Eco 301Name______

Problem Set 731 October 2007

Please do problems 1, 3, and 4 as Excel spreadsheets. Graph AC, AVC, and MC placing the graph on the spreadsheet page with the table (as I have done on the answer key). Turn in your spreadsheets with your problem set. You can copy the tables from the web version of this problem set to paste into Excel.

1. The table below shows the cost data for Big Bob’s Bagel Bin (BBBB). Assume that Big Bob’s bagels are indistinguishable from his competitors’ bagels, and that Big Bob produces and sells a tiny fraction of the total number of bagels exchanged in the market.

Quantity
per day / Fixed Cost / Variable Cost / Total Cost / AFC / AVC / ATC / MC
0 / $2.00 / $0.00 / ── / ── / ── / ──
1 / 2.00 / 1.00
2 / 2.00 / 1.40
3 / 2.00 / 1.85
4 / 2.00 / 2.35
5 / 2.00 / 2.90
6 / 2.00 / 3.50
7 / 2.00 / 4.20
8 / 2.00 / 5.00
9 / 2.00 / 5.90
10 / 2.00 / 6.90
11 / 2.00 / 8.00
12 / 2.00 / 9.20
13 / 2.00 / 10.50
14 / 2.00 / 11.90
  1. Complete the table.
  1. If bagels currently sell for $1.00 each, how many bagels will Big Bob want to sell? What is Big Bob’s profit?

Q = ______Profit = ______

  1. Since Big Bob (and probably his competitors, too) is making economic profit, one would expect additional entry into the bagel market. How low will the price go before entry stops? At this price, how many bagels will Big Bob sell and what is his economic profit?

P = ______Q = ______Profit = ______

  1. Suppose the price of bagels drops to $0.75 each. How many bagels will Big Bob produce? Calculate his economic profit or loss. Why won’t Big Bob shut down in the short run?

Q = ______Economic Profit = ______

2. Suppose that a perfectly competitive firm's total costs are as follows:

Output / Total Cost / Average Cost / Marginal Cost
0 / 10
1 / 12
2 / 15
3 / 19
4 / 24
5 / 30
6 / 37
7 / 45

a.If the price of the product is $5, how many units of output will a profitmaximizing firm produce? Draw the firm's average and marginal cost curves in the graph below, and find the point where price equals marginal cost.

b.If the price of the product is $7, how many units of output will a profitmaximizing firm produce? Draw the firm's average and marginal cost curves in the graph below, and find the point where price equals marginal cost.

3. The following table presents the expected cost and revenue data for Marianne’s Brief Cases. MBC produces and sells brief cases in a purely competitive market.

a. Fill in MBC's marginal revenue, marginal cost, average variable cost, average total cost, and profit schedules.

Output / Total Revenue / MR / Total Cost / AVC / ATC / MC / Profit
0 / 0 / ── / 100 / ── / ── / ── / ──
1 / 150 / 160
2 / 300 / 200
3 / 450 / 230
4 / 600 / 270
5 / 750 / 320
6 / 900 / 390
7 / 1050 / 490
8 / 1200 / 635
9 / 1350 / 815
10 / 1500 / 1015
11 / 1650 / 1245
12 / 1800 / 1495
13 / 1950 / 1775

b. If Marianne is a profit maximizer, how many brief cases should she produce when the market price is $150.00. Indicate Marianne's profit.

Q = ______Profit = ______

c. Indicate Marianne's output and profit if the market price of brief cases rises to $200.00.

Q = ______Profit = ______

d.How many brief cases will Marianne choose to sell if the market price falls to $50.00. Will MBC continue to produce brief cases at this price? Explain.

Q = ______Profit = ______

4. The following table presents the expected cost data for Phil the Florist. Phil raises flowers in a greenhouse and sells them wholesale in a purely competitive market.

a. Fill in the firm's marginal cost, average variable cost, average total cost, and profit schedules.

Output / FC / VC / TC / AC / AVC / MC / Profit
1 / 25.00 / 4.80
2 / 25.00 / 8.75
3 / 25.00 / 12.25
4 / 25.00 / 15.25
5 / 25.00 / 17.75
6 / 25.00 / 19.75
7 / 25.00 / 21.50
8 / 25.00 / 23.00
9 / 25.00 / 24.25
10 / 25.00 / 25.25
11 / 25.00 / 26.50
12 / 25.00 / 28.25
13 / 25.00 / 30.75
14 / 25.00 / 34.25
15 / 25.00 / 39.00
16 / 25.00 / 45.00
17 / 25.00 / 52.25
18 / 25.00 / 60.50
19 / 25.00 / 70.00
20 / 25.00 / 83.00

b.If Phil is a profit maximizer, how many flowers should he produce when the market (wholesale) price is $5.00 per dozen. Indicate Phil's profit.

Q = ______Profit = ______

c.Indicate Phil's output and profit if the market price of flowers rises to $7.50 per dozen.

Q = ______Profit = ______

d.How many flowers will Phil choose to sell if the wholesale price of flowers falls to $3.00 per dozen. Will Phil continue to raise flowers at this price? Explain.

Q = ______Profit = ______

5. Assume that a perfectly competitive firm has a marginal cost curve

MC = 5 + (0.1) Q

What is the firm's average variable cost (AVC) curve? If there are no fixed costs and the firm is a profit maximizer, how much profit does it earn if the market price is P = 10? If there were fixed costs of 25, at what price would the firm exactly break even?