As highlighted in this week’s Learning Resources, typical firms in perfectly competitive markets will find the optimal ways to use and allocate their resources to be as efficient as possible and achieve success in the long run. In part, this outcome is due to the nature of firm cost functions and their influence on output and pricing decisions related to profit maximization. For example, if there are two vegetable sellers at a farmer’s market, they may not be able to compete with each other in price because of how low the prices are already. However, if one seller has to hire help to grow the vegetables and the other has found a more efficient way to grow them without help, then that other seller will likely be able to stay in business longer because there are no payroll expenses.
In this Assignment, you will address concepts of cost structure and perfectly competitive markets, including the relationship between a typical firm’s cost functions and its pricing and output decisions.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Submit your responses to the following prompts.
Note: Use this Week 3 Assignment Worksheet to complete the following table. Be sure to incorporate your table into your Assignment submission.
Widgets Produced | Fixed Costs | Variable Costs | Total Costs | Average Variable Cost | Average Total Cost | Marginal Cost | Price = MR | Profits |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | 25 | 0 | 10 | |||||
1 | 25 | 8 | 10 | |||||
2 | 25 | 15 | 10 | |||||
3 | 25 | 23 | 10 | |||||
4 | 25 | 32 | 10 | |||||
5 | 25 | 42 | 10 | |||||
6 | 25 | 53 | 10 | |||||
7 | 25 | 65 | 10 | |||||
8 | 25 | 78 | 10 | |||||
9 | 25 | 92 | 10 |