Employ the following information on hypothetical short-run production function to answer questions a-d.
Units of Labor/Day 5 6 7 8 9
Units of Output/Day 120 140 155 165 168
The price of labor is $20 per day. Ten units of capital are used each day, regardless of output level. The price of capital is $50 per unit.
a. Compute the marginal and average variable product of each unit of labor input. Hint: plot your Units of labor and Units of Output vertically.
b. Calculate total, average total, average variable, and marginal costs.
c. Can you tell where diminishing marginal returns sets in?
d. Graph the resulting cost curves similar to the graph 5.2 on Page 141 of the textbook.