Trapper Joe, the fur trader, has found that his production function in acquiring pelts is given by
q = 2"H
where q = the number of pelts acquired in a day, and H= the number of hours Joe's employees spend hunting and trapping in one day. Joe pays his employees $8 an hour.

a. Calculate Joe's total and average cost curves (as a function of q).

b. What is Joe's total cost for the day if he acquires four pelts? Six pelts? Eight pelts? What is Joe's average cost per pelt for the day if he acquires four pelts? Six pelts? Eight pelts?

c. Graph the cost curves from part a and indicate the points from part b. Explain why the cost curves have the shape they do. Now, Joe decides to split his operations between two forests and hire his buddy Earl. The production function becomes: qi = 2"Hi where i = 1, 2. H1 represents Joe's hours trapping in forest 1 and H2 Earl's in forest 2

d. What is the general expression for the marginal product of labor (H) in location i? Hint: because this is a short-run function think of K = 1.

e. Suppose H1 = 25 and H2 = 36. What is the total amount of pelts? If the market wage is $8 in forest 1 and $9 in forest 2 should Joe change the amount of labor in each forest? Explain.