ECON 2030 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Monopolistic Competition, Perfect Competition, Market Structure
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Salvatore Chapter 1:
Discussion Questions: 9. How is the concept of a normal return on investment related to the distinction between business and economic profit?
Problems:
5. Determine which of the two investment projects a manager should choose if the discount rate of the firm is 10%. The first project promises a profit of $100,000 in each of the next 4 years, while the second project promises a profit of $75,000 in each of the next 6 years.
6. Determine which of the two investment projects of Problem 5 the manager should choose if the discount rate of the firm is 20%.
15. Integration Problem Samantha Roberts has a job as a pharmacist earning $30,000 per year, and she is deciding whether to take another job as the manager of another pharmacy for $40,000 per year or to purchase a pharmacy that generates a revenue of $200,000per year. To purchase the pharmacy, Samantha would have to use her $20,000 savings and borrow another $80,000 at an interest rate of 10% per year. The pharmacy that Samantha is contemplating purchasing has additional expenses of $80,000 for supplies, $40,000 for hired help, $10,000 for rent, and $5,000 for utilities. Assume that income and business taxes are zero and that the repayment of the principle of the loan does not start before 3 years. (a) What would be the business and economic profit if Samantha purchased the pharmacy? Should Samantha purchase the pharmacy? (b) Suppose that Samantha expects that another pharmacy will open nearby at the end of 3 years and that this will drive the economic profit of the pharmacy to zero. What would the revenue of the pharmacy be in 3 years? (c) What theory of profit would account for profits being earned by the pharmacy during the first 3 years of operation? (d) Suppose that Samantha expects to sell the pharmacy at the end of 3 years for $50,000 more than the price she paid for it and that she requires a 15% return on her investment. Should she still purchase the pharmacy?
Spreadsheet Problem (see attached Excel doc)
Using the data below, (Excel doc) where column A represents student numbers, column B the finishing time for a 1 mile race for 10 students, and column C the age of the students, (a) Use the data analysis tools to plot a line graph of all the finishing times. (b) Calculate a mean, median, mode, sample variance, sample standard deviation, and coefficient of variation to statistically describe the data. (c) Use Excel to fine the covariance between the two variables. What does the covariance indicate about the relationship between finishing time and age?
Note:
P15(d): Change â⦠for $50,000 more than â¦â to â⦠for $50,000 less than â¦â Compare the present value of economic profit in each of the next three years and the loss of $50,000 in the third year using 15% as the discount rate.
The spreadsheet problem (b): Calculate a mean, â¦. to statistically describe the data of both variables, Time and Age.
Individual problems:
3-1 You won a free ticket to see a Bruce Springsteen concert (assume the ticket has no resale value). U2 has a concert the same knight, and this represents your next-best alternative activity. Tickets to the U2 concert cost $80, and on any particular day, you would be willing to pay up to $100 to see this band. Assume that there are no additional costs of seeing either show. Based on the information presented, what is the opportunity cost of seeing Bruce Springsteen?
3-3 Because of the housing bubble, many houses are now selling for much less than their selling price just 2 to 3 years ago. There is evidence that homeowners with virtually identical houses tend to ask for more is they paid more for the house. What fallacy are they making?
Salvatore Chapter 3:
Discussion Questions:
9. How would you react to a sales managerâs announcement that he or she has in place a marketing program to maximize sales?
Problems:
1(a). Given the following total-revenue function: TR= 9Q - Q^2
Derive the total-, average-, and marginal- revenue schedules from Q=0 to Q=6 by 1âs.
7. Given the total-cost schedule: Q 0 1 2 3 4
TC 1 12 14 15 20
Derive the average- and marginal-cost schedules.
9. With the total-revenue curve of Problem 1 and the total-cost curve of problem 7, derive the total-profit function and show how the firm determines the profit-maximizing level of output.
Note:
DQ9: Does maximum sales (revenue) equal maximum profit (see figure 3-4)?
Revised P1(a): Derive the total-revenue, average-revenue, and marginal-revenue schedules from Q = 0 to Q = 4 by 1s.
Average revenue (AR) = total revenue (TR)/Q
Marginal revenue (MR) = change in total revenue/change in Q
For example:
Q | TR | AR | MR |
2 | 14 | 7 (=14/2) | |
3 | 18 | 6 (=18/3) | 4 (=(18-14)/(3-2) |
Revised P9: With the total-revenue schedule of Problem 1 and the total-cost schedule of Problem 7, show the profit-maximizing level of output (profit=TR-TC).
Froeb et al. Chapter 4:
Individual problems:
4-5 Your insurance firm processes claims through its newer, larger high-tech facility and its older, smaller low-tech facility. Each month, the high-tech facility handles 10,000 claims, incurs $100,000 in fixed costs and $100,000 in variable costs. Each month, the low-tech facility handles 2,000 claims, incurs $16,000 in fixed costs and $24,000 in variable costs. If you anticipate a decrease in the number of claims, where will you lay off workers?
4-6 A copier company wants to expand production. It currently has 20 workers who share eight copiers. Two months ago, the firm added two new copiers, and output increased by 100,000 pages per day. One month ago, they added five workers, and productivity also increased by 50,000 pages per day. Copiers cost about twice as much as workers. Would you recommend they hire another employee or buy another copier?
I have the following questions for my Managerial Economics course.
1. A principal-agent problems occur when managerial decisions are not consistent with the firm's shareholders' interests. A) TrueB) False 2. A firm making more than a normal profit may still be experiencing an economic loss. A) TrueB) False 3. An inferior good is a good whose demand decreases as its prices decreases. A) TrueB) False 4. Assuming that crude oil is an input to automobile tires as well as to gasoline, a reduction in the tariff on imported crude oil would likely result in an increase in the number of tires sold but tire prices may increase or decrease. A) TrueB) False 5. Other things remaining unchanged, advertisement would likely make demand for a good more price elastic. A) TrueB) False 6. The cross price elasticity demand for a good with respect to the price of a complementary good is negative. A) TrueB) False 7. When the marginal product of labor is smaller than its average product, marginal cost will be smaller than average variable cost. A) TrueB) False 8. With capital measured along the vertical axis and labor along the horizontal axis the slope of an isoquant is equal to the ratio between the price of capital over the price of labor. A) TrueB) False 9. If the ratio between the price of labor and the price of capital (w/r) is smaller than the ration between the marginal product of labor and the marginal product of capital, the firm should hire more capital. A) TrueB) False 10. Normally the ratio between the price of a variable input and the marginal product of that input is equal to marginal cost. A) TrueB) False 11. When labor is a variable input the product of wage and marginal product of labor is equal to the profit-maximizing price. A) TrueB) False 12. If the price falls below the average total cost the firm may not shut down in the short run. A) TrueB) False 13. When a perfectly competitive firm is producing at its profit maximizing level of output, its MR is equal to price and its MC while it may or may not be making an economic profit. A) TrueB) False 14. The price a profit maximizing monopoly charges is always greater than its marginal cost as well as it MR while it may not be greater than its ATC. A) TrueB) False 15. As new firms enter a monopolistically competitive market, the demand faced by each competing firm becomes more inelastic. A) TrueB) False 16. The long-run equilibrium of a monopoly is characterized by its price being equal to its MR but always greater than its ATC. A) TrueB) False 17. A monopolistically competitive firm sets its price equal to its MR, while keeping it above MC. A) TrueB) False 18. We say that the long-run equilibrium of a monopolistically competitive firm reflects excess capacity because its MC is not equal to its ATC. A) TrueB) False 19. In a duopoly with a zero marginal cost, according to the Cournot model, at equilibrium the sum of the two firms' output would be more than 50 percent of the market demand at a zero price. A) TrueB) False 20. In the kinked demand curve model it is assumed that the demand faced by an oligopoly is less elastic when it lowers the price but more elastic when it raises the price. A) TrueB) False 21. A distinguishing characteristic of monopolistically competitive market is price discrimination. A) TrueB) False 22. The general explanation for the relative price stability in an oligopolistic market is the existence of some degree of decision interdependency among the firms in the market. A) TrueB) False |