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Calculus of Profit Maximization

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8.c. The Calculus of Profit-Maximization by a Competitive Firm

Any profit-maximizing firm chooses inputs and outputs to maximize economic profits. By definition, maximization of economic profits entails maximization of the difference between the firm's total revenue and its total cost.

• A firm's total revenue is defined as the quantity, Q, sold at a price, P(q): TR(q) = P(q) ∙ Q

• A firm's total costs are defined as the quantity of capital, K, used multiplied by the price of capital, v, plus the quantity of labor, L, used multiplied by the price of labor (wage rate), w. TC = vK + wL

• Therefore, economic profits (π), are defined as the difference between total revenue and total cost: Π(q) = TR(q) – TC(q)

Maximization of this equation is found by applying the derivative with respect to q and setting equal to 0: (d π)/(dq) = (dTR)/(dq) – (dTC)/(dq) = 0

(dTR)/(dq) – (dTC)/(dq) = 0

moving things around we get (dTR)/(dq) = (dTC)/(dq)

or the derivative of total revenue with respect to q is equal to the derivative of total cost with respect to q. The derivative of total revenue is marginal revenue, and the derivative of total cost is marginal cost.

And thus you come to the profit maximizing equation of MR = MC

In the case of a competitive firm, the firm is free to sell all the q it wants at the market price without the firm having a notable affect on the market price. This is true because the firm is only one of many firms, and so its output will have no effect on market price.

The demand curve is horizontal at price P, and at this price the demand curve is infinitely elastic, if the firm chooses a price higher than P, it will sell nothing, and a price lower than P will capture the entire market. So D = P and in the case of a competitive market, MR = P. This is

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