Log in
HomeClass Notes1,200,000CA670,000

ECON 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Sunk Costs, Average Variable Cost, Diminishing Returns

75 views4 pages
School
York University
Department
Economics
Course
ECON 1000
Professor
Andrew Brennan

For unlimited access to Class Notes, a Class+ subscription is required.

castroariane563 and 39059 others unlocked
ECON 1000 Full Course Notes
10
ECON 1000 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
10 documents

Document Summary

Other resources used by the firm (such as labour, raw materials, and energy) can be changed in the short run. Short-run decisions are easily reversed: to increase output in the short run, a firm must increase the amount of labour employed. It separates attainable output levels from unattainable output levels in the short run. Increasing marginal returns: initially, the marginal product of a worker exceeds the marginal the marginal product of the previous worker. The firm experiences increasing marginal returns: diminishing marginal returns: eventually, the marginal product of a worker is less than the marginal product of the previous worker. Increasing marginal returns arise from increased specialization and division of labour. Diminishing marginal returns arises because each additional worker has less access to capital and less space in which to work. Total variable cost increases as output increases: total variable cost (tvc) is the cost of the fir(cid:373)"s (cid:448)aria(cid:271)le i(cid:374)puts.

Get access

Grade+
$40 USD/m
Billed monthly
Grade+
Homework Help
Study Guides
Textbook Solutions
Class Notes
Textbook Notes
Booster Class
10 Verified Answers
Class+
$30 USD/m
Billed monthly
Class+
Homework Help
Study Guides
Textbook Solutions
Class Notes
Textbook Notes
Booster Class
7 Verified Answers

Related Questions


1.
If firms in a monopolistically competitive market are earningpositive profits,
A) firms will likely be subject to regulation.
B) barriers to entry will be strengthened.
C) some firms must exit the market.
D) new firms will enter the market.
2.

Panel c in the set of figures shown is consistent with a firm in amonopolistically competitive market that is


A) earning profit and is in both short-run and long-runequilibrium.
B) earning economic profit and is in short-run equilibrium, but notlong-run equilibrium.
C) earning profit and is in long-run equilibrium, but not short-runequilibrium.
D) earning a negative profit and is not in equilibrium.
3.
When a profit-maximizing firm in a monopolistically competitivemarket is producing the long-run equilibrium quantity,
A) its marginal revenue will exceed its marginal cost.
B) its average revenue will equal its marginal cost.
C) it will be earning positive economic profits.
D) its demand curve will be tangent to its average-total-costcurve.
4.
Monopolistic competition differs from perfect competition becausein monopolistically competitive markets
A) each of the sellers offers a somewhat different product.
B) strategic interactions between firms is vitally important.
C) there are barriers to entry.
D) all firms can eventually earn economic profits.
5.
The free entry and exit of firms in a monopolistically competitivemarket guarantees that
A) economic losses can persist into the long run, but not economicprofits.
B) both economic profits and economic losses can persist into thelong run.
C) economic profits can persist into the long run, but not economiclosses.
D) both economic profits and economic losses disappear in the longrun.
6.


Panel (a) shows a profit-maximizing monopolistically competitivefirm that is

A) All answers are correct
B) earning a zero profit.
C) charging a price that is equal to average total cost.
D) in long-run equilibrium.
7.
Since a firm in a monopolistically competitive market faces a
A) perfectly elastic demand curve, it will always operate withexcess capacity.
B) downward-sloping demand curve, it will always operate atefficient scale.
C) perfectly inelastic demand curve, it will always operate atefficient scale.
D) downward-sloping demand curve, it will always operate withexcess capacity.
8.
In a monopolistically competitive market,
A) firms can enter or exit the market without restriction.
B) each firm takes the price of its product as given.
C) each firm produces a product that is essentially identical tothe products of other firms in the market.
D) there are only a few sellers.
9.
The fact that there is a great deal of advertising of men’s shavingproducts indicates that
A) it costs firms very little to produce those products.
B) the market for those products is perfectly competitive.
C) those products are highly differentiated.
D) All answers are correct
10.
A profit-maximizing firm in a monopolistically competitive marketdiffers from a firm in a perfectly competitive market because thefirm in the monopolistically competitive market
A) has no barriers to entry.
B) faces a downward-sloping demand curve for its product.
C) faces a horizontal demand curve at the market clearingprice.
D) is characterized by market share maximization.

1-7 True or False

1) In the short run, a perfectly competitive firm can earn positive, zero, or negative profit depending on the market price of the firm's output.

2)In the model of the perfectly competitive firm, the firm's fixed costs are equal to its implicit costs of production.

3)Assume the market price is greater than average total cost at the perfectly competitive firm's profit-maximizing level of output. In this case, the firm is earning positive economic profits, which act as an incentive for new firms to enter the market.

4)Assume that at the current level of output, price equals marginal revenue, but is less than average total cost. So long as price is greater than average variable cost, the firm should continue to operate in the short run to minimize its losses.

5)The fact that a firm is a price-setter does not ensure it will make a positive economic profit in the short run and over time.

6)Barriers to entry serve to limit the number of firms that operate in a particular market and, as 11) such, reduce the amount of total profit earned in the market.

7)In the prisoner's dilemma game, each player's dominant strategy is also the Nash equilibrium.

14-17 Multiple Choice

14) Marginal revenue is equal to:
A) the change in P x Q due to a one unit change in output. B) the change in quantity divided by the change in price.

C) the change in price divided by the change in output. D) price, but only if the firm is a price searcher.

15) In order to maximize its profits, a price-taking firm should produce the level of output at which:

A) marginal revenue = marginal cost. B) total revenue = total cost.

C) variable revenue = variable cost. D) average revenue = average cost.

16) Assume that there is an improvement in the technology used by firms in a perfectly competitive industry that is initially in long-run equilibrium. In the short run this would cause:

A) cannot be determined with the information given. B) no change in the firm's economic profit.
C) a decrease in the firm's economic profit. D) an increase in the firm's economic profit.

17) Assume at the firm's profit-maximizing level of output P = AVC. In this case, the firm will be:

A) incurring an economic loss. B) earning a positive economic profit.

C) earning economic profit = 0. D) breaking even.

1. To maximize profits, a firm should produce output up to the point where

A. marginal revenue equals marginal cost

B. price equals marginal cost

C. the gap between the demand curve and the ATC is the greatest

D. all of the above

E. answers a and b, but not c

2. Which statement is false?

A. a profit maximizing firm will increase production when price exceeds marginal cost

B. the lowest point on a firm's short-run supply curve is at the shut-down point

C. A firm will operate at that ouput where MC equals MR only when it is maximizing profits

D. A profit-maximizing firm will decrease production when marginal cost exceeds price.

3. which statement is true?

A. all monopolies are good

B. All monopolies are bad

C. Most natural monopolies are government regulated or government owned

D. None of these statements is true

4. There are _____ limits to monopoly power

A. no

B. some

C. many

5. Which statement is true?

A. the monopolist's most efficient output is her most profitable output as well

B. the monopolist charges a higher price than the perfect competitor in the long run.

C. all monopolists have control over an essential resource.

D. none is true

6. As a firm grows larger

A. economies of scale set in, then diseconomies of scale.

B. diseconomies of scale set in, then economies of scale.

C. economies of scale and diseconomies of scale set in at the same time.

D. neither economies of scale nor diseconomies of scale set in.

7. A monopolist operates at the minimum point of her ATC curve

A. only in the short run

B. only in the long run

C. in both the short run and the long run

D. in neither the short run nor the long run

8. A natural monopoly

A. has an average cost curve that reaches minimum possible average cost at a low level of output.

B. has a marginal cost curve that is steeply upward slopoing.

C. is usually subject to antitrust suits

D is usually allowed to choose its price so as to maximize profits in the United States.

E. occurs when a single firm can supply the entire market demand for a product at a lower average cost than would be possible if two or more firms supplied the market.

9. For a monopolist, the price of the product

A. always equals the marginal revenue

B. is always less than the marginal revenue

C. exceeds the marginal revenue

D. always equals the marginal cost of the product

10. Monopolies are usually viewed with concern from an economic standpoint since

A. size is ingerently dangerous; the larger ther firm, the more likely it is to squeeze out the "little producer"

B. resources may be allocated in an efficient manner.

C. the government may be put at the mercy of several large producers

D. always equals the marginal cost of the product