7.4 Production in the Long Run
3 min read•june 25, 2024
In , firms can adjust all factors, including capital and labor, to optimize efficiency. This flexibility allows companies to achieve , lower average costs, and find the ideal production scale. It's a key concept for understanding how businesses grow and adapt over time.
Short-run production, with its fixed factors, can lead to inefficiencies. But in the long run, firms can make strategic decisions about input proportions, plant size, and technology adoption. This ability to fine-tune operations is crucial for maximizing productivity and minimizing costs in competitive markets.
Long-Run Production
Long run vs short run production
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- Short run has at least one fixed factor of production (factory size, machinery, capital) while others are variable (labor, raw materials)
- Long run allows all factors of production to be variable
- Firms can adjust all inputs including capital to optimize efficiency
- Sufficient time to expand factory size, update machinery, etc.
- Long-run production enables improved efficiency compared to short-run
- Optimize all inputs to ideal levels
- Achieve economies of scale by expanding production volume (lower average costs)
- Short-run production may operate inefficiently due to fixed factor constraints
- Unable to adjust capital or factory size to optimal levels
- Experience if producing beyond ideal capacity (higher average costs)
Firm adjustments for long-term efficiency
- Firms evaluate (LRAC) to identify optimal production scale
- LRAC includes all costs over different production volumes
- Optimal scale occurs at the minimum point of LRAC curve
- Adjust input proportions to minimize long-run average cost
- Substitute labor for capital or vice versa depending on relative costs
- Implement technology or production methods that boost efficiency
- Capitalize on economies of scale by expanding output
- Allocate fixed costs across larger production quantities
- Gain from specialization and division of labor
- Prevent diseconomies of scale by limiting overexpansion
- Avoid bureaucratic inefficiencies and coordination issues from excessive firm size
- Diminishing returns to management reduce efficiency gains
- Determine based on
- Choose plant size that minimizes average cost for desired output level
Input factors and marginal productivity
- Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns applies in both short-run and long-run production
- Extra units of a variable input produce smaller additions to output
- Assumes at least one fixed input (short-run) or (long-run)
- In short-run, diminishing returns arise as variable inputs are added to fixed inputs
- Hiring additional workers (variable) to use the same machinery (fixed) reduces worker productivity
- Causes increasing short-run marginal cost (MC) as output rises
- In long-run, diminishing returns occur when increasing all inputs proportionally
- Doubling all inputs (labor, capital, materials) generates less than double the output
- Shown by increasing long-run marginal cost (LMC) at higher production levels
- Diminishing marginal productivity determines the shape of cost curves
- Upward-sloping short-run MC curve due to diminishing short-run returns
- Long-run MC curve slopes down initially (economies of scale) then slopes up (diseconomies of scale)
Production and Scale
- shows the relationship between inputs and maximum output
- describe how output changes as all inputs are increased proportionally
- Increasing returns to scale: Output increases by more than the proportional increase in inputs
- Decreasing returns to scale: Output increases by less than the proportional increase in inputs
- Constant returns to scale: Output increases by the same proportion as the increase in inputs
- represents the cost-minimizing combination of inputs as a firm increases its scale of production
Key Terms to Review (16)
Cobb-Douglas Production Function: The Cobb-Douglas production function is a widely used mathematical model that describes the relationship between the output of a firm or industry and the inputs of capital and labor. It is a fundamental concept in the study of production and the long-run behavior of firms.
Constant Returns to Scale: Constant returns to scale is a property of a production function where an increase in all inputs by a certain factor leads to an equal proportional increase in output. In other words, doubling all inputs will exactly double the output.
Diseconomies of Scale: Diseconomies of scale refer to the increase in average cost per unit that can occur when a company or industry expands its scale of production beyond an optimal level. This phenomenon is the opposite of economies of scale, where average costs decrease as output increases.
Economies of Scale: Economies of scale refer to the cost advantages that businesses can exploit by expanding their scale of production. As a company increases its output, its average costs per unit typically decrease due to more efficient utilization of resources, specialized equipment, and division of labor.
Expansion Path: The expansion path is the locus of points on a firm's isoquant map that represents the most efficient combination of inputs to produce different levels of output. It shows the optimal input mix as a firm expands production in the long run.
Isocosts: Isocosts are lines that represent all the combinations of inputs, such as labor and capital, that a firm can use to produce a given level of output at the same total cost. They illustrate the trade-offs a firm faces in choosing the optimal combination of inputs to minimize the cost of production.
Isoquants: Isoquants are contour lines that represent all the combinations of inputs that can produce the same level of output in the production process. They are a fundamental concept in the analysis of production functions and the theory of the firm.
Law of Diminishing Returns: The law of diminishing returns states that as additional inputs are added to a production process, the marginal output will eventually start to decrease, holding all other factors constant. This means that each additional unit of input will yield a smaller increase in output.
Long-Run Average Cost: Long-run average cost (LRAC) is the average cost of production per unit of output when all factors of production are variable, allowing the firm to adjust its scale of operations to achieve the most efficient level of output. It represents the lowest possible average cost of production in the long run.
Long-Run Cost Curves: Long-run cost curves represent the relationship between a firm's total costs and its output level in the long run, when all inputs can be varied. This is in contrast to the short-run, where at least one input is fixed. The long-run cost curves provide insights into a firm's production decisions and cost minimization strategies as it scales its operations over time.
Long-Run Production: Long-run production refers to the period of time in which a firm can adjust all of its inputs, including capital equipment and facilities, to produce the desired output. In the long run, a firm can change the scale of its operations by adding or removing production facilities, machinery, and other capital assets.
LRAC (Long-Run Average Cost): LRAC, or Long-Run Average Cost, is a fundamental concept in microeconomics that represents the average cost of production for a firm in the long run, when all inputs can be varied. It is a crucial consideration for firms as they make decisions about production and expansion in the long term.
Marginal Rate of Technical Substitution: The marginal rate of technical substitution (MRTS) is a measure of the rate at which one factor of production can be substituted for another, while keeping the level of output constant. It represents the slope of the production isoquant and reflects the tradeoff between two inputs in the production process.
Optimal Plant Size: Optimal plant size refers to the ideal scale of production that allows a firm to minimize its long-run average costs and maximize efficiency. It is a critical concept in the analysis of production and costs in the long run.
Production Function: The production function is a mathematical relationship that describes the maximum output that can be produced given a certain combination of inputs, such as labor, capital, and other resources. It is a fundamental concept in microeconomics that is crucial for understanding how firms make decisions about production in both the short run and the long run.
Returns to Scale: Returns to scale refers to the behavior of output as a firm increases all of its inputs by the same proportion. It describes how a proportional change in all inputs leads to a change in output, and it is an important concept in the analysis of production and costs in both the short run and long run.