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_67677新.ppt

Part 7 Further Topics Chapter 15 Pricing in Input Markets Profit-Maximizing Behavior and the Hiring of Inputs A profit-maximizing firm will hire additional units of any input up to the point at which the additional revenue from hiring one more unit is exactly equal to the cost of hiring that unit. Let MEK and MEL denote the marginal expense of hiring capital and labor, respectively. Profit-Maximizing Behavior and the Hiring of Inputs Let MRK and MRL be the extra revenue that hiring more units of capital and labor allows the firm to bring in. Profit maximizing behavior requires: Price-Taking Behavior If the firm is a price taker in the capital and labor market then it can always hire an extra unit of capital at the prevailing rate (v) and an extra unit of labor at the wage rate (w). Marginal Revenue Product Marginal product is how much output the additional input can produce. Marginal revenue (MR) is the extra revenue obtained from selling an additional unit of output. Thus, the profit maximizing rules are: A Special Case--Marginal Value Product If the firm is also a price taking in the goods market, marginal revenue equals the price (P) at which the output sells. The profit maximizing conditions become Marginal Value Product The marginal value product (MVP) of capital and labor, respectively, are special cases of marginal revenue product in which the firm is a price taker for its output. Responses to Changes in Input Prices: Single Variable input Case Assume the firm has fixed capital and can only vary its labor input in the short run. Labor will exhibit diminishing marginal physical productivity so labor’s MVP will decline as more labor is hired. In Figure 15-1, the profit maximizing firm will hire L1 labor hours when the wage rate is w1. FIGURE 15-1: Change in Labor Input When Wage Falls: Single Variable Case Responses to Changes in Input Prices: Single Variable input Case If the wage rate falls to w2 the firm hires increased labor out to L2. If the firm contin