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AGGLOMERATION: The clustering of several similar or related activities at the same location. Many industries have firms that tend to agglomerate, that is, locate very close to one another, leading to geographic concentration. For example, the motion picture industry is concentrated in California, the fashion industry is concentrated in New York, and the petroleum industry is concentrated in Texas. Agglomeration can be caused by accessibility to a concentrated natural resource (such as petroleum or sunny weather), but if often feeds upon itself through agglomeration economies. Firms in the same industry often have lower production cost when the located near their competitors.
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                           DECREASING RETURNS TO SCALE: A given proportional change in all resources in the long run results in a proportional smaller change in production. Decreasing returns to scale exists if a firm increases ALL resources--labor, capital, and other inputs--by a given proportion (say 10 percent) and output increases by less than this proportion (that is, less than 10 percent). This is one of three returns to scale. The other two are increasing returns to scale and constant returns to scale. Decreasing returns to scale results if long-run production changes are less than the proportional changes in all inputs used by a firm.Suppose, for example, that The Wacky Willy Company employs 1,000 workers in a 5,000 square foot factory to produce 1 million Stuffed Amigos (those cute and cuddly armadillos, tarantulas, and scorpions) each month. Decreasing returns to scale exists if the scale of operation expands to 2,000 workers in a 10,000 square foot factory (a doubling of the inputs) and production increases by less than 2 million Stuffed Amigos. The anticipated pattern for most production activities is that increasing returns to scale emerge for relatively small levels of production, which is then followed by constant returns to scale and decreasing returns to scale. Decreasing returns to scale are the flip slide of diseconomies of scale. Whereas diseconomies of scale focus on changes in average cost, decreasing returns to scale focus on production. Diseconomies of scale indicate that long-run average cost increases, which corresponds to decreasing returns to scale in terms of output. Do not confuse decreasing returns to scale with decreasing marginal returns. While these phrases sound similar, they are quite different. Decreasing returns to scale relate to the long run in which all inputs are variable. Decreasing marginal returns related to the short run in which one or more input is variable and one or more input is fixed. The existence of fixed inputs in the short run gives rise to decreasing marginal returns. In particular, decreasing marginal returns result because the capacity of the fixed input or inputs is being reached. However, in the long run, there are no fixed inputs.
Recommended Citation:DECREASING RETURNS TO SCALE, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: May 2, 2024].
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RED AGGRESSERINE
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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time flipping through the yellow pages seeking to buy either a hepa filter for your furnace or a wall poster commemorating next Thursday. Be on the lookout for pencil sharpeners with an attitude.
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Helping spur the U.S. industrial revolution, Thomas Edison patented nearly 1300 inventions, 300 of which came out of his Menlo Park "invention factory" during a four-year period.
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"Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation. " -- William A. Ward
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LIBOR
london Inter-Bank Offered Rate
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