1. Jennifer Trucking Company operates a large rig transportation business in Texas that transports locally grown vegetables to San Diego, California. The company owns 5 large rigs and hires local drivers paid fixed salaries monthly, regardless of the number of trips or tons of cargo that each driver transports each month. The below table presents details about the number of drivers and the total cargo transported by the company at different staff levels.
Drivers employedTotal Cargo Transported (tons)
15
212
321
432
540
646
751
850
a.Which inputs are fixed and which are variable in the production function of Jennifer Trucking Company? Over what ranges do there appear to be increasing, constant and/or diminishing returns to the number of drivers employed?
The inputs that are fixed are the driver’s monthly salaries. The variable inputs are the amount of trips the drivers take and the amount they haul each time. Drivers 1, 2, and 3 appear to be delivering a diminishing return due to their low number of tons delivered. Drivers 5, 6, 7, and 8 are increasing returns due to their high weight deliveries and driver 4 appears to be constant.
b.What number of drivers appears to be most efficient in terms of output per driver?
Four drivers appear to be most efficient in terms of output per driver (drivers 5, 6, 7, 8).
Their total cargo transported is only a few tons
between one another.
The Essay on Vonage Article Number Companies
I read an article that I found very interesting and in relation to economics that we talk about in class. The article was titled, "Vonage Makes Phoning Through the Internet Convenient and Cheap." I found this article on the Personal Technology site from the Wall Street Journal. The article is written by Walter S. Mossberg and it was published on February 26 th 2004. When I saw the title of this ...
c.What number of drivers appears to minimize the marginal cost of transportation assuming that all drivers are paid the same salary?
Drivers 1, 2, and 3 appear to be minimizing the marginal cost of transportation assuming that all drivers are paid the same salary. Driver 4 seems to be within the median, neither minimizing the marginal cost of transportation nor maximizing efficiency.
2. The Palms Dry Cleaning Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, faces a highly seasonal demand for its services, as the snow-birds retirees’ flock to Florida in mid-fall to enjoy the mild winter weather and then return to their main homes in mid-spring. Given this seasonality, Palms tries to keep the overhead costs as low as possible and therefore, often uses seasonal contracted labor to man its operations. The following table shows the labor costs in each month of operation over the past 12 months as well as the total number of garments that were dry-cleaned in each month. Palms pay fixed wages per hour to each employee, and we can assume that the costs of other variable inputs (such as chemicals, electricity, etc) have remained constant.
MonthTVC ($)Garments Cleaned
June35,4904,500
July42,4705,575
August48,9806,300
September52,5306,525
October37,4805,325
November33,5104,050
December31,8502,850
January27,8602,450
February22,1601,525
March19,520925
April25,9601,925
May32,9803,500
a.Derive average variable cost (AVC) data from the data in this table.
Average Variable Cost in this case would be derived by taking the total variable Cost (TVC) / quantity of output.
So for June the AVC = 35,490 / 4,500 = 7.89
The AVC of the data in this table would be:
AVC = Total TVC / Total Garments Cleaned
The Essay on Data Interpretation
1. What patterns do you observe based on the information in Table 4? I observe that this fish population flourishes within a certain range of Dissolved Oxygen (ppm) between 8-18. As the level of dissolved oxygen decreases, so does the number of fish present. It makes me interested to know if the table was extended showing higher levels of dissolved oxygen, how the fish population would be affected ...
= 410,790 / 45,450
= 9.038
b.Use gradient analysis to provide an estimate of eleven data points that seem to represent the MC curve over this range of outputs. Plot these data points and sketch in estimated MC and AVC curves that seem to best fit these data points.
c.Suppose that demand is estimated to move from its present (May) level of 3,500 units to 4,000 units next month (June).
What is the incremental cost of meeting this demand?
The incremental cost of meeting this demand would be the difference in cost of creating 3,500 units and creating 4,000 units. Since the table provides costs for increasing from 3,500 units in May to 4,500 units in June, I will use those costs. In this case the incremental cost of meeting this demand = 32,980 – 35,490 = $2,510.
d.Assuming that Palm’s price to dry clean a garment has been constant at $15 over the past year, and will remain at that level, what contribution to overheads and profit can it expect in June?
Given that the price to dry clean a garment has been constant over the past year, and will remain at that level, the contribution to overhead would be attributed to the number of employees that will need to be kept on staff to keep business going. Profits will decrease with demand at this time due to people returning home for the summers. Therefore, as overhead increases, profit decreases.
3. Over the past 12 months the Four Winds Novelty Company firm has recorded its internet sales (equals monthly output levels) and its monthly total variable costs (TVC) for a particular novelty item as shown in the following table. Sales have grown over this period with relatively few shocks due to uncontrollable weather, political and sporting events. This online retailer carries no inventories; when it receives a pre-paid on-line order from a customer, it simply buys the product from a supplier and ships it out to the customer.
Sales = OutputTVC ($)
102,813201,953
176,163340,608
196,121377,940
222,885432,863
226,356441,714
296,416629,267
378,446867,596
450,6661,103,807
579,6961,701,125
607,0821,917,861
624,6802,195,352
636,1332,479,195
a. Using regression analysis, find an equation that best fits the data to represent the TVC function.
The Essay on Distinguish Between Cost Push and Demand Pull Inflation
?DISTINGUISH BETWEEN COST PUSH & DEMAND PULL INFLATION [10 Marks] Can you remember how much you paid for the same items you buy now, two years ago? This increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy is inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index; Commonly referred to as Inflation. There are however, different types of inflation’s, each ...
Y’ = ByxX + Ayx
= 3.98677X – 596,828
b. At what sales/output level will marginal costs (MC) reach a minimum?
About 185,000 units.
c. Estimate the value of TVC for sales/output level 250,000 units, and calculate the 95% confidence interval for your estimate.
About $500,000
