Figure 8.2 From Total Product to the Average and Marginal Product of Labor The first two rows of the table give the values for quantities of labor and total product fromFigure 8.1 "Acme Clothing’s Total Product Curve" Marginal product, given in the third row, is the change in output resulting from a one-unit increase in labor Average product, given in the fourth row, is output per unit of labor Panel (a) shows the total product curve The slope of the total product curve is marginal product, which is plotted in Panel (b) Values for marginal product are plotted at the midpoints of the intervals Average product rises and falls Where marginal product is above average product, average product rises Where marginal product is below average product, average product falls The marginal product curve intersects the average product curve at the maximum point on the average product curve Attributed to Libby Rittenberg and Timothy Tregarthen Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books/ Saylor.org 418