Posts tagged costs
The Long-Run: Cost Curves, Economies and Diseconomies
Jan 17th
www.bized.co.uk provides some useful materials for this topic. The starting point is their mind map. Click below to view the mindmap on its original site and in full.
A very useful MS powerpoint file, also courtesy of www.bized.co.uk, to expand on teh above mindmap can be accessed here:
pajholden gives an overview in 8 minutes:
Check your understanding of the different economies of scale using this simple interactive test from www.dineshbakshi.com (click on it):
Once you have learned about the different Economies of Scale, attempt to create a detailed revision diagram by clicking here:
A very detailed analysis by richardmckenzie of how the long run cost curve can be built up of multiple short run cost curves. He also includes the long run marginal cost curve:
This video (with very quiet audio – you will need to turn the volume up) explains the overall shape of the LRAC (Long Run Average Cost) curve with labels but it is simpler as it does not include the SRAC curves.
Now, could you identify economies of scale on a diagram? Pause this video at the start and see fi you can answer it before the commentator gives the answer:
Recap – A collection of ‘Live’ Output and Cost Curves
Nov 30th
This MS word document asks you to explore the concepts of different cost curves, and their relationships, further:
[Source unknown]
Output, Costs, Revenue and Profit
Feb 1st
[Image: nDevilTV 
Some rights reserved]
The Cambridge IGCSE syllabus requires us to have a good understanding of the following:
We have seen useful videos on YouTube before, particularly MJMFoodie’s very visual explanations (which are often aimed at higher stages of education, such as IB). One of her useful videos (on fixed and variable costs) is here:
Another useful video by MJMFoodie gives an introduction to the topic and explains the idea of the law of diminishing returns.
A great idea for a learning activity to really understand this topic is for you to work with one other person towards producing your own video, MJMFoodie style. It should be simple – create a PowerPoint (or similar) with images. These images can be your own that you have drawn on the computer, scanned into the computer, or other images produced by other people. It is obviously preferable to use images that are not copyrighted, so some good places to visit for non-copyright images are here:
http://www.everystockphoto.com/
http://search.creativecommons.org/
As you assemble your slideshow, make sure you are working on your script to go with each slide. Later on you will want to record your voiceover while playing the slideshow. In that case, planning the video out is essential and you should start with your partner by story-boarding the video.
Your video should summarise this theory on costs, revenue and profit as outlined in the syllabus above. It should summarise it in a highly visual and accessible way. Your video should ideally last somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.
A good starting point is to consult the relevant chapter in the text book you are using. A good text book is this one, which introduces the idea using Sue’s Teddy Bear Firm.
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Economics: A Complete Course for IGCSE and O Level: Endorsed by University of Cambridge International Examinations |
Other simple summaries of aspects of this topic are found here:
Tutor2U – Simple Overview of Output, Fixed Costs and Variable Costs
Tutor2U – Simple Overview of Revenue, Costs and Profit
Tutor2U – Simple Overview of Average Costs and the Scale Of Production
