A number of empirical studies suggest that labor demand is very elastic while labor supply is very inelastic. Assume too that payroll taxes are about 15 percent and legislated to be paid half by the employee and half by the employer. (a) What would happen to worker wages if payroll taxes were eliminated?(b) What would happen to employment costs paid by firms if payroll taxes were eliminated?(c) What would happen to producer and worker surplus if payroll taxes were eliminated? Which measure is relatively more sensitive to payroll taxes? Why?(d) Why might workers not want payroll taxes eliminated?

Aldrich and co. sold goods to donovan on credit. the amount owed grew steadily, and finally aldrich refused to sell any more to donovan unless donovan signed a promissory note for the amount due. donovan did not want to but signed the note because he had no money and needed more goods. when aldrich brought an action to enforce the note, donovan claimed that the note was not binding because it had been obtained by economic duress. was he correct? [aldrich & co. v. donovan, 778 p.2d 397 (mont.)]

“wonderful! not only did our salespeople do a good job in meeting the sales budget this year, but our production people did a good job in controlling costs as well,” said kim clark, president of martell company. “our $11,150 overall manufacturing cost variance is only 3% of the $1,536,000 standard cost of products made during the year. that’s well within the 3% parameter set by management for acceptable variances. it looks like everyone will be in line for a bonus this year.” the company produces and sells a single product. the standard cost card for the product follows: standard cost card—per unit direct materials, 4.00 feet at $4.00 per foot $ 16.00 direct labor, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $13 per direct labor-hour 14.30 variable overhead, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $2.40 per direct labor-hour 2.64 fixed overhead, 1.1 direct labor-hours at $6.50 per direct labor-hour 7.15 standard cost per unit $ 40.09the following additional information is available for the year just completed: a. the company manufactured 20,000 units of product during the year.b. a total of 77,000 feet of material was purchased during the year at a cost of $4.25 per foot. all of this material was used to manufacture the 20,000 units. there were no beginning or ending inventories for the year.c. the company worked 24,000 direct labor-hours during the year at a direct labor cost of $12.50 per hour.d. overhead is applied to products on the basis of standard direct labor-hours. data relating to manufacturing overhead costs follow: denominator activity level (direct labor-hours) 19,000 budgeted fixed overhead costs $ 123,500 actual variable overhead costs incurred $ 64,800 actual fixed overhead costs incurred $ 120,900required: 1. compute the materials price and quantity variances for the year. (round standard price and actual price to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero 2. compute the labor rate and efficiency variances for the year. (round standard rate and actual rate to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero 3. for manufacturing overhead compute: a. the variable overhead rate and efficiency variances for the year. (round standard rate and actual rate to 2 decimal places. indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero b. the fixed overhead budget and volume variances for the year. (indicate the effect of each variance by selecting "f" for favorable, "u" for unfavorable, and "none" for no effect (i.e., zero

Examine the following book-value balance sheet for university products inc. the preferred stock currently sells for $30 per share and pays a dividend of $3 a share. the common stock sells for $16 per share and has a beta of 0.9. there are 2 million common shares outstanding. the market risk premium is 9%, the risk-free rate is 5%, and the firm’s tax rate is 40%. book-value balance sheet (figures in $ millions) assets liabilities and net worth cash and short-term securities $ 2.0 bonds, coupon = 6%, paid annually (maturity = 10 years, current yield to maturity = 8%) $ 5.0 accounts receivable 3.0 preferred stock (par value $15 per share) 3.0 inventories 7.0 common stock (par value $0.20) 0.4 plant and equipment 21.0 additional paid-in stockholders’ equity 13.6 retained earnings 11.0 total $ 33.0 total $ 33.0 a. what is the market debt-to-value ratio of the firm? (do not round intermediate calculations. enter your answer as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places.) b. what is university’s wacc? (do not round intermediate calculations. enter your answer as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places.)