Presume the total cost for Oceanian workers is constant and equal to 2m chocolates/hour, irrespective of the level of output. When Oceania inevitably crumbles because of a proletariat uprising against the ubiquitous Big Brother, will elasticity of demand and marginal revenue have any substantial influence in the new anarchy? Moreover, how frequently should the regime install posters of Big Brother, at 10 chocolates/poster, in most public areas to motivate workers and thereby increase productivity?

- - -

John Clare wants to publish twenty poems. The price of submitting poems to literary journals in 1831 is $0 and the price of submitting poems to literary journals in 2017 ranges from $2 to $5. Given an approximate, annual income of $4700, his illiterate, peasant-farmer family, his general lack of publishing connections, and his relatively short-lived education, what is the optimal allocation of poetry submissions in 1831 and 2017 for John Clare? Please account for inflation.

- - -

What type of production method can one reasonably define as a series of bashing random keys on the keyboard at 6:00 AM in hopes of overcoming a stupefying writer’s block and subsequently producing a fifty-page essay due in two hours?

- - -

The demand for Agatha’s hand exceeds the demand for Dorothea’s hand by 300,000 units. If this is a Jane Austen novel, then which of the following factors is most likely to increase the demand for Dorothea’s hand beyond the demand for Agatha’s hand this year?

A. A lack of gentlemen wishing to dance with Dorothea at a ball.

B. Dorothea’s strong command of the language and her resistance to a marriage arranged primarily for fiscal benefit.

C. A brooding suitor of impeccable handsomeness and insurmountable wealth and who is interested in Dorothea.

D. All of the above.

BONUS: Which of these factors apply if Agatha and Dorothea are characters in a novel by Tolstoy? A play by Oscar Wilde?

- - -

If the negative growth rate of the characters in an Agatha Christie mystery exceeds the negative growth rate of the characters in an Arthur Conan Doyle mystery, then which author is more likely to reveal that deceased characters were not, in fact, deceased at all to sustain the plot’s momentum and thereby increase the public’s demand for more work?

- - -

Jurgis Rudkus works at the meat factory every day and faces great expenditures from repairing his subpar slum house. Frequent thoughts of quitting his job to return to Lithuania or joining a union plague him. Rudkus knows that the cost of a ticket to Lithuania is $500 and the probability of having a better life there is 1/10. Rudkus also knows that there is a 1/5 chance of losing his job, his house, and any semblance of income if he joins a union. His salary is $6/week. How much money will incentivize Rudkus to stay at his meat factory job for another week? What if Rudkus learns that he’s the protagonist of a zeitgeist literary novel about the devastating working conditions of urban factories in the early twentieth century?

- - -

Jane has quit her full-time position as a business consultant to acquire an English PhD. Discuss one financial risk and one financial benefit that Jane might encounter. Describe also how Jane might effectively explain her decision to loved ones, colleagues, and anyone who might have relied on the income from her full-time position even though Jane is overwhelmed with a crushing nausea, myriad self-doubts, and yet, lingering optimism regarding a tenure-track position at a large or elite university.

- - -

Terry, an English major, can edit fifteen pages of a literary fantasy novel per hour, but will have to forego writing five pages of her comedic science-fiction treatment per hour. What is the opportunity cost for writing forty-eight pages of her science-fiction treatment? Will this choice lead the English major toward a life of editing others’ prose at the expense of her literary dreams, or will it more likely ascertain prospects in the field of publishing through her accretion of copywriting experience? Should the English major instead devote this time to reading for class instead, given that class is in eight hours, covers the final chapters of Vanity Fair, which will appear on the final, and requires participation for discussion credit?

- - -

Also see: Math Problems for English Majors