LOS a: Explain why demand for the factors of production is called derived demand, differentiate between marginal revenue (MR) and marginal revenue product (MRP), and describe how the MRP determines the demand for labor and the wage rate.
In a discussion about the factors that determine a firm’s demand for labor, Kathleen Jorgensen asserts the following:
Statement 1: A firm’s marginal revenue curve is equivalent to its short-run labor demand curve.
Statement 2: A decrease in the equilibrium market price of a firm’s product will increase the firm’s demand for labor because the firm will sell more units of the product.
Are Jorgensen’s statements CORRECT?
Both statements are incorrect. The marginal revenue product of labor (MRP) curve defines a firm’s short-run labor demand curve. MRP is the gain in total revenue from selling the additional output from employing one more unit of labor input. A decrease in the equilibrium market price of a good reduces the MRP of the labor used to produce that good. The result is a decrease in the firm’s demand for labor.
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