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Economic cost can best be defined as:
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the payment that must be made to obtain and retain the services of a resource
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which of the following constitutes an implicit cost to the Johnston Manufacturing Company
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use of savings to pay operating expenses instead of generating interest income
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To the economist, total cost includes:
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explicit and implicit costs
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accounting profits are typically
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greater than economic profits because the former do not take implicit costs into account.
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economic profits are calculated by subtracting
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explicit and implicit costs from total revenue.
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the basic characteristic of the short run is that
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the firm does not have sufficient time to change the size of its plant.
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To economists, the main difference between the short run and the long run is that:
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in the long run all resources are variable, while in the short run at least one resource is fixed
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the basic difference between the short run and the long run is that
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at least one resource is fixed in the short run while all resources are variable in the long run
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the short run is characterized by
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fixed plant capacity
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the long run is characterized by
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the ability of the firm to change its plant size
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marginal product is
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the change in total output attributable to the employment of one more worker
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law of diminishing returns indicates that
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as extra units of a variable resource are added to a fixed resource, marginal product will decline beyond some point.
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which of the following best expresses the law of diminishing returns
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as successeive amounts of one resource (labor) are added to fixed amounts of other resources (capital) beyond some point the resulting extra or marginal output will decline
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marginal product
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may initially increase, then diminish, and ultimately become negative.
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the first, second, and third workers employed by a firm add 24, 18, and 9 units to total product. therefore, we can conclude that
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marginal product of the third worker is 9
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If a variable input is added to some fixed input, beyond some point the resulting extra output will decline. This statement describes:
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the law of diminishing returns
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law of diminishing returns results in
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a total product curve that eventually increases at a decreasing rate.
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the average product when two units of labor are hired is
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9
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diminishing returns begin to occur with the hiring of the __ unit of labor
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third
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marginal product becomes negative with the hiring of the __ unit of labor
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seventh
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fixed cost isw
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any cost that does not change when the firm changes its output
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If you operated a small bakery, which of the following would be a variable cost in the short run?
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baking supplies
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average fixed cost
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declines continually as output increases
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marginal cost
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equals both average variable cost and average total cost at their respective minimums
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other things equal, if the fixed costs of a firm were to increase by 100,000 per year, which of the following would happen
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average fixed costs and average total costs would rise
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in comparing the changes in TVC and TC associated with an additional unit of output, we find that
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the changes in TC and TVC are equal
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average fixed cost is
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TFC
over
Q
over
Q
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average total costis
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TFC + TVC / Q
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marginal cost is
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change in TVC / change in Q
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refer to diagram. where variable inputs of labor are being added to a constant amount of property resources. the total output of this firm will cease to expand
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if a labor force in excess of Q3 is employed
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refer to diagram, where variable inputs of labor are being added to a constant amount of property resources. marginal cost will be at a minimum for this firm when it is hiring
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q1 workers
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refer to diagram, where a variable inputs of labor are being added to a constant amount of property resources. average variable cost will be at a minimum when the firm is hiring
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q2 workers
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Total Fixed Cost (TFC)
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does not change as total output increases or decreases.
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average fixed costs for a given level of output can be determined graphically by
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the vertical distance between ATC and AVC
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the vertical distance between the total cost and the total variable cost curves differs by an amount that
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is constant as output changes
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as output increases, total variable cost
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increases at a decreasing rate and then at an increasing rate
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Because the marginal product of a variable resource at first increases and then decreases as the output of the firm is increased:
A. total cost at first increases at a decreasing rate and then increases at an increasing rate.
B. total variable cost at first increases at an increasing rate and then increases at a decreasing rate.
C. average total cost at first increases and then diminishes.
D. average fixed cost will rise beyond the point of diminishing returns.
A. total cost at first increases at a decreasing rate and then increases at an increasing rate.
B. total variable cost at first increases at an increasing rate and then increases at a decreasing rate.
C. average total cost at first increases and then diminishes.
D. average fixed cost will rise beyond the point of diminishing returns.
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total cost at first increases at a decreasing rate and then increases at an increaseing rate
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suppose that when producing 10 units of output, a firm's AVC is $22, its AFC is $5, and its MC is $30. this firm's
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total cost is 270
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if a technological advance increases a firm's labor productivity, we would expect its
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average total cost curve to fall
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if marginal cost is
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rising, then average total cost could be either falling or rising
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the short run average total cost curve is u-shaped because
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of increasing and diminishing return
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refer to the diagram. this firm's average fixed costs
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are the vertical distance between AVC and ATC
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refer to diagram. if labor is the only variable input, the marginal product of labor is at a
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maximum at point a
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refer to diagram. if labor is only variable input the average product of labor is at a
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maximum at point b
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Refer to the diagram. At the profit-maximizing level of output for this firm
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cannot be determined
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economies and diseconomies of scale explain
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why the firm's long-run average total cost curve is U-shaped.
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in the long run,
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all costs are variable costs
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the diagram shows the short run average total cost curves for five different plant sizes of a firm. the shape of each individual curve reflects
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economies of scale, followed by diseconomies of scale
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As the firm in the diagram expands from plant size #1 to plant size #3, it experiences:
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economies of scale
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As the firm in the diagram expands from plant size #3 to plant size #5, it experiences:
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diseconomies of scale
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When diseconomies of scale occur:
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the long-run average total cost curve rises.
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economies of scale are indicated by
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the declining segment of the long-run average total cost curve.
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If a firm doubles its output in the long run and its unit costs of production decline, we can conclude that:
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economies of scale are being realized
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the minimum efficient scale of a firm
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is the smallest level of output at which long-run average total cost is minimized.
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If an industry's long-run average total cost curve has an extended range of constant returns to scale, this implies that:
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both relatively small and relatively large firms can be viable in the industry
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a natural monopoly exists when
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unit costs are minimized by having one firm produce an industry's entire output.
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long-run average total cost curve
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indicates the lowest unit costs achievable when a firm has had sufficient time to alter plant size.
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if a firm increases all of its inputs by 10 percent and its output increases by 15 percent then
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it is encountering economies of scale
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if a firm increases all of its inputs by 10 percent and its output increases by 10 percent then
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it is encountering constant returns to scale