Question

Suppose a perfectly competitive firm is producing 37 units output, and the marginal cost of the 37th unit is $3. If the firm can sell each unit of output for $5 and the firm's revenue is sufficient to cover its variable cost, the firm should:__________.
A. lower its price.
B. decrease production.
C. increase production.
D. raise its price.

Answer 1

Answer:

C) increase production.

Explanation:

Competitive firms maximize their accounting profits when marginal revenue (MR) = marginal cost (MC).

In a perfectly competitive market, all the producers and the consumers are price takers, so they cannot change the price of the goods. So changing the sales price is not possible. Since the marginal revenue is greater than the marginal cost, the firm should increase its production output until MR = MC.