经济学基础Chap005

answers to questions for discussion and problemsQUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSIONL.is your school currently producing at capacity(I . e .teaching as many students as possible)？what consideration s might inhibit full capacity utilization？lo : 1 AACSB : analytic Bt : createthere may be empty seats in your class room that indicate unused capacity。although it would be impractical to offer classes around the clock，容量utilization has increassed as many schools have added early morning，nnewdue to the nature of our educational system，these students cannot be replaceed during the middle of a semsester。2.what are the production costs of your economics class？What are the fixed costs？变量成本？what is the marginal cost of enrolling more students？lo : 3 AACSB : analytic Bt : analyzethe fixed costs are the costs of providing the class room And its equipment，some level of utilities，And the prorated share of the universitythe variable costs include the cost of the instructor，Materials (chalk or markers，handouts)，and some additional utilitiesthe marginal cost of enrolling one more student is nearaly zero as long as there is a seat available in the class room .3.suppose you set up a lawn-mowing service and recruited friends to help you . would the law of diminishing returns apply？Explain。lo : 2 AACSB : analytic Bt : analyzeIn the short run，yes。as more and more friends helper，there would be capital constraints such as a limited number of lawn mowers，rakes，Etc .sharing the tools reduces each worker s productivity . also，They might tend to get in each other s way and bicker and fuss .the result would be to decrease the output of each added worker over that of the previous worker。4.what are the fixed costs of(a)a pizza shop，(b) an internet service provider，(c) a corn farm？who needs the highest sales volume to earn a profit？lo : 3 AACSB : analytic Bt : create(a)the fixed costs of a pizza shop include rent on the building(even if they own the building there is an opportunity cost)，insuranning(b)the fixed costs of an internet service provider include rent on the building，the computer servers，the software neceary to provide(c)the fixed costs of a corn farm include the land，buildings，tractors，combine，and other equipment。whichever business has the highest fixed costs needs the highest sales volume to earn a profit。5.owner-operators of small gas stations rarely themselves an hourly wage。does this practice reduce the economic cost of dispensing gasoline？lo : 5 AACSB : analytic Bt : createNo，this practice does not reduce the economic cost of dispensing gasoline。it can change the accounting cost，but not the economic cost。economists focus on opportunity costs；they include an allowance for how much the owner could have earned in an alternative job。6.in the news wire on page 99，why did MPP fall to zero？what was the opportunity cost of those surplus workers？lo : 2 AACSB : analytic Bt : evaluateas more Workers are hired in a given plant，MPP declines.if too many are hired，MPP may even fall to zero，or less.in this case，therethe opportunity cost to the state of the surplus workers was what they could have done else where had they not hired them .or，This could include purchasing equipment so that the productivity of the work force would increase。7.what role do expectations play in the production and investment decisions descripbed in the news wire on page 107？lo : 3 AACSB : analytic Bt : evaluateAccording to the news wire，nisan is expanding the production at its Barcelona plant by hiring an additional 1，000 workers . nisan plans to cransFiat，on the other hand，Is looking for a whole new location for production . they are consiring opening a plant to manufacture the brand s SSS8.why does marginal physical product decline at a fast-food outlet(e . g . MC Donald s)when more employees are hired？what are the fixed input constraints that limit worker productivity？lo : 2 AACSB : analytic Bt : evaluatethe law of dimining returns States that the marginal physical product of labor decl