生产函数决定成本函数(英文版)(ppt 37页)

生产函数决定成本函数内容提要：
Total product (TP) of labor
Quantity of output produced by firm in a given amount of time dependent on labor hired
Information graphically represented by production function
Production function slopes upward
Production function is rule for determining how much output can be produced with a given basket of inputs
Marginal product of labor (MPL)
Increase in total product based on hiring one additional worker
Assume capital fixed
Slope of TP
Average product of labor (APL)
Total product divided by number of workers
AP 
If number of workers large, additional workers cause average product of labor to decrease
Inverted U-shape
MP
Inverted U-shape
AP and MP relationship to one another
If MP > AP, MP lies above AP
If MP < AP, MP lies below AP
If MP = AP, AP at maximum or peak
Constructing the firm’s variable cost curve
Need total product curve
Need wage rate
Price of hiring labor
Multiply number of workers by wage rate to get variable cost    PL×L=VC
Curve relates total product, not number of workers, to variable cost
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