Will professor frances learn dropbox

Reference no: EM132201045

Question: A professor you may know, let's call her Professor Frances, sometimes finishes up work at home on her home computer. She needs access to word and powerpoint files. She can either email these files back and forth to herself or she can use dropbox. It takes 2 minutes to email the file to herself and back again. It takes no time to use dropbox. However, since she has never used dropbox before, she does not have an account or know how to use it. Therefore, the first time she uses dropbox, there is a one time, up-front cost of 5 minutes to set up the account and learn how to use it. Let u(x) = -x, meaning her utility from spending x minutes to do something is just -x. There are 5 time periods, t=0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. She can learn dropbox in any time period. For example, she can learn dropbox in the first period and have costless transfers for the rest of her time. Or she can email in the first period, then learn dropbox in the second and have costless transfers from then on. And so on. I recommend working out this problem in excel. Once you set up the equations, it is effortless to do the calculations. Show your work for all parts. If you use excel, print out the spreadsheet and make sure to indicate the equations.

A) First assume Professor Frances has no problems with self-control: she is an exponential discounter. Let Î´= 0.9. Will Professor Frances learn dropbox? In which time period? How much time total will she spend transferring files (including the setup time for dropbox)? Now suppose Professor Frances is a hyperbolic discounter with Î´=0.9 and Î²=0.5.

B) If she has access to a commitment device in t=0, when (if ever) will she choose to commit herself to learning dropbox? (In other words, on day t=0 when will she choose to commit herself to learning dropbox?) How much time total will she spend transferring files (including the setup time for dropbox)?

C) Suppose there is no viable commitment device. If she is naÃ¯ve, when, if ever, will she learn dropbox? How much time total will she spend transferring files (including the setup time for dropbox)?

D) If she is sophisticated, when, if ever will she learn dropbox and how much time will be spent on file transfer?

E) Discuss the meaning of your results intuitively.

F) Did you answer in Excel? Why or why not?

Reference no: EM132201045

Questions Cloud

Determine and display the smallest and largest values : Determine and display the smallest and largest values contained in 99-element floating point array w.

Independent of their homework average : Please use this information to answer Questions hypothesis to use for resolving this question?

Calculate the probability that a randomly selected woman : The heights of women in the U.S. follow a normal distribution having mean µ = 64 in and standard dev of s = 3 inches

What is the probability that it will rain tomorrow : If you know that tomorrow will be sunny in the city, what is the probability that it will rain tomorrow

Will professor frances learn dropbox : First assume Professor Frances has no problems with self-control: she is an exponential discounter. Let Î´= 0.9. Will Professor Frances learn dropbox?

Write machine code as decimal numbers : Write LEGv8 assembly language programs for the following C program fragments. Please make sure to add any necessary comments.

Every way except for the variable : In a group comparison study, the two groups need to be similar in every way except for the variable on which they were selected to differ.

Explain why correlation does not equal causation : Explain why correlation does not equal causation. Describe the data characteristics necessary to calculate a Pearson correlation coefficient.

Is access to technology worth the potential loss of privacy : Genetic Engineering in Food or Biotechnology: Are we helping the poor or putting more money into the pockets of the rich

User Account

All Pages