question
True or false: Total utility is the sum of marginal utilities of consuming each additional unit of a good.
answer
True
question
Which of the following are generally consistent with a downward sloping demand curve?
answer
Income effect, and substitution effect.
question
If the principle of diminishing marginal utility holds, eventually:
answer
Marginal utlitity approaches zero.
question
The reduction in quantity demanded because relative price has risen is called the _______ effect.
answer
Substitution
question
According to rational choice theory, which of the following determine a person's choice?
answer
Price and utility
question
Which of the following assumptions is used as a foundation for the utility maximizing rule?
answer
As we consume more of a good, the marginal utility we get from consuming each additional unit eventually falls.
question
According to the principle of rational choice if the marginal utility of goods X and Y are equal and the consumer chooses to consume more of good Y.
answer
Good X must cost more than good Y.
question
True or false. In the ultimatum game, the results are generally consistent with rational choice theory.
answer
False
question
The marginal utility of an additional hour of work equals:
answer
The marginal utility of the goods that can be consumed with that additional income.
question
The income effect and the ______ effect are generally used as explanations for the law of demand.
answer
Substitution
question
True or false: A conclusion of rational choice theory is that individuals choose in order to maximize total utility.
answer
False
question
Which of the following are assumptions of the rational choice model?
answer
Decisions can be made costlessly, tastes are given, individuals maximize individual utility.
question
Consuming a good just to show off is known as ______ consumption.
answer
Conspicuous
question
The opportunity cost of choosing good X over good Y and the opportunity cost of choosing good Y over good X are equal. Which of the following, then, must also be equal?
answer
Marginal utilities per dollar of goods X and Y
question
Utility is the:
answer
Pleasure people get from doing or consuming something.
question
In rational choice theory, which two concepts are most important in determining choice?
answer
Price and utility
question
The ____ effect and the substitution effect account for the downward sloping demand curve.
answer
Income
question
According to the principle of rational choice if the marginal utility of goods X and Y are equal and the consumer chooses to consume more of good X.
answer
Good X must cost less than good Y.
question
Sam has consumed 10 cookies for a total utility of 20 units of utility. Before eating the 10th cookie his total utility was 15. What is the marginal utility of the 10th cookie?
answer
5 units of utility
question
According to the principle of diminishing marginal utility, the marginal utility of consuming additional units of a good.
answer
Decreases as more units of the good is consumed
question
A consumer will not necessarily increase consumption of a good until its marginal utility is zero because consumers.
answer
Also take into account the marginal utility of having to earn another dollar to buy more goods.
question
In equilibrium the price of spending one more hour in leisure activities should be equal to:
answer
Wage for one hour of work
question
Within a set budget, people will consume until:
answer
They maximize utility.
question
According to rational choice theory people:
answer
Want as much satisfaction as they can get given their budget
question
According to the utility-maximizing rule, you are maximizing utility when ____.
answer
MUx/Px=MUy/Py
question
The riles of the ultimatum game between two people is that:
answer
Everyone keeps the money as long as the second person accepts the first person's offer.
question
True or false: Once marginal utility is negative, people stop consuming the good.
answer
True
question
According to the principle of rational choice, if there is diminishing marginal utility of goods consumed and wages received for supplying labor goes up, you should:
answer
Work more
question
True or false: Using rules of thumb does not necessarily violate rational choice theory.
answer
True
question
The maximizing utility rule provides a foundation for the law of demand because if marginal utilities per dollar between two goods are equal and the price of one good falls, the utility maximizing rule says that the consumer will:
answer
Consume more of the good whose price has fallen.
question
True or false: People will always consume until marginal utility is zero,
answer
False. The consumer may not have enough money to consume a good until its marginal utility is zero.
question
True of false: To buy more goods, a person has to work more, so she should work until the marginal utility of another dollar earned just equals the marginal utility of goods purchased with another dollar.
answer
True
question
If the marginal utility of good X with price $5 is 20 and the marginal utility of good Y with price $6 is 24, and the price of good Y increases to $8, the consumer will consume _______.
answer
More of good X and less of good Y
question
The maximizing utility rule provides a foundation for the law of demand because if a person is maximizing utility and the price of a good goes up, the utility maximizing rule says that the consumer will:
answer
Consume less of the good
question
The law of demand is consistent with the principle of _____.
answer
Diminishing marginal utility
question
If the marginal utility of good X with price $5 is 10 and the marginal utility of good Y with price $6 is 12, and the price of good Y increases to $7, the consumer will consume:
answer
More of good X and less of good Y.
question
The change in total revenue associated with a change in quantity is called _____ revenue.
answer
Marginal
question
Barriers of entry can be:
answer
Political, economic, social
question
A seller who sells at the price determined by market supply and demand as given is called a:
answer
Price taker
question
The change in total cost associated with a change in quantity is called _______ cost.
answer
Marginal
question
Which of the following are conditions of a perfectly competitive market?
answer
Firm's products are identical, there are many firms, both buyers and sellers are price takers, there are no barriers to entry
question
The marginal revenue for a perfect competitor is the ______.
answer
Market price
question
A market in which economic forces operate unimpeded is called a perfectly _______ market.
answer
Competitive
question
True or false: The owner of a perfectly competitive firm sets prices based on cost mark-up.
answer
False. A perfectly competitive firm takes the market price as given, and has no autonomy.
question
A perfectly competitive firm maximizes profit when ______.
answer
MC=market price
question
A perfectly competitive market exhibits the following conditions:
answer
The firm sells at the price dictated by the market and there are no barriers to entry.
question
In the long run, perfectly competitive firms:
answer
Earn zero economic profit.
question
The market supply curve is obtained by _______ summation of the supply curves of all the firms in a perfectly competitive market.
answer
Horizontal
question
If firms are making an economic profit in a perfectly competitive industry:
answer
New firms will enter the industry
question
The relationship between economic profit and normal profit is that:
answer
Normal profit is built into the costs of the firm; economic profit is not.
question
Total profit equals:
answer
Total revenue less total cost
question
If the firms are making an economic loss in a perfectly competitive industry,:
answer
Firms incurring economic losses will leave the industry.
question
The demand curve facing a perfectly competitive firm is ____:
answer
Horizontal
question
The goal of a firm is to maximize ______:
answer
Profits
question
True or false. The marginal cost curve is a perfect competitors supply curve because a firm maximizes profits where marginal cost equals marginal revenue.
answer
True
question
Which of the following correctly distinguishes normal from economic profit?
answer
Normal profit is the amount owners of business would have received in the next-best alternative and economic profit is any profit above normal profit.
question
The price of a perfectly competitive firm's good is determined by the ______.
answer
Market
question
True or false; The opportunity cost of the owner of a firm is a part of a firm's economic cost.
answer
True
question
True or false: Maximizing profit means maximizing profit per unit.
answer
False. Maximizing profit means maximizing total profit. This does not necessarily occur where profit per unit is maximized.
question
When the ATC curve is above the marginal revenue curve, the firm makes:
answer
A loss
question
True or false: Ultimately, all supply comes from firms
answer
False
question
The standard production function:
answer
Intially exhibits increasing marginal productivity, eventually exhibits diminishing marginal productivity
question
When average total cost is falling, marginal cost is:
answer
Less than average total cost
question
A firm can choose among all possible production techniques in the:
answer
Long run
question
True or false: The average total cost curve has the same general U-shape as the average variable cost curve because the average total cost curve is the vertical sum of the average variable cost curve and the marginal cost curve.
answer
False. The average total cost curve is the vertical sum of the average fixed cost and average variable cost curves;
question
Variable cost are costs that:
answer
Change as output changes
question
Average fixed cost is fixed cost:
answer
Divided by quantity produced
question
The increase or decrease in the total cost by producing an additional unit of output is called _______.
answer
Marginal cost
question
Economic profit ______.
answer
Includes both implicit and explicit costs and includes both implicit and explicit revenues
question
A production table is a table showing:
answer
The output resulting from various combinations of factors of productions or inputs.
question
The owner of a shoe firm could instead work as an accountant to earn $300 per week. The implicit cost of her contribution to production is ____.
answer
$300
question
When marginal productivity falls, marginal cost ____.
answer
Rises
question
Which of the following statements is true about the short and long runs?
answer
All inputs are variable in the long run and some inputs are fixed in the short run.
question
The law of diminishing marginal productivity states that ____.
answer
As more and more of a variable input is added to an existing fixed input, the additional output one gets from that additional input decreases.
question
The additional output that will be forthcoming from an additional worker, other inputs constant is called _____.
answer
Marginal product
question
Total economic cost is:
answer
Explicit payments to the factors of production plus the opportunity cost of the factors provided by the owners of the firm.
question
The firm has the greatest production flexibility in which time frame?
answer
Long run
question
Fixed costs are costs that are:
answer
Spent and cannot be changed in the period of time under consideration
question
Average product is the:
answer
Output per worker
question
Using economists' framework, the amount a firm receives for selling its product or service plus any increase in the value of the assets owned by the firm is known as ____.
answer
Total revenue
question
Fixed costs do not exist in which time frame?
answer
The long run
question
Profit is equal to:
answer
Total revenue less total cost
question
Average total cost is the total cost:
answer
Divided by the quantity produced.
question
The total cost curve is _____.
answer
Upward sloping
question
Which of the following tells the maximum output that can be derived from a given number of inputs?
answer
Production function
question
As output decreases, average fixed cost _____.
answer
Increase
question
Average variable cost is the:
answer
Variable cost divided by the quantity produced
question
Using economists' framework, economic profit is best defined as:
answer
Explicit and implicit revenue less explicit and implicit cost.
question
True or false: The primary distinction between a long run and a short run decision is the degree of flexibility in decision making.
answer
True
question
The average total cost curve has the same general U-shape as the average variable cost curve because the average total cost curve is:
answer
The vertical sum of the average fixed cost curve and the average variable cost curve.
question
The main difference between variable and fixed costs is that:
answer
Fixed costs remain constant with the level of output, while variable costs change.
question
George, who has previously unemployed, owns a firm that produces books. He sells 20 books on average per week for $50 each, and the cost of their production is $800. He makes a weekly accounting profit of:
answer
200. Accounting profit=20x50-800=200
question
The shape of the cost curves mirrors the shape of the productivity curves because as:
answer
Productivity falls, cost per unit increases and as productivity rises, cost per unit rises.
question
As output increases, average fixed cost ____.
answer
Decrease
question
Total cost is equal to ____.
answer
Fixed cost plus variable cost
question
A firm is constrained in regard to what production decisions can make in the ______.
answer
Short run
question
When total product is increasing at a decreasing rate, marginal product is:
answer
positive and decreasing.
question
List three conditions for perfect competition.
answer
There are no barrier to entry
Both buyers and sellers are price takers
Firms product are identical
Both buyers and sellers are price takers
Firms product are identical
question
Short run or long run decision? ADM is deciding whether to install machinery that uses Human Machine Interface technology or 8-layer PCB prototype technology in its manufacturing plant.
answer
Long-run
question
Short run or long run decision? Walmart hires additional seasonal workers during November and December.
answer
Short-run
question
Short run or long run decision? Bassett furniture manufacturers close all manufacturing plants in North Carolina, USA and outsource their furniture production to manufacturing plants in china.
answer
Long-run
question
Short run or long run decision? General Motors purchases new equipment to replace depreciating equipment.
answer
Short-run
question
If marginal productivity is below average productivity, what will happen to average variable cost as outputs rise? Why?
answer
Average variable cost will rise. That is because if marginal productivity is below average productivity, marginal cost is above average variable costs. And when marginal cost exceeds average variable costs, average variable costs are rising.
question
Which curve continuously declines as output rises?
answer
AFC
question
Which curve always lies above the AVC curve?
answer
ATC
question
Which curve first declines as quantity increases, but then increases as quantity increases.
answer
ATV, AVC, MC
question
Which curve cuts the ATC and AVC at their minimum points?
answer
MC
question
A perfectly competitive firm's marginal revenue is:
answer
Equal to the selling price
question
Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. And so betwixt them both, they licked the platter clean. Which of the following is true about Jack and his wife?
answer
Marginal utility of fat is negative for Jack; marginal utility of lean is negative for his wife.
question
The supply curve of a perfectly competitive firm is:
answer
the marginal cost curve only if price exceeds average variable cost.
question
An economist observes that a pharmaceutical company is sponsoring a diabetes clinic and providing free medications. She concludes that the pharmaceutical company is reducing short-term profits for the possibility of higher long-term profits. This economist is most likely a(n):
answer
Traditional economist
question
______________ are more likely to see actions as self-interested and will look for self-interested reasons to explain why firms might do something to benefit society.
answer
Traditional economists
question
Behavioral economists have found that people are more willing to save if saving is the default option, as in the case in which they have to opt out of an automatic payroll deduction savings plan. Economists call this:
answer
The status quo bias
question
The reason economists and accountants have problems using cost analysis in the real world is that:
answer
although implicit costs do not show up in accounting profits, they nevertheless affect managerial decisions.
question
The short run is a period during which:
answer
some inputs are variable and some inputs are fixed.
question
Average fixed cost:
answer
Decreases as output increases.
question
Joan is deciding where to spend her spring break. If she goes to Cancún, Mexico, the trip will give her 9,000 units of utility and will cost her $300. If she travels to Florida instead, the trip will give her 8,000 units of utility and will cost her only $200. Joan will do best going to:
answer
Florida because her pleasure per dollar will be greater.
question
What do all economists have in common?
answer
They believe that models must capture the importance of incentives.
question
Gary Becker (modern traditional economist) believes that traditional building blocks should be the essence of the economic approach because:
answer
They apply to most situations and give clear-cut results
question
What is an example of conspicuous consumption?
answer
Purchasing an expensive automobile to impress others
question
A firm is producing 100 units of output at a total cost of $400. The firm's average variable cost is $3 per unit. What is the firm's total fixed cost?
answer
$100
question
In a perfectly competitive market, firms set:
answer
quantities but not prices
question
Fixed costs plus variable costs equal:
answer
total costs
question
When labor is the variable input, the average product equals the:
answer
quantity of output divided by the number of workers.
question
An old canceled U.S. stamp of an upside-down airplane is worth $80,000, but a newer stamp in 2008 that features Bette Davis is worth only $0.42. This is explained by the fact that the:
answer
scarcer the product, the higher the marginal utility and the higher the price.
question
According to the law of diminishing marginal utility, after some point:
answer
the more we consume of something, the less each additional unit adds to our satisfaction.
question
Joseph Gallo poured two glasses of wine from the same bottle but put a more expensive price tag on one glass than on the other. He let people test both and asked them which they wanted, and most wanted the more expensive glass, not knowing that both had come from the same bottle. This result indicates that firms should:
answer
be careful about lowering the price of their product, because consumers may assume that a lower price means lower quality.
question
A business owner makes 50 items by hand in six hours. She could have earned $10 an hour working for someone else. If each item sells for $5 and the explicit costs total $14, economic profit equals:
answer
$176
question
You run a small business producing picture frames. This month your total cost is $10,000, your variable cost is $5,000, and your output is 5,000 picture frames. Given this information, your:
answer
Average fixed cost is $1. Fixed cost in this case is the difference between total cost and variable cost, which is $10,000 - $5,000, or $5,000. Dividing this by output yields an average fixed cost of $5,000/5,000, or $1.
question
The law of diminishing marginal productivity implies that the marginal product of a variable input:
answer
eventually declines
question
Suppose a perfectly competitive firm can increase its profits by increasing its output. Then it must true that the firm's:
answer
price exceeds its marginal cost. If this is the case, selling one more unit of output will increase total cost by less than the increase in total revenue, and so profits will rise.
question
Goods A and B cost $1 each. The total utility one could get from consuming one unit of good A is 30. The total utility one could get from consuming two units of good B is 60. Based on rational choice one:
answer
would not be able to decide what to do because there is not enough information.
question
A perfectly competitive firm facing a price of $10 decides to produce 100 widgets. If its marginal cost of producing the last widget is $12 and it is seeking to maximize profit, the firm should:
answer
Produce fewer widgets. Since marginal cost exceeds price, the firm can save more by reducing costs than it will lose in revenue by reducing output.
question
Total fixed costs:
answer
are positive even when no output is produced.
question
When marginal utility is positive, total utility is:
answer
Increasing
question
Accounting profit is explicit revenue minus explicit cost. Economists include _______________ in their determination of profit.
answer
implicit revenue and cost
question
________ revenue includes the increases in the value of assets owned by the firm. ______ costs include the opportunity cost of time and capital provided by the owners of the firm.
answer
Implicit
question
Accounting profit=TR-TC-Explicit cost
answer
Explicit cost is everything "on the books".
question
Economic profit= TR-TC-Explicit cost-Implicit cost
answer
Implicit cost are costs that are given up. (travel, hotel room, old salary etc.)
question
What are fixed costs?
answer
Costs that do not change with the amount produced
question
What are variable costs?
answer
Costs that do change with the amount produced
question
What is total cost?
answer
fixed costs + variable costs
question
Equation for AVC
answer
=Variable cost/Quantity
question
Equation for AFC
answer
=Fixed cost/Quantity
question
Equation for ATC
answer
=Total cost/Quantity.
=AVC+AFC
=AVC+AFC
question
What is total product? (TP)
answer
Total output or quantity produced
question
What is marginal product? (MP)
answer
The additional output generated by additional inputs.
question
Equation for MP (marginal product):
answer
= Change in TP/Change in inputs
question
What is the law of diminishing marginal returns?
answer
adding additional inputs results in less productivity.
As variable resources (workers) are added to fixed resources (ovens, machinery, tool etc.), the additional output produced from each additional worker will eventually fall.
As variable resources (workers) are added to fixed resources (ovens, machinery, tool etc.), the additional output produced from each additional worker will eventually fall.
question
As more workers are hired, their marginal product _________ and then eventually decreases because of the law of diminishing marginal returns.
answer
increases
question
The additional costs (mc) of the units they produce fall when MP goes up, but eventually ________ as additional workers produce less & less output
answer
increase
question
MP & _____ are mirror images of each other
answer
MC
question
When prices _______, a consumer will substitute more of that good for other goods to keep the marginal utilities per dollar the same.
answer
Fall
question
What is the law of demand?
answer
A decline in price results in a rise in quantity demanded.
question
On a graph, _______ is always a horizontal line because it never changes.
answer
Fixed Cost
question
Short run
answer
At least one fixed input, at least one variable input
question
Long run
answer
Technology is fixed, all inputs are variable
question
In the _____ run, a firm can choose among all possible production techniques
answer
long
question
In the _______ run, the firm is constrained in its choices.
answer
short
question
If MC > ATC, then ATC is _______.
answer
Rising
question
If MC = ATC, then ATC is _______.
answer
Constant
question
If MC < ATC, then ATC is _______.
answer
Falling
question
The necessary conditions for perfect competition include:
answer
Buyers and sellers are price takers, there are no barriers to entry, and firms' products are identical.
question
The profit-maximizing position of a competitive firm is where marginal revenue equals:
answer
marginal cost
question
The supply curve of a competitive firm is its marginal cost curve. Only _________ have supply curves.
answer
competitive firms
question
To find the profit-maximizing level of output for a perfect competitor, find that level of output where:
answer
MC = MR.
question
In the short run, competitive firms can make a profit or loss. In the _______, they make zero profits.
answer
long run
question
Profit=
answer
total revenue - total cost
question
The shutdown price for a perfectly competitive firm is a price below:
answer
average variable cost.
question
The short-run market supply curve is:
answer
the horizontal summation of the marginal cost curves for all firms in the market
question
An _______ in the number of firms in the market shifts the market supply curve to the right, while a decrease shifts it to the left.
answer
increase
question
Perfectly competitive firms make zero profit in the long run because if profit were being made, new firms would enter and the market price would decline, eliminating the profit. If losses were being made, firms would exit and the market price would ____.
answer
Rise
question
If you're in equilibrium and the price of a good rises, you'll ______ your consumption of that good to reestablish equilibrium.
answer
reduce
question
The ultimatum game suggests that people care about fairness as well as total income. The ______ suggests that actions are based on perceived norms.
answer
status quo bias
question
_________ economics is the study of economic choice that is based on realistic psychological foundations.
answer
Behavioral
question
_______ are the glue that holds economics together. But economists differ in the models that they use.
answer
Models
question
A deductive approach is to begin with principles and logically deduce the implications of those principles. ______________ economists approach models deductively.
answer
Traditional
question
An inductive approach is to develop a model based on patterns in observed data. __________ economists tend to approach models inductively
answer
Modern
question
_________ economists replace the traditional assumption of rationality with purposeful behavior and replace self-interest with enlightened self-interested behavior.
answer
Behavioral