Business application software programs make it possible to:

The market for corn in country a is highly competitive. at the current market price of $5/bushel there is a shortage of 100,000 bushels of corn in this country. media reports claim that the price of corn will rise drastically in the near future. according to these reports, the neighboring country b had witnessed a similar situation recently. at the same price, the shortage in country b was also 100,000 bushels and eventually the equilibrium price in b went up to $10/bushel. both countries are known to have equal number of corn producers and the market supply of corn is identical at all prices. this, combined with the fact that consumers in the two countries also have similar tastes and preferences, led the media to conclude that the price of corn in country a would soon be as high as $10/bushel. the new equilibrium price turns out to be below $10/bushel, what inferences can be drawn?

Who is better at multi-tasking? in business, employees are often asked to perform a complex task when their atten-tion is divided (i.e., multi-tasking). human factors (may 2014) published a study designed to determine whether video game players are better than non–video game play-ers at multi-tasking. each in a sample of 60 college stu-dents was classified as a video game player or a non-player. participants entered a street crossing simulator and were asked to cross a busy street at an unsigned intersec-tion. the simulator was designed to have cars traveling at various high rates of speed in both directions. during the crossing, the students also performed a memory task as a distraction. two variables were measured for each student: (1) a street crossing performance score (measured out of 100 points) and (2) a memory task score (measured out of 20 points). the researchers found no differences in either the street crossing performance or memory task score of video game players and non-gamers. “these results,” say the researchers, “suggest that action video game players [and non-gamers] are equally susceptible to the costs of dividing attention in a complex task”

Which curve shows increasing opportunity cost as you give up more of one option? demand curve bow-shaped curve yield curve indifference curve