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Individual demand curve
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A curve that relates the price of Good X to the quantity of Good X that a consumer will buy holding all other factors constant.
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price consumption curve
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Curve tracing the utility maximizing combinations of two goods as the price of one good changes.
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substitution effect
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The change in the amount of a good consumed when there is a change in relative prices with utility held constant.
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Income effect
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The change in the amount of a good consumed when there is a change in a consumer's purchasing power due to a change in price.
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Compensated Budget Line
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A budget line that compensates for a new price by changing the level of income such that the original level of utility can still be achieved by the consumer under the new set of prices.
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Griffen Good
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Good whose demand curve slopes upward because the income effect is in the opposite direction of the substitution effect and is larger than the substitution effect. Must be an inferior good, and the size of the income effect must overwhelm the size of the substitution effect.
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Cash transfer
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An increase in money which can be used to purchase either good.
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In-kind transfer
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a quantity of goods given
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Voucher
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a lump of money which can be spent on one specific good
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Horizontal summation
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A process which adds the quantities demanded by individuals for a given price (q) to get the market quantity (Q) for that price
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Consumer Surplus
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Difference between what a consumer is willing to pay for a good and the amount actually paid.
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production technology
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Method by which inputs (factors of production) are turned into outputs
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production function
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Function showing the highest output that a firm can produce for every specified combination of inputs. q= F(L,K)
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Short run
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Period of time where one input is considered to be fixed. Typically, capital is considered fixed since it is easier to change the number of workers (or the amount of hours worked) than it is to change the size of a factory.
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Law of Marginal Diminishing Returns
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The principle that as the use of an input increases, with other inputs fixed, the resulting additions to outputs will eventually decrease.
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Long Run
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Period of time where all inputs can be changed
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Marginal Product of Labor
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the change in output that is the result of increasing the amount of labor used by 1 unit.
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Marginal product of Capital
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The change in output that is the result of increasing the amount of capital used by 1 unit.
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Average Product of Labor
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The average amount of output produced by workers
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Increasing Returns to Scale
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doubling input more than doubles output
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constant returns to scale
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doubling input doubles output
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decreasing returns to scale
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doubling input less than doubles output
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Isoquant
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A curve showing all possible combinations of input that yield a given amount of output
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Marginal Rate of Technical Substitution
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The amount by which one input can be reduced when one extra unit of another input is used
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Fixed-Proportions Production Function
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Also called Leontief Production Function. A production function with L-shaped isoquants so that only one combination of labor and capital can be used.
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Perfect Substitutes Production Function
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A production function where the MRTS is constant at all points. Isoquants are straight lines.
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Explicit cost
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also called accounting cost. cost where one has to give up a sum of money
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implicit cost
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cost where one has to give up something of value that is not necessarily denominated in dollars
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opportunity cost
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the highest valued foregone alternative
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Accounting Profits
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total revene minus total explicit cost
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economic profits
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total revenue minus total explicit cost and implicit cost
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sunk cost
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Retrospective (past) costs that have already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Once a cost is sunk, only prospective (future) costs are relevant to a decision.
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fixed cost
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A cost that is the same regardless of output.
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Variable cost
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A cost that changes as output changes.
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total cost
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the sum of all the costs for a given level of output
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Marginal cost
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the amount that an additional unit adds to total cost
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average total cost
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the total variable cost divided by the output. AVC=(VC)/q
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Long run
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Period of time where all inputs can be changed. In the long run, all c𝜕𝜕osts are variable. There are no fixed costs.
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Input Prices
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The price paid by a firm for the factors of production. Total cost can be expressed as a function of the prices and quantities of inputs: TC = wL + rK
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Wage (w)
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The input price for hiring labor
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Rental Rate (r)
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The input price for renting a unit of capital
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Increasing Marginal Cost
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The principle that marginal cost eventually rise as quantity of output increases. This phenomenon can be caused by the law of diminishing marginal returns
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Isocost line
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All the different combinations of Capital and Labor that end up costing the same amount in total.
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cost minimization
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The process by which a firm chooses the quantities of inputs that result in the lowest total cost of producing a given level of output. The cost minimizing amounts of inputs will be associated with the optimization MRTS= w/r
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corner solution
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When your optimization condition cannot be true in the non-negative range of inputs amounts, then the firm will choose to only use one type of input or the other.
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Expansion Path
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The combinations of Labor and Capital that minimize the firm's costs (given a set of input prices) as the firm expands production.
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Diseconomy of Scale
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Long run average costs rise as output (q) increases.
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Economy of Scale
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Long run average costs fall as output (q) increases.
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Long Run Total Cost Curve
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A curve that shows the lowest cost isocost for each level of production when the firm can vary the levels of all inputs. In this case Total Cost will be expressed as a function of output, q, rather than as a function of the input prices. TC = f(q)