1

Correction to Lecture 11
Econ 101A, Spring 2016

When deriving
d2 K
dL2
I used partial derivative notation where I should have used total derivative notation. The
correct notation is as follows:

d2 K
 
d dK
=
dL2 dL dL
 
d fL
=
dL fK
(dfL /dL)fK (dfK /dL)fL
= .
fK2

Since fL and fK are both functions of L and K we have

dfL (L, K) dK
= fLL + fLK ,
dL dL
dfK (L, K) dK
= fKL + fKK ,
dL dL

where
fL fL fK fK
fLL = , fLK = = = fKL , fKK = .
L K L K
Then

d2 K fK (fLL + fKL (fL /fK )) fL (fKL + fKK (fL /fK ))

=
dL2 fK2
fK fLL 2fL fKL + fKK (fL2 /fK )
= .
fK2

To ensure that
d2 K
> 0,
dL2
 2

it is sufficient (though not necessary) that fKL > 0.