Law of returns

The Production Problems
• Production has several problems. The three basic problems are:
• What to produce
• How to produce
• For whom to produce.
• These are the problems facing the entire economy.
• In production the various factors of production i.e. land, labour, capital and
organisation have to combine to create utilities in the shape of different goods and
services.
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• Every organisation while combining different factors of production to produce a commodity to find some thing
quit interesting.
• Suppose one machine and one worker produce, say 10 units of a commodity. The same machine with two workers
may produce either 19 units or 21 units of the commodity and not necessarily 20 because we have doubled the
labour input.
• The first worker with the cooperation of the machine is able to produce 10 units. But actually the second worker
may add only 9 units or 11 units of the commodity to have the total production of either 19 units or 21 units.
• It may be possible that the second worker is less efficient contributing less or more efficient contributing more. But
suppose that both the workers are equally efficient; even then, it is possible that the second worker produces either
less or more than the first.
• Thus, it has been found out that any increase in the number of one factor of production, while other factors remain
the same, may or may not result in equal increase in production.

There are three possibilities. …..
• The total output increases at an increasing rate.
• The second possibility is that the total output increases at a diminishing rate.
• The third possibility is that the total output increases at a constant rate.
• These three situations have been called
• Increasing Returns,
• Diminishing Returns and
• Constant Returns respectively.
• They are also referred to as
• Decreasing Cost,
• Increasing Cost and
• Constant Cost respectively.

LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS
• Among several laws of production, the law of Diminishing Returns is the
oldest and universal law.
• This law establishes a relationship between input and output and points out
that with increasing input, output has a tendency to decline under certain
circumstances.
• The classical economists associated the law of Diminishing Returns with
agriculture as they thought that this law manifested in agriculture as they
thought that this law manifested in agriculture (land).

Marshall’s Definition of the Law
• ”An increase in the capital and labour applied in the
cultivation of land causes in general a less than
proportionate increase in the amount of the produce raised,
unless it happens to coincide with an improvement in the arts
of agriculture”.

Example
• Let us suppose a farmer having a plot of land measuring 10 acres is
interested in increasing the output from his land by investing more and more
capital and labour. Let us assume that a unit of capital and labour is of the
value of Rs.100. Now we have to study how the inputs when increased as
successive doses result in extra output. The land is kept as a fixed factor and
the input (labour and capital) has been made a variable factor. Let us suppose
the farmer gets the following results shown in the schedule .

INPUT - OUTPUT SCHEDULE (PLOT : 10 ACRES)
LABOUR AND CAPITAL
INVESTED
(INPUT IN UNITS)
OUTPUT OF PADDY
(IN UNITS)
TOTAL RETURN (TR) OR
TOTAL OUTPUT
AVERAGE OUTPUT OF PADDY
(IN UNITS)
AR
MARGINAL OUTPUT OF
PADDY
(IN UNITS)
MR
1. 10 10 10
1. 18 9 8
1. 24 8 6
1. 28 7 4
1. 30 6 2
1. 30 5 0
1. 28 4 -2
1. 24 3 -4manimadhavan@gmail.com

• From the table we infer that the plot of land (10 acres) is combined with one unit of
Capital and Labour worth Rs.100 (INPUT) and the output comes to 10 units of
corn. By combining the same plot with 2 units of capital and labour, i.e., Rs. 200,
the total output comes to 18 units. When 3 units of input are invested the output
becomes 24 units.
• Now we can distinguish three types of output from the table. They are:
• Total Output or Total Returns;
• Average Output or Average Returns; and
• Marginal Output or Marginal Returns.

• Total returns are the total output of corn for the total doses of capital and labours applied.
Column 2 of the table gives total returns for the total inputs. The total return is increasing
from 10 to 18, 24, 28, 30 units, etc., .
• However, the rate of increase is diminishing. Average Returns refers to the output per unit
of capital and labour invested. This is arrived by dividing the total output with the total
units of input. Marginal Returns refers to the change in the output due to the increase in
one unit of the input.
• It refers to the extra output due to increase in one unit of the input. It refers to the extra
output due to the increase in input by one unit. When 2 units are invested the output is 18
units of corn. So, the extra 8 units of corn have been realized because of increasing the
input from 1 to 2 units.

• The response for the second units of input is 8 units of corn. This is marginal output for
the second unit of input.
• Similarly when there are 3 units of input the total return stands at 24 units of corn. The
table shows that marginal output goes on declining for every increase in input. This shows
that the increase in input does not give output equally for successive doses.
• This is what the law of diminishing marginal returns means. It will be always better to state
this law as the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns, as the marginal returns diminish
with marginal inputs.
• After a stage, at sixth dose, the marginal return comes to zero. This means that the sixth
dose of input evokes no response at all.

The data on the table can be illustrated in the following
form.
In the figure,
• X-axis represents inputs in units of capital and
labour.
• Y-axis represents the output of corn in units.
TR curve represents Total Returns;
• AR curve represents Average Returns and
• MR curve represents Marginal Returns.
• The three curves illustrate two basic factors,
namely,
• Total output increases at a diminishing rate
• Average and marginal outputs decrease

Other Applications of Law of Diminishing
Marginal Utility
• According to the modern Economists, the law of Diminishing Marginal
Returns works not only in agriculture and extractive occupations but also in
other fields of economic activity including manufacturing industries.
• The law will operate in all fields where one or two factors of production are
fixed while the other is variable.
• It was Edgeworth who first pointed out that the law has universal
application, not only in agriculture but also in industry.

Assumptions - Law of Diminishing
Returns
• The law is applicable only if one factor of production is kept constant or fixed. In our
example, we have taken a plot measuring 10 acres as the fixed factor. More and more capital
and labour are applied to the same plot. The additional doses should be applied in the same
plot and not additional plots.
• The factors of production utilized successively should be identical units.
• The technique of production remains constant throughout the application of additional
doses.
• It should be understood that in earlier stages of cultivation, we may come across with
increasing returns and not diminishing returns. This does not mean the law is invalid. Until
the land is most efficiently used, there are possibilities of increasing returns. But after this
point is reached, increasing returns will give place to Diminishing returns.

Law of returns

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