中级微观经济学——理论与应用（第10版）（经济学经典教材·双语教学用书） 尼克尔森等 著 0324319681_67670新.pptVIP

Chapter 8 Costs Basic Concepts of Costs Opportunity cost: the cost of a good or service as measured by the alternative uses that are foregone by producing the good or service. Accounting cost: the concept that goods or services cost what was paid for them. Economic cost: the amount required to keep a resource in its present use; the amount that it would be worth in its next best alternative use. Labor Costs Like accountants, economists regard the payments to labor as an explicit cost. Labor services (worker-hours) are purchased at an hourly wage rate (w): The cost of hiring one worker for one hour. The wage rate is assumed to be the amount workers would receive in their next best alternative employment. Capital Costs Economists consider the cost of a machine to be the amount someone else would be willing to pay for its use. The cost of capital services (machine-hours) is the rental rate (v) which is the cost of hiring one machine for one hour. This is an implicit cost if the machine is owned by the firm. Entrepreneurial Costs Owners of the firm are entitled to the difference between revenue and costs which is generally called (accounting) profit. Economic profit is revenue minus all costs including these entrepreneurial costs. The Two-Input Case The firm uses only two inputs: labor (L, measured in labor hours) and capital (K, measured in machine hours). Entrepreneurial services are assumed to be included in the capital costs. Firms buy inputs in perfectly competitive markets so the firm faces horizontal supply curves at prevailing factor prices. Economic Profits and Cost Minimization Total costs = TC = wL + vK. (8.1) Assuming the firm produces only one output, total revenue equals the price of the product (P) times its total output [q = f(K,L) where f(K,L) is the firm’s production function]. Economic Profits and Cost Minimization Economic profits (?): the difference between a firm’s total revenues and its total economic costs. Graphic Presentation The isoquant