Competition among suppliers tends to drive prices ; competition among buyers tends to drive prices .

Ummit record company is negotiating with two banks for a $157,000 loan. fidelity bank requires a compensating balance of 24 percent, discounts the loan, and wants to be paid back in four quarterly payments. southwest bank requires a compensating balance of 12 percent, does not discount the loan, but wants to be paid back in 12 monthly installments. the stated rate for both banks is 9 percent. compensating balances will be subtracted from the $157,000 in determining the available funds in part a. a-1. calculate the effective interest rate for fidelity bank and southwest bank. (do not round intermediate calculations. input your answers as a percent rounded to 2 decimal places.) a-2. which loan should summit accept? southwest bank fidelity bank b. recompute the effective cost of interest, assuming that summit ordinarily maintains $37,680 at each bank in deposits that will serve as compensating balances

Afirm’s production function is represented by q(m,r) = 4m 3/4r1/3, where q denotes output, m raw materials, and r robots. the firm is currently using 6 units of raw materials and 12 robots. according to the mrts, in order to maintain its output level the firm would need to give up 2 robots if it adds 9 units of raw materials. (a) true (b) false

In north korea, a farmer’s income is the same as a dentist’s income. in a country with a mixed or market economy, the difference between those two professions might be more than 5 times different. how can you explain the fact that individuals doing the same work in different countries do not earn comparable salaries?