Production Choices and Costs: The Short Run
The Short-Run Production Function
A firm uses factors of production to produce a product. The relationship between factors of production and the output of a firm is called a production function. Our first task is to explore the nature of the production function.
Consider a hypothetical firm, Acme Clothing, a shop that produces jackets. Suppose that Acme has a lease on its building and equipment. During the period of the lease, Acme's capital is its fixed factor of production. Acme's variable factors of production include things such as labor, cloth, and electricity. In the analysis that follows, we shall simplify by assuming that labor is Acme's only variable factor of production.