McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Demand For Resources Chapter 12

Chapter Objectives Resource pricing Marginal revenue productivity and firm resource demand Factors that affect resource demand Elasticity of resource demand Optimal combination of resources for the competitive firm 12-2

Resource Pricing Firms demand resources –Focus on labor Resource prices are important –Money-income determination (households) –Cost minimization (firms) –Resource allocation (society) –Policy issues (society) 12-3

Resource Demand All markets are competitive (good and resource) Resource demand is a derived demand. The more phone apps that people want, the more software developers there will be. Derived demand depends on: –Productivity of resource (MP) –Price of good it helps produce (P) Marginal revenue product (MRP) –Change in TR resulting from unit change in resource (labor) 12-4

Rule for employing resources: MRP = MRC Marginal Revenue Product = Change in Total Revenue Unit Change in Resource Quantity Marginal Resource Cost = Change in Total (Resource) Cost Unit Change in Resource Quantity Marginal Revenue Product (MRP) Marginal Resource Cost (MRC) Resource Demand 12-5

MRP as Resource Demand (1) Units of Resource (2) Total Product (Output) (3) Marginal Product (MP) (4) Product Price (5) Total Revenue, (2) X (4) (6) Marginal Revenue Product (MRP) $2 2 $ $ ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] $18 Resource Wage (Wage Rate) Quantity of Resource Demanded D=MRP Purely Competitive Firm’s Demand for A Resource 12-6

(1) Units of Resource (2) Total Product (Output) (3) Marginal Product (MP) (4) Product Price (5) Total Revenue, (2) X (4) (6) Marginal Revenue Product (MRP) $ $ $ ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] $18 Resource Wage (Wage Rate) Quantity of Resource Demanded D=MRP (Pure Competition) Imperfectly Competitive Firm’s Demand for A Resource D=MRP (Imperfect Competition) MRP as Resource Demand 12-7 Less elastic than pure comp. due to diminishing returns and lower price

Resource Demand Amount purchased at different resource prices, all else the same –For the firm, equal to MRP –Market demand equals sum of firm demand Downsloping because of DMR –Changes in price for imperfect competition 12-8

Calculating Resource Demand

Determinants of Resource Demand Changes in product demand Changes in productivity –Quantities of other resources (land, capital) –Technological advance (capital) –Quality of variable resource (better training, education) 12-10

Changes in the price of substitute resources Example: Labor vs. Capital –Substitution effect –Output effect –Net effect Changes in the price of complementary resources –Output effect only Determinants of Resource Demand 12-11

Table 12.3

Table 12.4

Employment Trends Rising employment –Services –Health care –Computers Declining employment –Labor saving technological change –Textiles 12-14

Elasticity of Resource Demand Ease of resource substitutability –High = elastic (answering service vs. doctor) Elasticity of product demand –Direct relationship (wage falls, price falls, Qd rises – how much?) Ratio of resource cost to total cost –High = elastic E rd = Percentage Change in Resource Quantity Percentage Change in Resource Price 12-16

Optimal Combination of Resources All resource inputs are variable Choose optimal combination Minimize cost of producing a given output Maximize profit 12-17

The Least Cost Rule Minimize cost of producing a given output Last dollar spent on each resource yields the same marginal product Marginal Product Of Labor (MP L ) Price of Labor (P L ) Marginal Product Of Capital (MP C ) Price of Capital (P C ) = Imbalances show X-inefficiency

Profit Maximizing Rule MRP of each resource equals its price MRP L PLPL MRP C PCPC = = 1 MRP L PLPL = MRP C PCPC = and 12-19

Income Distribution Paid according to value of service –Workers –Resource owners Inequality –Productive resources unequally distributed Market Imperfections –Not all resource markets are perfectly competitive 12-20

Case of ATM’s Input substitution Banks use ATMs instead of people Least-cost combination of resources ATMs debut about 35 years ago 11 billion U.S. transactions per year 80,000 tellers eliminated Former tellers find new jobs Customer convenience 12-21

Key Terms derived demand marginal product (MP) marginal revenue product (MRP) marginal resource cost (MRC) MRP=MRC rule substitution effect output effect elasticity of resource demand least-cost combination of resources profit-maximizing combination of resources marginal productivity theory of income distribution 12-22

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