renters ● Which assets end up in lower -valued uses? ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Profiting from Inefficiency ● Taxes create a profit opportunity • Discussion : 1983 Sweden tax ● Subsidies create opportunity • Discussion : health insurance ● Price -controls create opportunity • Discussion : Regulation Q. & euro dollars • Discussion : What about ethics? ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Wealth Creation in Organizations ● Companies = a collection of transactions ● They buy raw materials (capital, labor, etc.) and create and sell higher -valued goods and services ● Can equate market -level problems (taxes, subsidies and price controls) with organization -level goal alignment problems • Ex: The overbidding from the oil company = “subsidy” paid to management for acquiring oil reserves ● Allows us to use the same analysis ©2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password -protected website for classroom use. ©K ami ra/ S hut t ers t oc k I mages Reference Froeb , L. M., McCann, B. T., Shor, M., & Ward, M. R. (2018). Managerial economics: a problem solving approach (5 th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.