What is meant by prices being rigid? How can oligopoly behavior lead to such an outcome?
Price rigidity implies that the price is unresponsive to the changes in demand. This is because of the fact that even if any firm raises the price of its product with the motive of earning higher profits, the other firm will not do so, and the first firm will lose its customers. On the other hand, if one firm lowers its price in order to earn higher profits by maximising its sales, then in response, the other firm may also reduce the price. Consequently, the increase in total market sales is shared by both the firms. The firm that initiated selling at a lower price may get a lower share of the increase than expected. Therefore, the firms do not change their prices due to the fear of rival reaction. Hence, there is no incentive for any firm to change its price. That is why the prices are regarded as rigid prices or sticky prices.
List the three different ways in which oligopoly firms may have.
Will the monopolist firm continue to produce in the short run if a loss is incurred at the best short run level of output?
Comment on the shape of MR curve in case when TR curve is a
(a) Positively sloped straight line
(b) Horizontal straight line
If duo poly behavior is one that is described by Cornet, the market demand curve is given by the equation q = 200 - 4p and both the firms have zero costs, find the quantity supplied by each firm in equilibrium and the equilibrium market price.
A monopoly firm has a total fixed cost of Rs 100 and has the following demand schedule:
Quantity |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
Marginal Revenue |
100 |
90 |
80 |
70 |
60 |
50 |
40 |
30 |
20 |
10 |
Find the short run equilibrium quantity, price and total profit. What would be the equilibrium in the long run? In case the total cost is Rs.1000, describe the equilibrium in the short run and in the long run.
Explain why the demand curve facing a firm under monopolistic competition is negatively sloped.
From the schedule provided below calculate the total revenue, demand curve and the price elasticity of demand:
Quantity |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Marginal Revenue |
10 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
- |
What would be the shape of the demand curve so that the total revenue curve is?
(a) A positively sloped straight line passing through the origin?
(b) A horizontal line?
If the monopolist firm of Exercise 3 was a public sector firm. The government set a rule for its manager to accept the government fixed price as given (i.e. to be a price taker and therefore behave as a firm in a perfectly competitive market). And the government has decided to set the price so that demand and supply in the market are equal. What would be the equilibrium price, quantity and profit in this case?
The market demand curve for a commodity and the total cost for a monopoly firm producing the commodity are given in the schedules below.
Quantity |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
Price |
52 |
44 |
37 |
31 |
26 |
22 |
19 |
16 |
13 |
Quantity |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
Price |
10 |
60 |
90 |
100 |
102 |
105 |
109 |
115 |
125 |
Use the information given to calculate the following:
(a) The MIR and MC schedules
(b) The quantities for which MIR and MC are equal
(c) The equilibrium quantity of output and the equilibrium price of the commodity
(d) The total revenue, total cost and total profit in the equilibrium
Explain the concept of a production function
Explain market equilibrium.
Discuss the central problems of an economy.
What are the characteristics of a perfectly competitive market?
What do you mean by the budget set of a consumer?
What is the total product of input?
When do we say that there is an excess demand for a commodity in the market?
What do you mean by the production possibilities of an economy?
How are the total revenue of a firm, market price, and the quantity sold by the firm related to each other?
What is budget line?
Distinguish between microeconomics and macroeconomics.
What do you understand by normative economic analysis?
How does an increase in the number of firms in a market affect the market supply curve?
The following table gives the average product schedule of labour. Find the total product and marginal product schedules. It is given that the total product is zero at zero level of labour employment.
What is the ‘price line’?
What do you mean by the production possibilities of an economy?
Why does the SMC curve cut the AVC curve at the minimum point of the AVC curve?
What is the supply curve of a firm in the long run?
Explain the concept of a production function
A shift in demand curve has a larger effect on price and smaller effect on quantity when the number of firms is fixed compared to the situation when free entry and exits is permitted. Explain.