Discussion post: You must post your original answer on Thursday by 11:59 pm before responding to another student’s post by Sunday 11:59 pm. Answer ALL THE questions in your original post (please remember to cite in-text using module resources): 1. Cost analysis is one of many mechanisms that are designed to manage uncertainty. To do cost accounting/analysis, public managers must understand how their program’s costs will change under different scenarios. What are fixed, variable, semi-variable, and step costs as well as direct vs. indirect costs Download fixed, variable, semi-variable, and step costs as well as direct vs. indirect costs? Please focus on how these different cost types affect a program’s unit costs, total costs, and service delivery volume. 2. Please review the Lecture Note Download the Lecture Notefor the Helping Hands example. You can also download the Excel file Download the Excel file. Why reducing demand may not be the way out of a deficit (Table 1)? Why hasn’t the deficit been solved despite increasing demand (Table 2)? What strategy was used in Table 3? Did dropping or privatizing one of the services help reduce the deficit? 3. Now assume that you are a budget analyst in the Budget Team of Helping Hands. What changes would you recommend to balance the budget? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your recommendation? 4. According to Maher et al. (2020) Download Maher et al. (2020), what were the common and less favorable strategies adopted in response to COVID-19? Choose your preferred strategy and explain why. Would you prefer your strategy in other contexts, such as the 2008 housing crisis or other short-term crises?
