Suppose the number of patients seen per week can be "produced" with physician (DR) time and physician's aide (PA) time. The following table mimics that of Table 5.2 (page 135) of your text by showing the number of patients that can be seen per week for different combinations of DR time and PA time. Given these data, answer the questions posed below.
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Aide (PA) hours per week
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Physician (DR) hours per week
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40
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60
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80
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|
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30
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200
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300
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360
|
|
|
40
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400
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550
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600
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|
|
50
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550
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700
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750
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|
1. What is the average product of an hour of aides' time if 30 hours of a physician's time are combined with 40 hours of an aides' time per week?
2. What is the marginal product of an hour of aides' time if a physician's works 40 hours per week and an aide works between 40 and 60 hours each week?
3. If a DR works 40 hours per week, are there diminishing marginal returns to more aide time?
4. The table indicates that 550 patients per week can be seen using two different combinations of DR and PA time: (50 DR, 40 PA) and (40 DR, 60 PA). Using this information, what is the value of the MRTS between PA and DR time when 550 patients are seen per week (That is, what is DDR/DPA?). Describe in words the meaning of this calculated value of MRTS.