VARIABLE INPUT: An input whose quantity can be changed in the time period under consideration. This should be immediately compared and contrasted with fixed input. The most common example of a variable input is labor. A variable input provides the extra inputs that a firm needs to expand short-run production. In contrast, a fixed input, like capital, provides the capacity constraint in production. As larger quantities of a variable input, like labor, are added to a fixed input like capital, the variable input becomes less productive. This is, by the way, the law of diminishing marginal returns.

     See also | input | output | fixed input | short-run production | law of diminishing marginal returns |

VARIABLE INPUT, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2022. [Accessed: May 28, 2022].

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A monopolistically competitive industry undertakes a two-part adjustment to equilibrium in the long run. One is the adjustment of each monopolistically competitive firm to the appropriate factory size that maximizes long-run profit. The other is the entry of firms into the industry or exit of firms out of the industry, to eliminate economic profit or economic loss. The end result of this long-run adjustment is two equilibrium conditions--one for profit maximization, the other for zero economic profit.

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Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time at a going out of business sale seeking to buy either a 50 foot extension cord or a combination CD player, clock radio, and telephone (with answering machine). Be on the lookout for malfunctioning pocket calculators.
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