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29 Nov 2019

One farmer can grow 1,500 bushels of corn on 2 acre of land with 300 hours of labor and 25 pounds of seed. Another farmer can grow 1,500 bushels of corn on 1 acre of land with 200 hours of labor and 25 pounds of seed.


1. Could both methods be technically efficient?
A.Technical efficiency cannot be compared in this instance.
B. Because the second farmer can produce the same amount of corn with fewer inputs, both methods cannot be technically efficient.
C. Both of these methods are technically efficient; many different production processes can be technically efficient.

2.Is it possible that both of these production processes are economically efficient?
A. Both could be economically efficient; the answer depends on the price of corn.
B. It is not possible for both to be economically efficient because the first farmer uses more total inputs than the second farmer.
C. It is not possible for both to be economically efficient because the first farmer is more technically efficient than the second farmer.
D. Both could be economically efficient; the answer depends on the cost of each input.

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17 Dec 2019
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Related questions

A dressmaker can sew 1,300 garments with 200 bolts of fabric and 2,300 hours of labor. Another dressmaker can sew 1,300 garments with 100 bolts of fabric and 3,000 hours of identical labor. Fabric costs $110 a bolt and labor costs $30 an hour.

a. Is it possible for both methods to be technically efficient? Why or why not?

- Yes, because neither dressmaker is using more of both inputs to produce the same number of garments.
- Yes, because both dressmakers make the same number of garments.
- No, because the first dressmaker uses 2,300 hours of labor while the second dressmaker uses 3,000 hours of labor. This means that the first dressmaker has higher productivity and therefore is the only one who is technically efficient.
- No, because the cost of the garments for the first dressmaker is $91,000. The cost of the same number of garments for the second dressmaker is $101,000. Therefore, the first method is technically efficient.



b. Is it possible for both methods to be economically efficient? Why or why not?

- No, because the second method has lower total costs of production.
- Yes, because even though their costs differ, the higher-cost dressmaker may be able to sell the garments at a higher price.
- Yes, because the dressmakers will sell the garments for the same price.
- No, because the first method has lower total costs of production.


Market Analysis Market Participants Market participants act as if they are rational, self-interested, and forward-looking. For example, financial managers try to maximize the present value of profits for their particular companies, rather than ignore future values. Companies pursue many goals, but it is a financial mistake for managers to pursue any goal that conflicts with the primary goal of maximizing their firm's profits. Decentralized decision making by individual market participants is more economically efficient that centralized decision making by government policymakers. For example, it is more economically efficient to have financial managers obtain financing for their particular companies than to have government obtain it. A high degree of competition among market participants is the most economically efficient disciplining mechanism. For example, highly competitive financial markets discipline financial managers to pay fair market interest rates on the debt securities issued by their particular companies. The market system of prices is the most economically efficient allocative mechanism. For example, it is more economically efficient to distribute a firm's corporate stock to those buyers who are willing and able to pay the market price of the stock than to have the government distribute the stock. It is economically efficient for market participants to buy low and sell high globally. For example, it is economically efficient for U.S. firms to sell their financial securities to the highest bidders, no matter where they live in the world economy. Market imperfections can create considerable risk to market participants. For example, because of market imperfections, firms operating in the international financial markets encounter foreign exchange rate risk, political risk, interest rate risk, and default risk. Consumer Sovereignty The principle of consumer sovereignty tells us that by making their dollar votes, consumers indirectly determine the quantity and quality of products that firms will produce. For example, it is not economically efficient for financial managers to obtain more financing for their particular firms than is needed for their firms to produce the profit-maximizing level of output demanded by consumers. Market Economy A highly competitive market economy is largely self-regulating, in the absence of substantial market imperfections, in that economic conditions cannot be substantially improved by government regulation or other types of government intervention beyond laissez-faire policies. For example, if a firm's corporate stock is overvalued by a market economy, market forces will tend to drive down the value of the stock to a market price at which it is neither overvalued nor undervalued. As if by an invisible hand, highly competitive market forces will tend to create a harmony of interests among individual market participants, in the absence of substantial market imperfections. Consequently, the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders are compatible. For example, in trying to maximize profits, firms produce employment, income, consumer products, and wealth for households, as well as tax revenue for government, which helps maximize consumer utility and maximize social welfare. In a market economy, resources, products, and assets flow to their highest valued uses among alternative uses. For example, the shares of firms' corporate stocks will be acquired by those market participants who most highly value them, as indicated by the fact that they are willing to pay the most to acquire them. The efficient economic role of government is limited to Laissez-Faire ("hands off") policies, which create very little intervention in a market economy. For example, government regulations of banking and securities industries to maintain healthy, reasonably profitable, consumer-oriented financial markets would not be needed in a highly competitive market economy in the absence of substantial market imperfections. In a market economy, it is economically efficient for each market participant to specialize according to comparative advantage in producing what they can produce relatively better than other market participants, rather than produce all the outputs they can produce absolutely better than others. For example, it is economically efficient for people who are relatively better at being financial managers than others, to specialize in financial management even if they are absolutely better than others in doing many other types of work. If all labor were allocated to its comparative advantage, then no possible reallocation of labor would exist that could increase the rate of return to labor (i.e., the wage). There is no such thing as a free lunch, because all resources, products, and assets in a market economy are scarce. For example, current federal government budget deficits are not free to current market participants in that the deficits must be financed by future tax increases and/or future decreases in government spending and/or future inflation. For additional information on the Market Economy click here. Marks, R. E. (2006, December). There Is No Such Thing As Free Lunch. Australian Journal of Management. 31(2). 1-7. Financial Decisions An efficient financial decision, practice, transaction, or condition is one that is optimal -- meaning best; it cannot be improved, from society's perspective. If there is some profitable way to improve some business practice that would benefit society, that practice is somewhat inefficient. Any change in a financial decision, practice, transaction, or condition that improves society is an efficiency improvement. For example, it is an efficiency improvement for a business to cut production costs by reducing waste (e.g., by reducing spending on unprofitable activity. A financial decision, practice, transaction, or condition is fair-- meaning just or equitable, if the financial benefits are distributed to those involved in proportion to how much they each voluntarily contributed to produce those benefits. For example, a financial practice that discriminates against some people on the basis of race, age, gender, nationality, or religion is unfair. For example, an unethical business practice is unfair. For additional information relating to Market Analysis and fair financial decisions, click on the following: Teaching Ethical Economic Practices to Business Managers. Johnston, C. (2009, October). The Proceedings of the Annual Conference of The International Academy of Business and Economics. Fairness is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition, for efficiency. All efficient financial practices are fair, but some fair practices may still fail to be efficient. For example, embezzling company funds is an unfair and inefficient, criminal financial activity. As another example, an ethical business practice that could be improved is fair but not efficient. Opportunity Cost Principle Opportunity cost principle: The efficient measure of the cost of any allocation of resources, products, money income, wealth, or time is its opportunity cost -- the value of the next best use. The opportunity cost of how one uses his or her resources is the value of the highest valued alternative use. The opportunity cost of one investment is the expected return on the next best investment available to the firm. For example, the opportunity cost of a firm using some of its profits to pay dividends to its stockholders would be the present value of future income those profits could have earned if invested in the firm's highest valued investment project.

Discussion Questions These questions stem from the Class Discussion Questions you will be anwering in the Discussion Board. Think about the questions and how they relate to the financial management principles above.

2. Applications: State the financial management principle that appears to be violated in each of the following cases and explain how it is violated:

(a) A corporation is maximizing sales growth and the price of its corporate stock is falling.

(b) A highly paid financial manager in the auto industry quit his job to set up his own small auto repair shop, which is expected to incur a loss for the first three years then earn normal profits.

Consider two neighboring island countries called Felicidad and Contente. They each have 4 million labor hours available per month that they can use to produce jeans, corn, or a combination of both. The following table shows the amount of jeans or corn that can be produced using 1 hour of labor.

Country Jeans Corn
(Pairs per hour of labor) (Bushels per hour of labor)
Felicidad 8 32
Contente 12 24

Initially, suppose Contente uses 1 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 3 million hours per month to produce corn, while Felicidad uses 3 million hours of labor per month to produce jeans and 1 million hours per month to produce corn. Consequently, Felicidad produces 24 million pairs of jeans and 32 million bushels of corn, and Contente produces 12 million pairs of jeans and 72 million bushels of corn. Assume there are no other countries willing to trade goods, so, in the absence of trade between these two countries, each country consumes the amount of jeans and corn it produces.

Felicidad's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is______ bushels of corn, and Contente's opportunity cost of producing 1 pair of jeans is______​ bushels of corn. Therefore,______ has a comparative advantage in the production of jeans, and______ has a comparative advantage in the production of corn.

Suppose that each country completely specializes in the production of the good in which it has a comparative advantage, producing only that good. In this case, the country that produces jeans will produce______million pairs per month, and the country that produces corn will produce______million bushels per month.

In the following table, enter each country's production decision on the third row of the table (marked "Production").

Suppose the country that produces jeans trades 26 million pairs of jeans to the other country in exchange for 78 million bushels of corn.

In the following table, select the amount of each good that each country exports and imports in the boxes across the row marked "Trade Action," and enter each country's final consumption of each good on the line marked "Consumption."

When the two countries did not specialize, the total production of jeans was 36 million pairs per month, and the total production of corn was 104 million bushels per month. Because of specialization, the total production of jeans has increased by______million pairs per month, and the total production of corn has increased by______million bushels per month.

Because the two countries produce more jeans and more corn under specialization, each country is able to gain from trade.

Calculate the gains from trade—that is, the amount by which each country has increased its consumption of each good relative to the first row of the table. In the following table, enter this difference in the boxes across the last row (marked "Increase in Consumption").

Felicidad

Contente
Jeans Corn Jeans Corn
(Millions of pairs) (Millions of bushels) (Millions of pairs) (Millions of bushels)
Without Trade
Production 24 32 12 72
Consumption 24 32 12 72
With Trade
Production
Trade action
Consumption
Gains from Trade
Increase in Consumption

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