Question

A firm uses 80 hours of labor and 6 units of capital to produce​ 10,000 gadgets per day.​ Labor's marginal product is 4 gadgets per hour and the marginal product of capital is 20 gadgets per unit. Each unit of labor costs​ $8 per hour and each unit of capital costs​ $50 per unit. If the firm wants to continue producing​ 10,000 gadgets per day at the lowest possible​ cost, it should

Answer 1

Answer:

Use more labor and fewer capital.

Explanation:

Given that,

For producing 10,000 gadgets,

Labor hours use = 80

Capital = 6 units

Marginal product of labor = 4 gadgets per hour

Marginal product of capital = 20 gadgets per unit

Cost of each unit of labor = $8 per hour

Cost of each unit of capital = $50 per unit

Therefore,

Marginal product per dollar for labor is as follows:

$\frac{MP_{L} }{w} =\frac{4}{8}$

        = 0.5

Marginal product per dollar for capital is as follows:

$\frac{MP_{k} }{r} =\frac{20}{50}$

        = 0.4

Hence, the marginal product per dollar for labor is greater than the marginal product per dollar for capital, which means that the firm should use more labor and fewer capital.