For a firm in a perfectly competitive product market, the marginal resource cost curve is horizontal if the resource market is also competitive.

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In a perfectly competitive product market, the firm is a price taker and the marginal revenue (MR) is equal to the price. Since marginal product (MP) is assumed to be constant in the short run, the firm's optimal resource use occurs where the marginal cost of resources (MRC) equals MR. If the resource market is also perfectly competitive, the MRC will be equal to the price of the resource, which is assumed to be constant. Therefore, the marginal resource cost curve will be horizontal in this case.

For a Firm in a Perfectly Competitive Product Market, the Marginal