14.1 Economic Cost and Profit
1) The primary goal of a business firm is to
A) promote fairness.
B) make a quality product.
C) promote workforce job satisfaction.
D) maximize profit.
E) increase its production.
2) A firm's fundamental goal is
A) different for each firm.
B) to make a quality product.
C) to maximize profit.
D) to gain market share.
E) to decrease its employment of workers in order to cut its costs.
3) Accountants calculate
A) economic depreciation as part of the firm's cost.
B) depreciation using Internal Revenue Service rules.
C) the opportunity cost of all the resources the firm uses.
D) all the firm's implicit costs but only a few of its explicit costs.
E) All of the above answers are correct.
4) John fishes for a living. Last year, he sold $100,000 of fish. Bait, nets and other fishing supplies cost John $10,000 and he paid $40,000 in salaries to his helpers. Depreciation on his boat and other equipment, as calculated using IRS rules, was $15,000. What was John's profit as would be calculated by an accountant?
A) $165,000
B) $100,000
C) $65,000
D) $35,000
E) None of the above answers is correct.
5) Lauren runs a chili restaurant in San Francisco. Her total revenue last year equaled $111,000. The rent on her restaurant totaled $48,000. Her labor costs totaled $43,000. Her materials, food and other variable costs totaled $19,000. To Lauren's accountant, Lauren
A) incurred a loss of $1,000.
B) earned a profit of $1,000.
C) incurred a loss of $111,000.
D) earned a profit of $111,000.
E) had a total cost equal to $91,000.
6) Lauren runs a chili restaurant in San Francisco. Her total revenue last year was $110,000. The rent on her restaurant was $48,000, her labor costs were $42,000, and her materials, food and other variable costs were $20,000. Lauren could have worked as a biologist and earned $50,000 per year. An economist calculates her implicit costs as
A) $150,000.
B) $63,000.
C) $50,000.
D) $110,000.
E) $0 because Lauren did not work as a biologist.
7) When an economist uses the term "cost" referring to a firm, the economist refers to the
A) price of the good to the consumer.
B) explicit cost of producing a good or service but not the implicit cost of producing a good or service.
C) implicit cost of producing a good or service but not the explicit cost of producing a good or service.
D) opportunity cost of producing a good or service, which includes both implicit and explicit cost.
E) cost that can be actually verified and measured.
8) From a firm's viewpoint, opportunity cost is the
A) best alternative use customers can find for the firm's output.
B) cost the firm must pay for the factors of production it employs to attract them from their best alternative use.
C) accounting cost of resources.
D) price a firm can charge for its output.
E) cost of acquiring the opportunity to sell to its customers.
9) A firm has explicit costs of $110,000 and total revenue of $120,000. Which of the following is true about the firm?
A) The firm might be making an economic profit but we need more information about implicit costs to know for sure.
B) The firm is definitely making an economic profit because it must be minimizing its opportunity cost.
C) The firm is incurring an economic loss if implicit costs are $10,000.
D) The firm is making a normal profit if implicit costs are $0.
E) The firm may be making an economic profit but only if implicit costs are negative.
10) The cost that a firm pays in money to hire a resource is referred to as ________ cost.
A) a minimized
B) a maximized
C) an explicit
D) an implicit
E) a total
