Download presentation
1
Costs of Production Chapter 13 (Week 10)
2
Key Assumption: Profit Maximization
Profit = Total Revenue – Total Cost
3
Total Cost: all opportunity costs
Explicit vs. Implicit Examples of implicit costs: income that could have been earned by firm’s owner, investment return that could have been made on money put into the firm.
4
Economists vs. Accountants
How an Economist How an Accountant Views a Firm Views a Firm Revenue Economic profit Accounting profit Revenue Implicit costs Total opportunity costs Explicit costs Explicit costs Copyright © South-Western
5
Production Function Workers (L) Output (Q) 1 50 2 90 40 3 120 30 4 140
Marginal Product (dQ/ dL) 1 50 2 90 40 3 120 30 4 140 20 5 150 10
6
Production Function
7
From the Production Function to the Total-Cost Curve
For total cost curve, quantity is marked along the horizontal axis and total cost is marked along the vertical. For every quantity, calculate the total cost.
8
Total Cost = Fixed Cost + Variable Cost
Fixed Cost: cost of setting up the business (plant & equipment), fixed costs are the same regardless of the quantity produced. Variable Cost: labor and raw materials that can be varied with the scale of operation.
9
Calculating Total Cost
Q FC VC TC 30 1 50 10 40 2 90 20 3 120 60 4 140 70 5 150 80
10
Total-Cost Curve
11
The following table shows a fisherman’s output
The following table shows a fisherman’s output. Calculate the marginal product for each hour worked. Does he experience diminishing returns? Suppose the opportunity cost of his time is $5/hour and his fixed cost is $10. Graph his total cost function. Hours Quantity of Fish 1 10 2 18 3 24 4 28 5 30
12
Five Different Cost Curves
Total Cost (TC) Average Total Cost (ATC = TC/Q) Average Fixed Cost (AFC = FC/Q) Average Variable Cost (AVC = VC/Q) Marginal Cost (MC = TC/ Q)
13
Calculating Marginal Cost
Q TC MC 3.00 --- 1 3.30 0.30 2 3.80 0.50 3 4.50 0.70 4 5.40 0.90 5 6.50 1.10 6 7.80 1.30 7 9.30 1.50 8 11.00 1.70 9 12.90 1.90 10 15.00 2.10
14
Thirsty Thelma’s Total-Cost Curve
15
Figure 5 Thirsty Thelma’s Average-Cost and Marginal-Cost Curves
Costs $3.50 3.25 3.00 2.75 2.50 2.25 MC 2.00 1.75 1.50 ATC 1.25 AVC 1.00 0.75 0.50 AFC 0.25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quantity of Output (glasses of lemonade per hour) Copyright © South-Western
16
Adam Smith in the Pin Factory
One man draws out the wire, another straightens it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar business; to whiten it is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into paper. … they certainly could not each of them make twenty, perhaps not one pin a day. –AS, 1776
17
Increasing and then Decreasing Returns
18
Figure 6 Big Bob’s Cost Curves
(b) Marginal- and Average-Cost Curves Costs $3.00 2.50 MC 2.00 1.50 ATC AVC 1.00 0.50 AFC 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Quantity of Output (bagels per hour) Copyright © South-Western
19
Short and Long Runs Short: plant & equipment fixed.
Long: time enough for plant & equipment to be adjusted
20
Figure 7 Average Total Cost in the Short and Long Run
ATC in short run with small factory ATC in short run with medium factory ATC in short run with large factory Cost ATC in long run Economies of scale Diseconomies of scale 1,200 $12,000 1,000 10,000 Constant returns to scale Quantity of Cars per Day Copyright © South-Western
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com. Inc.
All rights reserved.