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Long-run total cost (LRTC) is the cost function that represents the total cost of production for all goods produced. Long-run average cost (LRAC) is the cost function that represents the average cost per unit of producing some good. Long-run marginal cost (LRMC) is the cost function that represents the cost of producing one more unit of some good.
A long-run average cost curve is typically downward sloping at relatively low levels of output, and upward or downward sloping at relatively high levels of output. Most commonly, the long-run average cost curve is U-shaped, by definition reflecting economies of scale where negatively sloped and diseconomies of scale where positively sloped.
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 ...
In the long-run, firms change production levels in response to (expected) economic profits or losses, and the land, labour, capital goods and entrepreneurship vary to reach the minimum level of long-run average cost. A generic firm can make the following changes in the long-run: Enter an industry in response to (expected) profits
Each of these factors reduces the long run average costs (LRAC) of production by shifting the short-run average total cost (SRATC) curve down and to the right. Economies of scale is a concept that may explain patterns in international trade or in the number of firms in a given market.
For a PC company, this equilibrium condition occurs where the perfectly elastic demand curve equals minimum average cost. An MC company's demand curve is not flat but is downward-sloping. Thus, the demand curve will be tangential to the long-run average cost curve at a point to the left of its minimum. The result is excess capacity. [22]
Consequently, total cost is fixed cost (FC) plus variable cost (VC), or TC = FC + VC = Kr+Lw. In the long run, however, both capital usage and labor usage are variable. The long run total cost for a given output will generally be lower than the short run total cost, because the amount of capital can be chosen to be optimal for the amount of output.
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