Marginal rate of Substitution. For a production function, the Marginal Rate of Substitution MRS of its
inputs is the ratio of its marginal products. To be specific, for a production function the MRS between the
labor and the capital is given by
where and
The marginal rate of substitution represents how many units of capital should be added to maintain the
same production level when the labor input is reduced by unit.
Exercise a Consider the level curve an isoquant curve Compute the slope of its tangent line,
in terms of
b Consider the production function
Compute at Suppose that tilde lies on the level curve
Estimate tilde Find the tangent line of the level curve at
Exercise Exercises about the chain rules. Consider the production function
Suppose that due to worker recruiting pace and investment conditions, the inputs and vary with time
and interest rate via the following expressions:
and
a Calculate the rate of change of output with respect to when and What is the meaning
of this rate?
b Calculate the rate of change of output with respect to when and What is the meaning
of this rate?