In: Economics
. Two firms in the same industry sell their product at $50 per unit, but one firm has TFC = $800 and AVC = $10 while the other has TFC’ = $1350 and AVC’ = 5.
a. Determine the breakeven quantity of each firm.
b. Find the degree of operating leverage for each firm at Q = 40 and Q =50.
a) Breakeven quantity of firm 1 = TFC / (P - AVC)
= 800 / (50 - 10)
= 20
Breakeven quantity of firm 2 = TFC' / (P - AVC')
= 1350 / (50 - 5)
= 30
b) At Q = 40,
Firm 1's operating leverage = [Q * (P - AVC)] / [Q * (P - AVC) - TFC]
= [40 * (50 - 10)] / [40 * (50 - 10) - 800]
= 1,600 / 800
= 2
Firm 2's operating leverage = [Q * (P - AVC)] / [Q * (P - AVC) - TFC]
= [40 * (50 - 5)] / [40 * (50 - 5) - 1350]
= 1,800 / 450
= 4
At Q = 50,
Firm 1's operating leverage = [Q * (P - AVC)] / [Q * (P - AVC) - TFC]
= [50 * (50 - 10)] / [50 * (50 - 10) - 800]
= 2,000 / 1,200
= 1.67
Firm 2's operating leverage = [Q * (P - AVC)] / [Q * (P - AVC) - TFC]
= [50 * (50 - 5)] / [50 * (50 - 5) - 1350]
= 2,250 / 900
= 2.5