A railroad company lays a line of track between Houston and Dallas. It provides daily service for industrial customers and ships 5,000 ton-miles per day with a single train and only one departure and arrival at each end
It has an opportunity to purchase a second train that would allow it to ship twice the amount of ton-miles per day. Does this firm face increasing, constant or decreasing returns to scale? Explain.
The company was able to double the amount of output without necessarily doubling the amount of inputs. While it probably needs close to double the amount of labor it certainly won't need to double the amount of track since the track in place is sufficient to get the job done. Therefore, it is faces increasing returns to scale.
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Starting from long-run equilibrium, a decrease in autonomous investment results in ________ output in the short run and ________ output in the long run.
A. lower; potential B. higher; higher C. higher; potential D. lower; higher
A production possibilities curve is plotted for a nation producing chairs and tables. Which of the following will cause a parallel shift in the production possibilities curve?
A) An intensive training program that increases the productivity of employees engaged in the production of tables B) An intensive training program that increases the productivity of employees engaged in the production of chairs C) An increase in the price of both chairs and tables D) An increase in the availability of raw materials required for the production of both chairs and tables
Gooey Flakes is the only ready-to-eat cereal that has chocolate syrup injected into each flake. The machine that injects the syrup into the flakes can do nothing else. Which of the following is true?
a. All of the machine's earnings are economic rent. b. All of the machine's earnings are opportunity cost. c. The supply curve for this machine is horizontal. d. The demand curve for this machine is horizontal. e. The demand curve for this machine is vertical.
The objective of an economic model is to
a. be an accurate description of reality b. yield better understanding of important relationships c. use simplifying assumptions to make positive economic statements d. use basic principles of economics to derive fundamental assumptions about human behavior e. predict real-world occurrences with complete accuracy