A corporation issues for cash $1,000,000 of 8%, 20-year bonds, interest payable annually, at a time when the market rate of interest is 10%. The straight-line method is adopted for the amortization of bond discount or premium. Which of the following statements is true? a. The amount of the annual interest expense is computed at 8% of the bond carrying amount at the beginning of the year.
b. The amount of the annual interest expense gradually decreases over the life of the bonds.
c. The amount of unamortized discount decreases from its balance at issuance date to a zero balance at maturity.
d. The amount of unamortized premium decreases from its balance at issuance date to a zero balance at maturity.

Suppose that fixed costs for a firm in the automobile industry (start-up costs of factories, capital equipment, and so on) are $5 billion and that variable costs are equal to $17,000 per finished automobile. because more firms increase competition in the market, the market price falls as more firms enter an automobile market, or specifically, , where n represents the number of firms in a market. assume that the initial size of the u.s. and the european automobile markets are 300 million and 533 million people, respectively.a. calculate the equilibrium number of firms in the u.s. and european automobile markets without trade.b. what is the equilibrium price of automobiles in the united states and europe if the automobile industry is closed to foreign trade? c. now suppose that the united states decides on free trade in automobiles with europe. the trade agreement with the europeans adds 533 million consumers to the automobile market, in addition to the 300 million in the united states. how many automobile firms will there be in the united states and europe combined? what will be the new equilibrium price of automobiles? d. why are prices in the united states different in (c) and (b)? are consumers better off with free trade? in what ways?