Pure Monopoly, Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly Test Flashcards
What are the types of monopolies and examples of them?
- government owned monopolies: TVA power, municipal water
- regulated monopolies: gas, electric, water, cable, phone
- private unregulated monopolies: De Beers Diamond Syndicate, Pro Sports Leagues
- local monopolies: airline, bank, movie, bookstore
What are the barriers to entry for a pure monopoly?
- Economies of scale
- Public Utilities: natural monopolies
- Legal barriers: patents and licenses
- Ownership of raw materials
- Pricing and other strategic barriers
- product disparagement
- pressure on resource supplier
- aggressive price cutting
- dumping: flooding the market
What is a cooperative?
Group of individuals working together
What is an unregulated monopoly also called?
Non-discriminatory
What are the assumptions in an unregulated monopoly?
- monopoly status secured by patents, economies of scale, or resource ownership
- firm is not regulated
- the firm is a single price monopolist charging the same for all units of output
Why is the demand curve of an unregulated monopoly sloping downward?
To sell more of his goods, the monopolist must lower his price
What price does the monopolist charge?
The highest price he can
What portion of the demand curve must the monopolist operate in?
The elastic portion
Why must the monopolist operate in the elastic portion of the demand curve?
Because in the inelastic region, it must lower the price
Why is the imperfectly elastic firm’s MR curve below their demand curve?
Because monopolists must lower the prices on all units to increase sales
Where is the elastic portion of the demand graph?
Anything left of when MR=0
For an unregulated monopoly how do you find the quantity to produce?
Find MR=MC
In an unregulated monopoly’s demand curve how do you find the price?
Find the point on the demand curve that corresponds with quantity being produced
How do you find the profit/loss for an unregulated monopoly curve?
Find the ATC curve and determine whether its above or below the price
Why is there no supply curve for an unregulated monopoly?
They are the supply
A pure monopolist will
Charge a higher price and sell a lower quantity
To know that a graph is a graph of a monopoly look for
The MR curve below the demand curve
Pure monopoly
P > min ATC
P > MC
-neither allocative nor productive efficiency