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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 ...
Marginal cost and marginal revenue, depending on whether the calculus approach is taken or not, are defined as either the change in cost or revenue as each additional unit is produced or the derivative of cost or revenue with respect to the quantity of output. For instance, taking the first definition, if it costs a firm $400 to produce 5 units ...
The short run shutdown point for a competitive firm is the output level at the minimum of the average variable cost curve. Assume that a firm's total cost function is TC = Q 3-5Q 2 +60Q +125. 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 ...
The corresponding point on the supply curve measures marginal cost, the increase in total cost to the supplier for the corresponding unit of the good. The price in equilibrium is determined by supply and demand. In a perfectly competitive market, supply and demand equate marginal cost and marginal utility at equilibrium. [21]
The minimum efficient scale can be computed by equating average cost (AC) with marginal cost (MC): = / = The rationale behind this is that if a firm were to produce a small number of units, its average cost per unit would be high because the bulk of the costs would come from fixed costs. But if the firm produces more units, the average cost ...
Both the marginal cost and marginal revenue are extremely important in economics as a firm's profit is maximized when the marginal cost is equal to the marginal revenue. [26] Managers can make business decisions on the output level based on this analysis in order to maximize the profit of the firm.
When average cost is rising, marginal cost is greater than average cost. 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 ...