Seton is interested in reducing costs while maintaining quality and patient satisfaction. You have been hired by the Seton Hospital System to improve efficiency. In particular, Seton believes that it is not efficiently combining physician labor hours (L) and physical capital units (K) in producing stent surgeries. Assume that we know that the production function is Q = KL. Assume that the price of L is $1/hr and the price of K is $4 per unit. a. How might Seton use more capital and less labor to install the same stent? What does that real-life tradeoff look like?

Macroeconomics
13th Edition
ISBN:9781337617390
Author:Roger A. Arnold
Publisher:Roger A. Arnold
Chapter5: Supply, Demand, And Price: Applications
Section5.12: Application 12: 10 A. M. Classes In College
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Seton is interested in reducing costs while maintaining quality and patient satisfaction.
You have been hired by the Seton Hospital System to improve efficiency. In particular,
Seton believes that it is not efficiently combining physician labor hours (L) and physical
capital units (K) in producing stent surgeries. Assume that we know that the production
function is Q = KL. Assume that the price of L is $1/hr and the price of K is $4 per unit.
a. How might Seton use more capital and less labor to install the same stent? What
does that real-life tradeoff look like?
b. We are going to find the cost minimizing way of producing 100 stent surgeries at
Seton. Begin by drawing yourself a picture of how you will solve this problem. Place K
on the vertical axis and L on the horizontal axis.
c. Write the budget constraint and find the equation of the slope of this line (dk/dL)
Transcribed Image Text:Seton is interested in reducing costs while maintaining quality and patient satisfaction. You have been hired by the Seton Hospital System to improve efficiency. In particular, Seton believes that it is not efficiently combining physician labor hours (L) and physical capital units (K) in producing stent surgeries. Assume that we know that the production function is Q = KL. Assume that the price of L is $1/hr and the price of K is $4 per unit. a. How might Seton use more capital and less labor to install the same stent? What does that real-life tradeoff look like? b. We are going to find the cost minimizing way of producing 100 stent surgeries at Seton. Begin by drawing yourself a picture of how you will solve this problem. Place K on the vertical axis and L on the horizontal axis. c. Write the budget constraint and find the equation of the slope of this line (dk/dL)
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