Given below are two statements:
Assertion (A): With MPs of 10, 16 and 14 units for the first three workers, AP rises at the 3rd worker though MP falls.
Reason (R): As long as the marginal product is greater than the average product, the average product rises.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
\( \displaystyle TP: 10, \ 10 + 16 = 26, \ 26 + 14 = 40 \)
\( \displaystyle AP: 10, \ 13, \ 13.33 \)
Assertion (A): With MPs of 10, 16 and 14 units for the first three workers, AP rises at the 3rd worker though MP falls. — True. MP falls from 16 to 14, yet AP rises from 13 to 13.33.
Reason (R): As long as the marginal product is greater than the average product, the average product rises. — True. If the extra unit adds more than the average, it pulls the average up.
Why R explains A?
AP depends on whether MP is above or below AP, not on whether MP is rising or falling. The 3rd worker's MP (14) is still above the AP of 13, so AP rises even though MP has fallen.
NCERT (2026-27): “3.5 Shapes of Total Product, Marginal Product and Average Product Curves … Let us now see what the AP curve looks like. For the first unit of the variable input, one can easily check that the MP and the AP are same. Now as we increase the amount of input, the MP rises. AP being the average of marginal products, also rises, but rises less than MP. Then, after a point, the MP starts falling. However, as long as the value of MP remains higher than the value of the AP, the AP continues to rise. Once MP has fallen sufficiently, its value becomes less than the AP and the AP also starts falling. So AP curve is also inverse ‘U’-shaped.” |