Principles of Economics (12th Edition)
12th Edition
ISBN: 9780134078779
Author: Karl E. Case, Ray C. Fair, Sharon E. Oster
Publisher: PEARSON
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Question
Chapter 8, Problem 2.8P
(a)
To determine
Derive and graph the marginal product curve.
(b)
To determine
The marginal cost curve when the wage is $4.
(c)
To determine
The profit maximizing output.
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Students have asked these similar questions
A small specialty cookie company, whose only variable input is labor, finds that the average worker can produce 100 cookies per day, the cost of the average worker is $32 per day, and the price of a cookie is $1.00. Is the firm maximizing profit?
The firm
A. is not maximizing profit because the marginal revenue product of labor is greater than the wage.
B. is not maximizing profit because the marginal revenue product of labor is less than the wage.
C. is maximizing profit because the marginal product of labor is greater than the wage.
D. is not maximizing profit because the price of the output is not equal to the wage.
E. is not maximizing profit because the marginal product of labor is greater than the wage.
Why does the marginal product of labor start to decrease after a certain number of workers are hired? What makes the difference?
a) The variable input continues to increase while the fixed input is fixed.
b) Both the variable and the fixed inputs are increasing at the same rate.
is it a or b?
Describe the difference between a diminishing marginal product of labor and a negative marginalproduct of labor. Why would a profit-maximizing firm always choose to operate where the marginalproduct of labor is decreasing (but not negative)?
Chapter 8 Solutions
Principles of Economics (12th Edition)
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- B. Suppose that your production process is characterized by the production function x = f(e) = 100 In ( + 1). For purposes of this problem, assume w > 1 and p > 0.01. a. Set up your profit-maximization problem. b. Derive the labor demand function. C. The labor demand curve is the inverse of the labor demand function with p held fixed. Can you demonstrate what happens to this labor demand curve when p changes? d. Derive the output supply function. e. The supply curve is the inverse of the supply function with w held fixed. What happens to this supply curve as w changes? (Hint: Recall that In x = y implies e' = x, where e ≈ 2.7183 is the base of the natural log.) f. Suppose p = 2 and w profit will you make? = 10. What is your profit-maximizing production plan, and how mucharrow_forwardSuppose Marcus produces chocolate with two inputs: factory and labour. The rent of the factory is $3,000 per week, and the wage of each worker is $2,000 per week. When Marcus produces 200 pounds of chocolate every week, he employs 2 workers. Calculate the fixed cost (FC), variable cost (VC), total cost (TC), average fixed cost (AFC), average variable cost (AVC), and average total cost (ATC) of producing 200 pounds of chocolate. The total cost of producing 201 pounds of chocolate is $7030. Calculate the marginal cost (MC) of producing the 201st pound of chocolate.arrow_forwardThe following graph shows the marginal and average product curves for labor, the firm's only variable input. The monthly wage for labor is $2,800. Fixed cost is $160,000. When the firm uses 120 units of labor, what is its marginal cost at this output?arrow_forward
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- Consider the table below that describes the production function for a good (Q) in terms of inputs labor (L) and capital (K) in the short run. What is the marginal product of labor for the fourth worker? Enter the number below.arrow_forwardSuppose that firm's short-run 4 a production function is q=10/T – 1. 5.1 Find the level(s) of maximise the firm's average product of L that labour (APL). 5.2 Calculate the value of the second- order derivative (SOD) at the value of L found in 5.1 that maximises APL 5.3 Calculate the marginal product of labour (MPL) at the level(s) of L that maximises APLarrow_forwardPlease explain what numbers are being plugged in to get the answer.arrow_forward
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