In 2017, in proposing a $1 trillion increase in government spending on infrastructure, President Trump argued that the spending would increase total employment in the United States

Source: Ted Mann and Michael C. Bender, "President Trump to Launch Push for Infrastructure Investment," Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2017.

In the short run, increases in federal spending will increase real GDP and employment if:
A. the economy is producing at less than its potential output and has some cyclical unemployment.
B. wages and prices do not change.
C. the economy is experiencing inflation.
D. the price level remains stable.

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?

The cook corporation has two divisions--east and west. the divisions have the following revenues and expenses: east west sales $ 603,000 $ 506,000 variable costs 231,000 300,000 traceable fixed costs 151,500 192,000 allocated common corporate costs 128,600 156,000 net operating income (loss) $ 91,900 $ (142,000 ) the management of cook is considering the elimination of the west division. if the west division were eliminated, its traceable fixed costs could be avoided. total common corporate costs would be unaffected by this decision. given these data, the elimination of the west division would result in an overall company net operating income (loss)

Aprimary advantage of organizing economic activity within firms is thea. ability to coordinate highly complex tasks to allow for specialized division of labor. b. low administrative costs because of reduced bureaucracy. c. eradication of the principal-agent problem. d. high-powered incentive to work as salaried employees for an existing firm.