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Chapter 11
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Laugher Curve
Q. How many economists does it take to screw in a light bulb? A. Eight. One to screw it in and seven to hold everything else constant.
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Perfect Competition
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This requirement means that each firm's output is indistinguishable from any competitor's product.
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If all the necessary conditions for perfect competition exist, we can talk formally about the supply of a produced good.
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Supply is a schedule of quantities of goods that will be offered to the market at various prices.
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When a firm operates in a perfectly competitive market, its supply curve is that portion of its short-run marginal cost curve above average variable cost.
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Individual firms will increase their output in response to an increase in demand even though that will cause the price to fall thus making all firms collectively worse off.
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Marginal Revenue
A perfect competitor accepts the market price as given. As a result, marginal revenue equals price (MR = P).
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Marginal Cost
Initially, marginal cost falls and then begins to rise. Marginal concepts are best defined between the numbers.
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Profit Maximization: MC = MR
To maximize profits, a firm should produce where marginal cost equals marginal revenue.
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MC
$35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00 35.00
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Quantity A A C B P = D = MR
$28.00 20.00 16.00 14.00 12.00 17.00 22.00 30.00 40.00 54.00 68.00
The marginal cost curve is the firm's supply curve above the point where price exceeds average variable cost.
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Marginal cost C
A B
9 10 Quantity
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Quantity
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Marginal Average Total P = MR Output Total Cost Cost Total Cost Revenue
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Marginal Average Total P = MR Output Total Cost Cost Total Cost Revenue
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The intersection of MC = MR (P) determines the quantity the firm will produce if it wishes to maximize profits.
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The firm will shut down if it cannot cover average variable costs.
A firm should continue to produce as long as price is greater than average variable cost. If price falls below that point it makes sense to shut down temporarily and save the variable costs.
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The shutdown point is the point at which the firm will be better off it it shuts down than it will if it stays in business.
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Quantity
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The market supply curve is the horizontal sum of all the firms' marginal cost curves, taking account of any changes in input prices that might occur.
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Price 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
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SRATC P = MR
LRATC
Quantity
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Industry supply and demand curves come together to lead to long-run equilibrium.
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An Increase in Demand
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An Increase in Demand
If input prices remain constant, the new equilibrium will be at the original price but with a higher output.
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An Increase in Demand
The original firms return to their original output but since there are more firms in the market, the total market output increases.
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An Increase in Demand
In the short run, the price does more of the adjusting. In the long run, more of the adjustment is done by quantity.
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Price S1SR
Firm
MC AC
B C
SLR
$9 Profit 7
B A
700
8401,200 Quantity
1012 Quantity
Long-Run Market Supply LongIn the long run firms earn zero profits. If the long-run industry supply curve is perfectly elastic, the market is a constantcost industry.
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If inputs are specialized, factor prices are likely to rise when the increase in the industry-wide demand for inputs to production increases.
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This rise in factor costs would force costs up for each firm in the industry and increases the price at which firms earn zero profit.
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If input prices decline when industry output expands, individual firms' marginal cost curves shift down and the long-run supply curve is downward sloping.
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A Decreasing-Cost Industry DecreasingInput prices may decline to the zero-profit condition when output rises. New entrants make it more cost-effective for other firms to provide services to all firms in the market.
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Price exceeded average variable cost, so it continued to keep some stores open even though those stores were losing money.
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Quantity
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Perfect Competition
End of Chapter 11
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