Alevel经济学习A*笔记：成本和收入之规模经济

A-level economics revision guides and question banks covering labour markets, supply and demand, market structure and all core economics a-level topics.

以下内容我们会持续更新：

今天带给大家Alevel经济笔记是：

成本和收入-Economies of Scale

From short run to long run

从短期到长期

Throughout the last two Learn-Its, we have assumed that the firms in question are operating in the short run.

The most important implication of that is that at least one factor of production has to be fixed. We assumed that this was capital.

在最后两个 Learn-It 中，我们假设所讨论的公司在短期内运营。其最重要的含义是至少必须固定一个生产要素。我们假设这是资本。

The topic of economies of scale deals with the change in a firm's average costs as the time period moves from the short run to the long run. In the long run, all factors of production can vary, including capital.

To be more precise, over a period of time, most firms experience lots of 'short runs', which, together, make up the long run. The diagram below will help to explain this.

规模经济的主题涉及公司的平均成本随着时间段从短期到长期的变化。从长远来看，包括资本在内的所有生产要素都会发生变化。更准确地说，在一段时间内，大多数公司都经历了许多“短期”，这些共同构成了长期。下图将有助于解释这一点。

In the last two Learn-Its, the numerical examples referred to a company producing computer laser printers. We assumed that there were four machines in the factory.

You should recognise the shape of the average cost curves above.

Assume the first short run average cost curve (SRAC1) represents the printer firm with four machines. Over the longer run, the firm may decide to invest in another machine.

This would move the firm into another short run, represented by SRAC2.

The curve is lower than the last. This is because of economies of scale. As a result of being bigger, the firm finds that its cost per unit has fallen.

Various reasons why this might have happened are given in the next sub-section.

在最后两个 Learn-It 中，数字示例指的是一家生产计算机激光打印机的公司。我们假设工厂里有四台机器。你应该认识到上面的平均成本曲线的形状。假设第一条短期平均成本曲线 (SRAC 1 ) 代表拥有四台机器的印刷公司。从长远来看，公司可能决定投资另一台机器。这将使公司进入另一个短期运行，以 SRAC 2为代表。曲线低于上一条。这是因为规模经济。由于规模变大，公司发现其单位成本下降了。下一小节给出了可能发生这种情况的各种原因。

In a year or two, the firm might invest in a sixth machine, and move to SRAC3. There is a danger that the firm might get so big that diseconomies of scale occur.

In the diagram above, this appears to occur if the firm decides to invest in a seventh, or even an eighth machine.

在一两年内，该公司可能会投资第六台机器，并迁移到 SRAC 3。公司有可能变得如此之大以致出现规模不经济的危险。在上图中，如果公司决定投资第七台甚至第八台机器，就会出现这种情况。

The sources of economies of scale

规模经济的来源

In this section we are looking reasons why, as a result of getting bigger, a firm might find that its average costs fall.

在本节中，我们将寻找原因，为什么随着规模的扩大，公司可能会发现其平均成本下降。

Bulk buying.

This is probably the most straightforward one. If you go to a cash and carry warehouse, and buy large quantities of a good, the price per unit is smaller.

This is because the owner of the cash and carry buys in such large quantities himself that he can strike a deal with the suppliers (large supermarkets do this too).

Basically, the larger you are the more bargaining power you have, so the cost per unit of any raw materials bought is likely to fall.

批量购买。

这可能是最直接的一个。如果您去现金和携带仓库，大量购买商品，则单位价格会更小。这是因为现金和自运的所有者自己购买的数量如此之多，以至于他可以与供应商达成协议（大型超市也这样做）。基本上，你越大，你的议价能力就越大，因此购买的任何原材料的单位成本都可能下降。

Technical.

Imagine that you have found the capital to buy a car factory, but you do not have enough money to have it running at full capacity.

You probably can't afford enough workers to have all the machines working at once. This means there is less scope for specialisation, which improves labour productivity.

技术的。

想象一下，你找到了购买汽车厂的资金，但你没有足够的资金让它满负荷运转。你可能买不起足够的工人让所有机器同时工作。这意味着专业化的空间更小，从而提高了劳动生产率。

Also, there will be some machines that are only half used. A panel bender may get though 20 car bodies a day, but the car-spraying machine can do 40.

If you can't afford to buy a second panel-bending machine then the sprayer will lie idle half the time.

此外，还有一些机器只使用了一半。一台折弯机一天可以打20个车身，但喷车机一天可以做40个。如果你买不起第二台折弯机，那么喷车机将有一半时间闲置。

In GCSE maths you may have covered volume scale factor. A large box, whose dimensions are twice those of a smaller box, can hold eight times as much stuff!

The larger the firm, the larger the crates used for storage, again saving money (via reduced average costs).

在 GCSE 数学中，您可能已经涵盖了体积比例因子。一个大盒子，尺寸是小盒子的两倍，可以容纳八倍的东西！公司越大，用于存储的板条箱就越大，从而再次节省资金（通过降低平均成本）。

To sum up, the production processes of some goods are very expensive to run on a small scale.

The larger the firm is, the more it can take advantage of the naturally larger scale of production, and the lower its average cost curve will be.

综上所述，一些商品的生产过程在小规模上运行是非常昂贵的。企业越大，越能利用自然较大的生产规模，其平均成本曲线就越低。

Financial.

Larger firms will find it easy to borrow money for further investment, or to extend their overdraft when there are cash flow problems. The larger the firm, the 'safer' they look to banks; they probably have more collateral on which to base a loan.

Also, the interest rates that they pay will probably be lower. It's a bit like bulk buying; the banks want to attract big, safe, customers (i.e. large, successful firms desperate to borrow money) and so offer more 'attractive' deals (i.e. lower interest rates).

As interest payments on debts constitute a significant part of a growing firm's costs, the better the deal the lower the firm's average cost curve.

金融。

较大的公司会发现很容易借钱进行进一步投资，或者在出现现金流问题时延长透支额度。公司越大，他们对银行的期望就越“安全”；他们可能有更多的抵押品可以作为贷款的基础。此外，他们支付的利率可能会更低。这有点像批量购买；银行希望吸引大而安全的客户（即急于借钱的大型成功公司），因此提供更“有吸引力”的交易（即更低的利率）。由于债务利息支付构成了成长型公司成本的重要组成部分，因此交易越好，公司的平均成本曲线就越低。

Managerial.

When a firm is small, the manager is probably the owner. Not only will he direct his staff, but also he will probably run the office too and perhaps even do the accounts.

As the firm gets bigger, he can begin to appoint specialist managers, an office manager, a typist and an accountant.

They are all likely to be more efficient in their chosen field, so the firm's cost per unit of output will fall.

管理。当公司很小时，经理可能就是所有者。他不仅会指导他的员工，而且他可能也会管理办公室，甚至可能会做账目。随着公司规模越来越大，他可以开始任命专业经理、办公室经理、打字员和会计师。他们都可能在他们选择的领域更有效率，因此公司每单位产出的成本将会下降。

Marketing.

As a firm grows, its marketing costs will probably rise, but not at the same rate as the growth in the company generally.

In other words, it is spreading these marketing costs over a larger output, reducing average costs.

British Telecom has loads of adverts on the TV, but does it really have more than it did, for example, five years ago?

营销。

随着公司的发展，其营销成本可能会上升，但与公司一般的增长速度不同。换句话说，它将这些营销成本分散到更大的产出上，从而降低了平均成本。英国电信在电视上有大量广告，但它真的比五年前的广告多吗？

The sources of diseconomies of scale

规模不经济的根源

In this section we are looking at reasons why, as a result of getting too big, a firm might find that its average cost rises.

As one can see from the diagram above, this only tends to happen to firms that are very large.

These firms tend to have benefited from economies of scale. They reach the optimum point (the minimum of the long run average cost curve), but then get so big that for various reasons (below) they may find their average costs rising.

在本节中，我们将研究为什么由于变得太大，公司可能会发现其平均成本上升的原因。从上图中可以看出，这只会发生在非常大的公司身上。这些公司往往受益于规模经济。他们达到了最佳点（长期平均成本曲线的最小值），但随后变得如此之大，以至于由于各种原因（如下），他们可能会发现他们的平均成本上升。

Managerial.

This is the main point. As firms get really big, the men (and women) at the top become more remote.

They are not so well informed as to how their large numbers of workers are performing. I would not be surprised if some Virgin employees slip off for a two hour lunch occasionally, especially if they get on with their immediate boss quite well, but does Richard Branson know about this?

In a small firm the boss can control every element of the business. Branson cannot do that anymore.

Obviously some system of continual appraisal would be required so that every level of management is kept on its toes.

管理。

这是重点。随着公司变得越来越大，处于高层的男性（和女性）变得越来越遥远。他们不太了解大量工人的表现。如果维珍的一些员工偶尔溜出去吃两个小时的午餐，我不会感到惊讶，特别是如果他们与直属上司相处得很好，但理查德布兰森知道这件事吗？在一家小公司，老板可以控制业务的每一个要素。布兰森不能再这样做了。显然，需要一些持续评估系统，以便各级管理人员保持警觉。

There may be communication problems as well. The top managers may keep an eye on the middle managers, who look after the factory managers, who in turn supervise the workers.

But how quickly (if at all) will a good idea from the factory reach those who make the decisions? There can be so much 'red tape' and paperwork that very little work actually gets done!

也可能存在沟通问题。高层管理人员可能会关注中层管理人员，他们照顾工厂经理，而后者又监督工人。但是工厂的好主意能多快（如果有的话）到达决策者手中？可能有如此多的“繁文缛节”和文书工作，实际上完成的工作很少！

Geography.

Some textbooks use this point. Bigger firms often have bases in many parts of the UK, or even internationally.

The huge increase in their transport costs and costs of communication may cause their average cost curve to rise.

地理。

一些教科书使用了这一点。较大的公司通常在英国的许多地方，甚至在国际上都有基地。他们的运输成本和通信成本的巨大增加可能导致他们的平均成本曲线上升。

The difference between internal and external economies of scale

内部规模经济与外部规模经济的区别

The sources of economies and diseconomies of scale above were all internal. This means, in a sense, internal to the firm.

They were all factors that were a result of the firm in question growing within an industry.

If the whole industry grows for some reason, then every firm within that industry will benefit from lower average cost.

Diagrammatically, this would be illustrated by a downward shift in each firm's long run average cost curve.

上述经济和规模不经济的来源都是内部的。从某种意义上说，这意味着公司内部。它们都是相关公司在行业内成长的结果。如果整个行业由于某种原因而增长，那么该行业内的每个公司都将受益于较低的平均成本。从图表上看，这可以通过每家公司的长期平均成本曲线的向下移动来说明。

So what might happen that would benefit every firm within an industry?

A good example is the desktop computer market.

All firms in the industry have benefited from the rapid strides that have been made technologically, especially with the processor speeds.

那么，会发生什么会使行业内的每家公司受益呢？一个很好的例子是台式电脑市场。该行业的所有公司都受益于技术上的快速进步，尤其是在处理器速度方面。

Another example is linked to training. Recently, the government have invested a lot of money into increasing the number of nurses in NHS hospitals.

A beneficiary of this action might be a firm in the private health market. Having been trained at the government's expense, a newly qualified nurse might apply for a job at a private hospital where the wages, and working conditions, are better.

另一个例子与培训有关。最近，政府投入了大量资金来增加 NHS 医院的护士人数。这一行动的受益者可能是私人医疗市场中的一家公司。在政府出资接受培训后，新获得资格的护士可能会申请在工资和工作条件更好的私立医院工作。

今天的Alevel经济笔记就更新到这里，如果大家对Alevel经济学感兴趣可以关注我们，

之前更新：

1、Alevel经济学习笔记：总需求和总供给篇-The Circular Flow of Income

2、Alevel经济学习笔记：总需求和总供给篇-The '45 Degree' Diagram

3、Alevel经济学习笔记：总需求和总供给篇-Aggregate Demand

后续我们还会更新我以下版块的内容~