Unique Paper Code 873

Business EconomicsDecember 2024

B.Com (Programme) · 5 questions · 20 parts still being checked

Duration: 3 HoursMaximum Marks: 90

Reworded by Kunji from the printed paper. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.

Before you start

  1. Numbers and theory. 3 numerical parts and 17 theory parts. Numericals take longer to lay out, so give them your freshest time.
  2. Pace. Two minutes a mark: about 36 minutes for each 18-mark question, with nothing spare in 3 hours. Pick your side of each OR before you start writing.

1.

18 marks
· ~36 min
(a)
Meaning of demand, and the individual, market and revised demand schedulesBeing checked
(9)
(b)
Complementary goods (pen and ink): the diagram and the cross elasticity of demandBeing checked
(9)
OR
(c)
Price elasticity of demand and the methods of measuring itBeing checked
(9)
(d)
Equilibrium price and quantity, and the effect of changes in demand and supplyBeing checked
(9)

2.

18 marks
· ~36 min
(a)
Why an indifference curve is convex and not concave, and when it is not convexBeing checked
(9)
(b)
Budget lines for food and clothing: intercepts, slopes and the effect of a change in incomeBeing checked
(9)
OR
(c)
Deriving the Engel curve from the income consumption curve: necessities, luxuries and inferior goodsBeing checked
(9)
(d)
Substitution effect and income effect of a price fall for a normal good (Hicksian method)Being checked
(9)

3.

18 marks
· ~36 min
(a)
The three stages of production and the stage in which a rational producer operatesBeing checked
(9)
(b)
LAC and LMC: how the long-run average and marginal cost curves are derived and relatedBeing checked
(9)
OR
(c)
Marginal rate of technical substitution and testing for the least-cost input combinationBeing checked
(9)
(d)
Isoquants, their features, and the producer's equilibrium (least cost for a given output; most output for a given cost)Being checked
(9)

4.

18 marks
· ~36 min
(a)
Equilibrium of a perfectly competitive firm in the short run and the long run (MR = MC), and the shut-down pointBeing checked
(9)
(b)
Monopolistic competition versus monopoly, and equilibrium under monopolistic competition in the short and long runBeing checked
(9)
OR
(c)
Short-run and long-run equilibrium of a firm under monopolistic competition, by marginal principlesBeing checked
(9)
(d)
Degrees of price discrimination and when each is profitableBeing checked
(9)

5.

18 marks
· ~36 min
(a)
Cournot duopoly: how the reaction curves determine the equilibriumBeing checked
(9)
(b)
Short notes: peak-load pricing; rent control in the short run and the long runBeing checked
(9)
OR
(c)
The prisoners' dilemma, and why oligopolists find themselves in itBeing checked
(9)
(d)
Short notes: the excess capacity hypothesis; the kinked demand curveBeing checked
(9)

— End of the paper —