for interactive tutorials with step-
Seattle’s Pike Place Fish Market is well known for its freshly caught salmon, halibut, and Alaskan King Crab and for its entertaining staff who hurl a fish into the air on its way to wrapping and checkout.
Quantity of fish Q |
Variable cost VC |
Total cost TC |
30 | $280 | $680 |
40 | 320 | 720 |
50 | 440 | 840 |
60 | 600 | 1,000 |
70 | 840 | 1,240 |
80 | 1,160 | 1,560 |
90 | 1,560 | 1,960 |
100 | 2,040 | 2,440 |
Consider the following hypothetical daily costs for one of the market’s suppliers, a fisherman who runs a boat that fishes primarily for Chinook Salmon. Each day begins with the decision of whether to take out the boat, given the price he expects to receive at the fish market. Whether he goes out or not, he incurs fixed costs such as dockage, licensing, and mortgage on the boat. In addition to fixed costs, he incurs a variable cost for each fish brought back to port. So, he must also decide how much to catch.
Using the table at right, calculate average variable cost, average total cost, and marginal cost to find the break-
STEP | 1 Find the average variable cost, average total cost, and marginal cost of a box of fish.Review pages 183–188 in Chapter 6, and Equations 6-
The average variable cost is equal to the variable cost divided by the quantity (VC/Q), the average total cost is equal to the total cost divided by the quantity (TC/Q), and the marginal cost is the change in the total cost divided by the change in the quantity (ΔTC/ΔQ). These costs are calculated for each box in the following table.
Quantity of fish Q |
Variable cost VC |
Total cost TC |
Marginal cost MC = ΔTC/ΔQ |
Average variable cost AVC = VC/Q | Average total cost ATC = TQ/Q |
30 | $280 | $680 | $9.33 | $22.67 | |
$4.00 | |||||
40 | 320 | 720 | 8.00 | 18.00 | |
12.00 | |||||
50 | 440 | 840 | 8.80 | 16.80 | |
16.00 | |||||
60 | 600 | 1,000 | 10.00 | 16.67 | |
24.00 | |||||
70 | 840 | 1,240 | 12.00 | 17.71 | |
32.00 | |||||
80 | 1,160 | 1,560 | 14.50 | 19.50 | |
40.00 | |||||
90 | 1,560 | 1,960 | 17.33 | 21.78 | |
48.00 | |||||
100 | 2,040 | 2,440 | 20.40 | 24.40 |
STEP | 2 Find the break-
To find the break-
STEP | 3 If the market price falls to $14.00 per fish, in the short run how many fish will be brought to market?Review pages 206–209 and the Pitfalls on page 208.
In the case of the price-