Student Solution

-->

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
– Nelson Mandela

1 University

1 Course

2 Subjects

M7 Problem Set

M7 Problem Set

Q Question 1 1 / 1 pts On any given day, a salesman can earn $0 with a 20% probability, $100 with a 40% probability, or $300 with a 20% probability. His expected earnings equal Question 2 1 / 1 pts People in a certain group have a 0.3% chance of dying this year. If a person in this group buys a life insurance policy for $3,300 that pays $1,000,000 to her family if she dies this year and $0 otherwise, what is the expected value of a policy to the insurance company? Question 3 1 / 1 pts If Martha is willing to pay up to $350 for insurance against a loss of $7000 which will occur with a 4% probability, she is, Question 4 1 / 1 pts Upon purchasing a new refrigerator, you are deciding whether to also purchase the two-year warranty. The consumer guides that you have read say that ten percent of new refrigerators need repairs in their second year, and the cost of repair averages $500. The rest of the refrigerators need no repair. Assume a zero discount rate. Which of the following statements is true?

View Related Questions

Solution Preview

1.$100 because that is what he will earn on average. This is the correct answer. The expected value of the salesperson’s earnings is calculated as the sum of all possible values each multiplied by the probability of its occurrence, i.e. EV = $0*20%+%100*40%+$300*20% = $100. 2.$300 This is the correct answer. The value of the policy to the insurance company is $3,300 – 0.3%*$1,000,000 = $300. For any given customer, the insurance company receives a payment of $3,300 and faces a disbursement of $1,000,000 with probability 0.3%. The expected payment is thus $1,000,000*0.3% = $3,000, and the value of the policy to the insurance company is $3,300 - $3,000 = $300. 3.risk averse. This is the correct answer. Martha’s expected loss is 0.04*$7000, or $280. The fact that Martha is willing to pay more than her expected loss for insurance against this loss indicates that she is risk averse.