Study Notes on Grading System and Demand Elasticity

Raw score from computer grading system reflects how well students performed in writing assessments.
- Raw scores will only increase; they will never decrease in value.

The grading process involves adjusting scores based on partial credit awarded by the grading system.
The grading includes:
- Multiple choice exams where partial credit may be given (e.g., earning 75% for answering 3 out of 4 questions correctly).
- The potential exists for some questions to not receive partial credit despite providing some correct answers.
- Final adjustments will be made after the raw scores and partial credit are calculated, followed by a curve adjustment to set a baseline grade (e.g., adjusting to a B-).

A timeline for grading is anticipated to be released by the upcoming Monday.
Some students affected by external circumstances (e.g., dorm closures and snowstorms) will receive accommodations to complete their exams.
Current average scores (mean) without partial credit reported to be around 60.

No makeup exams are allowed per the course syllabus. If a student misses an exam, they forfeit that opportunity.
Students can use their final exam to replace the lowest midterm score from the three midterms.
- Example: If a student takes three midterms, only the best two scores will count, allowing for the third to potentially be replaced by the final exam score.

Future midterm exams will require the use of Respondus software, to ensure academic integrity.
Students need to ensure their computers are compatible and have Respondus properly installed prior to the next exam.
Plans to offer an extra credit quiz could facilitate students in proving their installation of Respondus.

Current integration between grading in Achieve and Canvas is being addressed; it is not fully operational yet.
- No grades are appearing in Canvas from Achieve as of now.
References to the Gradebook were raised during class, with confusion about whether the midterm grades were visible.

Course grade breakdown:
- Quizzes account for 25% of the final grade.
- The top three midterm exams contribute 75% to the final grade.
A reminder to utilize office hours or TA meetings to discuss individual performance and improvement strategies.

Transitioned to discussing economic concepts of price floors and ceilings, their implementation, and effects on market efficiency.

Price Floors: Minimum pricing to control how low prices can fall (e.g., minimum wage).
- Binding price floors affect market equilibrium by setting prices higher than natural equilibrium, thus causing lower market activity and inefficiency.
Price Ceilings: Maximum price limits, which could lead to shortages (e.g., rent controls).
- Affects market supply and demand, potentially leading to deadweight loss.

Price floors can result in:
- Inefficient allocation of goods.
- Reduced sales for some suppliers.
- Encouraged wastage (historical examples of agricultural surplus).
- Impacts market competition, often strangling entry from lower-cost producers.
Price ceilings can lead to market shortages and diminished quality.

The concept of elasticity relates to how much the quantity demanded changes in response to price changes.
- Elastic Demand: A change in price leads to a larger proportional change in quantity demanded.
- Inelastic Demand: A change in price leads to a smaller proportional change in quantity demanded.
- Unit Elasticity: A change in price leads to an equal proportional change in demand.

Necessities vs. Luxuries: Ordinary goods like insulin exhibit inelastic characteristics due to necessity, while luxury goods like yachts show elastic behavior due to alternative options.
- Insulin demand remains fairly stable regardless of price changes.
- Yachts' demand is highly sensitive to price changes with various substitutes available (e.g., cheaper leisure options).

The formula for calculating price elasticity of demand:
E_d = \frac{\% \text{ change in quantity demanded}}{\% \text{ change in price}}
For simplicity, the midpoint method is used to average out price changes: Ed = \frac{(Q2 - Q1) / ((Q1 + Q2) / 2)}{(P2 - P1) / ((P1 + P_2) / 2)} where:
- Q1, Q2 are the initial and new quantities.
- P1, P2 are the initial and new prices.

Understanding the interactions between price elasticity and total revenue:
- If demand is inelastic, a price increase leads to higher total revenue.
- If demand is elastic, a price increase leads to lower total revenue.
- Unit elasticity results in unchanged total revenue.