d. Works because prices serve as a means of communication between consumers and producers. When economists talk about "optimal outcomes" in the marketplace, they mean that: The bowed-out production possibilities curve for Alpine Sports illustrates the law of increasing opportunity cost. Its downwards slope reflects scarcity. With all three of its plants producing skis, it can produce 350 pairs of skis per month (and no snowboards). d. Factories are bought and sold. d. All of the above. d. Fewer units actually purchased. Much of the land in the United States has a comparative advantage in agricultural production and is devoted to that activity. Because the production possibilities curve for Plant 1 is linear, we can compute the slope between any two points on the curve and get the same result. Production on the production possibilities curve ABCD requires that factors of production be transferred according to comparative advantage. The bowed-out curve of Figure 2.4 becomes smoother as we include more production facilities. B. corn is likely to decrease as society . c. Shortages. Chapter 1: Economics: The Study of Choice, Chapter 2: Confronting Scarcity: Choices in Production, Chapter 4: Applications of Demand and Supply, Chapter 5: Elasticity: A Measure of Response, Chapter 6: Markets, Maximizers, and Efficiency, Chapter 7: The Analysis of Consumer Choice, Chapter 9: Competitive Markets for Goods and Services, Chapter 11: The World of Imperfect Competition, Chapter 12: Wages and Employment in Perfect Competition, Chapter 13: Interest Rates and the Markets for Capital and Natural Resources, Chapter 14: Imperfectly Competitive Markets for Factors of Production, Chapter 15: Public Finance and Public Choice, Chapter 16: Antitrust Policy and Business Regulation, Chapter 18: The Economics of the Environment, Chapter 19: Inequality, Poverty, and Discrimination, Chapter 20: Macroeconomics: The Big Picture, Chapter 21: Measuring Total Output and Income, Chapter 22: Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply, Chapter 24: The Nature and Creation of Money, Chapter 25: Financial Markets and the Economy, Chapter 28: Consumption and the Aggregate Expenditures Model, Chapter 29: Investment and Economic Activity, Chapter 30: Net Exports and International Finance, Chapter 32: A Brief History of Macroeconomic Thought and Policy, Chapter 34: Socialist Economies in Transition, Figure 2.2 A Production Possibilities Curve, Figure 2.3 The Slope of a Production Possibilities Curve, Figure 2.4 Production Possibilities at Three Plants, Figure 2.5 The Combined Production Possibilities Curve for Alpine Sports, Figure 2.6 Production Possibilities for the Economy, Figure 2.9 Efficient Versus Inefficient Production, Next: 2.3 Applications of the Production Possibilities Model, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Draw the production possibilities curve for Plant R. On a separate graph, draw the production possibilities curve for Plant S. Which plant has a comparative advantage in calculators? D. All of the above, With respect to factors of production, which of the following statements is not true? c. Increase and quantity to increase. Means a shortage or surplus will result from holding prices constant. The gains we achieve through specialization are enormous. According to the law of increasing opportunity cost, as a society produces more and more of a certain good, further production increases involve ever-greater opportunity costs, so that producing the good is associated with greater and greater trade-offs. The firm then starts producing snowboards. The reason for the law of increasing opportunity cost is due to the fact that some resources are not well suited for Notice that this production possibilities curve, which is made up of linear segments from each assembly plant, has a bowed-out shape; the absolute value of its slope increases as Alpine Sports produces more and more snowboards. Specifically, if it raises production of one product, the opportunity cost of making the next unit rises. It has two plants, Plant R and Plant S, at which it can produce these goods. d. An increase in the supply of corn syrup. Greater production leads to greater inefficiency. Plant 3 has a comparative advantage in snowboard production because it is the plant for which the opportunity cost of additional snowboards is lowest. The level of inflation in the economy. Florida places a price ceiling on all building materials to keep the prices reasonable. Lesson 5: The law of increasing opportunity cost: As you increase the production of one good, the opportunity cost to produce the additional good will increase. This time, however, imagine that Alpine Sports switches plants from skis to snowboards in numerical order: Plant 1 first, Plant 2 second, and then Plant 3. In the transition to widget production, workers would likely need training and time to develop the skills required to be as productive at making widgets as making gadgets. b. a. A production possibilities curve is a graphical representation of the alternative combinations of goods and services an economy can produce. Is not a very efficient means of communicating consumer demand to the producers of goods and services. Also, I guess that the law of increasing opportunity cost is the opposite of economies of scale. b. As the economy transitions from gadgets to widgets, the gadget workers best suited to widget production would transition first, then the workers less suited, and finally the workers not at all well suited to widget production. Suppose a manufacturing firm is equipped to produce radios or calculators. This curve depicts an entire economy that produces only skis and snowboards. Capital, as economists use the term, refers to: The role of the entrepreneur in an economy is to: The opportunity cost of studying for an economics test is: A production-possibilities curve indicates the: A point on a nation's production-possibilities curve represents: According to the law of increasing opportunity costs: If the United States decides to convert automobile factories to tank production, as it did during World War II, but finds that some auto manufacturing facilities are not well suited to tank production, then: a. Public-goods market. It is operating efficiently. Figure 2.9 Efficient Versus Inefficient Production illustrates the result. a. The economy's capital stock declines In the summer of 1929, however, things started going wrong. Getting the most goods and services from the available resources. In other words, the opportunity cost of producing 2 widgets is now 6 gadgets. Here's where the curved frontier line comes in. When the area under f(x)=x2+xf(x)=x^2+xf(x)=x2+x from x=0x=0x=0 to x=2x=2x=2 is approximated, the formulas for the sum of nnn rectangles using left-hand endpoints and right-hand endpoints are, Left-handendpoints:SL=1436n+43n2Right-handendpoints:SR=14n2+18n+43n2\textbf{Left-hand endpoints}: S_L=\frac{14}{3}-\frac{6}{n}+\frac{4}{3 n^2}\\ D. producing equal amounts of all goods, B. b. In other words, the opportunity cost of producing 2 widgets is 2 gadgets. This production possibilities curve includes 10 linear segments and is almost a smooth curve. Getting the most goods and services from the available resources c. The mix of output to be produced, the resources to be used in the production process, and for whom the The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates at their last meeting. At point A, Alpine Sports produces 350 pairs of skis per month and no snowboards. Plant S has a comparative advantage in producing radios, so, if the firm goes from producing 150 calculators and no radios to producing 100 radios, it will produce them at Plant S. In the production possibilities curve for both plants, the firm would be at M, producing 100 calculators at Plant R. Principles of Economics by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Segment 3 of The Production Possibilities Frontier uses the production possibilities frontier to demonstrate how, in the real world, opportunity cost increases as production increases. Which of the following events would allow the production-possibilities curve to shift outward? An increase in the demand for pens. To find this quantity, we add up the values at the vertical intercepts of each of the production possibilities curves in Figure 2.4 Production Possibilities at Three Plants. We have already seen that an additional snowboard requires giving up two pairs of skis in Plant 1. c. Eliminates market failures created by government. Decrease and quantity to decrease. d. Percentage change in x coordinates between two points divided by the percentage change in their y coordinates. Points within the frontier indicate resources that are underemployed. Understand specialization and its relationship to the production possibilities model and comparative advantage. c. Potential output. In drawing the production possibilities curve, we shall assume that the economy can produce only two goods and that the quantities of factors of production and the technology available to the economy are fixed. I personally like having the large number in the y-axis, so I would label that lbs of candy. Now suppose the firm decides to produce 100 snowboards. In material terms, the forgone output represented a greater cost than the United States would ultimately spend in World War II. Plant 3 would be the last plant converted to ski production. a. Could an economy that is using all its factors of production still produce less than it could? The Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF) is a graph that shows all the different combinations of output of two goods that can be produced using available resources and technology. B. a. For example, there might be a trade-off between hunting for rabbits or gathering berries. ~produces ~trade-offs Expanding snowboard production to 51 snowboards per month from 50 snowboards per month requires a reduction in ski production to 98 pairs of skis per month from 100 pairs. b. Its land is devoted largely to nonagricultural use. Suppose that Alpine Sports is producing 100 snowboards and 150 pairs of skis at point B. The economy experiences government failure. Ceteris paribus, which of the following is most likely to cause an increase in the quantity demanded of We can use the production possibilities model to examine choices in the production of goods and services. The VMWare acquisition broadened EMC's core data storage device business to include software technology enabling multiple operating systems-such as Microsoft's Windows, Linux, and OS X-to simultaneously and independently run on the same Intel-based server or workstation. Suppose that, as before, Alpine Sports has been producing only skis. The bowed-out shape of the production possibilities curve illustrates the law of increasing opportunity cost. The economy had moved well within its production possibilities curve. People benefit by participating in the market because: It is hard to imagine that most of us could even survive in such a setting. In Plant 2, she must give up one pair of skis to gain one more snowboard. The supply of MP3 players increased from 2007 to 2008. 232(163/4). Lower equilibrium quantity. c. Technology is lost If EMC's estimated opportunity cost of funds is 999 percent, as an analyst, how would you view the acquisition? However, a straight line doesn't best reflect how the real economy uses resources to produce goods. Which of the following is an example of government failure? a. Intermediate goods; final goods and services The plant with the lowest opportunity cost of producing snowboards is Plant 3; its slope of 0.5 means that Ms. Ryder must give up half a pair of skis in that plant to produce an additional snowboard. McNEESE State University Assig, Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics, Douglas A. Lind, Samuel A. Wathen, William G. Marchal, Fundamentals of Engineering Economic Analysis, David Besanko, Mark Shanley, Scott Schaefer. Such specialization is typical in an economic system. A production possibilities curve shows the combinations of two goods an economy is capable of producing. Up to this point we've graphed the PPF as a straight line. The continuous change in its slope. c. Want the goods and services the most. Lower equilibrium price. Suppose an economy fails to put all its factors of production to work. b. The production-possibilities curve between tanks and automobiles will shift outward. c. An increase in the supply of pens. The steeper the curve, the greater the opportunity cost of an additional snowboard. The slope of a curve at any point is given by the formula, the: Is justified by the superiority of laissez faire over government intervention. The example of choosing between catching rabbits and gathering berries illustrates how opportunity cost works. Opportunity cost is the trade-off that one makes when deciding between two options. A faster recovery from the storm B. A rightward shift in a demand curve and a rightward shift in a supply curve both result in a: As a result of a failure to achieve full employment, the economy operates at a point such as B, producing FB units of food and CB units of clothing per period. An Emerging Consensus: Macroeconomics for the Twenty-First Century, 33.1 The Nature and Challenge of Economic Development, 33.2 Population Growth and Economic Development, 34.1 The Theory and Practice of Socialism, 34.3 Economies in Transition: China and Russia, Appendix A.1: How to Construct and Interpret Graphs, Appendix A.2: Nonlinear Relationships and Graphs without Numbers, Appendix A.3: Using Graphs and Charts to Show Values of Variables, Appendix B: Extensions of the Aggregate Expenditures Model, Appendix B.2: The Aggregate Expenditures Model and Fiscal Policy. b. A consequence of the economic problem of scarcity is that: With respect to factors of production, which of the following statements is not true? A decrease in the supply of airline tickets. A lower quantity demanded of a good reflects, ceteris paribus: c. A decrease in the demand for airline tickets. For this scenario to take the factors of production -land, labor, and capital- must be at their maximum efficiency. The production possibilities curves for the two plants are shown, along with the combined curve for both plants. The absolute value of the slope of a production possibilities curve measures the opportunity cost of an additional unit of the good on the horizontal axis measured in terms of the quantity of the good on the vertical axis that must be forgone. The bowed-out shape of the production possibilities curve illustrates the law of increasing opportunity cost. There is full employment of resources. Here, an economy that can produce two categories of goods, security and all other goods and services, begins at point A on its production possibilities curve. Once again, this is made possible because of trade-offs. d. The government is allocating resources inefficiently. If market signals result in pollution beyond the optimal level then: The production-possibilities curve never shifts. Both the price and quantity increase We will generally draw production possibilities curves for the economy as smooth, bowed-out curves, like the one in Panel (b). b. Utilizes both market and nonmarket signals to allocate goods and services. b. Which of the following statements about markets is not true? While even smaller than the second plant, the third was primarily designed for snowboard production but could also produce skis. All the consumer desires are satisfied and business profits are maximized. The bowed-out production possibilities curve for Alpine Sports illustrates the law of increasing opportunity cost. Here, the opportunity cost is lowest at Plant 3 and greatest at Plant 1. When the frontier line itself moves, economic growth is under way. The result is the bowed-in curve ABCD. The exhibit gives the slopes of the production possibilities curves for each plant. First, the economy might fail to use fully the resources available to it. Find the average value VVV of the given function over the specified interval. Supply curves are upward-sloping to the right. Instead of the bowed-out production possibilities curve ABCD, we get a bowed-in curve, ABCD. Figure 2.6 Production Possibilities for the Economy. Producing a snowboard in Plant 3 requires giving up just half a pair of skis. The result is a far greater quantity of goods and services than would be available without this specialization. b. A. bureaucratic delays d. Both the price and quantity decrease. That is because the resources transferred from the production of other goods and services to the production of security had a greater and greater comparative advantage in producing things other than security. A decrease in the size of the labor force 6*20 = 120 lbs of candy per day. d. A shift in the function. The related concept of marginal cost is the cost of producing one extra unit of something. Plant R has a comparative advantage in producing calculators. c. Percentage change in y coordinates between two points divided by the percentage change in their x coordinates. As for the benefits packages received by employees from the employers, approximately 33% are . The demand for MP3 players increased from 2007 to 2008. b. d. The set of goods and services that maximizes their utility. Required use of pollution control technology that is obsolete A decrease in the size of the labor force, Which of the following is an example of government failure? Figure 2.3 The Slope of a Production Possibilities Curve. c. Decreasing opportunity costs will occur with greater automobile production. In an actual economy, with a tremendous number of firms and workers, it is easy to see that the production possibilities curve will be smooth. Economic Lowdown Video Series, economic education specialist Scott Wolla explains how the production possibilities frontier (PPF) illustrates some very important economic concepts. 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Could an economy can produce these goods production possibilities curves for each plant but could also skis.