Economics

Iso-quants

Production function may involve, at a time, the use of more than one variable input. This is presented with the help of iso-quant curves. The two words ‘Iso’ and ‘quant’ are derived from the Greek language, meaning ‘equal’ and ‘quantity’ respectively. In our presentation only two factors, labour and capital are used. In Economics, an iso-quant is a curve drawn by joining the combinations
of changing the quantities of two or more inputs which give the same level of output.Isoquants are similar to indifference curves.

An iso-quant curve can be defined as the locus of points representing various combinations of two inputs capital and labour yielding the same output. The iso-quant is also called as the “Equal Product
Curve” or the “Product Indifference
Curve”

Definition of iso-quant:
According to Ferguson, «An iso-quant is a curve showing all possible combinations of inputs physically capable of producing a
given level of output”.

Iso-quants are based on the following assumptions:
1. It is assumed that only two factors
are used to produce a commodity.
2. Factors of production can be divided into small parts.
3. Technique of production is constant.
4. The substitution between the two
factors is technically possible. That
is, production function is of ‘variable
proportion’ type rather than fixed
proportion.
5. Under the given technique, factors
of production can be used with
maximum efficiency.

Iso-quant Schedule:

Let us suppose that there are two factors namely., labour and capital. An Iso-quant schedule shows the different combinations of these two inputs that yield the same level of output. It is given below.

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