Long-run and short-run cost curves

Let us now consider the relationship between the long-run cost curves and
the short-run cost curves. It is clear that the long-run cost curve must never
lie above any short-run cost curve, since the short-run cost minimization
problem is just a constrained version of the long-run cost minimization
problem.
Let us write the long-run cost function as c(y) = c(y, z(y)). Here we have
omitted the factor prices since they are assumed fixed, and we let z(y) be
the cost-minimizing demand for a single fixed factor. Let y* be some given
level of output, and let z* = z(y*) be the associated long-run demand for
the fwed factor. The short-run cost, c(y, z*), must be at least as great
as the long-run cost, c(y, ~ ( y ) )f,o r all levels of output, and the short-run
cost will equal the long-run cost at output y*, so c(y*, z*) = c(y*, ~(y*)).
Hence, the long- and the short-run cost curves must be tangent at y*.
This is just a geometric restatement of the envelope theorem. The slope
of the long-run cost curve at y* is