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Costs, Revenues, Profits and the Growth of Firms

Total, average and marginal product

  • 3 things to know
  • All three components

Overview

Total product, average product and marginal product.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Define total product.

Key term

Define average product.

Key term

Define marginal product.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define total product.

    Model answer

    Total product is the total output produced by a given quantity of factors in a period. Total product rises as more of the variable factor is employed, until it peaks.

  2. 2

    Define average product.

    Model answer

    Average product is total output divided by the number of units of the variable factor. Average product is usually measured as output per worker.

  3. 3

    Define marginal product.

    Model answer

    Marginal product is the extra output from employing one more unit of the variable factor. The value is found by dividing the change in total product by the change in labour.

  4. 4

    State the formula for the average product of labour.

    Model answer

    Average product of labour equals total product divided by the number of workers employed. The figure shows the output an average worker contributes.

  5. 5

    Eight workers produce 240 units of output. Calculate the average product of labour.

    Model answer

    Average product is 30 units per worker, found by dividing 240 by 8. Each worker on average contributes 30 units of output.

  6. 6

    Output rises from 240 units with 8 workers to 261 units with 9 workers. Calculate the marginal product of the ninth worker.

    Model answer

    Marginal product of the ninth worker is 21 units, found by subtracting 240 from 261. Average product falls to 29 units, because the marginal figure lies below it.

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