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AFL-CIO: The umbrella organization for many labor unions in the United States, with AFL standing for American Federation of Labor, and CIO the abbreviation of Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL-CIO began as just the AFL in 1886 as a collection of craft unions representing skilled workers. It expanded to include semiskilled and unskilled workers represented by industrial unions. Differing interests among the two groups lead to a division of the original AFL in 1938 into two separate groups -- the AFL containing craft unions and CIO containing industrial unions. This rift was closed in 1955, when the AFL and CIO merged to form the AFL-CIO.
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                           TOTAL VARIABLE COST AND MARGINAL COST: A mathematical connection between marginal cost and total variable cost stating that marginal cost IS the slope of the total variable cost curve. This relation between total variable cost and marginal cost is also seen with total cost. The slope of the total cost curve is marginal cost, as well. The relation between total variable cost and marginal cost is but another in the long line of applications of the total-marginal relation. Total Variable Cost and Marginal Cost |  |  | The slope of the total variable cost curve (and total cost curve) is marginal cost. As such, if the total variable cost curve has a positive slope (that is, is upward sloping), then marginal cost is positive. Moreover, if the total variable cost curve has a positive and increasingly steeper slope, then the marginal cost is positive and rising. If the total variable cost curve has a positive and increasingly flatter slope, then the marginal cost is positive but falling. This particular total-marginal relation applies to both total variable cost and total cost. Because not only is marginal cost the slope of the total variable cost curve, it is also the slope of the total cost curve. The reason is that any changes in total cost resulting from changing output is matched by changes in total variable cost. This occurs because total fixed cost is FIXED. This two-paneled graph for the production of Wacky Willy Stuffed Amigos (those cute and cuddly armadillos, turtles, and lizards) visually illustrates the connection between total variable cost and marginal cost. For the first few quantities of output (Stuffed Amigos), total variable cost in the top panel is positive AND the slope of the total variable cost curve decreases--it becomes flatter. This corresponds with a positive and decreasing marginal cost in the bottom panel up to 4 Stuffed Amigos. For the next several quantities of Stuffed Amigos output, the slope of the total variable cost curve becomes increasingly steeper. This corresponds to an increasing marginal cost in the bottom panel. The prime conclusion is the key role played by the law of diminishing marginal returns in the slope of both the marginal cost curve and the total variable cost curve. - The U-shape of the marginal cost curve is a direct reflection of first increasing marginal returns, as marginal cost falls to a minimum, then decreasing marginal returns and the onset of the law of diminishing marginal returns as marginal cost rises.
- However, because the marginal cost curve is a plot of the slope of the total variable cost curve, then the shape of the total variable cost curve also reflects the law of diminishing marginal returns. The flattening slope of the total variable cost curve for small quantities of output is due to increasing marginal returns. Then the onset of the law of diminishing marginal returns causes the total variable cost curve to become increasingly steeper.
While this diagram relates marginal cost and total variable cost, the same story applies to the relation between marginal cost and total cost. Marginal cost is also the slope of the total cost curve. As such, the shape of the total cost curve is also a reflection of increasing, then decreasing marginal returns.
 Recommended Citation:TOTAL VARIABLE COST AND MARGINAL COST, AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2022. [Accessed: May 26, 2022]. Check Out These Related Terms... | | | | | | | Or For A Little Background... | | | | | | | | | And For Further Study... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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YELLOW CHIPPEROON [What's This?]
Today, you are likely to spend a great deal of time looking for a downtown retail store looking to buy either a flower arrangement in a coffee cup for your father or a how-to book on meeting people. Be on the lookout for malfunctioning pocket calculators. Your Complete Scope
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The word "fiscal" is derived from a Latin word meaning "moneybag."
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"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. " -- Albert Einstein
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