A firm that wants to employ workers should a) hire workers as long as the wage is greater than...
Question:
A firm that wants to employ workers should
a) hire workers as long as the wage is greater than the value of the marginal product.
b) hire workers as long as the wage is less than the value of the marginal product.
c) not hire workers if the value of the marginal product is less than the wage.
Labor as a Factor of Production:
At the marketplace, labor is considered as one of the factors of production because it is used in the generation or production of output by the firm. Firms require labor in a specific quantity, which depends upon the level of output and cost of benefit from hiring a worker.
Answer and Explanation: 1
Become a Study.com member to unlock this answer! Create your account
View this answerThe correct option is: b) hire workers as long as the wage is less than the value of the marginal product.
Explanation:
A firm hires an additional...
See full answer below.
Ask a question
Our experts can answer your tough homework and study questions.
Ask a question Ask a questionSearch Answers
Learn more about this topic:

from
Chapter 3 / Lesson 49Understand the meaning of marginal product of labor. Learn the marginal product of labor (MPL) formula, its significance, and how to calculate MPL with examples.
Related to this Question
- If a firm wants to maximize its profits, it should: a. equate the marginal revenue product for each input to the price of the input. b. hire unskilled labor rather than skilled labor since unskilled labor is cheaper. c. hire lots of capital and very lit
- It is profitable to hire units of labor as long as the value of marginal product: a. is less than wage. b. exceeds average product. c. equals price. d. exceeds wage.
- Suppose there are 100 workers in an economy with two firms. All workers are worth $35 per hour to firm A but differ in their productivity at firm B. Worker 1 has a value of marginal product of $1 per
- The marginal revenue product is: a. an increase in the profit of a firm with an increase in the output by one unit. b. the value that all the unskilled workers contribute to a firm. c. the value th
- The company you work for hires labor and capital in competitive factor markets. Currently the wage rate is $10 per hour and capital is rented at $21 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 30 units of output per hour and the marginal product of capi
- The wage for qualified workers is $12 per hour and capital is rented at $8 per hour. The marginal product of labor is 60 units of output per labor hour, and the marginal product of capital is 48 units of output per hour of capital rental. The marginal pro
- The general rule of hiring workers is to hire: A. educated workers before non-educated workers B. workers if their marginal product of labor is less than or equal to the wage C. workers if they contribute more to the firms' revenues than the firm's costs
- Hiring a unit of labour costs $10 while hiring a unit of capital costs $20. The marginal product of capital is equal to 200. A cost-minimizing manager will hire labour until its marginal product falls to: a) 50 b) 100 c) 200 d) 400
- Labor productivity and the price of the good being produced are two variables that contribute to: a. whether or not a union forms. b. the marginal product. c. the demand for the product. d. the wage rate.
- Labor productivity and the price of the good being produced are two variables that contribute to: a. whether or not a union forms. b. the marginal product. c. the demand for the product. e. the wage rate.
- If the marginal product of labor is 3, the marginal product of capital is 4, the wage rate is $4.50, the rental price of capital is $6, and the price of output is $1.50, then the firm should: A. increase output by hiring more labor, more capital, or both
- If the marginal product of labor is 2, the marginal product of capital is 4, the wage rate is $3, the rental price of capital is $6, and the price of output is $1.50, then the firm should: a. increase output by hiring more labor, more capital, or both. b.
- The marginal product of labor is: A. equal to the demand for labor. B. the payment made to workers for their contribution to the output they produce. C. the change in a firm's revenue as a result of hiring one more worker. D. the additional output a firm
- Suppose the marginal product of labor is currently equal to its average product. If you were one of 10 new workers the firm was about to hire, would you prefer to be paid the value of your average pro
- The marginal revenue product is: a) the value of all the final goods and services produced by a firm. b) the value that a worker contributes to a firm. c) an increase in the profit of a firm with an increase in the output by one unit. d) the output pe
- When labor is the only input a firm uses, the marginal cost of a unit of output can be defined as: a. Wage divided by number of workers, b. Marginal product of labor multiplied by wage, c. Wage divided by marginal product of labor, d. Marginal product of
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently, the wage rate is $12 per hour and capital is rented at $9 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 40 units of output per hour and the marginal product of capi
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently, the wage rate is $10/hour and the capital rental price is $5/hour. If the marginal product of labor is 50 units of output per hour and the marginal product of capit
- A firm is employing 100 workers (w = $15/hour) and 50 units of capital (r = $30/hour). At these levels, the marginal product of labor (MPL) is 45 and the marginal product of capital (MPK) is 60. Answe
- A firm pays its workers a wage of $200 a day. If the firm's marginal revenue product of labor is equal to $300 a day, will the firm hire more workers or lay off workers?
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently the wage rate is $10 per hour and capital is rented at $12 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 40 un
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently, the wage rate is $12 per hour and capital is rented at $8 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 60 un
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently the wage rate is $ 12 per hour and capital is rented at $ 8 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 60 u
- If wages rise with no increase in productivity or product demand, the firm will: a. hire more workers. b. lay off some workers. c. increase wages. d. expand production of the product.
- A firm in a competitive industry faces a market price for output of $20 and a wage rate of $500. At the current level of employment (50 units of labor), the marginal product of labor is 30. In order to maximize profit, the firm should: a. hire less labor
- A purely competitive firm faces the marginal product schedule shown in the table below. The price of the product is $25 and the wage rate is $300 per worker. Calculate the marginal revenue product and complete the table. [TABLE] The firm should hire: A. 1
- Assume that both the product and labor markets are perfectly competitive. It would be profitable for a firm to hire additional labor if the ratio of the wage to the marginal produce of labor is a. les
- Your firm must produce a specified output level. The firm uses capital and labor as inputs. If the price of capital is $40, the price of labor is $100, the marginal product of capital is 20, and the marginal product of labor is 40, then: - the firm is mi
- The additional revenue earned from hiring one more worker is known as the: A. marginal physical product of labor. B. marginal revenue product of labor. C. marginal factor cost of labor. D. marginal utility of labor.
- The marginal product of labor is 10 and the marginal product of capital is 20. If the wage rate is $10 and the price of capital is $5, is the firm using the right balance of capital and labor? Explain
- A firm is considering adopting a plan in which it would pay employees less than the value of their marginal productivity VMPL early in their careers and more than the value of their marginal productivity late in their careers. For a typical worker at the
- When a perfectly competitive firm employs one worker, it produces 20 units of output. When the same firm employs two workers, it produces 39 units of output. The firm sells its product for $10 per unit. What is the marginal revenue product connected with
- If the price of capital is higher than the price of labor, a firm should use: a. capital and labor, making sure that the marginal product of capital is larger than the marginal product of labor. b. capital and labor, making sure that the ratio of the aver
- A manager hires labor and rents capital equipment in a very competitive market. Currently the wage rate is $8 per hour and capital is rented at $15 per hour. If the marginal product of labor is 50 uni
- A firm incurs a cost C of hiring new workers. Production is: Y = 10 L - L2 /4. The labor supply function is LS=4. -If C is a constant, find the demand for labor, the market clearing wage rate, outpu
- According to Marx, businesses pay their workers less than the value of the product of their labor in order to make a profit. The businesses then reinvest these profits to be able to expand production. At the same time, the workers cannot afford to buy wha
- This firm has a wage of $100 per worker, according to the following output schedule, the marginal cost when the firm is producing 15 units. Marginal cost is Labor Output 1 5 2 15 3 20 4 24
- Suppose that the marginal product of labor is 20, the marginal product of capital is 2, the price of output is $10, and the wage rate for labor is $5. Then we can deduce that the rental rate for capital is _____.
- Suppose the production function for a competitive firm is Q = K^.75L^.25. The firm sells its output at a price of $32 and can hire labor at a wage rate of $2. Capital is fixed at 1 unit. a. What is the profit-maximizing quantity of labor? b. If the price
- A firm's production function is Q = 8L^(1/2) and this firm sells each unit of its product at a price of P = $100. It also pays its workers a wage of w = $10. a. How many workers would this firm hire to maximize its profit if it only has labor costs and no
- Assume all workers get paid the same wage rate of w = $80. Assume that there are no costs associated with capital (TFC = 0). The lowest marginal cost of output is associated with how many workers employed? a) 4 workers b) 5 workers c) 6 workers d) 7 worke
- If a firm hires labor in a competitive market, and the wage paid to labor is designated by ''W'', then the average variable cost of the firm is equivalent to: A) W times the marginal product of labor B) W divided by the average product of labor C) W d
- For a monopsonist, the cost of hiring an additional unit of labor: a. is the same as the wage rate paid to the additional worker. b. is equal to the marginal revenue product generated by the extra worker. c. is the wage paid to the extra worker minus the
- In the traditional model of the labor market, firms hire labor only if: a. the marginal product of labor is equal to or less than the market wage b. the marginal product of labor is equal to or greater than the market wage c. the total revenue product is
- Suppose, in the long run, for a firm, the marginal product of labor is 100, the marginal product of capital is 120. The wage rate (per unit of labor) is W = 20, and the rental price (per unit of capital) is R = 24. Then which of the following is true? A.
- Suppose a firm finds that the marginal product of capital is 60, and the marginal product of labor is 20. If the price of capital is $6, and the price of labor is $2.50, describe how the firm should adjust its mix of capital and labor. What will be the re
- The demand for labor is: a) determined by the supply of labor. b) determined by the wage rate. c) its marginal revenue product schedule. d) higher at lower wage rates.
- Suppose that the firm's only variable input is labor. When 50 workers are used, the average product of labor is 50 and the marginal product of labor is 75. The wage rate is $80 and the total cost of the fixed input is $500. What is average variable cost?
- The wage differential between high-skilled and low-skilled workers is the result of a) a difference in the value of the marginal product. b) the cost of acquiring skills. c) a negative income tax.
- Suppose the marginal product of labor is 10 and the marginal product of capital is 8. If the wage rate is $5 and the price of capital is $2, then in order to minimize costs the firm should use: A. more capital and less labor. B. more labor and less capita
- The marginal product of labor is: A) the additional output produced by an extra worker B) the increase in costs borne by the firm when one extra worker is hired C) always greater than the wage earned by one additional worker D) the increase in firm revenu
- Marginal physical product of labor measures the _____. a. quantity of output produces by hiring workers b. change in output generated by hiring an additional worker c. change in revenue generated by hiring an additional worker d. change in cost generate
- Is the "best" quantity of workers to hire where the marginal productivity of the last worker employed is the greatest (which implies an output level in which the marginal cost of producing additional units is the cheapest)?
- Assume that an economy's production function is Y = 1000L^1/2, so that when the marginal product of capital is equated to the real wage the labor demand curve is L = 250, 000 (P/W)^2. The labor supply
- If the price of capital is higher than the price of labor, a firm should use: A) Capital and labor, making sure the marginal product of capital is larger than the marginal product of labor. B) Capital and labor, making sure the ratio of the average prod
- This will provide insight into the idea of the optimal number of workers and the value of the marginal product of labor. If wages in the restaurant is $11.00 per hour and the price of a hamburger is $4.40 and the production function for the workers is:
- A firm is producing optimally (maximizing profits) when the price level=$1. It pays a wage rate of $10 per hour to labor and rents capital for $8 per hour. It sells its product for $20 per unit. At it
- A profit-maximizing firm will hire additional units of labor until: a. the additional cost of hiring the last worker equals the additional revenue generated by that worker b. the extra revenue from hi
- Suppose that labor is the only input used by a perfectly competitive firm. The firm can hire workers for $30 per day. Each unit sells for $6. The firm's production function is as follows: a) Complete this table, filling in the value of the marginal produc
- The additional cost associated with the hiring of one more unit of labor is known as the: A. marginal utility of labor. B. marginal factor cost of labor. C. marginal revenue product of labor. D. marginal physical product of labor.
- Assume that a purely competitive firm uses two resources, labor (L)and capital (C), to produce a product. The market price of this product is $1.00. The Marginal Product (MP) and prices of the resourc
- Given an increase in the market demand for its product, a firm decides to hire an additional worker. The amount of output produced by 25 workers is 80 units. The marginal product of the 26th worker is 15 units. After the 26th worker is hired, the total ou
- You are an efficiency expert hired by a firm that uses machines (K) and workers (L) as inputs. The firm has estimated that the marginal product of labor is MPL = A - 6 L, while the marginal product of
- A manager wants to calculate the price of a product produced by the firm she works for. Recent calculations show that the elasticity value of the product produced by the firm is -2, and that the marginal revenue is $20. Given this information what will be
- A firm is producing optimally (maximizing profits) when the price level = $1. It pays a wage rate of $10 per hour to labor and rents capital for $8 per hour. It sells its product for $20 per unit. At
- Marginal physical product of labor measures the: a. quantity of output produced by hiring workers. b. change in output generated by hiring an additional worker. c. change in revenue generated by hiring an additional worker. d. change in cost generated b
- If the additional output from each new worker is rising: a) the marginal cost of that output is rising because the only additional cost to producing more output is the additional wages paid to hire more workers. b) the marginal cost of that output is risi
- Assume a firm employs 10 workers and pays each $15 per hour. Also assume that the marginal product of an 11th worker would be 5 additional units of output per hour and that the price the firm receives for its good is $4 per unit. Therefore: - the firm sh
- Suppose that a firm has only one variable input, labor, and firm output is zero when labor is zero. When the firm hires 6 workers the firm produces 90 units of output. Fixed costs of production are $6 and the variable cost per unit of labor is $10. The ma
- 1. Assume a firm employs 10 workers and pays each $20 per hour. Also assume that the marginal product of an 11th worker would be 5 additional units of output per hour and that the price the firm recei
- If the price of capital is $24, the price of labor is $15, and the marginal product of capital is 16, the least costly combination of capital and labor requires adjusting the amount of labor until its marginal product is equal to _________.
- Derived demand for labor depends on the a. cost of factors of production used in the product. b. market supply curve of labor. c. consumer demand for the final goods produced by labor. d. firm's total revenue less economic profit.
- If a firm hires another paid worker, but his marginal product of labor turns out to be 0 (zero), then the firm's new average total cost: A. is lower than before. B. cannot be assessed and compared t
- A firm produces output with capital and labor. Suppose currently the marginal product of labor is 21 and the marginal product of capital is 6. Each unit of labor costs $12 and each unit of capital co
- A firm is producing 100 units of its product. At this level of output the AVC=$60, and the ATC=$80. The firm is a price taker and the price for its product is $100. Assuming that the firm is maximizing profits and that labor is the only variable input. Fr
- Firms worry about worker turnover because A. it is costly to hire and train new workers. B. newly trained workers are not as productive as experienced workers. C. firms with higher worker turnover tend to have higher production costs. D. a and b are c
- The additional output produced by a firm as a result of hiring another worker is called the marginal product of labor. The amount by which a firm's revenue will increase as a result of hiring one more
- Adding a variable input (labor) to a fixed input (capital) will result in an increase in output: A. Until the marginal product of labor is maximized. B. Until the marginal product of labor begins to d
- A firm is currently producing 200 units of output using 60 hours of labor and 80 hours of capital. The marginal product of labor is 12 units of output per hour, and the marginal product of capital is 15 units of output per hour. If the wage rate is $6 per
- A firm hires capital and labor to produce grapefruits. Currently the marginal product of the last unit of labor input is 40 and the marginal product of the last unit of capital input is 60. the market wage is $20, if the firm is using the optimal combinat
- The marginal product of labor is the change in total product from a one-unit increase in A. the wage rate. B. both the quantity of labor and the quantity of capital employed. C. the quantity of labor employed, holding the quantity of capital constant. D.
- Unit of Labor Output Marginal Product Price MRP_1 Marginal Revenue Product MRP_2 Marginal Revenue Product 0 0 1 50 $20 2 90 $20 3 $20 $600 4 20 $20 5 $20 $200 6 155 $20 1. Provide the missing values in the first five columns of the table. Ignore the
- 10% of the population are low-productivity workers and 90% of the population are high-productivity workers. The present value of lifetime productivity for low-productivity workers is $150,000 and the present value of lifetime productivity for high-product
- Suppose the marginal product of labor is 12 and the marginal product of capital is 24. If the wage rate is $4 and the price of capital is $6, then in order to minimize costs, the firm should use: a. more labor and less capital. b. more capital and less la
- 1. For a given output level, a firm's short-run average product of labor is 4 while its marginal product of labor is 5. Assume that the wage rate is $20. The short-run average variable cost is a. und
- The marginal revenue product of labor at the local sawmill is MRPL = 20 - 0.5L, where L = the number of workers. If the wage of sawmill workers is $10 per hour, then how many workers will the mill hire?
- Potential GDP is the value of real GDP when all the economy's factors of production, and, are fully. a. wages; rent; interest; profits; optimized b. average costs; marginal costs; variable costs; fixed costs: minimized c. labor; capital; land; entrepreneu
- A firm's marginal product of labor is 4 and its marginal product of capital is 5. The firms adds one unit of labor, but does not want its output quantity to change, the firm should a. use five fewer
- In relation to the concept of duality, the fact that firms will not hire labor if the wage rate is above the maximum average value product of the labor is equivalent to the firms closing down if the market price is below _____.
- If a firm's marginal product of labor is less than its average product of labor, then an increase in the quantity of labor it employs definitely will A. not change its average product of labor. B. decrease its average product of labor. C. increase its mar
- The marginal product of labor is 5 units of output per hour and the wage is $10. Capital can be rented at $8 per hours. At the optimal input combination, what is the marginal product of capital? If capital is cheaper per hour, why not only use capital?
- A firm has production function Y = KL + L^2. The firm faces costs of $10 wages and $1 rental rate of capital. Find the cost function, average total cost, average viable cost, and marginal cost functions.
- Consider labor that is hired for $18 per hour. If the last hour of labor hired produces 8 units of output which sells for $10 per unit, that labor hour's marginal revenue product is: A) $1.20 B) $4.44 C) $64 D) $80 E) $144
- Suppose a firm has a marginal product schedule given by the equation MPL = 50 - 2L, where L is the number of workers. Suppose the money wage is $40 and the product price is $2. a. Find the optimal employment level assuming no training investment. b. If
- For a given output level, a firm's short run average product of labor is 4 while its marginal product of labor is 5. Assume that the wage rate is $20. What is the short run average variable cost?
- Suppose a competitive firm is paying a wage of $12 an hour and sells its product at $3 per unit. Assume that labor is the only input. If the last worker hired increases output by 3 units per hour, then to maximize profits, the firm should: A. lay off some
- For a production function with a diminishing, but positive, marginal product of labor: a. Output increases at an increasing rate as more workers are employed. b. Output increases at a decreasing rate as more workers are employed. c. Output declines as
- The slope of the PPF can also be expressed as: a) The ratio of abundance of labor to capital, b) The ratio of the marginal products of labor to the marginal product of capital, c) Consumer utility, d) The opportunity cost of the good measured on the ve
- Suppose that a firm's production function is given by q = 20E^{0.50}. The marginal product of labor is \frac{10}{E^{0.50. The market wage for whites is $15, and the market wage for blacks is $10
- If the marginal product of labor has been rising with each labor unit hired over the past 30 labor units, then the marginal cost of production has as output rose with these last 30 hired labor units.