The Manager of a Meat-Packing Plant Can Use Either Butchers

question 158

Essay

The manager of a meat-packing plant can use either butchers (labor) or meat saws (capital) to prepare packages of sirloin steak. Based on estimates provided by an efficiency expert, the firm's production function for sirloin steak is given by Q = K + L
a. Graph the isoquant corresponding to 5 units of output.
b. What is the marginal product of capital and labor? Does the answer depend on how much labor and capital are used?
c. If the price of labor is $2 per hour and the rental price of capital is $3 per hour, how much capital and labor should be used to minimize the cost of producing 5 units of output?

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