Question

a firm in a perfectly competitive industry is producing 1000 units of output and earning revenues of 50000. At that level of output, marginal cost is equal to $6, average total cost is equal to $40 and fixed costs are equal to $5000. What should the firm do, if anything

Answer 1

Answer:

Increase quantity to where AC = MC = D=AR=MR

Explanation:

A perfectly competitive market is where there are many firms in the industry producing homogeneous products. There is ease of entry and exit into and out of the market. They are price takers and earn normal profits in the long-run. In order to maximize profits, a firm in a perfectly competitive industry should produce an the quantity where its average cost is equal to marginal cost when AR = MR = D. In other words, when the AC and MC curves intersect with AR = MR = D curve.

Please refer diagram

The firm is currently producing at a point where AC > MC at quantity 1000. In order to reach AC = MC, the firm has to increase its quantity to Qe. As it increases quantity, although marginal cost increases, average cost falls because now fixed costs are spread over a larger quantity of output.

At Qe, the three curves intersect and is the point where this firm can maximize its revenue (Price = Pe). At a price higher than this, it would lose customers since there are many others producing the same product and customers can easily shift to another.