MARGINAL COST CURVE: A curve that graphically represents the relation between marginal cost incurred by a firm in the short-run product of a good or service and the quantity of output produced. This curve is constructed to capture the relation between marginal cost and the level of output, holding other variables, like technology and resource prices, constant. The marginal cost curve is U-shaped. Marginal cost is relatively high at small quantities of output, then as production increases, declines, reaches a minimum value, then rises. This shape of the marginal cost curve is directly attributable to increasing, then decreasing marginal returns (and the law of diminishing marginal returns).

     See also | marginal cost | curve | quantity | law of diminishing marginal returns | technology | resource prices | increasing marginal returns | decreasing marginal returns | U-shaped cost curves | average total cost curve | average variable cost curve | average fixed cost curve | total cost curve |

MARGINAL COST CURVE, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2025. [Accessed: April 26, 2025].

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A perfectly competitive firm's factor demand curve is that negatively-sloped portion of its marginal revenue product curve. A perfectly competitive firm maximizes profit by hiring the quantity of input that equates factor price and marginal revenue product. As such, the firm moves along its negatively-sloped marginal revenue product curve in response to changing factor prices.

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