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ECON101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Marginal Product, Longrun, Fixed Cost

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indigomacaw960
29 Nov 2016
School
University of Waterloo
Department
Economics
Course
ECON101
Professor
Emanuel Carvalho

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Document Summary

Output and costs long run & short run - corresponds with. Short run- quantity of at least one factor of production is fixed. This is typically seen in firms- capital, land, entrepreneurship are fixed, labour is typically a variable factor. Both fixed and variable, only some resources are fixed, quantities of others are variable. To increase output in the short run, a firm must increase quantity of a variable factor of production, typically this is labour. A firm can increase or decrease output depending on how much labour it hires and amount of people working. Characteristics of production in the long run - quantities of all factors. Of production can be varied - the firm can change its plant. To increase output, the firm can change its plant. To increase output in the short run, firm must increase the quantity of labour employed. There are 3 different product schedules in the short run.

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Related Questions

11. [3 Marks] Assume no change in the LRATC.? All firms in a perfectly competitive market have access to the same technology and input prices. Production entails a $1000 per period fixed cost. A firm sells 1000 units a price of $10, incurring an average of $8 per unit in variable costs. A. The firm must increase output to increase short-run profits. B. The firm must decrease output to increase short-run profits. C. Assuming this firm is maximizing short run profits, it will produce less in future periods as the market price will decrease in the long run. D. Assuming this firm is maximizing short run profits, it will produce more in future periods as the market price will increase in the long run. E. Assuming this firm is maximizing short run profits, it will continue to produce 1000 units in the long run.

Question:

Is it true that in a short-run production process, the marginal cost curve eventually slopes upward because firms have to pay workers a higher wage rate as they produce more output? Explain your answer.

Answer:

According to the definition of the short-run in Investopedia, the short-run, in economics, expresses the concept that an economy behaves differently depending on the length of time it has to react to certain stimuli. The short-run does not refer to a specific duration of time but rather is unique to the firm, industry, or economic variable being studied. A key principle guiding the concept of short-run and long-run is that in the short-run, firms face both variable and fixed costs, which means that output, wages and prices do not have full freedom to reach a new equilibrium. Most businesses make decisions not only about how many workers to employ at any given point in time (i.e. the amount of labor) but also about what scale of an operation (i.e. size of factory, office, etc.) to put together and what production processes to use. In contrast, economists often define the short-run as the time horizon over which the scale of operation is fixed and the only available business decision is the number of workers to employ. Technically, the short-run could also represent a situation where the amount of labor is fixed and the amount of capital is variable, but this is fairly uncommon. The logic is that even taking various labor laws as given, it's usually easier to hire and fire workers than it is to significantly change a major production process or move to a new size of factory or office. In the short-run, one factor of production is fixed, e.g. capital. This means that if a firm wants to increase output, it could employ more workers, but not increase capital in the short-run (it takes time to expand.) Therefore in the short-run, we can get diminishing marginal returns, and marginal costs may start to increase quickly. Also, in the short-run, we can see prices and wages out of equilibrium, e.g. sudden rise in demand, may lead to higher prices, but firms don't have the capacity to respond and increase supply.


Tejvan Pettinger. (2015). Short-run, long-run, very long-run. Glossary Terms. Economics help blog. NY: Helping to Simplify Economic.
Retrieved from: http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/glossary/short-run-long-run-very-long-run/
Short-Run. Short-Run Definition | Investopedia
Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shortrun.asp#ixzz4KO1YXsri

I need a peer reply for this, please.

Q1) Soundscape Enterprises manufactures Sonoblast, a device that produces a high-pitched reminder to telemarketers that they have once again disturbed you just when you were sitting 1⁄2 down to dinner. The production function for Sonoblasts is given by the formula Q = 2KL where Q is in units of output per period, K is in machine-weeks per period, and L is in labour- weeks per period. The machine rental rate r is $512 per machine-week and the wage rate w is $128 per labour-week. In the short run, K is fixed at 4 machine-weeks per period.

a. Give the formulas for the short-run production function and the marginal product of labour (MPL) function.

b. Express variable cost (VC), total cost (TC), and marginal cost (MC) as functions of L and as functions of Q; and average variable cost (AVC), average fixed cost (AFC) and average total cost (ATC) as functions of Q.

c. At what level of Q is ATC minimized? What are the values of ATC and of MC at this level of output?

d. If K is increased to a fixed 16 units, at what level of Q is ATC minimized, and what are the values of ATC and of MC at this level of output?

e. In the long run, with all inputs variable, what is the optimal K/L ration with input prices unchanged? How many units of L and of K would be required to produce the levels of output in 1c and in 1d and what is the average cost of producing Sonoblasts in each case? Explain the relation between your results here and those for 1c and 1d.