Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

1. (50 total points) Joe runs a farm. He rents the land for $100 a day, and he c

ID: 2507472 • Letter: 1

Question

1. (50 total points) Joe runs a farm. He rents the land for $100 a day, and he can hire workers for $20 per day for each worker. His short run production function is given in the first two columns of the following table.

Workers

Output

MP

TVC

TFC

TC

AFC

AVC

ATC

MC

0

0

-------

0

-------

--------

-------

-----

1

10

2

25

3

45

4

60

5

70

6

74

a) (25 points) Complete the table above.

b) (20 points) Carefully graph AVC, ATC, and MC. Your graph should have cost (measured in dollars) on the vertical axis, and output on the horizontal axis.

c) (5 points) With which worker does diminishing marginal returns set in?


2. (10 points) Carefully explain the difference between diminishing marginal returns and decreasing returns to scale.

3. (24 points) Suppose a competitive firm can sell its output for $5 per unit. The following table gives the firm

Workers

Output

MP

TVC

TFC

TC

AFC

AVC

ATC

MC

0

0

-------

0

-------

--------

-------

-----

1

10

2

25

3

45

4

60

5

70

6

74

Explanation / Answer

Workers

Output

MP

TVC

TFC

TC

AFC

AVC

ATC

MC

0

0

-------

0

100

100

-------

--------

-------

-----

                               

1

10

10

20

100

120

100

20

120

20

2

25

15

40

100

140

  50           

20

70                              

20

3

45

20

60

100

160

33.33                        

20

53.33

20

4

60

15

80

100

180

25

20

45

20

5

70

10

100

100

   200           

20

20

40

20

6

74

4

120

100

220                                   

16.66

20

36.66

20

ans-with 4th worker diminishing marginal returns set in.

ans-the difference between diminishing marginal returns and decreasing returns to scale. diminishing marginal returs means as we employ more and more variable factor in relation to fixed factors, the marginal product of the variable factor first increases then starts decreasing because after a point fixed factors begin to get over utilised..

decreasing returns to scale-decreasing returns to scale sets in when a firm has to bear certain dis advantages as it expands its scale of production, so that the total output increases in a proportion less than the proportion in which the quantity of inputs has been increased.

Workers

Output

MP

TVC

TFC

TC

AFC

AVC

ATC

MC

0

0

-------

0

100

100

-------

--------

-------

-----

                               

1

10

10

20

100

120

100

20

120

20

2

25

15

40

100

140

  50           

20

70                              

20

3

45

20

60

100

160

33.33                        

20

53.33

20

4

60

15

80

100

180

25

20

45

20

5

70

10

100

100

   200           

20

20

40

20

6

74

4

120

100

220                                   

16.66

20

36.66

20