The Worcester Brassworks produces brass statues. As you know brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, used in fixed proportions. The production function is given by f(c, z) = min{c, 2z}, where c is the amount of copper it uses and z is the amount of zinc that it uses in production.

a) Draw two isoquants: One representing input combinations that will produce 10 brass statues One representing input combinations that will produce 20 brass statues.

(Put copper in the horizontal axis and zinc in the vertical axis)

b) Does this production function exhibit increasing, decreasing, or constant returns to scale?

c) If the firm wanted to produce 10 brass statues, how much copper would it need? How much zinc would it need?

d) If the firm faces factor prices (1, 1), what will be the minimal cost of producing 10 brass statues? [Note: both prices cost $1 each]

e) If the firm faces factor prices (w1, w2), what will be the minimal cost of producing y brass statues? [Note: w1 is the price of copper and w2 the price of zinc.]