📚 Learning Guide
Profit Maximization
hard

A firm is considering hiring an additional worker. If the marginal product of labor is 30 and the wage is 10, while the marginal product of capital is 25 and the price of capital is 12, should the firm hire the additional worker?

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Learning Path

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Choose the Best Answer

A

Yes, because the marginal product of labor exceeds the wage

B

No, because the marginal product of capital exceeds the price

C

Yes, because the ratios of marginal products to prices are equal

D

No, because the additional cost of labor will not increase profits

Understanding the Answer

Let's break down why this is correct

Answer

The firm should hire the extra worker because the worker’s marginal product is 30 units while the wage cost is only 10, so the marginal revenue product (30) exceeds the wage. This means the worker adds more value to the firm than it costs to employ them. The comparison with capital is irrelevant to the decision about hiring labor. Therefore, hiring the worker increases the firm’s profit.

Detailed Explanation

The firm hires when the extra output from one more worker, 30 units, is worth more than the worker’s cost, 10 dollars. Other options are incorrect because The decision to hire labor depends only on labor’s numbers, not on capital’s numbers; The rule is not about equal ratios.

Key Concepts

Profit Maximization
Resource Allocation
Marginal Analysis
Topic

Profit Maximization

Difficulty

hard level question

Cognitive Level

understand

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