Guide to the Web for Economics
CHAPTER 12
Production and Costs
Regardless of the legal form of ownership, all
businesses must determine what goods and services to produce, how
much to produce, and what price to charge. The decisions firms make,
their costs, and their ultimate success or failure depends on the
short-run and long-run production concepts of diminishing returns and
returns to scale. Web resources described in this chapter link to
information about the forms of business ownership and production
concepts that apply to all firms. The resources are organized as
follows:
Legal Forms of Business Organization
- Statistics
about Businesses
- Type: publication; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes; Other: pdf/search
- Site from the U.S. Census Bureau contains information and
statistics from the 1992 economic census, including aggregate
data for the number of firms, receipts, and number of employees
in each legal form of business organization.
- http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html
- Forms
of Business Organization
- Type: writing; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Site from Kitchener, Canada contains a summary chart
listing the advantages and disadvantages for forming a business
as a sole proprietorship, partnership, and as a corporation.
Also includes more detailed explanations below the chart.
- http://www.city.kitchener.on.ca/Kitchener_bustypes.html
- Comparing
Business and Tax Factors
- Type: writing; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: no
- Page contains a fairly detailed discussing of more than a
dozen different issues related to different forms of business
ownership, including general partnerships, limited
partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies.
- http://www.wwgc.com/wwgc-be1.htm
- Impact
of Tax Reform on Entity Decisions
- Type: publication; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: no; Graphics: no
- A paper examining the impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act on
the net income for businesses formed as a sole proprietorship,
partnership, C corporation, or as an S corporation.
- http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/docs/proceedings/88sbi533.txt
Production by Firms and Cost
Concepts
- Production
Chapter
- Type: publication; Level: intermediate; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Chapter 5 from David Friedman's 1990 book, Price Theory:
An Intermediate Text, using numerical examples and graphs
to help explain how firms decide what goods to produce and the
profit-maximizing quantity of output and inputs. Also includes
end of chapter problems and links to other chapters.
- http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Academic/Price_Theory/PThy_Chapter_5/PThy_Chapter_5.html
- Production
Function
- Type: writing; Level: intermediate; Length: medium; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Teaching notes that use a numerical example and a graph of
isoquants to illustrate a production function and the law of
diminishing returns. Also links to a full set of related notes.
- http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/TheFirm/ProductionFunct.html
- Production
and Costs on econweb
- Type: publication; Level: basic; Length: short; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- A sample page from subscription based econweb, providing
notes and graphics showing the impact on average costs when
there are changes in fixed costs, input prices, and
productivity.
- http://econweb.com/Sample/Costs/CostShift1.html
- Diminishing
Returns and Returns to Scale
- Type: publication; Level: intermediate; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- An essay using equations and graphs to help explain the
implications of a firm's ability to substitute between inputs
in the long run when all inputs are variable and diminishing
returns is not applicable.
- http://tommy.iinet.net.au/essays/essay5.html
- User-based
Concept of Diminishing Returns
- Type: writing; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Page contains an article using a novel approach and charts
demonstrating the law of diminishing returns in information
technology from a consultant prospective.
- http://www.pmn.net/contributions/returns.htm
- Firms
and their Costs
- Type: publication; Level: intermediate; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Chapter 9 from David Friedman's 1990 book, Price Theory:
An Intermediate Text, using a numerical and graphical
analysis to explain isoquants, isocost lines, and the
production decisions of firms. Also includes end of chapter
problems and links to other chapters.
- http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Academic/Price_Theory/PThy_Chapter_9/PThy_Chapter_9.html
- Graphic
Simulation Models
- Type: writing; Level: intermediate; Length: medium; Links: yes; Graphics: yes
- Page from Furman University contains links to fairly
sophisticated simulation models for macro and microeconomics,
including models for plotting a production function, revenues,
costs, and much more.
- http://www.furman.edu/~stanford/simmods.htm
- Costs in
the Long Run
- Type: publication; Level: intermediate; Length: long; Links: no; Graphics: yes
- A chapter from a book using equations and graphs to help
explain concepts related to firm costs and cost curves in the
long run when all inputs are variable.
- http://www.furman.edu/~stanford/c6.htm