ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Dofasco, Isocost, Isoquant

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ceruleanmule193

18 Apr 2018

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In the long run, the profit maximizing firm will try to be technically efficient, which means using no more inputs than necessary. This is not enough to maximize profits. Firms in the long run must also choose among the many technical efficient options the one that produces a given level of output at the lowest cost. Cost minimization is an implication of profit maximization that firms choose the production method that produces any given level of output at the lowest possible cost. Whenever the ratio of the marginal product of each factor to its price is not equal for all factors, there are possibilities for factor substitution that will reduce costs for a given level of output. The law of diminishing marginal returns says that with other inputs held constant, an increase in the amount of one factor will decrease its marginal product. By re-arranging the terms in the previous equation, we can get the following equation:

Related Questions

Marginal Cost, Revenue, and Pure Competition Assignment Worksheet
Directions
This assignment deals with the recognition and application of pure competition cost and revenue information that is graphically presented. Use the graph below to answer the following questions.
Microeconomic Problem

1. How do you know that the firm represented in the graph above is a purely competitive firm?

2. To maximize profits, this firm will produce at what output level(one letter)?

3. Explain why this MR=MC position is the profit-maximizing position for any firm.

4. What is the product price (one letter)?

5. What is this firm's average revenue (one letter)?

6. At profit-maximizing output, what is this firm's average variable cost (one letter)?

7. At profit-maximizing output, what four letters indicate:

Total revenue? (Remember, four letters' a rectangle.)

Total cost?

Total variable cost?

Total fixed cost?

Total economic profit?

8. If price falls below what point, this firm will not operate in the short run? (No letter needed, just an explanation.)

9. What will happen to this firm's price, output, and economic profit in the long run? Why?

10. Where will the price settle in the long run? Remember, all purely competitive firms are theoretically doomed to make an only normal profit in the long run. (Again, no letter answer, just an explanation.)

11. Why is the long-run equilibrium position of a purely competitive firm productively and allocatively efficient?

teallizard995

A competitive firmâs short-run demand for labor will rise when the price of its product rises.

	True
	False

As the wage rate rises, the marginal revenue product of labor increases.

	True
	False

A competitive firmâs demand for labor always slopes down in the short-run, but may slope upwards or downwards in the long run.

	True
	False

When labor an capital are complements in production, a higher wage will cause a firm to use more capital in the long run.

	True
	False

If labor is a regressive factor, then a firmâs long-run demand for labor may or may not be downward sloping.

	True
	False

The short-run demand curve for labor for a firm in any type of market for its output coincides with

	the upward-sloping portion of the marginal revenue product curve.
	the downward-sloping portion of the marginal revenue product curve.

	the downward-sloping portion of the marginal product curve.
	the marginal labor cost curve.

An increase in the price of labor will, in the short run, cause a competitive firmâs

	marginal cost to increase, the quantity it sells to decrease, and therefore reduce the quantity of labor demanded.
	price of its output to increase, leaving the quantity of labor demanded unchanged.

	marginal revenue product of labor to decrease, and therefore reduce demand for labor.
	marginal revenue product of labor to increase, and therefore increase demand for labor.

Which of the following would cause the firmâs short-run demand curve for labor to shift to the right?

	A decrease in the wage rate.
	An increase in the price of the firmâs product.

	An increase in the rental rate paid to capital.
	A decrease in the amount of complementary capital available.

If increased capital usage reduces the firmâs short-run demand for labor, then

	labor is a regressive factor.
	labor and capital are complements in production.

	labor and capital are substitutes in production.
	labor is a Giffen factor.

When is the law of demand violated for labor? That is, with regards to the law of labor demand, when does an increase in the wage not lead to a reduction in the quantity of labor demanded?

	Never.
	When the substitution and scale effects are in opposition, with the scale effect being the larger.

	When labor is a regressive factor.
	When labor earns zero economic rent.

If the wage rate rises, then the firmâs long-run marginal costs change, which in turn affects the firmâs output level and its employment of labor. This phenomenon is known as

	the substitution effect.
	the scale effect.

	the regressive-factor effect.
	the factor-price effect.

When will the scale effect of a wage increase cause a reduction in the quantity of labor demanded?

	Always.
	When labor is not a regressive factor.

	When labor and capital are substitutes in production.
	When labor and capital are complements in production.

Consider the usual case where a higher wage rate increases a firmsâ marginal costs. In this case, the industryâs demand curve for labor

	is more wage inelastic than the individual firmsâ demand curves would indicate.
	coincides with the horizontal sum of individual firmsâ demand curves.

	contains only substitution effects but no scale effects.
	is horizontal at the going wage rate.

To maximize profits, a monopolist will hire the quantity of labor at which marginal revenue product of labor

	is downward sloping and equal to the market wage rate.
	is downward sloping and equal to marginal labor cost.

	minus marginal labor cost is maximized.
	is maximized.

A firmâs revenue minus its factor payments equals

	zero.
	the profits or losses earned by the firm.

	the quasi-rents earned by the factors of production.
	the firmâs total revenue.

As the amount of labor used in production increases, total product

	increases at low levels of labor and decreases at higher levels of labor.
	increases at high levels of labor and decreases at low levels of labor.

	always increases.
	always decreases.

A profit-maximizing price taker will produce at a level where

	the wage equals the marginal product of labor.
	the marginal revenue product of labor equals the price of their output.

	the wage rate equals the price of their output.
	the marginal revenue product of labor equals the wage rate.

If the wage rate is $10 per hour and one worker can produce 2 units of output per hour, then the marginal cost of production is

	$5.
	$10.

	$20.
	The answer cannot be determined from the information given.

A firmâs long-run demand for labor is more wage-elastic than its short-run demand for labor.

	True
	False

A monopsonistâs short-run demand curve for labor coincides with its marginal revenue product of labor curve.

	True
	False

Workers will receive higher wages when an employer faces an upward-sloping supply curve for labor.

	True
	False

The profit an owner receives is equivalent to the rent received for her entrepreneurial services.

	True
	False

When high levels of labor are employed, total production tends to increase at a decreasing rate.

	True
	False

The substitution effect on labor always decreases the quantity of labor demanded when the wage rate increases.

	True
	False

A firmâs marginal revenue product of labor equals the marginal product of labor multiplied by the per-unit cost of labor.

	True
	False

Tastes and preferences are relevant to individual choices for consumption but not relevant to choices for supplying labor.

	True
	False

A higher wage will always cause a worker to increase the quantity of labor supplied.

	True
	False

The substitution and income effects of a wage increase both cause consumption to rise.

	True
	False

A workerâs labor supply may either rise or fall when nonlabor income increases, depending on whether the substitution effect or the income effect dominates.

	True
	False

When an increase in marginal productivity increases workersâ nonlabor income, the effect on the quantity of labor supplied is ambiguous/uncertain.

	True
	False

A technological improvement that is permanent is more likely to raise employment than one that is temporary.

	True
	False

Other factors being constant, firms that provide on-the-job training to workers will tend to pay higher wages.

	True
	False

If there is discrimination, employers engage in it a cost.

	True
	False

Human capital tends to increase over the course of a personâs life.

	True
	False

In the indifference curve budget line model of labor supply,

	labor is measured along the horizontal axis and leisure is measured along the vertical axis.
	labor is measured along the horizontal axis and consumption is measured along the vertical axis.

	consumption is measured along the horizontal axis and labor is measured along the vertical axis.
	consumption is measured along the horizontal axis and leisure is measured along the vertical axis.

In the indifference curve budget line model of labor supply, the slope of the indifference curve is used to measure

	the wage rate.
	laborâs marginal product.

	the workerâs nonlabor income.
	the marginal value of leisure.

If a worker has chosen a quantity of labor where the marginal value of leisure exceeds the wage rate, she would be better off by

	choosing less leisure.
	providing fewer hours of labor.

	providing more hours of labor.
	staying at this combination of labor and consumption.

When there is an increase in the wage rate there will be

	both a substitution effect and an income effect.
	only a substitution effect.

	only a substitution effect.
	either a substitution effect or an income effect.

When the wage rate rises, the substitution effect leads a worker to

	increase consumption while the income effect leads to a decrease in consumption.
	decrease consumption while the income effect leads to an increase in consumption.

	increase consumption, as does the income effect.
	substitution sleep for other leisure.

Consider the indifference curve budget line model of labor supply, and assume consumption and leisure are both normal goods. A higher wage rate would result in

	more consumption and less leisure.
	a reduction in the workerâs marginal value of leisure.

	reduced consumption if the income effect is larger than the substitution effect.
	increased labor only if the substitution effect outweighs the income effect.

When the wage rate rises, a worker chooses to replace some leisure hours with work hours, even if he would remain equally well off. This phenomenon is known as

	compensating differential.
	the income effect.

	the substitution effect.
	intertemporal substitution.

Which of the following will shift a workerâs labor supply curve to the left?

	Higher nonlabor income.
	A lower wage rate, assuming the substitution effect dominates the income effect.

	New machinery that substitutes for labor and lowers its marginal product.
	A decrease in the marginal value of leisure.

Which of the following would cause a rightward shift in the labor demand curve?

	Manna from heaven.
	A rise in the wage rate.

	A rise in workersâ marginal productivity.
	A decline in workersâ nonlabor incomes.

When some jobs are inherently more risky or unpleasant than other jobs, different workers will be paid different wages because of

	differences in human capital.
	differing access to capital.

	compensating differentials
	discrimination.

Discrimination is difficult to measure empirically because

	it is hard to measure and control for differences in marginal productivity.
	data on racial and gender differences is rarely available.

	discrimination is practiced by very few employers.
	economists find no significant wage differentials due to gender or race.

Intertemporal substitution dictates that

	people will work less in periods of high productivity.
	people will spend more in periods of high productivity.

	people will work more in periods of high productivity.
	people will spend less in periods of high productivity.

A decrease in the wage rate causes the budget line to

	become flatter.
	become steeper.

	shift upward.
	shift downward.

An increase in the marginal productivity of labor will tend to

	shift the labor supply curve rightward if the change is temporary.
	result in an increase in employment if the change is temporary.

	result in an increase in employment if the change is permanent.
	all of the above.

A downward shift in a workerâs budget line is a result of

	an increase in the wage rate.
	a decrease in the wage rate.

	an increase in nonlabor income.
	a decrease in nonlabor income

One deficiency of the labor-leisure indifference curve analysis is that because indifference curves are always tangent to the workerâs budget line, the model cannot explain why some people choose not to work.

	True
	False

pinkcheetah77

1- All of the following statements apply to a purely competitive market in the long run, except:

A- In the long run, all inputs are variable in quantity.

B- Firms can expand their plant capacities in the long run.

C- Total fixed costs remain constant even when output expands in the long run.

D- Firms may enter or leave the industry in the long run.

2- Which of the following is true of normal profits?

A- They are necessary to keep a firm in the industry in the long run

B- They are zero under pure competition in the long run

C- They are excluded from a firm's costs of production

D- They are what attract other firms to enter an industry

3- -The long-run supply curve would be perfectly elastic when:

A- An increase in demand does not cause a change in product price

B- An increase in demand causes an increase in product price

C- A decrease in demand causes an increase in short-run supply

D- A decrease in demand causes an increase in product price

4- What happens in a decreasing-cost industry when some firms leave and the industry's output contracts?

A- The average cost will increase

B- The average cost will decrease

D- The total cost will decrease

C- The product price will decrease

5- Which of the following statements about a competitive firm is correct?

A-To maximize profits a competitive firm should produce at that output at which total revenue is greatest

B- In long-run equilibrium a competitive firm will produce at the point of minimum average costs

C- A competitive firm will produce in the short run so long as total receipts are sufficient to cover total fixed costs

D-A competitive firm will close down in the short run whenever price is less than the minimum attainable average total cost

6- When there is allocative efficiency in a purely competitive market for a product, the minimum price producers are willing to accept is:

A- Less than marginal benefit

B- Greater than marginal cost

C- Equal to the amount of efficiency or deadweight losses

D- Equal to the maximum price consumers are willing to pay

7- A patent is the legal right granted to a firm that allows it to:

A- Make copies of other firm's products

B- Be the sole buyer of a particular product or resource

C- Sell its new product exclusively for a set number of years

D- Be the exclusive distributor of a particular imported product

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ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Dofasco, Isocost, Isoquant

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