The Relationship Between Costs And Production

The Relationship Between Costs And Production
In this assignment, please review the reference material
Amosweb. "Monopoly and Perfect Competition. Retrieved June 3, 2011 from:http://www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/awb_nav.pl?s=wpd&c=dsp&k=monopoly+and+perfect+competition
Professional Education Organization International. Chapter 3: Production Costs, Retrieved June 6, 2011 from:http://www.peoi.org/Courses/mic/mic3.html
Rittenberg Libby and T. Tregarthen. (2009). Chapter 8: Production and Costs. Sections 1-4  Principles of Microeconomics.  FlatworldKnowledge.com.  Retrieved June 6, 2011 from:click here
In a 2-3 page essay, address the following questions:
1. Give a brief summary of economic costs (i.e. how are they different from accounting costs). In the short-run, why might a firm still operate even when there is a loss.
2. Read the following short article:
Vargas, L. (2001). “Maquiladoras: Impact on Texas Border Cities,” in The Border Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Retrieved on February 18, 2011 from:http://www.dallasfed.org/research/border/tbe_vargas.html
How does this article apply the marginal decision rule to the problem of choosing the mix of factors or production (capital intensive vs. labor intensive methods of production)? How do maquiladoras benefit the U.S. economy?
3. The type of firm also plays a crucial role in how the firm makes a profit. Describe the characteristics of a  perfectly competitive firm in your own words. What will happen to the profits of a perfectly competitive firm in the long run?
4. Compare the profit for the perfectly competitive firm to a monopoly in the long run. Why is it different?
Case Assignment Expectations:
Use concepts from the modular background readings as well as any good quality resources you can find from the cyberlibrary or other internet search engines. Pleas be sure to cite all sources within the text and provide a reference list at the end of the paper.
Length: 2-3 pages .
The following items will be assessed in particular:
Your ability to understand the relationship between costs and production.
Some in-text references to the modular background material (APA formatting not required).