1. ECONOMICS
Johnson Hsu
July 2014

2. Economics of work and leisure
Nature of work and leisure and trends in employment and earnings
Market Structures and competitive behavior in leisure markets
Labour demand, supply and wage determination
Market failure and the role of the government and union in the labour market

3. Short-run costs of production
Short-run: the time period when at least one factor of production, usually capital, is in fixed supply.

4. Fixed costs
Costs that do not change in the short run with change in output

5. Variable costs
Costs that change with change in output

6. Labour cost are fixed or variable ?
Ans: Depends.

7. Total cost (TC)
It is made up of fixed and variable costs in the short run. As output rises, total cost increase.

8. Average cost (AC)
Also often called unit cost, it total cost divided by output.

9. Average fixed cost (AFC)
Total fixed cost divided by output

10. Average variable cost (AVC)
Total variable cost divided by output

11. Marginal cost (MC)
The change in total cost resulting from changing output by one unit

12. Relationship between MC and AC

13. Costs of production
Output TC MC
TFC
TVC AC
AFC
AVC
100 1
180 80 2
250 70
150
125 50 75 3
300
200
33.33
66.67 4
360 60
260 90 25 65 5
440
340 88 20 68 6
540
16.67
73.33

14. The relationship between TC, TVC and TFC

15. Long-run costs
The period of time when it is possible to alter all factors of production

16. Relationship between the SRAC and the LRAC curves
If a firm is producing in the most efficient way possible in the long run, but they then want to expand, they will have to expand along a short run average cost curve as they will be limited by their fixed factors. However, in the long run they can get more of the fixed factors and so will move back down to the long run average cost curve. This is why the LRAC is made up of a series of SRAC curves.

17. Minimum efficient scale
The lowest level of output at which full advantage can be taken of economies of scale

18. Economy scale
A reduction in long-run average costs resulting from an increase in the scale of production

19. Economies of Scale

20. Diseconomy of scale
An increase in long-run average costs caused by an increase in the scale of production

21. Diseconomies of scale

22. Economies of scale

23. Constant returns of scale
long-run average cost remaining unchanged when the scale of production increase

24. Internal economies scale
Economies of scale that occur within the firm as a result of its growth

25. A cinema operator may achieve a number of benefits from growing in size
Purchasing economies of scale.
Selling economies.
Technical economies of scale.
Managerial economies of scale.
Financial economies of scale.
Risk-bearing economies.

26. External economies of scale
Saving in costs available to firms arising from the growth of the industry as a whole.
Development of good reputation and improved infrastructure for producing a good quality product.

27. Internal diseconomies of scale
Difficult to run a large firm, keeping a check on everything that is happening and co-ordinating production

28. Internal diseconomies of scale
Diseconomies of scale experience by a firm caused by its growth

29. External diseconomies of scale
Diseconomies of scale resulting from the growth of the industry, affecting firms within the industry

30. because the demand is inelastic.
Firms sell goods and services in return for revenue. The total payment a firm received is not surprisingly called total revenue. While total cost expected to rise with output, total revenue may not always move in the same direction as sales. Why?
Ans:
because the demand is inelastic.

31. Average revenue (AR)
Total revenue divided by the output sold

32. Marginal revenue (MR)
The change in total revenue resulting from the sale of one more unit

33. Relationship between AR and MR
Unit sold AR TR MR 1 10 2 20 3 30 4 40 5 50 6 60 7 70

34. Relationship between AR and MR

35. Perfect competition
A market structure with many buyers and sellers, free entry and exit and an identical product

36. Price taker
A firm that has no influence on price

37. Price maker
A firm that influence price when it changes its output

38. Average, total and marginal revenue of a firm with market power
Unit sold AR TR MR
PED 1 20
Elastic 2 18 36 16 3 48 12 4 14 56 8 5 60 6 10
Unit elastic 7 -4
inelastic

39. Unit elasticity of demand
When a given percentage change in price cause an equal percentage change in demand, leaving total revenue unchanged

40. Predatory pricing
Setting price low with the aim of forcing rival out of the market

41. Superior good
A good with positive income elasticity of demand greater than one

42. Market structure Monopoly Oligopoly Monopolistic competition
Pure competition

43. How to decide the market structure firm operate?
The market concentration ratio
Whether there are barrier to entry and exit
The type of profits earned in the long run
The behavior and performance of firms

44. Barrier to entry
Obstacles to new firms entering a market

45. Five main barriers to entry
By law
High start-up costs
Brand names
Economies of scale
Limit pricing

46. Limit pricing
Setting a price low to discourage the entry of new firms into the market

47. Barriers to exit
Obstacles to firm leaving a market

48. Three main barriers to exit
Sunk costs
Advertising expenditure
contracts

49. Contract Use 2013

50. Monopoly
Profits are maximised where marginal revenue equals marginal cost

51. Profit maximisation
Achieving the highest possible profit where marginal cost equals marginal revenue

52. Supernormal profit
Profit earned where average revenue exceeds average cost

53. Normal profit
The level of profit needed to keep a firm in the market in the long run

54. Where does the profit maximising firm operate at?

55. Bringing them all together for the impact on firms

56. Natural monopoly
A market where long-run average costs are lowest when output is produced by one firm

57. Legal monopoly
A market where a firm has a share of 25 per cent or more

58. Dominant monopoly
A market where a firm has a 40 per cent or more share

59. Monopoly:

60. Monopoly Efficiency:

61. Monopoly & Economic Efficiency

62. Oligopoly
A market structure dominated by a few large firms

63. Oligopoly: Price Rigidity

64. Kinked demand curve
A demand curve made up of two parts: it suggests oligopolists follow each others’ price reductions, but not price rises

65. Cartel
A group of firms that produce separately but sell at one agreed price

66. Game theory
A theory of how decision makers are influenced by the actions and reactions of others

67. Monopolistic competition
A market structure in which where there is a large number of small firms selling product

68. Monopolistic Competition:

69. A Spectrum Markets:

70. Incumbent firms
Firms already in the market

71. Perfect Competition:

72. What efficiencies exist?

73. How could this happen in the short run for the firm?

74. How would this impact the industry and therefore

75. Long Run:
Long Run:

76. Short Run:

77. Dynamic efficiency
Efficiency in terms of developing and introducing new production techniques and new products

78. X inefficiency
The difference between actual costs and attainable costs

79. Contestable market
A market in which there are no barriers to entry and exit and the costs facing incumbent and new firms are equal

80. Hit-and-run competition
Firms quickly entering a market when there are supernormal profits and leaving it when the profits disappear

81. Travel & Tourism: Importance to the UK economy & contestable market

82. Ans:
What will be the impact of the regulation introduced into the football market?
Premier League agrees new financial regulations
BT and Sky clash over televising football's Premier League

83. Regulation-What are the different types of regulation the Government can introduce into a market? 

84. What is the objectives of firms?
Ans:
Profit maximisation

85. What is the objective of the manager?
Ans:
Sales revenue maximisation.

86. Why the objective of the manager is different from the firm?
Ans:
Because managers’ salaries are more often linked to the growth of sales than to profit performance. High and expanding sales can also help to attract external finance and may result in greater economies of scale. To maximise sales revenue, a firm would continue to produce more as long as extra output would increase revenue.

87. Sales revenue maximisation
The objective of achieving as high a total revenue possible

88. Growth maximisation
The objective of increasing the size of the firm as much as possible

89. Utility maximisation
The aim of trying to achieve as much satisfaction as possible

90. Profit satisficing
Aiming for a satisfactory level of profit rather than the highest level of profit possible

91. stakeholders
People affected by the activities of a firm

92. Major employment regulations introduced since 1997