--%>
Assignment Help - homework help

Question on lowering the supply

The Reagan Administration introduced new agricultural program named as the Payment-in-Kind Program, in the year of 1983. In order to distinguish how the program worked, let's assume the wheat market. Now assume the government desire to lower the supply of wheat by 25 percent from the free-market equilibrium by paying farmers to withdraw land from production. Though, the payment is made in wheat instead of in dollars--hence the name of the program. The wheat comes from the government's vast reserves that resulted from previous price-support programs. The amount of wheat paid is equivalent to the amount which could have been harvested on the land withdrawn from production. Farmers are free to sell this wheat on the market. How much is produced by farmers now? How much is supplied indirectly to the market by the government? What is the new market price? How much do the farmers gain? Do consumers gain or lose?
Since the free market supply by farmers is 20 billion bushels, the 25 percent reduction needed by the new Payment-In-Kind (PIK) Program would imply that the farmers now generate 15 billion bushels. To encourage farmers to withdraw their land from cultivation, the government have to give them 5 billion bushels, which they sell on the market.
Since the total supply to the market is still 20 billion bushels, the market price does not change; this remains at $4 per bushel. The farmers gain $20 billion, equal to ($4)(5 billion bushels), from the PIK Program, since they incur no costs in supplying the wheat (which they received from the government) to the market. The PIK program does not influence consumers in the wheat market, since they purchase the similar amount at the same price as they did in the free market case.

   Related Questions in Microeconomics

  • Q : Moral Hazard-Risk of money When you

    When you paid a friend’s entrance fee for the poker tournament and agreed to divide any winnings and then your friend played sloppily as your money is at risk, not his, and then you have suffered since of: (1) Adverse selection. (2) Fraudulent information. (3) I

    		•
  • Q : State excess demand or inflationary gap

    State excess demand or inflationary gap: Excess demand takes place whenever AD is bigger than AS at the level of full employment equilibrium.

    		•
  • Q : Critics of contestability theory

    Critics of contestability theory argue which: (i) easy entry and exit isn't enough to make sure competitive prices. (ii) even though the firms charged a competitive price for their goods, that they would not have the incentive to make the competitive

    		•
  • Q : Freedom of entry-exit in long run

    Contestable markets and purely competitive markets share the feature of: (w) collusive behavior of huge firms. (x) freedom of entry and exit into the long run. (y) widespread product differentiation. (z) persistent economic profits.

    Q : Featherbedding in its hiring practices

    The summation of monopolistic exploitation across all the workers tends to raise however a firm as well operates at a more socially and economically proficient level of output and employment whenever the firm is capable to engage in: (1) Blacklisting in its dealings t

    		•
  • Q : Reason why giant corporations dominate

    John Kenneth Galbraith refuses theories which suppose profit maximization in competitive markets. According to him, the big corporations dominate the economic activity as: (1) Corporate managers look for maximum gains for stockholders. (2) Government policies are mani

    		•
  • Q : Possessing a problem of Moral Hazard I

    I have a problem in economics on possessing a problem of Moral Hazard. Please help me in the following question. The Moral hazard poses a problem if: (i) People with health insurance acquire flu shots. (ii) Persons who are sicker purchase health insur

    		•
  • Q : Less equally distribution of wealth In

    In the United States, wealth appears to be: (1) more equitably distributed than income tax burdens. (2) less equally distributed than income. (3) distributed much more equally than in communist countries. (4) weak in generating income for wealthy indi

    		•
  • Q : Exploitation on resource suppliers Can

    Can someone help me in finding out the right answer from the given options. When resource suppliers are paid less than the values of their marginal products (or VMPs), they are stated to be: (i) Monopolistic. (ii) Exploited. (iii) Monopsonistic. (iv) In equilibrium.

    		•
  • Q : Critics of current welfare programs

    Critics of current welfare programs who desire the welfare system scaled down tend to argue which welfare reform should give: (1) whatever this takes to lift all people out of poverty. (2) poor people with incentives to work. (3) nothing; there should

    		•