1. Assume the marginal cost of production is greater than the average variable cost. Can you determine whether the average variable cost is increasing or decreasing? Explain.
2. How does a change in the price of one input change the firm's long-run expansion path?
3. The cost of flying a passenger plane from point A to point B is $50,000. The airline flies this route four times per day at 7am, 10am, 1pm, and 4pm. The first and last flights are filled to capacity with 240 people. The second and third flights are only half full. Find the average cost per passenger for each flight. Suppose the airline hires you as a marketing consultant and wants to know which type of customer it should try to attract, the off-peak customer (the middle two flights) or the rush-hour customer (the first and last flights). What advice would you offer?
4. The short-run cost function of a company is given by the equation TC=200+55q, where TC is the total cost and q is the total quantity of output, both measured in thousands.
a. What is the company's fixed cost?
b. If the company produced 100,000 units of goods, what is its average variable cost?
c. What is its marginal cost per unit produced?
d. What is its average fixed cost?
Suppose the company borrows money and expands its factory. Its fixed cost rises by $50,000, but its variable cost falls to $45,000 per 1,000 units. The cost of interest (i) also enters into the equation. Each one-point increase in the interest rate raises costs by $3,000. Write the new cost equation.