Which of the following pairs is correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Total physical product – Total product
Total product is also called total return or total physical product. Average and marginal products are called average and marginal returns.
Option (1) Average return – Marginal product — Incorrect. Average return is another name for average product.
Option (2) Marginal return – Average product — Incorrect. Marginal return is another name for marginal product.
Option (3) Total return – Returns to scale — Incorrect. Total return is total product. Returns to scale is about raising all inputs in the same proportion.
Option (4) Total physical product – Total product — Correct. Both names stand for the output from different amounts of the variable input.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.3.1 Total Product … Let us again look at Table 3.1. Suppose capital is fixed at 4 units. Now in the Table 3.1, we look at the column where capital takes the value 4. As we move down along the column, we get the output values for different values of labour. This is the total product of labour schedule with K2 = 4. This is also sometimes called total return to or total physical product of the variable input. This is shown again in the second column of table in 3.2” “3.3.3 Marginal Product … Average product of an input at any level of employment is the average of all marginal products up to that level. Average and marginal products are often referred to as average and marginal returns, respectively, to the variable input.” |