ECO 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Marginal Cost, Average Variable Cost, Perfect Competition

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tanwildebeest705

7 Apr 2016

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Price taking producers: producers action cannot affect the market price of the good or service. Price taking consumer: consumer who cannot influence the market price of the good or service by his/her actions. Perfectly competitive market: both consumers and producers are price takers. Neither consumption decisions by individual consumers nor production decisions by individual producers affect market price of a good. Perfectly competitive industry: industry in which producers are price takers. Industry has to be perfectly competitive, it must contain many producers, none of whom have large market shares. Market shares: fraction of the total industry output accounted for by the producer"s output. Standardized product: product which consumers regard as the same even though it comes from different producers. Commodity: a standardized product is known as a commodity. Free entry and exit: it is easy to become a part of the market, and easy to leave the market. Optimal output rule: profit is maximized by producing the marginal cost.

Related Questions

1. Characteristics of competitive markets

The model of competitive markets relies on these three core assumptions:

1.	There must be many buyers and sellers a few players can't dominate the market.
2.	Firms must produce identical products buyers must regard all sellers' products as equivalent.
3.	Firms and resources must be fully mobile, allowing free entry into and exit from the industry.

The first two conditions imply that all consumers and firms are price takers. While the third is not necessary for price-taking behavior, assume for this problem that a market cannot maintain competition in the long run without free entry.

Identify whether or not each of the following scenarios describes a competitive market, along with the correct explanation of why or why not.

Scenario	Competitive?
The government has granted the U.S. Postal Service the exclusive right to deliver mail.	________________
Several stores in the mall sell hooded sweatshirts. Each store's sweatshirts reflect the style of that particular store. Additionally, some makers use higher-quality cotton than others, which is reflected in the apparel's prices.
Two taxi companies serve most of the market in a big city. Consumers don't care about which taxi company they take if they decide it's worth taking a taxi, they flag down the nearest one.	_________________
There are dozens of pasta producers that sell pasta to hundreds of Italian restaurants nationwide. The restaurant owners buy from the cheapest pasta producer available to

copperhamster111

1. When a firm is in a monopolistic competition market, if the firm sells 25 goods at a product price of $10, what is the marginal revenue per unit of the good sold if it sells 5 additional goods when it reduced the product price to $9.

A. $270 B. $20 C. $4 D. $2.50

2. An article in the New York Times on technology in the 1990s, Michael Lewis wrote, 'The sad truth, for investors, seems to be that most of the benefits of new technologies are passed right through to consumers free of charge.' Lewis meant what when he said the benefits of new technology were "passed right through to consumers free of charge'?

A. In perfect competition, price equals the marginal cost of production. In this sense, consumers receive the new technology 'free of charge.'

B. In perfect competition, consumers place a value on the food equal to its marginal cost of production and since they are willing to pay the marginal valuation of the good, they are essentially receiving the new technology 'free of charge.'

C. In the long run, price equals the lowest possible average cost of production. In this sense, consumers receive the new technology 'free of charge.'

D. Firms in perfect competition are price takers. Since they cannot influence price, they cannot dictate who benefits from new technologies, even if the benefits of new technology being "passed right through to consumers free of charge.

3. 'The perfectly competitive market structure benefits consumers because.

A. Firms are forced by competitive pressure to be as efficient as possible.

B. Firms produce high-quality goods at low prices.

C. Firms add a much smaller markup over average cost than firms in any other type of market structure.

D. Firms do not produce goods at the lowest possible price in the long run.

cerisekoala77

1. A perfectly elastic demand function

Select one:

a. is characteristic of an individual firm operating in a perfectly competitive market.

b. shows that a consumer is willing to pay any amount for the product.

c. shows that the individual firm can increase sales by lowering the price of output.

d. has a marginal revenue that is always decreasing.

2. Your local farmer has many competitors and exists in a market structure known as perfect competition. This means that price is determined outside of the individual farmer's ability to charge a price higher than the going market for a bushel of wheat, hence the farmer is

Select one:

a. a price maker and can therefore charge different customers different prices.

b. a price taker and cannot affect the market price of wheat.

c. always able to price produce above the competition and earn a larger profit.

d. never able to determine any prices he charges for anything, such as soybeans

3. All of the following are true regarding perfectly competitive price determination EXCEPT

Select one:

a. the individual firm takes the market price as given.

b. the individual firm is known as a market price maker.

c. the individual firm's marginal revenue curve is horizontal at the market price.

d. the market price is determined by the interactions among all buyers (households) and firms.

redhornet79

ECO 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Marginal Cost, Average Variable Cost, Perfect Competition

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