Question

You produce widgets for sale in a perfectly com- petitive market at a market price of $10 per wid- get. Your widgets are manufactured in two plants, one in Massachusetts and the other in Connecticut. Because of labor problems in Connecticut, you are forced to raise wages there, so that marginal costs in that plant increase. In response to this, should you shift production and produce more in your Massachusetts plant?

Answer 1

Answer: No.

Explanation:

This is a Perfectly Competitive market and that means that you are a price taker who maximises output at a point where Marginal Revenue equals Marginal Cost ( MR = MC). As costs have gone up, it simply means that for the conditions to be satisfied, you need to produce less at the factory in Connecticut.

That does not mean that you have to produce more at the Massachusetts plant because it is already producing at capacity and increasing the marginal cost would violate the MR=MC rule as you have no control over the price so you cannot change Marginal Revenue. It is therefore better to keep the production level at the Massachusetts plant unchanged.