Which of the following is a microeconomic topic?

i. K-Mart's decision to close stores that are not making a profit
ii. Home Depot's choice to hire more full-time employees because its sales increased
iii. Delta Airlines changes its fares.

Question

Which of the following is a microeconomic topic?

i.	K-Mart's decision to close stores that are not making a profit
ii.	Home Depot's choice to hire more full-time employees because its sales increased
iii.	Delta Airlines changes its fares.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: Which of the following is a microeconomic topic? 
i. K-Mart's decision to close stores that are not making a profit
ii. Home Depot's choice to hire more full-time employees because its sales increased
iii. Delta Airlines changes its fares.

Option i: K-Mart closing unprofitable stores is a decision made by a single firm about how to allocate its resources and respond to profitability signals. This clearly falls under microeconomics, which examines the behavior and decisions of individual firms and how they allocate limited resources to maximize profits.

Option ii: Home Depot deciding to hire more full-time workers in response to higher sales is also about a single firm adjusting its input choices (labor) in response to demand or revenue changes. This is another microeconomic topic, since it analyzes firm-level employment decisions and input demand.

Option iii: Delta Airlines changing its fares involves pricing decisions by a firm in response to market conditions, competition, and demand. While pricing is a general concept, the focus here is on the behavior of a specific firm in a specific market, which is squarely microeconomic in nature.

Why this matters: Microeconomics looks at individual markets, firms, and consumers—their choices, constraints, and how prices and quantities are determined in specific contexts. Each of the three statements describes actions by individual economic agents (a retailer, a retailer employing more workers, and an airline adjusting prices) rather than aggregate national phenomena.

Synthesis: Since each item describes a decision by an individual firm or a firm’s specific market behavior, all three statements are microeconomic topics. There is no need to invoke broad macroeconomic aggregates or national-level policies to explain these scenarios.

ECON 210-003 In class quiz 1

Which of the following is a microeconomic topic? i. K-Mart's decision to close stores that are not making a profit ii. Home Depot's choice to hire more full-time employees because its sales increased iii. Delta Airlines changes its fares.

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