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Firm (or producer or business)
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- an organization that combines inputs of labor, capital, land, and raw or finished component materials to produce outputs.
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Private enterprise
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- the ownership of businesses by private individuals
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Production
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- the process of combining inputs to produce outputs, ideally of a value greater than the value of the inputs.
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perfect competition
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—many firms are all trying to sell identical products.
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monopoly
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—only one firm is selling the product, and this firm faces no competition.
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Monopolistic competition
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is a situation with many firms selling similar, but not identical products.
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Oligopoly
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is a situation with few firms that sell identical or similar products.
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Revenue
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- the income a firm generates from selling its products. Total Revenue = Price × Quantity Sold
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Explicit costs
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- out-of-pocket costs; actual payments.
• Wages, rent, etc.
• Wages, rent, etc.
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Implicit costs
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- the opportunity cost of using resources that the firm already owns.
• Depreciation of goods, materials, and equipment
• Depreciation of goods, materials, and equipment
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Accounting profit
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- the difference between dollars brought in and dollars paid out.
Accounting Profit = Total Revenue - Explicit Costs
Accounting Profit = Total Revenue - Explicit Costs
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Economic profit
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- includes both explicit and implicit costs. Economic Profit =Total Revenue - Total Costs
Total Costs = Explicit Costs + Implicit Costs
Total Costs = Explicit Costs + Implicit Costs
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Categories of factors of production
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(inputs) - resources that firms use to produce their products,:
• Natural Resources (Land and Raw Materials)
• Labor
• Capital
• Technology
• Entrepreneurship
• Natural Resources (Land and Raw Materials)
• Labor
• Capital
• Technology
• Entrepreneurship
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Production function
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- mathematical equation that tells how much output (Q) a firm can produce with given amounts of the inputs
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Fixed inputs (K)
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- factors of production that can't be easily increased or decreased in a short period of time
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Variable inputs (L)
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- factors of production that a firm can easily increase or decrease in a short period of time
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Short run
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- period of time during which at least some factors of production are fixed.
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Long run
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- period of time during which all factors are variable.
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Marginal product (MP)
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- the additional output of one more worker.
MP = (ΔTP) / (ΔL)
MP = (ΔTP) / (ΔL)
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Law of Diminishing Marginal Productivity
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- general rule that as a firm employs more labor, eventually the amount of additional output produced declines
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Factor payments
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- what the firm pays for the use of the factors of production (aka costs, from the firm's perspective).
• Raw materials prices
• Rent
• Wages and salaries
• Interest and dividends
• Profit
• Raw materials prices
• Rent
• Wages and salaries
• Interest and dividends
• Profit
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Variable costs
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- costs of the variable inputs, like labor
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Fixed costs
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- costs of the fixed inputs, like rent.
• Expenditure that a firm must make before production starts
• Do not change in the short run
• Do not change regardless of the level of production.
• Expenditure that a firm must make before production starts
• Do not change in the short run
• Do not change regardless of the level of production.
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Total cost
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- the sum of fixed and variable costs of production
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Average total cost (ATC)
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- total cost divided by the quantity of output produced. ATC = TC / Q
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Marginal cost (MC)
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- the additional cost of producing one more unit of output. MC = ΔTC ./. ΔQ
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Average variable cost
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- variable cost divided by quantity of output.
AVC = VC ./. Q
AVC = VC ./. Q
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Average total cost (ATC)
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○ Typically U-shaped
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Average variable cost (AVC)
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○ Lies below the average total cost curve and
○ Typically U-shaped or upward-sloping
○ Typically U-shaped or upward-sloping
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Marginal cost (MC)
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○ Generally upwardsloping
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Average Profit
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or profit margin = price - average cost
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positive
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If the market price > average cost, then average profit will be ___________
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negative
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If price is < average cost, then profits will be ____________
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variable
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In the long run, all factors (including capital) are _________
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long
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Because all factors are variable, the ____ run production function shows the most efficient way of producing any level of output.
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long
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The ____ run is the period of time when all costs are variable
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Production technologies
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- alternative methods of combining inputs to produce output
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Economies of scale
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- the situation where, as the quantity of output goes up, the cost per unit goes down.
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average costs
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Economies of scale exist because the larger scale of production leads to lower ________ ______
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Long-run average cost (LRAC) curve
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- shows the lowest possible average cost of production, allowing all the inputs to production to vary so that the firm is choosing its production technology.
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Short-run average cost (SRAC) curves
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- the average total cost curve in the short term; shows the total of the average fixed costs and the average variable costs.
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bottom
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The long-run average cost (LRAC) curve shows the lowest cost for producing each quantity of output when fixed costs can vary, and so it is formed by the _______ edge of the family of SRAC curves.
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Constant returns to scale
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- when expanding all inputs proportionately does not change the average cost of production.
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Diseconomies of scale
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- the long-run average cost of producing each individual unit increases as total output increases
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large
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A firm or a factory can grow so ______ that it becomes very difficult to manage or run efficiently.
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long-run
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The shape of the ______-___ average cost curve has implications for:
• how many firms will compete in an industry
• whether the firms in an industry have many different sizes
• or if they will tend to be the same size.
• how many firms will compete in an industry
• whether the firms in an industry have many different sizes
• or if they will tend to be the same size.
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higher
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When the LRAC curve has a clear minimum point, then any firm producing a different quantity will have ____ costs.