Before negotiating a long-term construction contract, build- ing contractors must carefully estimate the total cost of completing the project. Benzion Barlev of New York University proposed a model for total cost of a long-term contract based on the normal distribution(Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, July 1995). For one particular construction contract, Barlev assumed total cost, x, to be normally distributed with mean $850,000 and standard deviation $170,000. The revenue, R, promised to the contractor is $1,00,000. Required:
a. The contract will be profitable if revenue exceeds total cost. What is the probability that the co ntract will be profitable for the contractor?
b. What is the probability that the project will result in a loss for the contractor?
c. Suppose the contractor has the opportunity to renegotiate the contract. What value of R should the contractor strive for in order to have a .99 probability of making a profit?

1) u.s. real gdp is substantially higher today than it was 60 years ago. what does this tell us, and what does it not tell us, about the well-being of u.s. residents? what are the limitations of the gdp as a measure of economic well-being? given the limitations, why is gdp usually regarded as the best single measure of a society’s economic well-being? 2) what is an intermediate good? how does an intermediate good differ from a final good? explain why it is the case that the value of intermediate goods produced and sold during the year is not included directly as part of gdp, but the value of intermediate goods produced and not sold is included directly as part of gdp.

Which of the following statements is correct? a major disadvantage of a partnership relative to a corporation is the fact that federal income taxes must be paid by the partners rather than by the firm itself. in a typical partnership, liability for other partners’ misdeeds is limited to the amount of a particular partner’s investment in the business.true in a limited partnership, the limited partners have voting control, while the general partner has operating control over the business, and the limited partners are individually responsible, on a pro rata basis, for the firm’s debts in the event of bankruptcy. partnerships have more difficulty attracting large amounts of capital than corporations because of such factors as unlimited liability, the need to reorganize when a partner dies, and the illiquidity of partnership interests.

The new york times (nov. 30, 1993) reported that “the inability of opec to agree last week to cut production has sent the oil market into turmoil . . [leading to] the lowest price for domestic crude oil since june 1990.” why were the members of opec trying to agree to cut production? so they could save more oil for future consumption so they could lower the price so they could raise the price why do you suppose opec was unable to agree on cutting production? because each country has a different production capacity because each country experiences different production costs because each country has an incentive to cheat on any agreement the newspaper also noted opec’s view “that producing nations outside the organization, like norway and britain, should do their share and cut production.” what does the phrase “do their share” suggest about opec’s desired relationship with norway and britain? opec would like norway and britain to keep their production levels high. opec would like norway and britain to act competitively. opec would like norway and britain to join the cartel.