Answer:
The answer is: shift upward and have a flatter slope.
Explanation:
I will explain this using the following example:
The total costs of a company are calculated using the following formula:
Let's say the costs for producing 100 chairs is $2,000 fixed overhead and 15$ per chair (includes materials and direct labor). The total cost for producing those 100 chairs will be $2,000 + $1,500 = $3,500.
But the company buys new machinery and is able to lower the variable costs to $10 per chair but its fixed overhead increases to $2,500. The cost of producing the 100 chairs will be the same, $3,500, but its fixed will now be higher (the total expense line will shift upward) an the variable costs are lower now (the slope of the expense line will be flatter).
A decrease in the variable costs will favor larger production outputs, favoring economies of scale, even though fixed costs might also increase.