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Average Cost
In economics, average cost or unit cost is equal to total cost (TC) divided by the number of units of a good produced (the output Q): AC=\frac. Average cost has strong implication to how firms will choose to price their commodities. Firms’ sale of commodities of certain kind is strictly related to the size of the certain market and how the rivals would choose to act. Short-run average cost Short-run costs are those that vary with almost no time lagging. Labor cost and the cost of raw materials are short-run costs, but physical capital is not. An average cost curve can be plotted with cost on the vertical axis and quantity on the horizontal axis. Marginal costs are often also shown on these graphs, with marginal cost representing the cost of the last unit produced at each point; marginal costs in the short run are the slope of the variable cost curve (and hence the first derivative of variable cost). A typical average cost curve has a U-shape, because fixed costs are all inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of Agent (economics), economic agents and how economy, economies work. Microeconomics analyzes what's viewed as basic elements in the economy, including individual agents and market (economics), markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyzes the economy as a system where production, consumption, saving, and investment interact, and factors affecting it: employment of the resources of labour, capital, and land, currency inflation, economic growth, and public policies that have impact on glossary of economics, these elements. Other broad distinctions within economics include those between positive economics, desc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Production Function
In economics, a production function gives the technological relation between quantities of physical inputs and quantities of output of goods. The production function is one of the key concepts of mainstream neoclassical theories, used to define marginal product and to distinguish allocative efficiency, a key focus of economics. One important purpose of the production function is to address allocative efficiency in the use of factor inputs in production and the resulting distribution of income to those factors, while abstracting away from the technological problems of achieving technical efficiency, as an engineer or professional manager might understand it. For modelling the case of many outputs and many inputs, researchers often use the so-called Shephard's distance functions or, alternatively, directional distance functions, which are generalizations of the simple production function in economics. In macroeconomics, aggregate production functions are estimated to create a fram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Average Variable Cost
In economics, average variable cost (AVC) is a firm's variable costs (labour, electricity, etc.) divided by the quantity of output produced. Variable costs are those costs which vary with the output level: :\text = \frac where \text = variable cost, \text = average variable cost, and \text = quantity of output produced. Average variable cost plus average fixed cost equals average total cost: :\text + \text = \text. A firm would choose to shut down if the price of its output is below average variable cost at the profit-maximizing level of output (or, more generally if it sells at multiple prices, its average revenue is less than AVC). Producing anything would not generate revenue significant enough to offset the associated variable costs; producing some output would add losses (additional costs in excess of revenues) to the costs inevitably being incurred (the fixed costs). By not producing, the firm loses only the fixed costs. As a result, the firm's short-run supply curve has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Socially Optimal Firm Size
{{unreferenced, date=August 2013 The socially optimal firm size is the size for a company in a given industry at a given time which results in the lowest production costs per unit of output. Discussion If only diseconomies of scale existed, then the long-run average cost-minimizing firm size would be one worker, producing the minimal possible level of output. However, economies of scale also apply, which state that large firms can have lower per-unit costs due to buying at bulk discounts (components, insurance, real estate, advertising, etc.) and can also limit competition by buying out competitors, setting proprietary industry standards (like Microsoft Windows), etc. If only these "economies of scale" applied, then the ideal firm size would be infinitely large. However, since both apply, the firm must not be too small or too large, to minimize unit costs. Variation in optimal firm size by industry The "diseconomies of scale" do not tend to vary widely by industry, but "e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cost Curve
In economics, a cost curve is a graph of the costs of production as a function of total quantity produced. In a free market economy, productively efficient firms optimize their production process by minimizing cost consistent with each possible level of production, and the result is a cost curve. Profit-maximizing firms use cost curves to decide output quantities. There are various types of cost curves, all related to each other, including total and average cost curves; marginal ("for each additional unit") cost curves, which are equal to the differential of the total cost curves; and variable cost curves. Some are applicable to the short run, others to the long run. Notation There are standard acronyms for each cost concept, expressed in terms of the following descriptors: *SR = short-run (when the amount of physical capital cannot be adjusted) *LR = long-run (when all input amounts can be adjusted) *A = average (per unit of output) *M = marginal (for an additional unit of outp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elasticity Of Supply
The price elasticity of supply (PES or Es) is a measure used in economics to show the responsiveness, or elasticity, of the quantity supplied of a good or service to a change in its price. The elasticity is represented in numerical form, and is defined as the percentage change in the quantity supplied divided by the percentage change in price. When the elasticity is less than one, the supply of the good can be described as ''inelastic''; when it is greater than one, the supply can be described as ''elastic''.Png, Ivan (1999). pp. 129–32. An elasticity of zero indicates that quantity supplied does not respond to a price change: the good is "fixed" in supply. Such goods often have no labor component or are not produced, limiting the short run prospects of expansion. If the elasticity is exactly one, the good is said to be ''unit-elastic''. The quantity of goods supplied can, in the short term, be different from the amount produced, as manufacturers will have stocks which they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimum Efficient Scale
In industrial organization, the minimum efficient scale (MES) or efficient scale of production is the lowest point where the plant (or firm) can produce such that its long run average costs are minimized. It is also the point at which the firm can achieve necessary economies of scale for it to compete effectively within the market. Measurement of the MES Economies of scale refers to the cost advantage arise from increasing amount of production. Mathematically, it is a situation in which the firm can double its output for less than doubling the cost, which brings cost advantages. Usually, economies of scale can be represented in connection with a cost-production elasticity, ''Ec''. :Ec = \frac. The cost-production elasticity equation can be rewritten to express the relationship between marginal cost and average cost. : Ec = \frac = \frac = Marginal Cost(MC)/Average Cost(AC) The minimum efficient scale can be computed by equating average cost (AC) with marginal cost (MC).i.e.Ec = ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Average Cost Pricing
Average cost pricing is one of the ways the government regulates a monopoly market. Monopolists tend to produce less than the optimal quantity pushing the prices up. The government may use ''average cost pricing'' as a tool to regulate prices monopolists may charge. Average cost pricing forces monopolists to reduce price to where the firm's average total cost (ATC) intersects the market demand curve. The effect on the market would be: * Increase production and decrease price. * Increase social welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet Basic needs, basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refe ... (efficient resource allocation). * Generate a normal profit for monopolist (Price = ATC) * "Margin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barrier To Entry
In theories of competition in economics, a barrier to entry, or an economic barrier to entry, is a fixed cost that must be incurred by a new entrant, regardless of production or sales activities, into a market that incumbents do not have or have not had to incur. Because barriers to entry protect incumbent firms and restrict competition in a market, they can contribute to distortionary prices and are therefore most important when discussing antitrust policy. Barriers to entry often cause or aid the existence of monopolies and oligopolies, or give companies market power. Barriers of entry also have an importance in industries. First of all it is important to identify that some exist naturally, such as brand loyalty. Governments can also create barriers to entry to meet consumer protection laws, protecting the public. In other cases it can also be due to inherent scarcity of public resources needed to enter a market. Definitions Various conflicting definitions of "barrier to entry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unit Of Production
In economics, factors of production, resources, or inputs are what is used in the production process to produce output—that is, goods and services. The utilized amounts of the various inputs determine the quantity of output according to the relationship called the production function. There are four ''basic'' resources or factors of production: land, labour, capital and entrepreneur (or enterprise). The factors are also frequently labeled "producer goods or services" to distinguish them from the goods or services purchased by consumers, which are frequently labeled "consumer goods". There are two types of factors: ''primary'' and ''secondary''. The previously mentioned primary factors are land, labour and capital. Materials and energy are considered secondary factors in classical economics because they are obtained from land, labour, and capital. The primary factors facilitate production but neither becomes part of the product (as with raw materials) nor becomes significantly tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fixed Cost
In accounting and economics, 'fixed costs', also known as indirect costs or overhead costs, are business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business. They tend to be recurring, such as interest or rents being paid per month. These costs also tend to be capital costs. This is in contrast to variable costs, which are volume-related (and are paid per quantity produced) and unknown at the beginning of the accounting year. Fixed costs have an effect on the nature of certain variable costs. For example, a retailer must pay rent and utility bills irrespective of sales. As another example, for a bakery the monthly rent and phone line are fixed costs, irrespective of how much bread is produced and sold; on the other hand, the wages are variable costs, as more workers would need to be hired for the production to increase. For any factory, the fix cost should be all the money paid on capitals and land. Such fixed costs as buying machines and la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
