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Accounting Profit
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The business's total revenue minus the explicit cost and depreciation
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Average Fixed Cost
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The fixed cost per unit of output
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Average Variable Cost
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The variable cost per unit of output
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Average Total Cost
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Total cost divided by quantity of output produced
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Barrier to Entry
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Something that prevents other firms from entering the industry
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Commodity
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A standardized input bought and sold in bulk quantities
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Copyright
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Gives the creator of a literary or artistic work sole rights to profit from that work
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Diseconomies of Scale
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When long-run average total cost increases as output increases
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Economic Profit
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The total revenue minus the opportunity cost of its resources (usually less than the accounting profit)
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Economies of Scale
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When long-run average total cost declines as output increases
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Explicit Cost
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A cost that involves actually laying out money
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Fixed Cost
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A cost that does not depend on the quantity of output produced; it is the cost of the fixed input
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Fixed Input
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An input whose quantity is fixed for a period of time and cannot be varied
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Herfindahl-Hirschman Index
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The square of each firm's share of market sales summed over the industry; it gives a picture of the industry market structure
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Imperfect Competition
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When no one firm has a monopoly, but producers nonetheless realize that they can affect market prices
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Implicit Cost
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Does not require an outlay of money; it is measured by the value, in dollar terms, of benefits that are forgone
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Long Run
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The time period in which all inputs can be varied
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Marginal Product
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The additional quantity of output produced by using one more unit of that input
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Marginal Revenue
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The change in total revenue generated by an additional unit of output
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Market Share
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The fraction of the total industry output accounted for by that producer's output
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Monopolistic Competition
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A market structure in which there are many competing firms in an industry, each firm sells a differentiated product, and there is free entry into and exit from the industry in the long run
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Monopoly
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A single firm sells a single, undifferentiated product
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MRC - Marginal Revenue Curve
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Shows how marginal revenue varies as output varies
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Natural Monopoly
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Exists when economies of scale provide a large cost advantage to a single firm that produces all of an industry's output
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Normal Profit
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An economic profit equal to zero; it is an economic profit just high enough to keep a firm engaged in its current activity.
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Oligopoly
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An industry with only a small number of firms
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Optimal Output Rule
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Says that profit is maximized by producing the quantity of output at which the marginal revenue of the last unit produced is equal to its marginal cost
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Patent
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Gives an inventor a temporary monopoly in the use or sale of an invention
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Perfect Competition
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A market structure in which a large number of firms all produce the same product
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Price Taker
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A buyer or seller that is unable to affect the market price
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Production Function
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The relationship between the quantity of inputs a firm uses and the quantity of output resources
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Short Run
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The time period in which at least one input is fixed
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Sunk Cost
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A cost that has already been incurred and is nonrecoverable; should be ignored in a decision about future actions
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Total Cost
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The sum of the fixed cost and the variable cost of producing that quantity of output
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Variable Cost
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A cost that depends on the quantity of output produced; cost of the variable input
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Variable Input
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An input whose quantity the firm can vary at any one time