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

L. Please refer to the following table. Quantity of TotalMarginal Average Labour

ID: 1134498 • Letter: L

Question

L. Please refer to the following table. Quantity of TotalMarginal Average Labour Output Product of Product of Labour Labour 400 900 1500 1900 2200 4 6 2400 7 2300 a. Fill in the missing values in the table above. A student looked at the data in the table above and drew this conclusion: The marginal product of labour is increasing for the first three workers hired, then it declines for the next three workers. I guess each of the first three workers must have been hard workers. Then this firm must have had to settle for increasingly poor workers. Do you agree with the student's analysis? Briefly explain. b. Assume that fixed cost of capital is $500 and wage rate is same for all workers at $1000 per worker. Create 4 more columns to this table showing Total Fixed Cost, Total Variable Cost. Total Cost and Marginal Cost. Now add 3 more columns showing AFC, AVC and ATC. c. At what output is the ATC the lowest?

Explanation / Answer

a. Yes as we can see at the column marginal product of labor for the first three labors it increases and the next three it decreases.

b.

Quantity of labor

Total Output

Marginal Product of Labor

Average Product of Labor

Total Fixed Cost

Total Variable Cost

Total Cost

Marginal Cost

AFC

AVC

ATC

0

0

500

0

500

1

460

460

460.00

500

1000

1500

2.17

1.09

2.17

3.26

2

900

440

450.00

500

2000

2500

2.27

0.56

2.22

2.78

3

1500

600

500.00

500

3000

3500

1.67

0.33

2.00

2.33

4

1900

400

475.00

500

4000

4500

2.50

0.26

2.11

2.37

5

2200

300

440.00

500

5000

5500

3.33

0.23

2.27

2.50

6

2400

200

400.00

500

6000

6500

5.00

0.21

2.50

2.71

7

2300

-100

328.57

500

7000

7500

-10.00

0.22

3.04

3.26

c. At output of 1500 the ATC is lowest.  

Quantity of labor

Total Output

Marginal Product of Labor

Average Product of Labor

Total Fixed Cost

Total Variable Cost

Total Cost

Marginal Cost

AFC

AVC

ATC

0

0

500

0

500

1

460

460

460.00

500

1000

1500

2.17

1.09

2.17

3.26

2

900

440

450.00

500

2000

2500

2.27

0.56

2.22

2.78

3

1500

600

500.00

500

3000

3500

1.67

0.33

2.00

2.33

4

1900

400

475.00

500

4000

4500

2.50

0.26

2.11

2.37

5

2200

300

440.00

500

5000

5500

3.33

0.23

2.27

2.50

6

2400

200

400.00

500

6000

6500

5.00

0.21

2.50

2.71

7

2300

-100

328.57

500

7000

7500

-10.00

0.22

3.04

3.26