生产要素与要素场生产要素.PPTVIP

* * * We used this example in Chapter 13 to introduce the following concepts: * production function * marginal product of labor * diminishing marginal product Here, we briefly review these concepts and then use them to derive Farmer Jack’s demand for labor. * * * * * This exercise should not be difficult. But students are more likely to remember how to compute MPL and VMPL if we make them do it instead of just showing them the results. And students have computed lots of marginal things from preceding chapters, so all they should need to do this exercise is the definitions of MPL and VMPL from the preceding slides. * * Some students may not offset the points between the L values, as shown here and in the table on the preceding slide. For our purposes, that’s okay. What matters is they see that VMPL is a downward-sloping curve. They will get the rest from the following slides. * A student may wonder why we are measuring the wage in dollars per week rather than dollars per hour. If a student asks this question, before giving the answer, see if another student can explain the answer. The answer is: our task here is to compare the cost and benefit of hiring an extra worker. The benefit, P x MPL, is extra revenue per week from having one more workers (recall, the production function and hence MPL are measured in units per week). So we must compare that to the cost per week of having one more worker. The logic behind the answer L = 3 is the same marginal analysis that students have seen in many other contexts in previous chapters. At any L smaller than L = 3, can increase profit by hiring another worker. For example, suppose Jack has 2 workers. At L = 2, VMPL W. In other words, the increase in revenue from hiring one more worker exceeds the increase in cost (the wage). So, hiring one more worker would increase profit. At any L larger than L = 3, can increase profit by hiring one fewer worker. For example, suppose Jack has 4 worke