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In economics, the marginal cost is the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is increased, i.e. the cost of producing additional quantity. [1] In some contexts, it refers to an increment of one unit of output, and in others it refers to the rate of change of total cost as output is increased by an infinitesimal amount.
The total cost curve, if non-linear, can represent increasing and diminishing marginal returns.. The short-run total cost (SRTC) and long-run total cost (LRTC) curves are increasing in the quantity of output produced because producing more output requires more labor usage in both the short and long runs, and because in the long run producing more output involves using more of the physical ...
The additional total cost of one additional unit of production is called marginal cost. The marginal cost can also be calculated by finding the derivative of total cost or variable cost. Either of these derivatives work because the total cost includes variable cost and fixed cost, but fixed cost is a constant with a derivative of 0.
When average cost is neither rising nor falling (at a minimum or maximum), marginal cost equals average cost. Other special cases for average cost and marginal cost appear frequently: Constant marginal cost/high fixed costs: each additional unit of production is produced at constant additional expense per unit. The average cost curve slopes ...
It is measured in dollars per unit, and includes all the variable costs that alter depending on the level of production. Marginal cost differs from average cost as it solely provides the additional cost of one unit, rather than the average cost of each unit. [5] The marginal cost function is the slope of the
Similarly, if the third kilogram of seeds yields only a quarter ton, then the marginal cost equals per quarter ton or per ton, and the average cost is per 7/4 tons, or /7 per ton of output. Thus, diminishing marginal returns imply increasing marginal costs and increasing average costs. Cost is measured in terms of opportunity cost. In this case ...
Diminishing marginal product ensures the rise in cost from producing an additional item (marginal cost) is always greater than the average variable (controllable) cost at that level of production. Since some costs cannot be controlled in the short run, the variable (controllable) costs will always be lower than the total costs in the short run.
Then its variable cost function is Q 3 –5Q 2 +60Q, and its average variable cost function is (Q 3 –5Q 2 +60Q)/Q= Q 2 –5Q + 60. The slope of the average variable cost curve is the derivative of the latter, namely 2Q – 5. Equating this to zero to find the minimum gives Q = 2.5, at which level of output average variable cost is 53.75.