chapter 10 Flashcards
pure monopolist
- firm that is the only supplier of a unique product with no subs
why do monopolies occur
- single firm owns a key resource
- gov gives a single firm rights to produce a good
- network economies (ex. microsoft used in 80% of computers)
- natural monopoly: single firm can produce the entire market Q at a cost lower than could several firms
revenue concepts for single price monopolist
- negatively sloped demand curve
- trade off between price charged and quantity sold
- to sell more, lower price
- if monopolist charges same price for all units, TR = P x Q
average revenue for monopolist
- total revenue / Q
- (p x q)/ q = p
- demand curve is also AR curve
Marginal revenue
- revenue resulting form sale of one more unit of product
- delta TR/deltaQ
- bc downward sloping demand, must reduce price that it charges on all units to sell an extra unit
- price received for extra unit is not the marginal revenue because some revenue lost by reducing price
marginal revenue curve
- the same vertical intercept as the demand curve and horizontal intercept only half as large as that of the demand curve
short run profit maximization
- maximizing output Q where MR = MC
- price determined by demand curve
- positive profits if price exceeds ATC
- no supply curve because not a price taker
- chooses profit maximizing quantity price combinations from possible combos on demand curve
competitive vs monopoly: output and price
- level of output of monopoly industry is less than level of output of competitive
- for competitive price = MC
- for monopoly price > MC
competitive vs monopoly: economic surplus
- mroe economic surplus if monopolist increases level of output
- monopolists profit maximizing decision to restrict output below competitive level creates loss of economic surplus - DWL
- leads to market inefficiency
the very long run and creative destruction
- technological changes and innovations in the vlr can create entry barriers
- schumpeter: monopoly provides incentives to innovate
- replacement of monopolists through innovation
- sometimes gov help needed to break monopolies
cartel
- coalition of firms that agree to restrict output for purpose of gaining economic profit
- normally involve several firms
- agreements not legally enforceable and can be unstable
- temptation to cheat
cartel problems
- any one firm has incentive to cheat
- if all firms cheat, price falls to competitive level and joint profits wont eb maximized
- cartels must be able to prevent entry
- cartels are often able to control entry by restricting number of licences in industry
price discrimination
- charging different buyers different prices for the same good or service
how is price discrimination possible
- separate markets into submarkets, each with a different demand curve and charge a different price in each submarket
- prevent buyers from buying at a low price in one submarket and reselling at a higher price in another submarket
price discrimination among units of output
- firm captures consumer surplus by charging different prices for different units sold
price discrimination among market segments
usually easier for firms to distinguish between different groups fo consumers (market segments) than to detect individuals willingness to pay for different units of product - more common
perfect price discrimination
- monopolist charges each customer exactly what they are willing to pay
- production level the same as a perfectly competitive market (p=mc) but consumer surplus vanishes
- all economic surplus becomes producer surplus
- no DWL
hurdle pricing
- when firms create obstacle that consumers must overcome to get lower price
- consumers assign themselves to diff segments
- those who want to jump hurdle to benefit and those who dont want to jump and are willing ot pay
consequences of price discrimination
- monopolist that price discriminates will produce more output than a single price monopolist
- if price discrimination leads to increase in total output, total economic surplus will increase and outcome will be more efficient