A monopoly firm decides to maximize revenue rather than profit.

Use a
diagram to explain what will happen to price and quantity.
Definitions:
Monopoly: One or occasionally a few firms dominate the market. The others
have to accept the market as established by the others. A perfect monopoly is
when there is a single supplier. However, a firm gets monopoly powers as its
market share edges above 25%. Some industries are natural monopolies, such
as water supply and basic power generation.
Profit maximization: Profit maximization occurs when MC = MR (Marginal cost
= marginal revenue)
Revenue maximization: Revenue maximization occurs when MR=0 (Marginal
revenue = 0)
Main ideas:
o

If a monopoly decides to maximize revenue rather than profit, then the

price of each unit of quantity sold will decrease, but the number of
units sold will increase.

The firm will lose profit despite more sales because the price of every unit
sold will decrease.

Explain how barriers to entry may affect market structure.

Barriers: These are what prevents other firms from entering the market and
they seek to protect the power of the existing firms.
Monopoly: One or occasionally a few firms dominate the market. The others
have to accept the market as established by the others. A perfect monopoly is
when there is a single supplier. However, a firm gets monopoly powers as its
market share edges above 25%.
high: example: Monopoly
other firms cant join the market easily.
consumers will not have a lot of choices
not as efficient

low: example: Perfect Competition

other firms can easily join.
a lot of firms
efficient

Explain
the difference between short-run and long-run equilibrium in
monopolistic competition.
Short Run:
As with other market structures, profits are maximized in monopolistic
competition where MC = MR. The AR and MR curves are more elastic than for
a monopolist as there are more substitutes available. The profits depend on
the strength of demand, the position and elasticity of the demand curve. In
the short run therefore firms may be able to make supernormal profits.

Long Run:
In the long run firms will enter the industry attracted by the supernormal
profits. This will mean that demand for the product of each firm will fall and
the AR (demand curve) will shift to the left. Long run equilibrium occurs
where only normal profits are being made as new firms will keep entering as
long as there are supernormal profits to be made. In equilibrium, the demand
curve (AR) will be tangential to the firms long run average cost curve as
shown in the
diagram
below.

Explain how a firm operating in an oligopolistic market might

attempt to increase it market share.
Oligopoly: A market structure where there is a small number of large firms
that dominate the market. Barriers to entry normally characterize the industry
in the long run and each firm must take into account the likely reaction of
other suppliers when considering changes in prices. For example OPEC.
Non-Price Competition
Spending on advertising and marketing to create and develop brand loyalty
among consumers. If successful this increases a firm's market share and
makes the demand for individual product ranges more inelastic. Consumer's
become less sensitive to price changes if they tend to consume products
habitually. Persuasive advertising seeks to change consumer preferences and
may have the impact of distorting consumer preferences by changing the
perceived utility or satisfaction from consuming a product. Consumer loyalty
cards; online shopping and home delivery.
Price competition
Price wars are a common characteristic of oligopolies. Firms may move away
from short-term profit maximization in an attempt to improve cash flow or
raise market share by heavy discounting of products - sometimes below the
average cost of supply (a "loss-leading strategy"). Those firms able to exploit
economies of scale will be better able to lower prices and still make an
economic profit. Economies of scale reduce the firm's long-run average costs
and raise the profit margin on each unit sold. Predatory pricing occurs when a
firm attempts to drive another supplier out of the market by lowering prices
aggressively to impose losses on other businesses

In theory of the firm, a distinction is made between short-run cost

curves and long-run cost curves. Using appropriate cost curve diagrams,
explain this distinction.
Definitions:
Economies of scale = an increase in a firm's scale of production
Diseconomies of scale = an increase in a firm's scale of production leads to a higher
average cost per units produced
2. Triple A:
In the short-run their capacity is fixed and so all they can do is employ more
variable factors. They cannot expand the scale or size of the firm. In the long run
though they can. We put the word scale in bold just now because it is important
economies of scale will only arise in the long run. In the short-run we get law of
diminishing returns
Economies and diseconomies of scale occur in the long run. Both economies and
diseconomies of scale apply at all levels of output, but economies predominate at
low outputs and diseconomies at high outputs
3. Main Idea: Short run cost curves can only change one variable factor to expand
production whereas long run cost curves may change all factors. With long run come
economies of scale as well as diseconomies of scale.

Guide

Paper 3

Costs
1. Calculate total, average and marginal product from a set of data and/or diagrams.
HOW TO: Total product is the output of workers as the number of workers increases
Average product is the output per worker = TP/# of workers
Marginal product is the output of the last worker = Change in total product /
change in the number of workers.
2. Calculate total fixed costs, total variable costs, total costs, average fixed costs,
average variable costs, average total costs and marginal costs from a set of data
and/or diagrams.
HOW TO: TFC is constant as output increases. It is the firms total cost when output
= 0.
TVC increases as output increase, at first at a decreasing rate (due to increasing
returns), and then at an increasing rate (due to diminishing marginal returns).
TC = TVC + TFC. If you know the firms fixed costs and its variable costs, TC can
easily be calculated.
AFC = TFC / Q of output. AFC falls as output increases as the firm spreads its
overhead. Graphically, it is the distance between AVC and ATC.
AVC = TVC / Quantity of output. AVC falls at first due to increasing returns and then
increases due to diminishing returns. MC and AVC should intersect at the lowest
point of AVC

ATC = AFC + AVC, or TC / Quantity of output. ATC lies ABOVE the AVC curve (since it
includes the average fixed costs), and will intersect MC at its lowest pont.
MC = the change in TC / the change in output. It is the cost of the last unit produced.
MC sloped down when a firms workers experience increasing returns and upwards
once the firm experiences diminishing marginal returns.
Revenues:
1. Calculate total revenue, average revenue and marginal revenue from a set of data
and/or diagrams.
HOW TO: Total revenue (TR) = price X quantity.
Average revenue (AR) is simply the price of the good. The demand curve can be
labelled D=AR=P to help you remember this.
Marginal revenue (MR) = the change in total revenue divided by the change in
quantity. This is the change in total revenue resulting from the last unit sold. For a
PC firm, MR is constant and equal to the market price (since the firm is a price taker
and can sell additional units for the same price.) But for an imperfectly competitive
firm, MR is lower than price beyond the first unit of output, since the firm must
lower its price to sell additional units of output. MR fall twice as steeply as the
D=AR=P curve in an imperfect competitor diagram.

Profit:
1. Calculate different profit levels from a set of data and/or diagrams.
HOW TO: Economic profit is usually found by the following equation. Profit = (PATC)Q. Find the per-unit profit (P-ATC) and multiply it by the quantity of output (Q).
If you are given total revenue (TR) and total cost (TC) data, than economic profit =
TR-TC.
If ATC>P or if TC>TR, then the firms profit is negative, and it is earning losses.
Perfect Competition:
1. Calculate the short run shutdown price and the breakeven price from a set of data
HOW TO: A firm should shut down if the price in the market is lower than the firms
minimum average variable cost. At this point, the firms total losses are greater than
its total fixed costs, so it will LOSE LESS by shutting down!
A firm will break even when the price in the market equals the firms minimum ATC,
or if the TR = TC (see above). Economic profits = 0.
Monopoly:
1. Calculate from a set of data and/or diagrams the revenue maximizing level of
output.
HOW TO: Total revenue is maximized when MR=0. If you have a table you can
calculate the change in TR at each level of output, and when this equals zero, the

firm would be maximizing its total revenues. Anything beyond this level of output,
MR will be negative and the firms revenues will begin to fall.