PC Labor Market
What is the reason that the resource demand curve is down sloping in pure competition?
Diminishing productivity
In imperfect competition, why does the resource demand curve sloping downward?
Marginal product diminishes and product price falls as output increases
MP • P = MRP will not work for
Imperfect competition
MRP =
Change in TR/ change in resource quantity
MRC =
Change in TC/ change in resource quantity
MRP- demand for resource depends on
- market value or price of good produced
Factors that determine the sensitivity of producers to changes in resource prices: elasticity of resource demand
-ease of resource substitutability
• the larger the number of good substitute resources available, the greater the elasticity of demand for a particular resource
-elasticity of product demand
• the greatest the elasticity of product demand, the greater the elasticity of resource demand; derived demand is reason
-labor cost-total ratio
•the larger the proportion of total production cost accounted for by a resource, the greater will be the elasticity of demand for that resource
Least cost rule
MPL/PL=MPC/PC
Profit maximization rule
MRPL/PL=1
MPRC/PC=1
Wage and wage rates
The price paid for labor. Wage is said to mean some wage rate per unit of time. Weekly or monthly salaries, bonuses, royalties, commissions are also forms of wages
Nominal wage
The amount of money received per hour, per day or whatever the time frame
Real wage
The quantity of goods and service a person can obtain with nominal wages; purchasing power of nominal wages
Demand for labor depends on productivity
Market demand
Sum of labor demand curves of the individual firms
Market supply
Assume no Union, slopes upward because as a group, the firms must pay higher wages rates to obtain more workers; workers have some alternative
MRC = supply
For PC only
Union goals
Factors other than wages that affect the supply of labor
Craft Union
Skilled workers in a particular trade
Industrial union
Skilled and unskilled workers in a particular industry
Sherman antitrust act
First important federal measure to limit the power of companies that controlled a high percentage of market share
Clayton antitrust act
Outlawed anything that would “lesson competition or tend to create a monopoly in any line of commerce”
Norris-LaGuardia Act