Final answer:
Sophia should hire Tasia if she can identify the worker type because Tasia brings in a higher profit of $10,000. If hiring both Tasia and Rick, Sophia's total profit would be $15,000.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sophia stands to generate different levels of profit depending on whether she hires Tasia, a high-productivity worker, or Rick, a low-productivity worker. If she can easily identify the productivity type of the worker, she should make her hiring decision based on the potential revenue generation compared to the salary expectations of each candidate. For Tasia, who wants a salary of $80,000, the profit for Sophia would be $90,000 (revenue) - $80,000 (salary) = $10,000. For Rick, who wants a $55,000 salary, the profit would be $60,000 (revenue) - $55,000 (salary) = $5,000.
Hence, if Sophia can identify the type of worker, she should hire Tasia, and Sophia's total profit will be $10,000 for this worker. In the case of hiring both workers, considering they are the only employees, Sophia's total profit will be $10,000 + $5,000 = $15,000.