Market structure Flashcards
Characteristics of perfect competition
- infinite number of suppliers and consumers - 1) No firm has market power 2) Each firm is ‘price taker’
- consumers have perfect info
- producers have perfect info
- products are homogenous (perfect substitutes)
- firms are profit maximisers - firms produce where MC=MR
Perfect Competition - Allocative efficiency and externalities
- allocative efficiency occurs when P=MSC
- perfect competition results in long run equilibrium where P=MPC
- if there are negative externalities then MPC there’s allocative efficiency -> overconsumption and overproduction
Perfect Competition - No Supernormal profits
- no firm will make supernormal profits in the long run -> any short term SN profits attract new firms to market -> SN profits competed away in long term
Perfect Competition - Productive Efficiency
- comes from all firms trying to max. profits
- only achieved if no economies of scale - infinite number of firms -> each firm is very small -> can’t take advantage of the economies of scale
Perfect Competition - Dynamic Efficiency
- in perfect competition no reward for taking risks as only normal profits made therefore no dynamic efficiency. Can achieve degree of dynamic efficiency without becoming too allocatively and productively inefficient
Perfect Competition - Static Efficiency
- if allocative and production efficiently achieved at any point - static efficiency. Can’t last forever as consumer taste changes
Government policies to move economies closer to perfect competition
- encourage new enterprises with advice and subsidies
- increase consumer knowledge by ensuring that comparison information available
- introduce more consumer choice in public area -> might involve internal markets such as health and schooling
- privatise and deregulate monopolistic nationalised industries
- discourage mergers and takeovers (lower number of firms)
- encourage more international competition e.g. EU
Barriers to entry due to incumbent firms’ actions
- innovative new product/service can give firm head start and make it difficult for new entrant to overcome. If new tech is patented - legally protected.
- strong branding makes products well known to consumers and as first choice - difficulty for new entrants
- genuinely better products or effective advertising mean the barrier to entry is the expense in attracting consumers away from market leaders
- predatory pricing - new entrants can’t match lower prices of large firms (EOS) therefore driven out of market
- the threat of ‘price war’ can defer new firms
Barriers to entry due to nature of an industry
- some industries require huge amounts of capital investment before any revenue is made (e.g. steel production) -> large cost means new entrants cant break through
- barriers to exit - sunk costs, including investment, can’t be recovered when a firm leaves an industry -> new entrants deterred from entering market
Barriers to entry due to government regulations
- if an activity requires a licence, restricts number and speed entry of rims. Also, in a regulated industry (e.g. banking), firms need to approved by a regulator before they can carry out certain activities
- new factories may need planning permission before being built
- regulations regarding health and safety and working conditions that firms need to keep to
Advantages of new entrants
- not all new entrants to market are small firms -> larger firms can diversify into new markets as they have larger financial resources
Monopolies - How they come about
- barriers to entry preventing new entrants to markets
- advertising and product differentiation - firm may act as price maker if consumers see products as more desirable than other firms’
- few competitors in market - more price-making power and easier to differentiate products
How a firm behaves in a monopoly market
- assuming firm is profit maximiser, level of output is where MC=MR
- difference between AC and P is supernormal profit per unit
- barriers to entry are total therefore profits aren’t competed away
- this is long run equilibrium position for monopolist
Drawbacks of how a firm behaves in a monopoly market
- at long run equilibrium position MC isn’t equal to AC therefore not productively efficient
- P>MC therefore not allocatively efficient
- due to restricted supply, product underconsumed
- no need to increase efficiency therefore X-inefficiency will remain high
- restricted consumer choice
- monopsonist power may be used to exploit suppliers
Natural monopolies
- industries with high fixed costs and for large EOS lead to natural monopolies
- if more than one firm in industry, then they would all have same high fixed costs -> higher costs per customer than could be obtained by single firm
- monopoly might be more efficient than having lots of time competing
- will have continuous EOS (MC always < AC). A profit max monopoly will restrict output to MC=MR
- government reluctant to break up NMs as might reduce efficiency. However may provide subsidies to natural monopoly to increase output to point where AR=MC -> will reduce price
Benefits of monopolies
- monopsonists large size means can take advantage from EOS -> can keep AC low (if DEOS avoided)
- security and SN profits mean firm can invest in innovating new products -> dynamic efficiency
- financial security means firm can provide stable employment
- intellectual property rights allow form of limited monopoly in consumers interest (better products) - e.g. copyright and patents allow firm exclusive use of innovative ideas -> SN profits may be made -> without IPR, firms no incentive to innovate as better products will be copied and take profits away
Monopsony
- single buyer dominates market
- monopsonist can act as price maker and drive down prices - e.g. supermarkets may exploit their suppliers by forcing low prices but this may be in consumer interest if low prices passed on
- if firm is single buyer of labour, may lower wages of its employees
Price discrimination
- when a seller charges different prices to different customers for exactly same products
- attempts to turn consumer surplus into additional revenue
Conditions needed for firm to use price discrimination
- seller must have some price making power
- firms must be able to distinguish separate groups of customers who have different PEDs
- must be able to prevent seepage (customers reselling product at higher price)
First degree price discrimination
- each individual customer charged max they’re willing to pay
- would turn all consumer surplus into extra revenue
- cost of gathering required info to do this and difficulty in preventing seepage makes this method unlikely to be used
Second degree price discrimination
- often used in wholesale markets, where lower prices are charged to people who purchase large quantities
- turns some of consumer surplus into revenue and encourages large orders
Third degree price discrimination
- when a firm charges different prices for same product to different segments of market. E.g. different ages, customers who buy at different times, customers in different places, customers with different incomes (student discounts)
Evaluation of price discrimination
- although seller increases revenue at expense of consumer, extra revenue could be used to improve products, or invested in more efficient production methods which may lead to lower prices
- AC>MC therefore price discrimination doesn’t lead to allocative efficiency
- people with higher income often end up paying more but can afford it therefore might be seen as fair especially if the greater profits made from some customer used to subsidise lower prices paid by others
Oligopoly - in terms of market structure
- a market dominated by just a few firms
- has high barriers to entry
- firms offer differentiated products