ABC publishing uses 400 printers and 200 printing presses to produce books. A printer's wage rate is $20, and the price of a printing press is $5,000. The last printer added 20 books to total output. Is this publisher making a rational decision? Why or why not?

rational decision about what? buying the last printing press? or hiring the last printer? In either case, you do not present enough information. In particular, you do not have the price a book sells for.

To determine whether ABC publishing is making a rational decision, let's analyze the situation step by step:

1. Calculate the cost of adding a printing press:
- 400 printers and 200 printing presses are being used.
- The price of a printing press is $5,000.
- Therefore, the total cost of printing presses is 200 x $5,000 = $1,000,000.

2. Calculate the cost of adding a printer:
- The last printer added 20 books to the total output.
- The wage rate of a printer is $20.
- Therefore, the cost of each book produced by a printer is $20 / 20 = $1.

3. Compare the cost of adding a printer with the cost of adding a printing press:
- The last printer added 20 books, so the cost of increasing the production by those 20 books is 20 x $1 = $20.
- The cost of adding a printing press is $1,000,000.
- The cost of adding a printer ($20) is significantly less than the cost of adding a printing press ($1,000,000).

Based on this analysis, it seems that ABC Publishing is making a rational decision by adding printers instead of printing presses. The cost of adding a printer to increase production by 20 books is much lower than the cost of adding a printing press. Therefore, it is a logical choice to continue using printers to meet the increased demand instead of investing in expensive printing presses.