John Is Trying to Decide How to Divide His Time

question 15

Multiple Choice

John is trying to decide how to divide his time between his job as a stocker in the local grocery store, which pays $7 per hour for as many hours as he chooses to work, and cleaning windows for the businesses downtown. He makes $2 for every window he cleans. John is indifferent between the two tasks, and the number of windows he can clean depends on how many hours he spends cleaning in a day, as shown in the table below: $$\begin{array} { | c | c | } \hline \begin{array} { c } \text { Hours Per } \\\text { Day Cleaning } \\\text { Windows }\end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Total Number } \\\text { of Windows } \\\text { Cleaned }\end{array} \\\hline 0 & 0 \\\hline 1 & 7 \\\hline 2 & 11 \\\hline 3 & 14 \\\hline 4 & 16 \\\hline 5 & 17 \\\hline\end{array}$$ If we plot John's opportunity cost per window on the vertical axis and the number of windows cleaned each day on the horizontal axis, we will have John's ______ curve for window-cleaning services.

• A)production possibilities
• B)supply
• C)benefit
• D)demand

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Definitions:

Total Cost

The aggregate expenditure necessary to produce a given quantity of a product, summing up all costs, both fixed and variable, associated with production.

Isocost Line

A graph that shows all combinations of inputs that cost the same total amount for a firm.

Optimal Combination

The most efficient allocation or selection of resources and inputs to maximize output or satisfaction.

Isoquant

A curve that shows all the combinations of inputs that produce the same level of output, used in the study of production theory.