Micro-Economics

Does the Marginal Cost Curve Always Slope Upward?

1)marginal cost curves often slope downward as a firm increases its production from zero up to some low level, sloping upward only at higher levels of production
 
2)This initial downward slope occurs because a firm that employs only a few workers often cannot reap the benefits of specialization of labor 
 
3)This specialization can lead to increasing returns at first, and so to a downward-sloping marginal cost curve
 
4)Once there are enough workers to permit specialization, however, diminishing returns set in

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