Question

Many mining and mineral extraction processes tend to exhibit increasing returns to scale. Suppose copper mines have increasing returns, and the existing copper mines reduce their capital and labor inputs by 25 percent in response to a global recession. What is the expected impact on copper output

Answer 1

Answer: D) Output decreases by more than 25 percent

Explanation:

When a firm is said to be experiencing Increasing Returns to Scale, it means that for every additional unit of a factor of production, the firm experiences a higher increase in production than the additional unit. For example, if a Firm's output increases by 1.5 every time they hire an extra worker, the firm is said to be going through Increasing Returns to Scale.

With that same logic, if factors of production were reduced, the company undergoes a reduction in output that is bigger than the reduction in the factor of production.

For this reason, option D is correct in saying that Output decreases by more than 25 percent.