(BQ) Part 2 book "Economics today" has contents: Perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and strategic behavior, regulation and antitrust policy in a globalized economy, environmental economics, comparative advantage and the open economy, exchange rates and the balance of payments,.and other contents. | 22 Cost and Output The Firm: The last commercial nuclear reactor plant built in the United States was completed in 1996. Since then, most media reports have suggested that concerns about safety and waste disposal have prevented energy firms from constructing additional nuclear power plants. In fact, the economics of electricity generation has probably been more important in dissuading electric companies from building more nuclear plants. During the late 1990s and the 2000s, energy firms found lower-cost ways of generating additional electricity using traditional power plants. Hence, they had less incentive to undertake the significant expenditures required to build nuclear plants. In contrast, recent technological developments in nuclear power generation may induce energy firms to start building electricity-generating nuclear reactors once again. To understand why this is so, you must first study production and cost concepts covered in this chapter. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Determination After reading this chapter, you should be able to: ̈ Discuss the difference between the short run and the long run from the perspective of a firm ̈ Understand why the marginal physical product of labor eventually declines as more units of labor are employed ̈ Explain the short-run cost curves a typical firm faces ̈ Describe the long-run cost curves a typical firm faces ̈ Identify situations of economies and diseconomies of scale and define a firm’s minimum efficient scale MyEconLab helps you master each objective and study more efficiently. See end of chapter for details. 483 484 PART 6 ■ MARKET STRUCTURE, RESOURCE ALLOCATION, AND REGULATION Did You Know That ? the average single-item cash register receipt has grown more than 2 inches longer since 1990? This has happened because most retailers now print additional information on receipts, such as savings from use of reward cards, discount coupons, and information about special offers. Retailers have provided receipts since the
