Product differentiation is a business strategy whereby firms attempt to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of their products and services relative to the perceived value of other firms' products or services:

Suppose an economist believes that the price level in the economy is directly related to the money supply, or the amount of money circulating in the economy. the economist proposes the following relationship: p=a x m - p=price level - m=money supply - a=a composite of other factors, including real gdp, that change very slowly over time. how might an economist gather empirical data to test the proposed relationship between money and the price level? an economist would persuade the federal reserve to change the money supply to various levels, and observe the resulting changes in the price level. unlike researchers in the hard sciences, economists cannot study complex relationships using data. economists do not usually develop theoretical models of the economy but only analyze summary statistics about the current state of the economy. an economist would look for data on past changes in the money supply, and note the resulting changes in the price level

Big trail running company has started to produce running apparel in addition to the trail running shoes that they have manufactured for years. they feel that a departmental overhead rate would best reflect their overall manufacturing overhead usage. based on research the following information was gathered for the upcoming year: machining department finishing department estimated manufacturing overhead by department $ 600 comma 000 $ 400 comma 000 trail running shoes 440 comma 000 machine hours 11 comma 000 direct labor hours running apparel 60 comma 000 machine hours 39 comma 000 direct labor hours manufacturing overhead is driven by machine hours for the machining department and direct labor hours for the finishing department. at the end of the year, the following information was gathered related to the production of the trail running shoes and running apparel: machining department finishing department trail running shoes 442 comma 000 hours 10 comma 500 hours running apparel 57 comma 000 hours 40 comma 000 hours how much manufacturing overhead will be allocated to the trail running shoes

In the supply-and-demand schedule shown above, at the lowest price of $50, producers supply music players and consumers demand music players.