【正文】
?Firms must choose how much of each to produce ?The alternative quantities can be illustrated using product transformation curves ?Curves showing the various binations of two different outputs (products) that can be produced with a given set of inputs 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 78 Product Transformation Curve Number of cars Number of tractors O1 illustrates a low level of output. O2 illustrates a higher level of output with two times as much labor and capital. Each curve shows binations of output with a given bination of L amp。 K. O2 O1 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 79 Product Transformation Curve ?Product transformation curves are negatively sloped ?To get more of one output, must give up some of the other output ?Constant returns exist in this example ?Second curve lies twice as far from origin as the first curve ?Curve is concave ?Joint production has its advantages 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 80 Production with Two Outputs – Economies of Scope ?There is no direct relationship between economies of scope and economies of scale ?May experience economies of scope and diseconomies of scale ?May have economies of scale and not have economies of scope 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 81 Production with Two Outputs – Economies of Scope ? The degree of economies of scope (SC) can be measured by percentage of cost saved producing two or more products jointly: ?C(q1) is the cost of producing q1 ?C(q2) is the cost of producing q2 ?C(q1,q2) is the joint cost of producing both products )qC(q)qC(q)C(q)C(q S C ,212121 ???169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 82 Production with Two Outputs – Economies of Scope ?With economies of scope, the joint cost is less than the sum of the individual costs ?Interpretation: ?If SC 0 ? Economies of scope ?If SC 0 ? Diseconomies of scope ?The greater the value of SC, the greater the economies of scope 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 83 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ?Firms may lower their costs not only due to economies of scope, but also due to managers and workers being more experienced at their jobs ?As management and labor gain experience with production, the firm’s marginal and average costs may fall 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 84 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ? Reasons 1. Speed of work increases with experience 2. Managers learn to schedule production processes more efficiently 3. More flexibility is allowed with experience。 may include more specialized tools and plant anization 4. Suppliers bee more efficient, passing savings to pany 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 85 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ?The learning curve measures the impact of workers’ experience on the costs of production ?It describes the relationship between a firm’s cumulative output and the amount of inputs needed to produce a unit of output 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 86 The Learning Curve Cumulative number of machine lots produced Hours of labor per machine lot 10 20 30 40 50 0 2 4 6 8 10 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 87 The Learning Curve ?The horizontal axis measures the cumulative number of hours of machine tools the firm has produced ?The vertical axis measures the number of hours of labor needed to produce each lot 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 88 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ?The learning curve in the figure is based on the relationship: ???? BNAL1 an d 0b et w ee n is an d p o si t iv e ar e co n st an ts ar e an d o u tp u t ofu n it p er in p u t la b o r p ro d u ce do u tp u t of u n it s cu m u l at i v e??B amp。 ABA,LN??169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 89 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ?If N = 1 ?L equals A + B and this measures labor input to produce the first unit of output ?If ? = 0 ?Labor input per unit of output remains constant as the cumulative level of output increases, so there is no learning 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 90 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ?If ? 0 and N increases, ?L approaches A, and A represents minimum labor input/unit of output after all learning has taken place ?The larger ?, ?The more important the learning effect 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 91 The Learning Curve Cumulative number of machine lots produced Hours of labor per machine lot 10 20 30 40 50 0 2 4 6 8 10 The chart shows a sharp drop in lots to a cumulative amount of 20, then small savings at higher levels. Doubling cumulative output causes a 20% reduction in the difference between the input required and minimum attainable input requirement. ??169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 92 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ? Observations 1. New firms may experience a learning curve, not economies of scale ? Should increase production of many lots regardless of individual lot size 2. Older firms have relatively small gains from learning ? Should produce their machines in very large lots to take advantage of lower costs associated with size 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 93 Economies of Scale Versus Learning Output Cost ($ per unit of output) AC1 B Economies of Scale A AC2 Learning C 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 94 Predicting Labor Requirements of Producing a Given Output 169。2020 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 7 95 Dynamic Changes in Costs – The Learning Curve ? From the table, the learning curve implies: 1. The labor requirement falls per unit 2. Costs will be high at first and the