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A Lecture Presentation in PowerPoint
to Accompany
Principles of Economics
Second Edition
by
N. Gregory Mankiw
Prepared by Mark P. Karscig, Department of Economics &
Finance, Central Missouri State University.
Ten Principles of
Economics
Chapter 1
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
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Economy. . .
. . . The word economy comes from a
Greek word for “one who manages a
household.”
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A household and an economy
face many decisions:
?Who will work?
?What goods and how many of them
should be produced?
?What resources should be used in
production?
?At what price should the goods be
sold?
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Society and Scarce Resources:
The management of society’s
resources is important because
resources are scarce.
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Scarcity . . .
. . . means that society has limited
resources and therefore cannot
produce all the goods and services
people wish to have.
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Economics
Economics is the study of how
society manages its scarce
resources.
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Economists study. . .
?How people make decisions.
?How people interact with each other.
?The forces and trends that affect the
economy as a whole.
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Ten Principles of Economics
How People Make Decisions
1. People face tradeoffs.
2. The cost of something is what you give
up to get it.
3. Rational people think at the margin.
4. People respond to incentives.
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Ten Principles of Economics
How People Interact
5. Trade can make everyone better off.
6. Markets are usually a good way to
organize economic activity.
7. Governments can sometimes improve
economic outcomes.
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Ten Principles of Economics
How the Economy as a Whole Works
8. The standard of living depends on a
country’s production.
9. Prices rise when the government prints
too much money.
10. Society faces a short-run tradeoff
between inflation and unemployment.
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1. People face tradeoffs.
“There is no such thing
as a free lunch!”
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1. People face tradeoffs.
To get one thing, we usually
have to give up another thing.
? Guns v. butter
? Food v. clothing
? Leisure time v. work
? Efficiency v. equity
Making decisions requires trading
off one goal against another.
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1. People face tradeoffs.
Efficiency v. Equity
?Efficiency means society gets the most
that it can from its scarce resources.
?Equity means the benefits of those
resources are distributed fairly among
the members of society.
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2. The cost of something is
what you give up to get it.
Decisions require comparing costs and
benefits of alternatives.
? Whether to go to college or to work?
? Whether to study or go out on a date?
? Whether to go to class or sleep in?
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2. The cost of something is
what you give up to get it.
The opportunity cost of an
item is what you give up to
obtain that item.
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3. Rational people think at the
margin.
Marginal changes are small, incremental
adjustments to an existing plan of action.
People make decisions by comparing
costs and benefits at the margin.
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4. People respond to incentives.
?Marginal changes in costs or benefits
motivate people to respond.
?The decision to choose one alternative
over another occurs when that
alternative’s marginal benefits exceed its
marginal costs!
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4. People respond to incentives.
LA Laker basketball
star Kobe Bryant chose
to skip college and go
straight to the NBA
from high school when
offered a $10 million
contract.
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5. Trade can make everyone
better off.
?People gain from their ability to
trade with one another.
?Competition results in gains from
trading.
?Trade allows people to specialize in
what they do best.
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6. Markets are usually a good
way to organize economic
activity.
?In a market economy, households
decide what to buy and who to work
for.
?Firms decide who to hire and what
to produce.
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6. Markets are usually a good
way to organize economic
activity.
Adam Smith made the
observation that households
and firms interacting in
markets act as if guided by an
“invisible hand.”
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6. Markets are usually a good
way to organize economic
activity.
?Because households and firms look at prices
when deciding what to buy and sell, they
unknowingly take into account the social
costs of their actions.
?As a result, prices guide decision makers to
reach outcomes that tend to maximize the
welfare of society as a whole.
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7. Governments can
sometimes improve market
outcomes.
When the market fails (breaks
down) government can intervene to
promote efficiency and equity.
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7. Governments can
sometimes improve market
outcomes.
Market failure occurs when
the market fails to allocate
resources efficiently.
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7. Governments can
sometimes improve market
outcomes.
Market failure may be caused by an
externality, which is the impact of
one person or firm’s actions on the
well-being of a bystander.
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7. Governments can
sometimes improve market
outcomes.
Market failure may also be caused
by market power, which is the ability
of a single person or firm to unduly
influence market prices.
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8. The standard of living
depends on a country’s
production.
Standard of living may be measured in
different ways:
?By comparing personal incomes.
?By comparing the total market value of a
nation’s production.
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8. The standard of living
depends on a country’s
production.
Almost all variations in living
standards are explained by
differences in countries’
productivities.
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8. The standard of living
depends on a country’s
production.
Productivity is the amount of goods
and services produced from each
hour of a worker’s time.
Higher productivity ? Higher standard of living
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9. Prices rise when the
government prints too much
money.
Inflation is an increase in the overall
level of prices in the economy.
? One cause of inflation is the growth in the
quantity of money.
? When the government creates large quantities
of money, the value of the money falls.
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10. Society faces a short-run
tradeoff between inflation and
unemployment.
The Phillips Curve illustrates the tradeoff
between inflation and unemployment:
?Inflation ? ×Unemployment
It’s a short-run tradeoff!
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Summary
?When individuals make decisions,
they face tradeoffs.
?Rational people make decisions by
comparing marginal costs and
marginal benefits.
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Summary
?People can benefit by trading with
each other.
?Markets are usually a good way of
coordinating trades.
?Government can potentially improve
market outcomes.
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Summary
?A country’s productivity determines
its living standards.
?Society faces a short-run tradeoff
between inflation and
unemployment.
Thinking Like an
Economist
Chapter 2
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
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Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
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Every field of study has its
own terminology
Mathematics
axioms
integrals
vector spaces
Psychology
ego
id
cognitive
dissonance
Law
torts
venues
Promissory
estoppel
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Every field of study has its
own terminology
Economics
Opportunity
cost
Elasticity
Supply
Consumer
Surplus
Comparative
advantage
Deadweight
loss
Demand
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Economics trains you to. . . .
?Think in terms of alternatives.
?Evaluate the cost of individual and
social choices.
?Examine and understand how certain
events and issues are related.
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The Economist as a Scientist
The economic way of thinking . . .
?Involves thinking analytically and
objectively.
?Makes use of the scientific method.
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The Scientific Method
?Uses abstract models to help explain
how a complex, real world operates.
?Develops theories, collects, and
analyzes data to prove the theories.
Observation, Theory and More Observation!
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The Role of Assumptions
? Economists make assumptions in order
to make the world easier to understand.
? The art in scientific thinking is deciding
which assumptions to make.
? Economists use different assumptions to
answer different questions.
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The Economic Way of Thinking
?Includes developing abstract models
from theories and the analysis of the
models.
?Uses two approaches:
?Descriptive (reporting facts, etc.)
?Analytical (abstract reasoning)
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Economic Models
? Economists use models to simplify reality
in order to improve our understanding of the
world
? Two of the most basic economic models
include:
?The Circular Flow Model
?The Production Possibilities Frontier
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The Circular-Flow Model
The circular-flow model is a
simple way to visually show the
economic transactions that occur
between households and firms in
the economy.
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The Circular-Flow Diagram
Firms
Households
Market for
Factors
of Production
Market for
Goods
and Services
SpendingRevenue
Wages, rent,
and profit
Income
Goods &
Services sold
Goods &
Services
bought
Labor, land,
and capital
Inputs for
production
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The Circular-Flow Diagram
Firms
? Produce and sell goods and services
? Hire and use factors of production
Households
? Buy and consume goods and services
? Own and sell factors of production
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The Circular-Flow Diagram
Markets for Goods & Services
? Firms sell
? Households buy
Markets for Factors of Production
? Households sell
? Firms buy
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The Circular-Flow Diagram
Factors of Production
? Inputs used to produce goods and
services
? Land, labor, and capital
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The Production Possibilities
Frontier
The production possibilities frontier is a
graph showing the various combinations
of output that the economy can possibly
produce given the available factors of
production and technology.
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The Production Possibilities
Frontier
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
0 1,000
2,000
700
1,000
300
A
B
2,200
600
C
D
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The Production Possibilities
Frontier
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
1,000
2,000
2,200
A
7006003000 1,000
B
C
D
Production
possibilities
frontier
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Concepts Illustrated by the
Production Possibilities Frontier
?Efficiency
?Tradeoffs
?Opportunity Cost
?Economic Growth
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4,000
The Production
Possibilities Frontier
Quantity
of Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
2,000
A
700
0 1,000
E
2,100
750
An outward shift
in the production
possibilities
frontier
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Microeconomics and
Macroeconomics
?Microeconomics focuses on the individual
parts of the economy.
? How households and firms make decisions
and how they interact in specific markets
?Macroeconomics looks at the economy as
a whole.
? How the markets, as a whole, interact at the
national level.
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Two Roles of Economists
?When they are trying to explain the
world, they are scientists.
?When they are trying to change the
world, they are policymakers.
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Positive versus Normative
Analysis
?Positive statements are statements
that describe the world as it is.
?Called descriptive analysis
?Normative statements are
statements about how the world
should be.
?Called prescriptive analysis
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Positive or Normative
Statements?
?
An increase in the minimum wage
will cause a decrease in employment
among the least-skilled.
?
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Positive or Normative
Statements?
?
Higher federal budget deficits will
cause interest rates to increase.
?
?
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??
Positive or Normative
Statements?
The income gains from a higher
minimum wage are worth more than
any slight reductions in employment.
? ?
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?
?
Positive or Normative
Statements?
State governments should be allowed to
collect from tobacco companies the
costs of treating smoking-related
illnesses among the poor.
?
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Economists in Washington . . .
. . . serve as advisers in the
policymaking process of the three
branches of government:
? Legislative
? Executive
? Judicial
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Why Economists Disagree
?They may disagree on theories
about how the world works.
?They may hold different values
and, thus, different normative
views.
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Examples of What Most
Economists Agree On
?A ceiling on rents reduces the
quantity and quality of housing
available.
?Tariffs and import quotas usually
reduce general economic welfare.
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Summary
?In order to address subjects with
objectivity, economics makes use of the
scientific method.
?The field of economics is divided into
two subfields: microeconomics and
macroeconomics.
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Summary
?Economics relies on both positive
and normative analysis. Positive
statements assert how the world “is”
while normative statements assert
how the world “should be.”
?Economists may offer conflicting
advice due to differences in scientific
judgments or to differences in
values.
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Graphical
Review
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The Circular-Flow Diagram
Firms
Households
Market for
Factors
of Production
Market for
Goods
and Services
SpendingRevenue
Wages, rent,
and profit
Income
Labor, land,
and capital
Inputs for
production
Goods &
Services sold
Goods &
Services
bought
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The Production Possibilities
Frontier
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
0 1,000
2,000
700
1,000
300
A
B
2,200
600
C
D
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The Production Possibilities
Frontier
Quantity of
Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
1,000
2,000
2,200
A
7006003000 1,000
B
C
D
Production
possibilities
frontier
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The Production
Possibilities Frontier
4,000
Quantity
of Computers
Produced
Quantity of
Cars Produced
3,000
2,000
A
700
0 1,000
E
2,100
750
An outward shift
in the production
possibilities
frontier
Interdependence and
the Gains from Trade
Chapter 3
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work should be mailed to:
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Interdependence and Trade
Consider your typical day:
?You wake up to an alarm clock made in Korea.
?You pour yourself some orange juice made from
oranges grown in Florida.
?You put on some clothes made of cotton grown in
Georgia and sewn in factories in Thailand.
?You watch the morning news broadcast from New
York on your TV made in Japan.
?You drive to class in a car made of parts
manufactured in a half-dozen different countries.
…and you haven’t been up for more than two hours
yet!
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Interdependence and Trade
Remember, economics is the
study of how societies produce
and distribute goods in an
attempt to satisfy the wants and
needs of its members.
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How do we satisfy our wants and
needs in a global economy?
?We can be economically self-
sufficient.
?We can specialize and
trade with others,
leading to economic
interdependence.
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Interdependence and Trade
A general observation . . .
Individuals and nations rely on
specialized production and
exchange as a way to address
problems caused by scarcity.
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Interdependence and Trade
But, this gives rise to two questions:
?Why is interdependence the norm?
?What determines production and trade?
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Why is interdependence the
norm?
Interdependence occurs because
people are better off when they
specialize and trade with others.
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What determines the pattern of
production and trade?
Patterns of production and trade
are based upon differences in
opportunity costs.
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A Parable for the Modern
Economy
? Imagine . . .
… only two goods: potatoes and meat
… only two people: a potato farmer and a
cattle rancher
? What should each produce?
? Why should they trade?
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The Production Opportunities of
the Farmer and the Rancher
Hours Needed to Make 1 lb. of: Amount Produced in 40 Hours
Meat Potatoes Meat Potatoes
Farmer 20 hours/lb 10 hours/lb 2 lbs. 4 lbs.
Rancher 1 hours/lb 8 hours/lb. 40 lbs. 5 lbs.
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Self-Sufficiency
By ignoring each other:
? Each consumes what they each produce.
? The production possibilities frontier is also the
consumption possibilities frontier.
Without trade, economic gains are
diminished.
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Production Possibilities
Frontiers
Meat
(pounds)
(a) The Farmer’s Production
Possibilities Frontier
2
1
2
A
0 4
Potatoes (pounds)
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Production Possibilities
Frontiers
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
5
40
20
2.5
(b) The Rancher’s Production
Possibilities Frontier
0
B
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The Farmer and the Rancher
Specialize and Trade
Each would be better off if they specialized
in producing the product they are more
suited to produce, and then trade with each
other.
? The farmer should produce potatoes.
? The rancher should produce meat.
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The Gains from Trade:
A Summary
The Outcome
Without Trade:
What They Produce
and Consume
Farmer
1 lb meat (A)
2 lbs potatoes
Rancher
20 lbs meat (B)
2.5 lbs potatoes
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The Gains from Trade:
A Summary
The Outcome
With Trade:
What They
Produce
What They
Trade
What They
Consume
Farmer
0 lbs meat
4 lbs potatoes
Gets 3 lbs meat
for 1 lb potatoes
3 lbs meat (A*)
3 lbs potatoes
Rancher
24 lbs meat
2 lbs potatoes
Gives 3 lbs meat
for 1 lb potatoes
21 lbs meat (B*)
3 lbs potatoes
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Trade Expands the Set of
Consumption Possibilities
(a) How Trade Increases the
Farmer’s Consumption
Meat
(pounds)
Potatoes (pounds)
42
2
1
0
A
3
3
A*
Farmer’s
consumption
without trade
Farmer’s
consumption
with trade
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Trade Expands the Set of
Consumption Possibilities
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
52.5
40
20
(b) How Trade Increases The
Rancher’s Consumption
0
B
21
3
B*
Rancher’s
consumption
without trade
Rancher’s
consumption
with trade
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The Gains from Trade:
A Summary
The Gains
From Trade:
The Increase in
Consumption
Farmer
2 lbs meat (A*- A)
1 lb potatoes
Rancher
1 lb meat (B*- B)
1/2 lb potatoes
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The Principle of
Comparative Advantage
Differences in the costs of
production determine the following:
? Who should produce what?
? How much should be traded for each
product?
Who can produce potatoes at a lower
cost--the farmer or the rancher?
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Differences in Costs of
Production
Two ways to measure differences
in costs of production:
? The number of hours required to produce a
unit of output. (for example, one pound of
potatoes)
? The opportunity cost of sacrificing one good
for another.
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Absolute Advantage
?Describes the productivity of one
person, firm, or nation compared to
that of another.
?The producer that requires a smaller
quantity of inputs to produce a good is
said to have an absolute advantage in
producing that good.
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Comparative Advantage
?Compares producers of a good
according to their opportunity cost.
?The producer who has the smaller
opportunity cost of producing a good
is said to have a comparative
advantage in producing that good.
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Specialization and Trade
?Who has the absolute advantage?
The farmer or the rancher?
?Who has the comparative advantage?
The farmer or the rancher?
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Absolute Advantage
?The Rancher needs only 8 hours to
produce a pound of potatoes, whereas the
Farmer needs 10 hours.
?The Rancher needs only 1 hour to
produce a pound of meat, whereas the
Farmer needs 20 hours.
The Rancher has an absolute
advantage in the production of both
meat and potatoes.
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The Opportunity Cost
of Meat and Potatoes
Opportunity Cost of:
1 lb of Meat 1 lb of Potatoes
Farmer 2 lb potatoes ? lb meat
Rancher 1/8 lb potatoes 8 lb meat
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Comparative Advantage
?The Rancher’s opportunity cost of a
pound of potatoes is 8 pounds of meat,
whereas the Farmer’s opportunity cost of
a pound of potatoes is 1/2 pound of meat.
?The Rancher’s opportunity cost of a
pound of meat is only 1/8 pound of
potatoes, while the Farmer’s opportunity
cost of a pound of meat is 2 pounds of
potatoes...
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Comparative Advantage
…so, the Rancher has a
comparative advantage in the
production of meat but the
Farmer has a comparative
advantage in the production
of potatoes.
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The Principle of
Comparative Advantage
?Comparative advantage and differences
in opportunity costs are the basis for
specialized production and trade.
?Whenever potential trading parties have
differences in opportunity costs, they can
each benefit from trade.
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Benefits of Trade
Trade can benefit everyone in
a society because it allows
people to specialize in activities
in which they have a
comparative advantage.
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Adam Smith and Trade
In his 1776 book An Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations, Adam Smith performed a
detailed analysis of trade and economic
interdependence, which economists still
adhere to today.
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David Ricardo and Trade
In his 1816 book Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation, David Ricardo
developed the principle of comparative
advantage as we know it today.
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Should Tiger Woods Mow His
Own Lawn?
?
??
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Summary
?Interdependence and trade allow
people to enjoy a greater quantity
and variety of goods and services.
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Summary
?The person who can produce a good
with a smaller quantity of inputs has
an absolute advantage.
?The person with a smaller
opportunity cost has a comparative
advantage.
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Summary
?The gains from trade are based on
comparative advantage, not absolute
advantage.
?Comparative advantage applies to
countries as well as to people.
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Graphical
Review
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Production Possibilities
Frontiers
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
4
2
1
2
(a) The Farmer’s Production
Possibilities Frontier
0
A
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Production Possibilities
Frontiers
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
5
40
20
2.5
(b) The Rancher’s Production
Possibilities Frontier
0
B
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Trade Expands the Set of
Consumption Possibilities
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
42
2
1
(a) How Trade Increases the
Farmer’s Consumption
0
A
3
3
A*
Farmer’s
consumption
without trade
Farmer’s
consumption
with trade
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Trade Expands the Set of
Consumption Possibilities
Potatoes (pounds)
Meat
(pounds)
52.5
40
20
(b) How Trade Increases The
Rancher’s Consumption
0
B
21
3
B*
Rancher’s
consumption
without trade
Rancher’s
consumption
with trade
The Market Forces of
Supply and Demand
Chapter 4
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Market Forces of
Supply and Demand
?Supply and demand are the two words
that economists use most often.
?Supply and demand are the forces that
make market economies work.
?Modern microeconomics is about
supply, demand, and market
equilibrium.
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Markets
?A market is a group of buyers and
sellers of a particular good or service.
?The terms supply and demand refer
to the behavior of people . . . as they
interact with one another in markets.
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Markets
? Buyers determine demand.
? Sellers determine supply.
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Market Type:
A Competitive Market
A competitive market is a market. . .
… with many buyers and sellers.
… that is not controlled by any one person.
… in which a narrow range of prices are
established that buyers and sellers act upon.
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Competition:
Perfect and Otherwise
Perfect Competition
?Products are the same
?Numerous buyers and sellers so that each
has no influence over price
?Buyers and Sellers are price takers
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Competition:
Perfect and Otherwise
?Monopoly
?One seller, and seller controls price
?Oligopoly
?Few sellers
?Not always aggressive competition
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Competition:
Perfect and Otherwise
?Monopolistic Competition
?Many sellers
?Slightly differentiated products
?Each seller may set price for its own
product
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Demand
Quantity demanded
is the amount
of a good that buyers are
willing and able
to purchase.
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Law of Demand
The law of demand states
that there is an inverse
relationship between price
and quantity demanded.
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Demand Schedule
The demand schedule is a table
that shows the relationship
between the price of the good
and the quantity demanded.
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Demand Schedule
Price Quantity
$0.00 12
0.50 10
1.00 8
1.50 6
2.00 4
2.50 2
3.00 0
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Determinants of Demand
?Market price
?Consumer income
?Prices of related goods
?Tastes
?Expectations
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Demand Curve
The demand curve is the downward-
sloping line relating price to
quantity demanded.
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Demand Curve
$3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
21 345678910 1211
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
0
Price Quantity
$0.00 12
0.50 10
1.00 8
1.50 6
2.00 4
2.50 2
3.00 0
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
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Ceteris Paribus
Ceteris paribus is a Latin phrase that
means all variables other than the
ones being studied are assumed to be
constant. Literally, ceteris paribus
means “other things being equal.”
The demand curve slopes downward
because, ceteris paribus, lower prices
imply a greater quantity demanded!
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Market Demand
?Market demand refers to the sum of
all individual demands for a
particular good or service.
?Graphically, individual demand
curves are summed horizontally to
obtain the market demand curve.
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Determinants of Demand
?Market price
?Consumer income
?Prices of related goods
?Tastes
?Expectations
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Change in Quantity Demanded
versus Change in Demand
Change in Quantity Demanded
?Movement along the demand curve.
?Caused by a change in the price of
the product.
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Changes in Quantity
Demanded
Price of
Cigarettes
per Pack
D
1
0
Number of Cigarettes
Smoked per Day
A tax that raises the
price of cigarettes
results in a movement
along the demand
curve.
A
C
20
2.00
$4.00
12
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Change in Quantity Demanded
versus Change in Demand
Change in Demand
?A shift in the demand curve, either
to the left or right.
?Caused by a change in a
determinant other than the price.
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Changes in Demand
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
0
D
1
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
D
3
Increase in
demand
Decrease in
demand
D
2
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Consumer Income
?As income increases the demand
for a normal good will increase.
?As income increases the demand
for an inferior good will decrease.
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Consumer Income
Normal Good
$3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
21 345678910 1211
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
Increase
in demand
An increase
in income...
D
1
D
2
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer Income
Inferior Good
$3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
21 345678910 1211
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Decrease
in demand
An increase
in income...
D
1
D
2
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Prices of Related Goods
Substitutes & Complements
?When a fall in the price of one good
reduces the demand for another good,
the two goods are called substitutes.
?When a fall in the price of one good
increases the demand for another
good, the two goods are called
complements.
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Change in Quantity Demanded
versus Change in Demand
Variables that
Affect Quantity
Demanded
A Change in
This Variable . . .
Price Represents a movement
along the demand curve
Income Shifts the demand curve
Prices of related
goods
Shifts the demand curve
Tastes Shifts the demand curve
Expectations Shifts the demand curve
Number of
buyers
Shifts the demand curve
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Supply
Quantity supplied is the amount of a
good that sellers are willing and able
to sell.
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Law of Supply
The law of supply states that there is a
direct (positive) relationship between
price and quantity supplied.
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Determinants of Supply
?Market price
?Input prices
?Technology
?Expectations
?Number of producers
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Supply Schedule
The supply schedule is a table that
shows the relationship between the
price of the good and the quantity
supplied.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Supply Schedule
Price Quantity
$0.00 0
0.50 0
1.00 1
1.50 2
2.00 3
2.50 4
3.00 5
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Supply Curve
The supply curve is the upward-
sloping line relating price to
quantity supplied.
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Supply Curve
$3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
21 34567891011
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
0
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
Price Quantity
$0.00 0
0.50 0
1.00 1
1.50 2
2.00 3
2.50 4
3.00 5
12
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Market Supply
?Market supply refers to the sum of
all individual supplies for all sellers
of a particular good or service.
?Graphically, individual supply
curves are summed horizontally to
obtain the market supply curve.
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Determinants of Supply
?Market price
?Input prices
?Technology
?Expectations
?Number of producers
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Change in Quantity Supplied
versus Change in Supply
Change in Quantity Supplied
?Movement along the supply curve.
?Caused by a change in the market price
of the product.
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Change in Quantity Supplied
150
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
S
1.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
A
C
$3.00
A rise in the price
of ice cream cones
results in a
movement along
the supply curve.
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Change in Quantity Supplied
versus Change in Supply
Change in Supply
?A shift in the supply curve, either to the
left or right.
?Caused by a change in a determinant
other than price.
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Change in Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
S
1
S
2
S
3
Increase in
Supply
Decrease in
Supply
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Change in Quantity Supplied
versus Change in Supply
Variables that
Affect Quantity Supplied
A Change in This Variable . . .
Price Represents a movement along
the supply curve
Input prices Shifts the supply curve
Technology Shifts the supply curve
Expectations Shifts the supply curve
Number of sellers Shifts the supply curve
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Supply and Demand Together
Equilibrium Price
?The price that balances supply and
demand. On a graph, it is the price at
which the supply and demand curves
intersect.
Equilibrium Quantity
?The quantity that balances supply and
demand. On a graph it is the quantity at
which the supply and demand curves
intersect.
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Supply and Demand Together
Demand Schedule Supply Schedule
Price Quantity
$0.00 0
0.50 0
1.00 1
1.50 4
2.00 7
2.50 10
3.00 13
Price Quantity
$0.00 19
0.50 16
1.00 13
1.50 10
2.00 7
2.50 4
3.00 1
At $2.00, the quantity demanded is
equal to the quantity supplied!
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Equilibrium of
Supply and Demand
Supply
Demand
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
$3.00
Quanti
Ice-Cream
Cones
21 345678910 12110
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
ty of
Equilibrium
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Excess Supply
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
21 345678910 12110
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
Supply
Demand
Surplus
$3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Surplus
When the price is above the equilibrium
price, the quantity supplied exceeds the
quantity demanded. There is excess supply
or a surplus. Suppliers will lower the price
to increase sales, thereby moving toward
equilibrium.
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Excess Demand
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
$2.00
0123
4
5 6 7 8 9 10111213
Supply
Demand
$1.50
Shortage
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Shortage
When the price is below the equilibrium
price, the quantity demanded exceeds the
quantity supplied. There is excess demand
or a shortage. Suppliers will raise the price
due to too many buyers chasing too few
goods, thereby moving toward equilibrium.
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Three Steps To Analyzing
Changes in Equilibrium
?Decide whether the event shifts the
supply or demand curve (or both).
?Decide whether the curve(s) shift(s) to
the left or to the right.
?Examine how the shift affects
equilibrium price and quantity.
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How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 7
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
D
2
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
$2.50
10
3. ...and a higher
quantity sold.
New equilibrium
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Shifts in Curves versus
Movements along Curves
?A shift in the supply curve is called a
change in supply.
?A movement along a fixed supply curve is
called a change in quantity supplied.
?A shift in the demand curve is called a
change in demand.
?A movement along a fixed demand curve is
called a change in quantity demanded.
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How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
S
2
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 11 12 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
New
equilibrium
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
$2.50
3. ...and a lower
quantity sold.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
What Happens to Price and Quantity
When Supply or Demand Shifts?
No Change
In Supply
An Increase
In Supply
A Decrease
In Supply
No Change
In Demand
P same
Q same
P down
Q up
P up
Q down
An Increase
In Demand
P up
Q up
P ambiguous
Q up
P up
Q ambiguous
A Decrease
In Demand
P down
Q down
P down
Q ambiguous
P ambiguous
Q down
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Summary
?Economists use the model of supply
and demand to analyze competitive
markets.
?The demand curve shows how the
quantity of a good depends upon the
price.
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Summary
?According to the law of demand, as
the price of a good rises, the quantity
demanded falls.
?In addition to price, other
determinants of quantity demanded
include income, tastes, expectations,
and the prices of complements and
substitutes.
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Summary
?The supply curve shows how the
quantity of a good supplied depends
upon the price.
?According to the law of supply, as
the price of a good rises, the quantity
supplied rises.
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Summary
?In addition to price, other
determinants of quantity supplied
include input prices, technology, and
expectations.
?Market equilibrium is determined
by the intersection of the supply and
demand curves.
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Summary
?Supply and demand together
determine the prices of the
economy’s goods and services.
?In market economies, prices are the
signals that guide the allocation of
resources.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
D
2
New equilibrium
$2.50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
D
2
New equilibrium
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
$2.50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
D
2
New equilibrium
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
$2.50
3. ...and a higher
quantity sold.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How an Increase in Demand
Affects the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 710
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
Supply
Initial
equilibrium
D
1
1. Hot weather increases
the demand for ice cream...
D
2
New equilibrium
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
$2.50
3. ...and a higher
quantity sold.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 123456789 1112 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 123456789 1112 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 123456789 1112 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 123456789 1112 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
New
equilibrium
$2.50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 123456789 1112 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
New
equilibrium
$2.50
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Decrease in Supply Affects
the Equilibrium
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2.00
0 1 2 3 4 7 8 9 11 12 Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
13
Demand
Initial equilibrium
S
1
10
1. An earthquake reduces
the supply of ice cream...
New
equilibrium
$2.50
2. ...resulting
in a higher
price...
3. ...and a lower
quantity sold.
Elasticity and Its
Application
Chapter 5
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elasticity . . .
? … is a measure of how much buyers and
sellers respond to changes in market
conditions
? … allows us to analyze supply and
demand with greater precision.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Price Elasticity of Demand
?Price elasticity of demand is the
percentage change in quantity demanded
given a percent change in the price.
?It is a measure of how much the quantity
demanded of a good responds to a change
in the price of that good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Determinants of
Price Elasticity of Demand
?Necessities versus Luxuries
?Availability of Close Substitutes
?Definition of the Market
?Time Horizon
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Determinants of
Price Elasticity of Demand
Demand tends to be more elastic :
?if the good is a luxury.
?the longer the time period.
?the larger the number of close
substitutes.
?the more narrowly defined the market.
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Computing the Price Elasticity
of Demand
The price elasticity of demand is computed
as the percentage change in the quantity
demanded divided by the percentage
change in price.
Price Elasticity of Demand =
Percentage Change
in Quantity Demanded
Percentage Change
in Price
ce El mand
Percen ge Change
tity Dema
Percen ge Change
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Computing the Price Elasticity
of Demand
price inchange Percentage
demandedquatity inchange Percentage
demand of elasticityPrice =
Example: If the price of an ice cream cone increases
from $2.00 to $2.20 and the amount you buy falls from
10 to 8 cones then your elasticity of demand would be
calculated as:
2
percent10
percent20
100
002
002202
100
10
810
==
×
?
×
?
.
)..(
)(
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Computing the Price Elasticity of
Demand Using the Midpoint
Formula
The midpoint formula is preferable when
calculating the price elasticity of demand
because it gives the same answer regardless
of the direction of the change.
)/2]P)/[(PP(P
)/2]Q)/[(QQ(Q
=Demand of Elasticity Price
1212
1212
+?
+?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Computing the Price Elasticity
of Demand
)/2]P)/[(PP(P
)/2]Q)/[(QQ(Q
=Demand of Elasticity Price
1212
1212
+?
+?
Example: If the price of an ice cream cone increases
from $2.00 to $2.20 and the amount you buy falls from
10 to 8 cones the your elasticity of demand, using the
midpoint formula, would be calculated as:
32.2
5.9
22
2/)20.200.2(
)00.220.2(
2/)810(
)810(
==
+
?
+
?
percent
percent
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Ranges of Elasticity
Inelastic Demand
?Quantity demanded does not respond strongly to
price changes.
?Price elasticity of demand is less than one.
Elastic Demand
?Quantity demanded responds strongly to changes
in price.
?Price elasticity of demand is greater than one.
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Computing the Price Elasticity
of Demand
Demand is price elastic
$5
4
Demand
Quantity1000
Price
50
-3
percent 22-
percent 67
5.00)/2(4.00
5.00)-(4.00
50)/2(100
50)-(100
E
D
==
+
+
=
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Ranges of Elasticity
?Perfectly Inelastic
Quantity demanded does not respond to price
changes.
?Perfectly Elastic
Quantity demanded changes infinitely with any
change in price.
?Unit Elastic
Quantity demanded changes by the same
percentage as the price.
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A Variety of Demand Curves
Because the price elasticity
of demand measures how
much quantity demanded
responds to the price, it is
closely related to the slope of
the demand curve.
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Perfectly Inelastic Demand
- Elasticity equals 0
Quantity
Price
4
$5
Demand
100
2. ...leaves the quantity demanded unchanged.
1. An
increase
in price...
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Inelastic Demand
- Elasticity is less than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10090
2. ...leads to a 11% decrease in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Unit Elastic Demand
- Elasticity equals 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10080
2. ...leads to a 22% decrease in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Demand
- Elasticity is greater than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10050
2. ...leads to a 67% decrease in quantity.
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Perfectly Elastic Demand
- Elasticity equals infinity
Quantity
Price
Demand
$4
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
demanded is zero.
2. At exactly $4,
consumers will
buy any quantity.
3. At a price below $4,
quantity demanded is infinite.
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Elasticity and Total Revenue
?Total revenue is the amount paid by
buyers and received by sellers of a good.
?Computed as the price of the good times
the quantity sold.
TR = P x Q
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Elasticity and Total Revenue
$4
Demand
Quantity
P
0
Price
P x Q = $400
(total revenue)
100
Q
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Elasticity and Total Revenue
With an inelastic demand
curve, an increase in price
leads to a decrease in quantity
that is proportionately
smaller. Thus, total revenue
increases.
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Elasticity and Total Revenue:
Inelastic Demand
$3
Quantity
0
Price
80
Revenue = $240
Demand
$1
Demand
Quantity
0
Revenue = $100
100
Price
An increase in price
from $1 to $3...
…leads to an increase
in total revenue
from$100 to $240
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Elasticity and Total Revenue
With an elastic demand curve,
an increase in the price leads to
a decrease in quantity demanded
that is proportionately larger.
Thus, total revenue decreases.
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Elasticity and Total Revenue:
Elastic Demand
Demand
Quantity0
Price
$4
50
Demand
Quantity0
Price
Revenue = $100
$5
20
…leads to a decrease
in total revenue
from$200 to $100
Revenue = $200
An increase in price
from $4 to $5...
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Computing the Elasticity of a
Linear Demand Curve
Price Quantity
Total Revenue
(Price x
Quantity)
Percent Change
in Price
Percent
Change
in Quantity Elasticity Description
$0 14 $0 200% 15% 0.1 Inelastic
1 12 12 67 18 0.3 Inelastic
2 10 20 40 22 0.6 Inelastic
38 4 29 29 1 Unit elastic
46 2 22 40 1.8 elastic
5 4 20 18 67 3.7 elastic
6 2 12 15 200 13 elastic
70 0
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Income Elasticity of Demand
?Income elasticity of demand measures
how much the quantity demanded of a
good responds to a change in consumers’
income.
?It is computed as the percentage change
in the quantity demanded divided by the
percentage change in income.
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Computing Income Elasticity
Income Elasticity
of Demand
Percentage Change
in Quantity Demanded
Percentage Change
in Income
=
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Income Elasticity
- Types of Goods -
?Normal Goods
?Inferior Goods
?Higher income raises the quantity
demanded for normal goods but lowers
the quantity demanded for inferior
goods.
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Income Elasticity
- Types of Goods -
?Goods consumers regard as necessities
tend to be income inelastic
Examples include food, fuel, clothing, utilities,
and medical services.
?Goods consumers regard as luxuries tend
to be income elastic.
Examples include sports cars, furs, and
expensive foods.
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Price Elasticity of Supply
?Price elasticity of supply is the
percentage change in quantity supplied
resulting from a percent change in price.
?It is a measure of how much the quantity
supplied of a good responds to a change
in the price of that good.
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Ranges of Elasticity
?Perfectly Elastic
E
S
= ∞
?Relatively Elastic
E
S
> 1
?Unit Elastic
E
S
= 1
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Ranges of Elasticity
?Relatively Inelastic
E
S
< 1
?Perfectly Inelastic
E
S
= 0
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Perfectly Inelastic Supply
- Elasticity equals 0
Quantity
Price
4
$5
Supply
100
2. ...leaves the quantity supplied unchanged.
1. An
increase
in price...
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Inelastic Supply
- Elasticity is less than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
110100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 10% increase in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Unit Elastic Supply
- Elasticity equals 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
125100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 22% increase in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Supply
- Elasticity is greater than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
200100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 67% increase in quantity.
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Perfectly Elastic Supply
- Elasticity equals infinity
Quantity
Price
Supply
$4
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
supplied is infinite.
2. At exactly $4,
producers will
supply any quantity.
3. At a price below $4,
quantity supplied is zero.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Determinants of
Elasticity of Supply
?Ability of sellers to change the amount of
the good they produce.
?Beach-front land is inelastic.
?Books, cars, or manufactured goods are
elastic.
?Time period.
?Supply is more elastic in the long run.
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Computing the Price Elasticity
of Supply
The price elasticity of supply is
computed as the percentage change
in the quantity supplied divided by
the percentage change in price.
Elasticity of Supply =
Percentage Change in
Quantity Supplied
Percentage Change
in Price
Per
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Application of Elasticity
?Can good news for farming be bad news for
farmers?
?What happens to wheat farmers and the market
for wheat when university agronomists discover a
new wheat hybridthat is more productive than
existing varieties?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Application of Elasticity
?Examine whether the supply or demand
curve shifts.
?Determine the direction of the shift of the
curve.
?Use the supply-and-demand diagram to
see how the market equilibrium changes.
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An Increase in Supply in the
Market for Wheat
$3
Quantity of Wheat1000
Price of
Wheat
Demand
S
1
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3. ...and a proportionately smaller
increase in quantity sold. As a result,
revenue falls from $300 to $220.
An Increase in Supply in the
Market for Wheat
$3
Quantity of Wheat1000
Price of
Wheat
1. When demand is inelastic,
an increase in supply...
Demand
S
1
S
2
2
110
2. ...leads
to a large
fall in
price...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Compute Elasticity
-0.24
0.4
0.095-
2.00)/2(3.00
2.00-3.00
110)/2(100
110-100
=E
D
≈=
+
+
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Compute Elasticity
-0.24
0.4
0.095-
2.00)/2(3.00
2.00-3.00
110)/2(100
110-100
=E
D
≈=
+
+
Demand is inelastic
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Price elasticity of demand measures
how much the quantity demanded
responds to changes in the price.
?If a demand curve is elastic, total
revenue falls when the price rises.
?If it is inelastic, total revenue rises as
the price rises.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The price elasticity of supply measures
how much the quantity supplied
responds to changes in the price.
?In most markets, supply is more elastic
in the long run than in the short run.
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Graphical
Review
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Computing the Price Elasticity
of Demand
Demand is price elastic
$5
4
Demand
Quantity1000
Price
50
-3
percent 22-
percent 67
5.00)/2(4.00
5.00)-(4.00
50)/2(100
50)-(100
E
D
==
+
+
=
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Perfectly Inelastic Demand
- Elasticity equals 0
Quantity
Price
4
$5
Demand
100
2. ...leaves the quantity demanded unchanged.
1. An
increase
in price...
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Inelastic Demand
- Elasticity is less than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10090
2. ...leads to a 11% decrease in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Unit Elastic Demand
- Elasticity equals 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10080
2. ...leads to a 22% decrease in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Demand
- Elasticity is greater than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
Demand
10050
2. ...leads to a 67% decrease in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Perfectly Elastic Demand
- Elasticity equals infinity
Quantity
Price
Demand
$4
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
demanded is zero.
2. At exactly $4,
consumers will
buy any quantity.
3. At a price below $4,
quantity demanded is infinite.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elasticity and Total Revenue
$4
Demand
Quantity
P
0
Price
P x Q = $400
(total revenue)
100
Q
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elasticity and Total Revenue:
Inelastic Demand
$3
Quantity
0
Price
80
Revenue = $240
Demand
$1
Demand
Quantity
0
Revenue = $100
100
Price
An increase in price
from $1 to $3...
…leads to an increase
in total revenue
from$100 to $240
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elasticity and Total Revenue:
Elastic Demand
Demand
Quantity0
Price
$4
50
Demand
Quantity0
Price
Revenue = $100
$5
20
Revenue = $200
An increase in price
from $4 to $5...
…leads to a decrease
in total revenue
from$200 to $100
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Perfectly Inelastic Supply
- Elasticity equals 0
Quantity
Price
4
$5
Supply
100
2. ...leaves the quantity supplied unchanged.
1. An
increase
in price...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Inelastic Supply
- Elasticity is less than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
110100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 10% increase in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Unit Elastic Supply
- Elasticity equals 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
125100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 22% increase in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Supply
- Elasticity is greater than 1
Quantity
Price
4
$5
1. A 22%
increase
in price...
200100
Supply
2. ...leads to a 67% increase in quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Perfectly Elastic Supply
- Elasticity equals infinity
Quantity
Price
Supply
$4
1. At any price
above $4, quantity
supplied is infinite.
2. At exactly $4,
producers will
supply any quantity.
3. At a price below $4,
quantity supplied is zero.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
An Increase in Supply in the
Market for Wheat
$3
Quantity of Wheat1000
Price of
Wheat
Demand
S
1
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
An Increase in Supply in the
Market for Wheat
3. ...and a proportionately smaller
increase in quantity sold. As a result,
revenue falls from $300 to $220.
$3
Quantity of Wheat1000
Price of
Wheat
1. When demand is inelastic,
an increase in supply...
Demand
S
1
S
2
2
110
2. ...leads
to a large
fall in
price...
Supply, Demand and
Government Policies
Chapter 6
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Supply, Demand, and
Government Policies
?In a free, unregulated market system,
market forces establish equilibrium prices
and exchange quantities.
?While equilibrium conditions may be
efficient, it may be true that not everyone is
satisfied.
?One of the roles of economists is to use their
theories to assist in the development of
policies.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Price Controls...
?Are usually enacted when
policymakers believe the market
price is unfair to buyers or sellers.
?Result in government-created price
ceilings and floors.
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Price Ceilings & Price Floors
Price Ceiling
? A legally established maximum price at which
a good can be sold.
Price Floor
? A legally established minimum price at which a
good can be sold.
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Price Ceilings
Two outcomes are possible when the
government imposes a price ceiling:
? The price ceiling is not binding if set above
the equilibrium price.
? The price ceiling is binding if set below the
equilibrium price, leading to a shortage.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Ceiling That Is Not Binding...
$4
3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Demand
Supply
Price
ceiling
Equilibrium
price
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Ceiling That Is Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2
Demand
Supply
Equilibrium
price
Price
ceiling
Shortage
125
Quantity
demanded
75
Quantity
supplied
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Effects of Price Ceilings
A binding price ceiling creates ...
… shortages because Q
D
> Q
S
.
?Example: Gasoline shortage of the
1970s
… nonprice rationing
?Examples: Long lines, Discrimination
by sellers
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Lines at the Gas Pump
In 1973 OPEC raised the price of
crude oil in world markets. Because
crude oil is the major input used to
make gasoline, the higher oil prices
reduced the supply of gasoline.
What was responsible for the long
gas lines?
Economists blame government
regulations that limited the price oil
companies could charge for gasoline.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is
Not Binding...
$4
P
1
Quantity of
Gasoline
0
Price of
Gasoline
Q
1
Demand
Supply
Price
ceiling
1. Initially,
the
price ceiling
is not
binding...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is
Binding...
P
1
Quantity of
Gasoline
0
Price of
Gasoline
Q
1
Demand
S
1
Price
ceiling
S
2
2. …but
when supply
falls...
P
2
3. …the price
ceiling becomes
binding...
4. …resulting
in a shortage.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Rent Control
?Rent controls are ceilings placed on the
rents that landlords may charge their
tenants.
?The goal of rent control policy is to help
the poor by making housing more
affordable.
?One economist called rent control “the
best way to destroy a city, other than
bombing.”
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Rent Control in the Short Run...
Quantity of
Apartments
0
Rental
Price of
Apartment
Demand
Supply
Controlled rent
Shortage
Supply and
demand for
apartments
are relatively
inelastic
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Rent Control in the Long Run...
Quantity of
Apartments
0
Rental
Price of
Apartment
Demand
Supply
Controlled rent
Shortage
Because the
supply and
demand for
apartments are
more elastic...
…rent control
causes a large
shortage
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Price Floors
When the government imposes a
price floor, two outcomes are
possible.
?The price floor is not binding if set below
the equilibrium price.
?The price floor is binding if set above the
equilibrium price, leading to a surplus.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Floor That Is Not Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Equilibrium
price
Demand
Supply
Price
floor
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Floor That Is Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Equilibrium
price
Demand
Supply
Price floor$4
120
Quantity
supplied
80
Quantity
demanded
Surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Effects of a Price Floor
?A price floor prevents supply and
demand from moving toward the
equilibrium price and quantity.
?When the market price hits the
floor, it can fall no further, and the
market price equals the floor price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Effects of a Price Floor
A binding price floor causes . . .
… a surplus because Q
S
>Q
D
.
… nonprice rationing is an alternative
mechanism for rationing the good,
using discrimination criteria.
?Examples: The minimum wage, Agricultural
price supports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Minimum Wage
An important example of a
price floor is the minimum
wage. Minimum wage laws
dictate the lowest price
possible for labor that any
employer may pay.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Minimum Wage
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Equilibrium
wage
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
A Free Labor Market
Equilibrium
employment
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Minimum Wage
Minimum
wage
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
Quantity
supplied
Quantity
demanded
Labor surplus
(unemployment)
A Labor Market with a
Minimum Wage
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Taxes
Governments levy taxes to
raise revenue for public
projects.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
What are some potential
impacts of taxes?
?Taxes discourage
market activity.
?When a good is taxed,
the quantity sold is
smaller.
?Buyers and sellers
share the tax burden.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Taxes
?Tax incidence is the study of who
bears the burden of a tax.
?Taxes result in a change in market
equilibrium.
?Buyers pay more and sellers receive
less, regardless of whom the tax is
levied on.
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
Impact of a 50¢ Tax Levied on
Buyers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
100
D
1
Supply, S
1
A tax on buyers
shifts the demand
curve downward
by the size of
the tax ($0.50).
D
2
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
Impact of a 50¢ Tax Levied on
Buyers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
10090
$3.30
Price
buyers
pay
D
1
D
2
Equilibrium
with tax
Supply, S
1
Equilibrium without tax
2.80
Price
sellers
receive
Price
without
tax
Tax ($0.50)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
What was the impact of tax?
?Taxes discourage
market activity.
?When a good is taxed,
the quantity sold is
smaller.
?Buyers and sellers
share the tax burden.
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
Impact of a 50¢ Tax on Sellers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
10090
S
1
S
2
Demand, D
1
Price
without
tax
2.80
Price
sellers
receive
$3.30
Price
buyers
pay
Equilibrium without tax
A tax on sellers
shifts the
supply curve
upward by the
amount of the
tax ($0.50).
Tax ($0.50)
Equilibrium
with tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Payroll Tax
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Wage
without tax
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
Tax wedge
Wage firms
pay
Wage workers
receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Incidence of Tax
?In what proportions is the burden of
the tax divided?
?How do the effects of taxes on sellers
compare to those levied on buyers?
The answers to these questions
depend on the elasticity of demand
and the elasticity of supply.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Supply, Inelastic Demand...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Tax
1. When supply is more
elastic than demand...
2. ...the
incidence of the
tax falls more
heavily on
consumers...
3. ...than on
producers.
Price without tax
Price buyers pay
Price sellers receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Inelastic Supply, Elastic Demand...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Price without tax
Tax
1. When demand is more
elastic than supply...
2. ...the
incidence of
the tax falls more
heavily on producers...
3. ...than on consumers.
Price buyers pay
Price sellers receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
So, how is the burden of the
tax divided?
The burden of a
tax falls more
heavily on the side
of the market that
is less elastic.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Price controls include price ceilings
and price floors.
? A price ceiling is a legal maximum on
the price of a good or service. An
example is rent control.
?A price floor is a legal minimum on
the price of a good or a service. An
example is the minimum wage.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Taxes are used to raise revenue for
public purposes.
?When the government levies a tax on
a good, the equilibrium quantity of
the good falls.
?A tax on a good places a wedge
between the price paid by buyers and
the price received by sellers.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The incidence of a tax refers to who
bears the burden of a tax.
?The incidence of a tax does not
depend on whether the tax is levied
on buyers or sellers.
?The incidence of the tax depends on
the price elasticities of supply and
demand.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Ceiling That Is Not Binding...
$4
3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Demand
Supply
Price
ceiling
Equilibrium
price
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Ceiling That Is Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
2
Demand
Supply
Equilibrium
price
Price
ceiling
Shortage
125
Quantity
demanded
75
Quantity
supplied
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is
Not Binding...
$4
P
1
Quantity of
Gasoline
0
Price of
Gasoline
Q
1
Demand
Supply
Price
ceiling
1. Initially,
the
price ceiling
is not
binding...
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Price Ceiling on Gasoline Is
Binding...
P
1
Quantity of
Gasoline
0
Price of
Gasoline
Q
1
Demand
S
1
Price
ceiling
S
2
2. …but
when supply
falls...
P
2
3. …the price
ceiling becomes
binding...
4. …resulting
in a shortage.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Rent Control in the Short Run...
Quantity of
Apartments
0
Rental
Price of
Apartment
Demand
Supply
Controlled rent
Shortage
Supply and
demand for
apartments
are relatively
inelastic
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Rent Control in the Long Run...
Quantity of
Apartments
0
Rental
Price of
Apartment
Demand
Supply
Controlled rent
Shortage
Because the
supply and
demand for
apartments are
more elastic...
…rent control
causes a large
shortage
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Floor That Is Not Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
100
Equilibrium
quantity
Equilibrium
price
Demand
Supply
Price
floor
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Price Floor That Is Binding...
$3
Quantity of
Ice-Cream
Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
Equilibrium
price
Demand
Supply
Price floor$4
120
Quantity
supplied
80
Quantity
demanded
Surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Minimum Wage
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Equilibrium
wage
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
A Free Labor Market
Equilibrium
employment
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Minimum Wage
Minimum
wage
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
Quantity
supplied
Quantity
demanded
Labor surplus
(unemployment)
A Labor Market with a
Minimum Wage
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Impact of a 50¢ Tax Levied on
Buyers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
100
D
1
Supply, S
1
A tax on buyers
shifts the demand
curve downward
by the size of
the tax ($0.50).
D
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Impact of a 50¢ Tax Levied on
Buyers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
10090
$3.30
Price
buyers
pay
D
1
D
2
Equilibrium
with tax
Supply, S
1
Equilibrium without tax
2.80
Price
sellers
receive
Price
without
tax
Tax ($0.50)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Impact of a 50¢ Tax on Sellers...
3.00
Quantity of
Ice-Cream Cones
0
Price of
Ice-Cream
Cone
10090
S
1
S
2
Demand, D
1
Price
without
tax
2.80
Price
sellers
receive
$3.30
Price
buyers
pay
Equilibrium without tax
A tax on sellers
shifts the
supply curve
upward by the
amount of the
tax ($0.50).
Tax ($0.50)
Equilibrium
with tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Payroll Tax
Quantity of
Labor
0
Wage
Wage
without tax
Labor
demand
Labor
supply
Tax wedge
Wage firms
pay
Wage workers
receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Elastic Supply, Inelastic Demand...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Tax
1. When supply is more
elastic than demand...
2. ...the
incidence of the
tax falls more
heavily on
consumers...
3. ...than on
producers.
Price without tax
Price buyers pay
Price sellers receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Inelastic Supply, Elastic Demand...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Price without tax
Tax
1. When demand is more
elastic than supply...
2. ...the
incidence of
the tax falls more
heavily on producers...
3. ...than on consumers.
Price buyers pay
Price sellers receive
Consumers,
Producers, and the
Efficiency of Markets
Chapter 7
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revisiting the Market
Equilibrium
Do the equilibrium price and
quantity maximize the total
welfare of buyers and sellers?
? Market equilibrium reflects the way
markets allocate scarce resources.
? Whether the market allocation is
desirable is determined by welfare
economics.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Welfare Economics
Welfare economics is the study of how
the allocation of resources affects
economic well-being.
? Buyers and sellers receive benefits from taking
part in the market.
? The equilibrium in a market maximizes the
total welfare of buyers and sellers.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Welfare Economics
Equilibrium in the market results in
maximum benefits, and therefore
maximum total welfare for both the
consumers and the producers of the
product.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Welfare Economics
?Consumer surplus measures economic
welfare from the buyer’s side.
?Producer surplus measures economic
welfare from the seller’s side.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer Surplus
?Willingness to pay is the maximum
price that a buyer is willing and able
to pay for a good.
?It measures how much the buyer
values the good or service.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer Surplus
Consumer surplus is the amount
a buyer is willing to pay for a
good minus the amount the buyer
actually pays for it.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Four Possible Buyers’ Willingness
to Pay...
Buyer Willingness to Pay
John $100
Paul 80
George 70
Ringo 50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer Surplus
The market demand curve depicts
the various quantities that buyers
would be willing and able to
purchase at different prices.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Four Possible Buyers’ Willingness
to Pay...
Price Buyer
Quantity
Demanded
More than $100 None 0
$80 to $100 John 1
$70 to $80 John, Paul 2
$50 to $70 John, Paul, George 3
$50 or less Ringo 4
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
John’s willingness to pay
Paul’s willingness to pay
George’s willingness to pay
Ringo’s willingness to pay
Demand
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
Demand
John’s consumer surplus ($20)
Price = $80
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
Demand
John’s consumer surplus ($30)
Total
consumer
surplus ($40)
Price = $70
Paul’s consumer surplus ($10)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve
The area below the demand curve
and above the price measures the
consumer surplus in the market.
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
How the Price Affects Consumer
Surplus...
Q
2
P
2
Quantity
Price
0
Demand
Initial
consumer
surplus
Additional
consumer
surplus to
initial
consumers
Consumer
surplus to new
consumers
Q
1
P
1
DE
F
B
C
A
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer Surplus and Economic
Well-Being
Consumer surplus, the amount that
buyers are willing to pay for a good
minus the amount they actually pay
for it, measures the benefit that
buyers receive from a good as the
buyers themselves perceive it.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Producer Surplus
?Producer surplus is the amount a
seller is paid minus the cost of
production.
?It measures the benefit to sellers
participating in a market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Costs of Four Possible
Sellers...
Seller Cost
Mary $900
Frida 800
Georgia 600
Grandma 500
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Producer Surplus and the
Supply Curve
?Just as consumer surplus is related to the
demand curve, producer surplus is
closely related to the supply curve.
?At any quantity, the price given by the
supply curve shows the cost of the
marginal seller, the seller who would
leave the market first if the price were
any lower.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Supply Schedule for the Four
Possible Sellers...
Price Sellers
Quantity
Supplied
$900 or more
Mary, Frida, Georgia,
Grandma
4
$800 to $900
Frida, Georgia, Grandma
3
$600 to $800
Georgia, Grandma
2
$500 to $600
Grandma
1
Less than $500
None
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Producer Surplus and the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Grandma’s cost
Georgia’s cost
Frida’s cost
Mary’s cost
Supply
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Producer Surplus and the
Supply Curve
The area below the price and above
the supply curve measures the
producer surplus in a market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Producer Surplus with the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Supply
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($100)
Price = $600
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Producer Surplus with the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Supply
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($300)
Price = $800
Georgia’s producer
surplus ($200)
Total
producer
surplus ($500)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Price Affects Producer
Surplus...
P
2
Q
2
Quantity
Price
0
Supply
Q
1
P
1
A
B
C
Initial
Producer
surplus
Additional producer
surplus to initial
producers
D
E
F
Producer surplus
to new producers
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Market Efficiency
Consumer surplus and producer
surplus may be used to address the
following question:
Is the allocation of resources
determined by free markets in any
way desirable?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Well-Being and Total
Surplus
Consumer
Surplus
=
Value to
buyers
_
Amount paid
by buyers
and
Producer
Surplus
=
Amount received
by sellers
_
Cost to
sellers
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Well-Being and Total
Surplus
Total
Surplus
=
Consumer
Surplus
Producer
Surplus
+
or
Total
Surplus
=
Value to
buyers
_
Cost to
sellers
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Market Efficiency
Market efficiency is achieved when
the allocation of resources
maximizes total surplus.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Market Efficiency
In addition to market efficiency, a
social planner might also care about
equity – the fairness of the
distribution of well-being among the
various buyers and sellers.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Evaluating the Market Equilibrium...
Price
Equilibrium
price
0 QuantityEquilibrium
quantity
A
Supply
C
B
Demand
D
E
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer and Producer Surplus in
the Market Equilibrium...
Price
Equilibrium
price
0 QuantityEquilibrium
quantity
A
Supply
C
B
Demand
D
E
Producer
surplus
Consumer
surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Three Insights Concerning
Market Outcomes
?Free markets allocate the supply of goods to
the buyers who value them most highly.
?Free markets allocate the demand for goods
to the sellers who can produce them at least
cost.
?Free markets produce the quantity of goods
that maximizes the sum of consumer and
producer surplus.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Price
0
Quantity
Equilibrium
quantity
Supply
Demand
Cost
to
sellers
Value
to
buyers
Value
to
buyers
Cost
to
sellers
Value to buyers is greater
than cost to sellers.
Value to buyers is less
than cost to sellers.
The Efficiency of the Equilibrium
Quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Efficiency of the
Equilibrium Quantity
?Because the equilibrium outcome is an
efficient allocation of resources, the social
planner can leave the market outcome as
he/she finds it.
?This policy of leaving well enough alone
goes by the French expression laissez faire.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Market Power
?If a market system is not perfectly
competitive, market power may result.
?Market power is the ability to influence
prices.
?Market power can cause markets to be
inefficient because it keeps price and
quantity from the equilibrium of
supply and demand.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Externalities
Externalities are created when a market
outcome affects individuals other than
buyers and sellers in that market.
?Externalities cause welfare in a market to
depend on more than just the value to the buyers
and cost to the sellers.
?When buyers and sellers do not take externalities
into account when deciding how much to consume
and produce, the equilibrium in the market can be
inefficient.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Consumer surplus measures the
benefit buyers get from participating
in a market.
?Consumer surplus can be computed
by finding the area below the
demand curve and above the price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Producer surplus measures the
benefit sellers get from participating
in a market.
?Producer surplus can be computed by
finding the area below the price and
above the supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The equilibrium of demand and supply
maximizes the sum of consumer and
producer surplus.
?This is as if the invisible hand of the
marketplace leads buyers and sellers to
allocate resources efficiently.
?Markets do not allocate resources
efficiently in the presence of market
failures.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?An allocation of resources that
maximizes the sum of consumer and
producer surplus is said to be efficient.
?Policymakers are often concerned with
the efficiency, as well as the equity, of
economic outcomes.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
John’s willingness to pay
Paul’s willingness to pay
George’s willingness to pay
Ringo’s willingness to pay
Demand
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
Demand
John’s consumer surplus ($20)
Price = $80
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Consumer Surplus with
the Demand Curve...
Price of
Album
50
70
80
0
$100
1234
Quantity of
Albums
Demand
John’s consumer surplus ($30)
Total
consumer
surplus ($40)
Price = $70
Paul’s consumer surplus ($10)
How the Price Affects Consumer
Surplus...
Q
2
P
2
Quantity
Price
0
Demand
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
Initial
consumer
surplus
Additional
consumer
surplus to
initial
consumers
Consumer
surplus to new
consumers
Q
1
P
1
B
C
A
DE
F
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Producer Surplus and the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Grandma’s cost
Georgia’s cost
Frida’s cost
Mary’s cost
Supply
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Producer Surplus with the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Supply
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($100)
Price = $600
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Producer Surplus with the
Supply Curve...
Quantity of
Houses Painted
Price of
House
Painting
500
800
$900
0
600
1234
Supply
Grandma’s producer
surplus ($300)
Price = $800
Georgia’s producer
surplus ($200)
Total
producer
surplus ($500)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Price Affects Producer
Surplus...
P
2
Q
2
Quantity
Price
0
Supply
Q
1
P
1
A
B
C
Initial
Producer
surplus
Additional producer
surplus to initial
producers
D
E
F
Producer surplus
to new producers
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Evaluating the Market Equilibrium...
Price
Equilibrium
price
0 QuantityEquilibrium
quantity
A
Supply
C
B
Demand
D
E
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Consumer and Producer Surplus in
the Market Equilibrium...
Price
Equilibrium
price
0 QuantityEquilibrium
quantity
A
Supply
C
B
Demand
D
E
Producer
surplus
Consumer
surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Price
0
Quantity
Equilibrium
quantity
Supply
Demand
Cost
to
sellers
Value
to
buyers
Value
to
buyers
Cost
to
sellers
Value to buyers is greater
than cost to sellers.
Value to buyers is less
than cost to sellers.
The Efficiency of the Equilibrium
Quantity
Application:
The Costs of Taxation
Chapter 8
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Costs of Taxation
How do taxes affect
the economic well-
being of market
participants?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Costs of Taxation
It does not matter
whether a tax on a good
is levied on buyers or
sellers of the good…the
price paid by buyers
rises, and the price
received by sellers falls.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tax...
Price
0
Quantity
Quantity
without tax
Supply
Demand
Price
without tax
Price buyers
pay
Quantity
with tax
Size of tax
Price sellers
receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tax
?A tax places a wedge between the price
buyers pay and the price sellers receive.
?Because of this tax wedge, the quantity
sold falls below the level that would be
sold without a tax.
?The size of the market for that good
shrinks.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Revenue
T = the size of the tax
Q = the quantity of the good sold
T×Q = the government’s tax revenue
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Revenue...
Price
0
Quantity
Quantity
without tax
Supply
Demand
Price buyers
pay
Price sellers
receive
Quantity
with tax
Size of tax (T)
Quantity
sold (Q)
Tax
Revenue
(T x Q)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Tax Affects Welfare...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Q
1
A
B
C
F
D
E
Q
2
Tax reduces consumer surplus by (B+C)
and producer surplus by (D+E)
Tax revenue = (B+D)
Deadweight Loss = (C+E)
Price
buyers
pay
=
P
B
P
1
Price
without
tax
=
P
S
Price
sellers
receive
=
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Changes in Welfare
from a Tax
Without Tax With Tax Change
Consumer Surplus A + B + C A -(B + C)
Producer Surplus D + E + F F -(D + E)
Tax Revenue none B + D + (B + D)
Total Surplus A + B + C + D + E + F A + B + D + F -(C + E )
The area C+E shows the fall in total surplus and
is the deadweight loss of the tax.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Tax Affects Welfare
The change in total welfare includes:
?The change in consumer surplus,
?The change in producer surplus,
?The change in tax revenue.
?The losses to buyers and sellers exceed
the revenue raised by the government.
?This fall in total surplus is called the
deadweight loss.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Losses and the
Gains from Trade
Taxes cause deadweight losses
because they prevent buyers and
sellers from realizing some of the
gains from trade.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Deadweight Loss...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Q
1
P
B
Price = P
1
without tax
P
S
Q
2
Size of tax
Lost gains
from trade
Cost to
sellers
Value to
buyers
Reduction in quantity due to the tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Determinants of Deadweight
Loss
What determines whether the deadweight loss
from a tax is large or small?
?The magnitude of the deadweight loss
depends on how much the quantity supplied
and quantity demanded respond to changes
in the price.
?That, in turn, depends on the price
elasticities of supply and demand.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and
Elasticities...
(a) Inelastic Supply
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
When supply is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
Size
of tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
(b) Elastic Supply
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
Size
of tax
When supply is
relatively elastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is large.
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
When demand is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
(c) Inelastic Demand
Size
of tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
Size
of tax
When demand is
relatively elastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is large.
(d) Elastic Demand
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Determinants of Deadweight
Loss
The greater the elasticities of demand
and supply:
? the larger will be the decline in
equilibrium quantity and,
? the greater the deadweight loss of a tax.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Deadweight Loss Debate
Some economists argue that labor
taxes are highly distorting and believe
that labor supply is more elastic.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Deadweight Loss Debate
Some examples of workers who may
respond more to incentives:
?Workers who can adjust the number of
hours they work
?Families with second earners
?Elderly who can choose when to retire
?Workers in the underground economy
(i.e. those engaging in illegal activity)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax
Revenue as Taxes Vary
With each increase in the tax
rate, the deadweight loss of the
tax rises even more rapidly than
the size of the tax.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(a) Small Tax
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
Demand
Supply
Tax revenue
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(b) Medium Tax
Demand
Supply
Tax
revenue
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(c) Large Tax
T
a
x
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
Demand
Supply
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax
Revenue
?For the small tax, tax revenue is
small.
?As the size of the tax rises, tax
revenue grows.
?But as the size of the tax continues
to rise, tax revenue falls because the
higher tax reduces the size of the
market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue
Vary with the Size of the Tax...
(a) Deadweight Loss
Deadweight
Loss
0
Tax Size
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue
Vary with the Size of the Tax...
(b) Revenue (the Laffer curve)Tax
Revenue
0Tax Size
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue
Vary with the Size of the Tax
?As the size of a tax increases, its
deadweight loss quickly gets larger.
?By contrast, tax revenue first rises with
the size of a tax; but then, as the tax
gets larger, the market shrinks so
much that tax revenue starts to fall.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Laffer Curve and
Supply-Side Economics
?The Laffer curve depicts the relationship
between tax rates and tax revenue.
?Supply-side economics refers to the views
of Reagan and Laffer who proposed that
a tax cut would induce more people to
work and thereby have the potential to
increase tax revenues.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?A tax on a good reduces the
welfare of buyers and sellers of the
good. And the reduction in
consumer and producer surplus
usually exceeds the revenues raised
by the government.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The fall in total surplus – the sum of
consumer surplus, producer
surplus, and tax revenue – is called
the deadweight loss of the tax.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Taxes have a deadweight loss
because they cause buyers to
consume less and sellers to produce
less.
?This change in behavior shrinks the
size of the market below the level
that maximizes total surplus.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?As a tax grows larger, it distorts
incentives more, and its deadweight
loss grows larger.
?Tax revenue first rises with the size of
a tax.
?Eventually, however, a larger tax
reduces tax revenue because it
reduces the size of the market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tax...
Price
0
Quantity
Quantity
without tax
Supply
Demand
Price
without tax
Price buyers
pay
Quantity
with tax
Size of tax
Price sellers
receive
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Revenue...
Price
0
Quantity
Quantity
without tax
Supply
Demand
Price buyers
pay
Price sellers
receive
Quantity
with tax
Size of tax (T)
Quantity
sold (Q)
Tax
Revenue
(T x Q)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How a Tax Affects Welfare...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Q
1
A
B
C
F
D
E
Q
2
Tax reduces consumer surplus by (B+C)
and producer surplus by (D+E)
Tax revenue = (B+D)
Deadweight Loss = (C+E)
Price
buyers
pay
=
P
B
P
1
Price
without
tax
=
P
S
Price
sellers
receive
=
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Deadweight Loss...
Quantity0
Price
Demand
Supply
Q
1
P
B
Price = P
1
without tax
P
S
Q
2
Size of tax
Lost gains
from trade
Cost to
sellers
Value to
buyers
Reduction in quantity due to the tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and
Elasticities...
(a) Inelastic Supply
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
When supply is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
Size
of tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
(b) Elastic Supply
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
Size
of tax
When supply is
relatively elastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is large.
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
When demand is
relatively inelastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is small.
(c) Inelastic Demand
Size
of tax
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tax Distortions and Elasticities...
Quantity
Price
Demand
Supply
0
Size
of tax
When demand is
relatively elastic,
the deadweight loss
of a tax is large.
(d) Elastic Demand
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(a) Small Tax
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
Demand
Supply
Tax revenue
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(b) Medium Tax
Demand
Supply
Tax
revenue
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue...
(c) Large Tax
T
a
x
r
e
v
e
n
u
e
P
B
Quantity
Q
2
0
Price
Q
1
Demand
Supply
P
S
Deadweight
loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue
Vary with the Size of the Tax...
(a) Deadweight Loss
Deadweight
Loss
0
Tax Size
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Deadweight Loss and Tax Revenue
Vary with the Size of the Tax...
(b) Revenue (the Laffer curve)Tax
Revenue
0Tax Size
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Application:
International Trade
Chapter 9
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade
What determines
whether a country
imports or exports
a good?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade
Who gains and
who loses from free
trade among
countries?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade
What are the
arguments that
people use to
advocate trade
restrictions?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Equilibrium Without Trade
Assume:
?A country is isolated from rest
of the world and produces steel.
?The market for steel consists of the
buyers and sellers in the country.
?No one in the country is allowed to
import or export steel.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Equilibrium Without Trade...
Price
of Steel
Equilibrium
Price
0 Quantity
of Steel
Equilibrium
quantity
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Producer
surplus
Consumer
surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Equilibrium Without Trade
Results:
?Domestic price adjusts to balance
demand and supply.
?The sum of consumer and producer
surplus measures the total benefits that
buyers and sellers receive.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
World Price and Comparative
Advantage
If the country decides to engage in
international trade, will it be an
importer or exporter of steel?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
World Price and Comparative
Advantage
The effects of free trade can be shown by
comparing the domestic price of a good
without trade and the world price of the
good. The world price refers to the
prevailing price in the world markets.
?A country will either be an exporter or an
importer of the good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
World Price and Comparative
Advantage
If a country has a comparative
advantage, then the domestic price
will be below the world price, and
the country will be an exporter of
the good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
World Price and Comparative
Advantage
If the country does not have a
comparative advantage, then the
domestic price will be higher than the
world price, and the country will be
an importer of the good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade in an
Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
World
price
Price after
trade
Exports
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Price before
trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
A
B
C
D
Exports
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
A
Consumer surplus
before trade
B
C
Producer surplus
before trade
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
A
Consumer surplus
after trade
C
B
Producer surplus
after trade
D
Exports
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Changes in Welfare from Free Trade:
The Case of an Exporting Country
Before Trade After Trade Change
Consumer Surplus A + B A -B
Producer Surplus C B + C + D + (B + D)
Total Surplus A + B + C A + B + C + D + D
The area D shows the increase in total surplus
and represents the gains from trade.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Exporting Country
The analysis of an exporting country yields
two conclusions:
? Domestic producers of the good are
better off, and domestic consumers of
the good are worse off.
? Trade raises the economic well-being
of the nation as a whole.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade and the
Importing Country
If the world price of steel is lower
than the domestic price, the
country will be an importer of
steel when trade is permitted.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade and the
Importing Country
Domestic consumers will want to buy
steel at the lower world price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade and the
Importing Country
Domestic producers of steel will
have to lower their output because
the domestic price moves to the
world price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade and the
Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
Price
Price after
trade
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Price before
trade
Imports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price before
trade
Price after
trade
A
B
C
D
Imports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price before
trade
Price after
trade
A
Consumer surplus
before trade
C
B
Producer surplus
before trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price before
trade
Price after
trade
A
Consumer surplus
after trade
B
D
C
Producer surplus
after trade
Imports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Changes in Welfare from Free Trade:
The Case of an Importing Country
Before Trade After Trade Change
Consumer Surplus A A + B + D + (B + D)
Producer Surplus B + C C -B
Total Surplus A + B + C A + B + C + D + D
The area D shows the increase in total surplus
and represents the gains from trade.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare in
an Importing Country
The analysis of an importing country yields
two conclusions:
? Domestic producers of the good are worse
off, and domestic consumers of the good are
better off.
? Trade raises the economic well-being of
the nation as a whole because the gains of
consumers exceed the losses of producers.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Gains and Losses from
Free International Trade
?The gains of the
winners exceed the
losses of the losers.
?The net change in
total surplus is
positive.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tariffs
?Tariffs are taxes on imported goods.
?Tariffs raise the price of imported
goods above the world price by the
amount of the tariff.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price with
tariff
World
price
Price without
tariff
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
Q
1
S
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
Q
2
D
Q
2
S
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Imports without tariff
Consumer surplus
before tariff
Producer surplus
before tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Price with
tariff
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
A
Consumer surplus
with tariff
B
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
C
G
Producer surplus
before tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
E
Tariff revenue
Price with
tariff
Price without
tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Price with
tariff
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
A
B
CE
G
DF
Deadweight loss
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Changes in Welfare from a Tariff
Before Tariff After Tariff Change
Consumer Surplus A+B+C+D+E+F A + B
-(C+D+E+F)
Producer Surplus G C + G + C
Government
Revenue
None E + E
Total Surplus A+B+C+D+E+F+G A+B+ C+ E+ G -(D + F)
The area D+F shows the fall in total surplus and
represents the deadweight loss of the tariff.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff
?A tariff reduces the quantity of imports
and moves the domestic market closer
to its equilibrium without trade.
?With a tariff, total surplus in the market
decreases by an amount referred to as a
deadweight loss.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of an
Import Quota
An import quota is a limit
on the quantity of imports.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of an Import Quota ...
Price with
quota
World
price
Price without
quota
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Imports without quota
Imports
with quota
Domestic
supply
+
Import Supply
Quota
Equilibrium
with quota
Equilibrium
without trade
Q
1
D
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of an
Import Quota
?Because the quota raises the domestic price
above the world price, domestic buyers of
the good are worse off, and domestic sellers
of the good are better off.
?License holders are better off because they
make a profit from buying at the world
price and selling at the higher domestic
price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of an Import Quota ...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
quota
Price with
quota
Imports without quota
Imports
with quota
Domestic
supply
+
Import Supply
Quota
A
B
CE
'
E
''
F
G
D
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Changes in Welfare from an
Import Quota
A+B+C+D+E’+E”+F+G A+B+C+E’+E”+G
Before Quota
After Tariff Change
Consumer Surplus
Producer Surplus
Government
Revenue
Total Surplus
A+B+C+D+E’+E”+F A+B -(C+D+E’+E”+F)
G C+G +C
None E’+E” +(E’+E”)
-(D+F)
The area D+F shows the fall in total surplus and
represents the deadweight loss of the quota.
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The Effects of an
Import Quota
?With a quota, total surplus in the
market decreases by an amount
referred to as a deadweight loss.
?The quota can potentially cause an even
larger deadweight loss, if a mechanism
such as lobbying is employed to allocate
the import licenses.
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The Effects of Tariffs and
Quotas
If government sells import licenses for
full value, revenue equals that of
equivalent tariff and the results of
tariffs and quotas are identical.
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Both tariffs and import quotas . . .
… raise domestic prices.
… reduce the welfare of domestic
consumers.
… increase the welfare of domestic
producers.
… cause deadweight losses.
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Other Benefits of International
Trade
?Increased variety of goods
?Lower costs through economies of
scale
?Increased competition
?Enhanced flow of ideas
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The Arguments for Restricting
Trade
?Jobs
?National Security
?Infant Industry
?Unfair Competition
?Protection as a
Bargaining Chip
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Trade Agreements
?Unilateral: when a country removes its
trade restrictions on its own.
?Multilateral: a country reduces its trade
restrictions while other countries do the
same.
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NAFTA
?The North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) is an example of a multilateral trade
agreement.
?In 1993, NAFTA lowered the trade barriers
among the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
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GATT
?The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) refers to a continuing series of
negotiations among many of the world’s
countries with a goal of promoting free trade.
?GATT has successfully reduced the average
tariff among member countries from about 40%
after WWII to about 5% today.
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Summary
?The effects of free trade can be determined
by comparing the domestic price without
trade to the world price.
?A low domestic price indicates that the
country has a comparative advantage in
producing the good and that the country will
become an exporter.
?A high domestic price indicates that the rest
of the world has a comparative advantage in
producing the good and that the country will
become an importer.
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Summary
?When a country allows trade and
becomes an exporter of a good,
producers of the good are better off, and
consumers of the good are worse off.
?When a country allows trade and
becomes an importer of a good,
consumers of the good are better off, and
producers are worse off.
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Summary
?A tariff – a tax on imports – moves a
market closer to the equilibrium
than would exist without trade, and
therefore reduces the gains from
trade.
?Import quotas will have effects
similar to those of tariffs.
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Summary
?There are various arguments for
restricting trade: protecting jobs,
defending national security, helping
infant industries, preventing unfair
competition, and responding to foreign
trade restrictions.
?Economists, however, believe that free
trade is usually the better policy.
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Graphical
Review
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Equilibrium Without Trade...
Price
of Steel
Equilibrium
Price
0 Quantity
of Steel
Equilibrium
quantity
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Producer
surplus
Consumer
surplus
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade in an
Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
World
price
Price after
trade
Exports
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Price before
trade
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How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
B
C
D
Exports
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How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
Consumer surplus
before trade
B
C
Producer surplus
before trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Exporting Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
World
price
Domestic
demand
Domestic
supply
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
Consumer surplus
after trade
C
B
Producer surplus
after trade
D
Exports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
International Trade and the
Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
Price
Price after
trade
Domestic
quantity
demanded
Domestic
quantity
supplied
Price before
trade
Imports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
B
C
D
Imports
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
Consumer surplus
before trade
C
B
Producer surplus
before trade
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
How Free Trade Affects Welfare
in an Importing Country...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
World
Price
Domestic
demand
Price after
trade
Price before
trade
A
Consumer surplus
after trade
B
D
C
Producer surplus
after trade
Imports
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The Effects of a Tariff...
Price with
tariff
World
price
Price without
tariff
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
Q
1
S
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
Q
2
D
Q
2
S
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The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Imports without tariff
Consumer surplus
before tariff
Producer surplus
before tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Price with
tariff
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
A
Consumer surplus
with tariff
B
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The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
C
G
Producer surplus
before tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
E
Tariff revenue
Price with
tariff
Price without
tariff
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Effects of a Tariff...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Tariff
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
tariff
Price with
tariff
Imports without tariff
Imports
with tariff
A
B
CE
G
DF
Deadweight loss
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The Effects of an Import Quota ...
Price with
quota
World
price
Price without
quota
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Imports without quota
Imports
with quota
Domestic
supply
+
Import Supply
Quota
Equilibrium
with quota
Equilibrium
without trade
Q
1
D
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The Effects of an Import Quota ...
Price
of Steel
0 Quantity
of Steel
Domestic
supply
Domestic
demand
World
price
Q
1
S
Q
2
S
Q
2
D
Q
1
D
Price without
quota
Price with
quota
Imports without quota
Imports
with quota
Domestic
supply
+
Import Supply
Quota
A
B
CE
'
E
''
F
G
D
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Externalities
Chapter 10
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Market Efficiency - Market Failures
Recall that: Adam Smith’s “invisible
hand” of the marketplace leads self-
interested buyers and sellers in a market
to maximize the total benefit that society
can derive from a market.
But market failures
can still happen.
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Market Failures: Externalities
?When a market outcome affects
parties other than the buyers and
sellers in the market, side-effects are
created called externalities.
?Externalities cause markets to be
inefficient, and thus fail to maximize
total surplus.
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An externality arises...
. . . when a person engages in an
activity that influences the well-
being of a bystander and yet neither
pays nor receives any compensation
for that effect.
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Market Failures: Externalities
?When the impact on the bystander is
adverse, the externality is called a
negative externality.
?When the impact on the bystander is
beneficial, the externality is called a
positive externality.
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?Automobile exhaust
?Cigarette smoking
?Barking dogs (loud pets)
?Loud stereos in an apartment
building
Examples of Negative
Externalities
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?Immunizations
?Restored historic buildings
?Research into new technologies
Examples of Positive
Externalities
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The Market for Aluminum...
Quantity of
Aluminum
0
Price of
Aluminum
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Equilibrium
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The Market for Aluminum and
Welfare Economics
The quantity produced and consumed
in the market equilibrium is efficient
in the sense that it maximizes the sum
of producer and consumer surplus.
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The Market for Aluminum and
Welfare Economics
If the aluminum factories emit
pollution (a negative externality), then
the cost to society of producing
aluminum is larger than the cost to
aluminum producers.
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The Market for Aluminum and
Welfare Economics
For each unit of aluminum produced,
the social cost includes the private costs
of the producers plus the cost to those
bystanders adversely affected by the
pollution.
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Pollution and the Social
Optimum...
Q
MARKET
Quantity of
Aluminum
0
Price of
Aluminum
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Social cost
Q
optimum
Cost of
pollution
Equilibrium
Optimum
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Negative Externalities in
Production
The intersection of the demand curve
and the social-cost curve determines the
optimal output level.
?The socially optimal output level is less
than the market equilibrium quantity.
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Achieving the Socially Optimal
Output
Internalizing an externality involves
altering incentives so that people
take into account the external
effects of their actions.
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Achieving the Socially Optimal
Output
The government can internalize an
externality by imposing a tax on
the producer to reduce the
equilibrium quantity to the
socially desirable quantity.
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Positive Externalities in
Production
When an externality benefits the
bystanders, a positive externality exists.
?The social costs of production are less
than the private cost to producers and
consumers.
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Positive Externalities in
Production
A technology spillover is a type of
positive externality that exists when a
firm’s innovation or design not only
benefits the firm, but enters society’s
pool of technological knowledge and
benefits society as a whole.
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Positive Externalities in
Production...
Quantity
of Robots
0
Price
of Robot
Q
OPTIMUM
Demand
(private value)
Supply (private cost)
Social cost
Q
MARKET
Value of
technology
spillover
Equilibrium
Optimum
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Positive Externalities in
Production
The intersection of the demand curve and
the social-cost curve determines the optimal
output level.
?The optimal output level is more than the
equilibrium quantity.
?The market produces a smaller quantity than
is socially desirable.
?The social costs of production are less than
the private cost to producers and consumers.
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Internalizing Externalities:
Subsidies
Government many times uses
subsidies as the primary method
for attempting to internalize
positive externalities.
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Technology Policy
Government intervention in the
economy that aims to promote
technology-enhancing industries is
called technology policy.
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Technology Policy
?Patent laws are a form of
technology policy that give the
individual (or firm) with patent
protection a property right over its
invention.
?The patent is then said to
internalize the externality.
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Internalizing Production
Externalities
?Taxes are the primary tools used
to internalize negative
externalities.
?Subsidies are the primary tools
used to internalize positive
externalities.
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Consumption Externalities...
(a) Negative Consumption Externality (b) Positive Consumption Externality
Quantity of
Education
0
Price of
Education
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Social
value
Q
OPTIMUM
Supply
(private cost)
Quantity
of Alcohol
0
Price
of Alcohol
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Social value
Q
OPTIMUM
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Externalities and Market
Inefficiency
? Negative externalities in production or
consumption lead markets to produce a
larger quantity than is socially
desirable.
? Positive externalities in production or
consumption lead markets to produce a
larger quantity than is socially
desirable.
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Private Solutions to
Externalities
Government action is not
always needed to solve the
problem of externalities.
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Types of Private Solutions to
Externalities
?Moral codes and social sanctions
?Charitable organizations
?Integrating different types of
businesses
?Contracting between parties
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The Coase Theorem
The Coase Theorem states that if private
parties can bargain without cost over the
allocation of resources, then the private
market will always solve the problem of
externalities on its own and allocate
resources efficiently.
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Transactions Costs
Transaction costs are the costs
that parties incur in the process
of agreeing to and following
through on a bargain.
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Why Private Solutions
Do Not Always Work
Sometimes the private solution
approach fails because transaction
costs can be so high that private
agreement is not possible.
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Public Policy Toward
Externalities
When externalities are significant and
private solutions are not found,
government may attempt to solve the
problem through . . .
… command-and-control policies.
… market-based policies.
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Command-and-Control
Policies
?Usually take the form of regulations:
?Forbid certain behaviors.
?Require certain behaviors.
?Examples:
?Requirements that all students be
immunized.
?Stipulations on pollution emission levels set
by the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).
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Market-Based Policies
?Government uses taxes and
subsidies to align private incentives
with social efficiency.
?Pigovian taxes are taxes enacted to
correct the effects of a negative
externality.
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Examples of Regulation versus
Pigovian tax
If the EPA decides it wants to reduce the
amount of pollution coming from a specific
plant. The EPA could…
… tell the firm to reduce its pollution by a
specific amount (i.e. regulation).
… levy a tax of a given amount for each
unit of pollution the firm emits (i.e.
Pigovian tax).
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Market-Based Policies
?Tradable pollution permits allow the
voluntary transfer of the right to
pollute from one firm to another.
?A market for these permits will eventually
develop.
?A firm that can reduce pollution at a low
cost may prefer to sell its permit to a firm
that can reduce pollution only at a high cost.
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The Equivalence of Pigovian
Taxes and Pollution Permits...
(a) Pigovian Tax (b) Pollution Permits
Quantity of
Pollution
0
Price of
Pollution
P
Q
Demand for
pollution rights
Pigovian
tax
2. ...which, together
with the demand curve,
determines the quantity
of pollution.
1. A Pigovian
tax sets the
price of
pollution...
Quantity of
Pollution
0
Q
Demand for
pollution rights
Supply of
pollution permits
Price of
Pollution
P
2. ...which, together
with the demand curve,
determines the price
of pollution.
1. Pollution
permits set
the quantity
of pollution...
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Summary
?When a transaction between a buyer and a
seller directly affects a third party, the effect
is called an externality.
?Negative externalities cause the socially
optimal quantity in a market to be less than
the equilibrium quantity.
?Positive externalities cause the socially
optimal quantity in a market to be greater
than the equilibrium quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Those affected by externalities can
sometimes solve the problem
privately.
?The Coase theorem states that if
people can bargain without a cost,
then they can always reach an
agreement in which resources are
allocated efficiently.
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Summary
?When private parties cannot
adequately deal with externalities,
then the government steps in.
?The government can either regulate
behavior or internalize the externality
by using Pigovian taxes.
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Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Market for Aluminum...
Quantity of
Aluminum
0
Price of
Aluminum
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Equilibrium
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Pollution and the Social
Optimum...
Q
MARKET
Quantity of
Aluminum
0
Price of
Aluminum
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Social cost
Q
optimum
Cost of
pollution
Equilibrium
Optimum
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Positive Externalities in
Production...
Quantity
of Robots
0
Price
of Robot
Q
OPTIMUM
Demand
(private value)
Supply (private cost)
Social cost
Q
MARKET
Value of
technology
spillover
Equilibrium
Optimum
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Consumption Externalities...
Quantity of
Education
0
Price of
Education
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Social
value
Q
OPTIMUM
(b) Positive Consumption Externality
Supply
(private cost)
Quantity
of Alcohol
0
Price
of Alcohol
Q
MARKET
Demand
(private value)
Supply
(private cost)
Social value
Q
OPTIMUM
(a) Negative Consumption Externality
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Equivalence of Pigovian
Taxes and Pollution Permits...
Quantity of
Pollution
0
Price of
Pollution
P
Q
Demand for
pollution rights
Pigovian
tax
(a) Pigovian Tax
2. ...which, together
with the demand curve,
determines the quantity
of pollution.
1. A Pigovian
tax sets the
price of
pollution...
Quantity of
Pollution
0
Q
Demand for
pollution rights
Supply of
pollution permits
(b) Pollution Permits
Price of
Pollution
P
2. ...which, together
with the demand curve,
determines the price
of pollution.
1. Pollution
permits set
the quantity
of pollution...
Public Goods and
Common Resources
Chapter 11
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
“The best things in life are free. . .”
Free goods provide a special challenge for
economic analysis
Most goods in our economy are allocated
in markets…
…for these goods, prices are the
signals that guide the decisions of
buyers and sellers.
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“The best things in life are free. . .”
When goods are available free of
charge, the market forces that
normally allocate resources in our
economy are absent.
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“The best things in life are free. . .”
When a good does not have a price
attached to it, private markets
cannot ensure that the good is
produced and consumed in the
proper amounts.
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“The best things in life are free. . .”
In such cases, government policy can
potentially remedy the market
failure that results, and raise
economic well-being.
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The Different Kinds of Goods
When thinking about the various
goods in the economy, it is useful to
group them according to two
characteristics:
? Is the good excludable?
? Is the good rival?
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The Different Kinds of Goods
?Excludability
? People can be prevented from enjoying
the good.
? Laws recognize and enforce private
property rights.
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The Different Kinds of Goods
? Rivalness
?One person’s use of the good
diminishes another person’s
enjoyment of it.
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Four Types of Goods
?Private Goods
?Public Goods
?Common Resources
?Natural Monopolies
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Types of Goods
?Private Goods
?Are both excludable and rival.
?Public Goods
?Are neither excludable nor rival.
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Types of Goods
?Common Resources
?Are rival but not excludable.
?Natural Monopolies
?Are excludable but not rival.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Types of Goods
Rival?
Yes No
Yes
Private Goods
? Ice-cream cones
? Clothing
? Congested toll roads
Natural Monopolies
? Fire protection
? Cable TV
? Uncongested toll
roads
No
Common Resources
? Fish in the ocean
? The environment
? Congested nontoll
roads
Public Goods
? National defense
? Knowledge
? Uncongested nontoll
roads
Excludable?
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The Free-Rider Problem
A free-rider is a person who
receives the benefit of a good
but avoids paying for it.
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The Free-Rider Problem
?Since people cannot be excluded from
enjoying the benefits of a public good,
individuals may withhold paying for
the good hoping that others will pay
for it.
?The free-rider problem prevents
private markets from supplying public
goods.
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Solving the Free-Rider
Problem
?The government can decide to provide
the public good if the total benefits
exceed the costs.
?The government can make everyone
better off by providing the public good
and paying for it with tax revenue.
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Some Important Public Goods
?National Defense
?Basic Research
?Programs to Fight Poverty
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Are Lighthouses
Public Goods?
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
?In order to decide whether to provide a
public good or not, the total benefits of all
those who use the good must be compared
to the costs of providing and maintaining
the public good.
?Cost benefit analysis estimates the total
costs and benefits of a good to society as a
whole.
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Cost-Benefit Analysis
?A cost-benefit analysis would be used to
estimate the total costs and benefits of the
project to society as a whole.
?It is difficult to do because of the absence of
prices needed to estimate social benefits and
resource costs.
?The value of life, the consumer’s time, and
aesthetics are difficult to assess.
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Common Resources
Common resources, like public
goods, are not excludable. They are
available free of charge to anyone
who wishes to use them.
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Common Resources
Common resources are rival
goods because one person’s use
of the common resource reduces
other people’s use.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Tragedy of the Commons
The Tragedy of the Commons is a story
with a general lesson: When one person
uses a common resource, he or she
diminishes another person’s enjoyment
of it.
?Common resources tend to be used
excessively when individuals are not
charged for their usage.
?This creates a negative externality.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Examples of Common
Resources
?Clean air and water
?Oil pools
?Congested roads
?Fish, whales, and other
wildlife
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Why Isn’t the Cow Extinct?
Private
Ownership and
the Profit
Motive!
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Importance of
Property Rights
The market fails to allocate resources
efficiently when property rights are
not well-established (i.e. some item of
value does not have an owner with the
legal authority to control it).
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Importance of
Property Rights
When the absence of property
rights causes a market failure, the
government can potentially solve
the problem.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Goods differ in whether they are
excludable and whether they are rival.
?A good is excludable if it is possible to
prevent someone from using it.
?A good is rival if one person’s enjoyment
of the good prevents other people from
enjoying the same unit of the good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Public goods are neither rival nor
excludable.
?Because people are not charged for
their use of public goods, they have an
incentive to free ride when the good is
provided privately.
?Governments provide public goods,
making quantity decisions based upon
cost-benefit analysis.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Common resources are rival but not
excludable.
?Because people are not charged for
their use of common resources, they
tend to use them excessively.
?Governments tend to try to limit the
use of common resources.
The Costs of
Production
Chapter 13
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Costs of Production
The Law of Supply:
?Firms are willing to produce and
sell a greater quantity of a good when
the price of the good is high.
?This results in a supply curve that
slopes upward.
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The Firm’s Objective
The economic goal of the firm
is to maximize profits.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Firm’s Total Revenue and
Total Cost
?Total Revenue
?The amount that the firm receives for
the sale of its output.
?Total Cost
?The amount that the firm pays to buy
inputs.
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A Firm’s Profit
Profit is the firm’s total revenue minus
its total cost.
Profit = Total revenue - Total cost
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Costs as Opportunity Costs
A firm’s cost of production
includes all the opportunity
costs of making its output of
goods and services.
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Explicit and Implicit Costs
A firm’s cost of production include
explicit costs and implicit costs.
?Explicit costs involve a direct money
outlay for factors of production.
?Implicit costs do not involve a direct
money outlay.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Profit versus
Accounting Profit
?Economists measure a firm’s economic
profit as total revenue minus all the
opportunity costs (explicit and implicit).
?Accountants measure the accounting
profit as the firm’s total revenue minus
only the firm’s explicit costs. In other
words, they ignore the implicit costs.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Profit versus
Accounting Profit
?When total revenue exceeds both
explicit and implicit costs, the firm
earns economic profit.
?Economic profit is smaller than
accounting profit.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Profit versus
Accounting Profit
Explicit
costs
Accounting
profit
How an Accountant
Views a Firm
Revenue
Revenue
Total
opportunity
costs
How an Economist
Views a Firm
Explicit
costs
Economic
profit
Implicit
costs
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Production Function and
Total Cost
Number of
Workers
Output Marginal
Product of
Labor
Cost of
Factory
Cost of
Workers
Total Cost of
Inputs
0 0 $30 $0 $30
1 50 50 30 10 40
2 90 40 30 20 50
3 120 30 30 30 60
4 140 20 30 40 70
5 150 10 30 50 80
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Production Function
The production function shows
the relationship between quantity
of inputs used to make a good
and the quantity of output of that
good.
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Marginal Product
The marginal product of any input
in the production process is the
increase in the quantity of output
obtained from an additional unit
of that input.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal Product
Additional input
Additional output
=
Marginal
product
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Diminishing Marginal Product
?Diminishing marginal product is the
property whereby the marginal product of an
input declines as the quantity of the input
increases.
?Example: As more and more workers are
hired at a firm, each additional worker
contributes less and less to production
because the firm has a limited amount of
equipment.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Production Function...
Quantity of
Output
(cookies
per hour)
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Number of Workers Hired0 12345
Production function
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Diminishing Marginal Product
?The slope of the production
function measures the marginal
product of an input, such as a
worker.
?When the marginal product
declines, the production function
becomes flatter.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
From the Production Function to
the Total-Cost Curve
?The relationship between the
quantity a firm can produce and its
costs determines pricing decisions.
?The total-cost curve shows this
relationship graphically.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Production Function and
Total Cost
Number of
Workers
Output Marginal
Product of
Labor
Cost of
Factory
Cost of
Workers
Total Cost of
Inputs
0 0 $30 $0 $30
1 50 50 30 10 40
2 90 40 30 20 50
3 120 30 30 30 60
4 140 20 30 40 70
5 150 10 30 50 80
Hungry Helen’s Cookie Factory
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Total-Cost Curve...
Total
Cost
$80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Quantity of Output
(cookies per hour)
0 20 40 1401201008060
Total-cost
curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Various Measures of Cost
Costs of production may be
divided into fixed costs and
variable costs.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Fixed and Variable Costs
?Fixed costs are those costs that do
not vary with the quantity of output
produced.
?Variable costs are those costs that do
change as the firm alters the
quantity of output produced.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Family of Total Costs
?Total Fixed Costs (TFC)
?Total Variable Costs (TVC)
?Total Costs (TC)
TC = TFC + TVC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Family of Total Costs
Quantity
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Total Cost
$ 3.00
3.30
3.80
4.50
5.40
6.50
7.80
9.30
11.00
12.90
15.00
Fixed Cost
$3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
3.00
Variable Cost
$ 0.00
0.30
0.80
1.50
2.40
3.50
4.80
6.30
8.00
9.90
12.00
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Average Costs
?Average costs can be determined by
dividing the firm’s costs by the
quantity of output produced.
?The average cost is the cost of each
typical unit of product.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Family of Average Costs
?Average Fixed Costs (AFC)
?Average Variable Costs (AVC)
?Average Total Costs (ATC)
ATC = AFC + AVC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Family of Average Costs
AFC =
Fixed cost
Quantity
=
FC
Q
AVC =
Variable cost
Quantity
=
VC
Q
ATC =
Total cost
Quantity
=
TC
Q
Fixed cost
tity
AVC
able cost
To
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Family of Average Costs
$3.00
Quantity AFC AVC ATC
0———
1 $0.30 $3.30
2 1.50 0.40 1.90
3 1.00 0.50 1.50
4 0.75 0.60 1.35
5 0.60 0.70 1.30
6 0.50 0.80 1.30
7 0.43 0.90 1.33
8 0.38 1.00 1.38
9 0.33 1.10 1.43
10 0.30 1.20 1.50
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal Cost
?Marginal cost (MC) measures the
amount total cost rises when the firm
increases production by one unit.
?Marginal cost helps answer the
following question:
?How much does it cost to produce an
additional unit of output?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal Cost
Q
TC
=
quantity) in (Change
cost)total in(Change
=MC
?
?
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal Cost
Quantity Total
Cost
Marginal
Cost
Quantity Total
Cost
Marginal
Cost
0$3.0 —
1 3.30 $0.30 6 $7.80 $1.30
2 3.80 0.50 7 9.30 1.50
3 4.50 0.70 8 11.00 1.70
4 5.40 0.90 9 12.90 1.90
5 6.50 1.10 10 15.00 2.10
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Total-Cost Curve...
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
$16.00
0
24681012
Total Cost
Total-cost
curve
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
ATC
AVC
MC
Average-Cost and Marginal-Cost
Curves...
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Costs
AFC
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
Marginal cost rises with the
amount of output produced.
?This reflects the property of
diminishing marginal product.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
024681012
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Costs
MC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
The average total-cost curve is U-shaped.
? At very low levels of output average total cost is
high because fixed cost is spread over only a few
units.
? Average total cost declines as output increases.
? Average total cost starts rising because average
variable cost rises substantially.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
The bottom of the U-shape occurs at
the quantity that minimizes average
total cost. This quantity is
sometimes called the efficient scale
of the firm.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
024681012
Total Costs
ATC
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Relationship Between Marginal
Cost and Average Total Cost
?Whenever marginal cost is less than
average total cost, average total cost
is falling.
?Whenever marginal cost is greater
than average total cost, average
total cost is rising.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Relationship Between Marginal
Cost and Average Total Cost
The marginal-cost curve crosses
the average-total-cost curve at
the efficient scale.
?Efficient scale is the quantity
that minimizes average total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
MC
ATC
Relationship Between Marginal
Cost and Average Total Cost
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
024681012
Costs
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Various Measures of Cost
It is now time to examine the
relationships that exist between the
different measures of cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Various Measures of Cost
Big Bob’s Bagel Bin
Quantity
of Bagels
Total
Cost
Fixed
Cost
Variable
Cost
Average
Fixed
Cost
Average
Variable
Cost
Average
Total
Cost
Marginal
Cost
0 $2.00 $2.00 $0.00
1 $3.00 $2.00 $1.00 $2.00 $1.00 $3.00 $1.00
2 $3.80 $2.00 $1.80 $1.00 $0.90 $1.90 $0.80
3 $4.40 $2.00 $2.40 $0.67 $0.80 $1.47 $0.60
4 $4.80 $2.00 $2.80 $0.50 $0.70 $1.20 $0.40
5 $5.20 $2.00 $3.20 $0.40 $0.64 $1.04 $0.40
6 $5.80 $2.00 $3.80 $0.33 $0.63 $0.97 $0.60
7 $6.60 $2.00 $4.60 $0.29 $0.66 $0.94 $0.80
8 $7.60 $2.00 $5.60 $0.25 $0.70 $0.95 $1.00
9 $8.80 $2.00 $6.80 $0.22 $0.76 $0.98 $1.20
10 $10.20 $2.00 $8.20 $0.20 $0.82 $1.02 $1.40
11 $11.80 $2.00 $9.80 $0.18 $0.89 $1.07 $1.60
12 $13.60 $2.00 $11.60 $0.17 $0.97 $1.13 $1.80
13 $15.60 $2.00 $13.60 $0.15 $1.05 $1.20 $2.00
14 $17.80 $2.00 $15.80 $0.14 $1.13 $1.27 $2.20
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Big Bob’s Cost Curves...
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
$16.00
$18.00
$20.00
0246810121416
Quantity of Output
(bagels per hour)
Total Cost
Total Cost Curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Big Bob’s Cost Curves...
AFC
AVC
MC
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0246810121416
Quantity of Output
Costs
ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Three Important Properties of
Cost Curves
?Marginal cost eventually rises with
the quantity of output.
?The average-total-cost curve is U-
shaped.
?The marginal-cost curve crosses
the average-total-cost curve at the
minimum of average total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Costs in the Long Run
?For many firms, the division of total
costs between fixed and variable costs
depends on the time horizon being
considered.
?In the short run some costs are fixed.
?In the long run fixed costs become variable
costs.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Costs in the Long Run
Because many costs are fixed in
the short run but variable in the
long run, a firm’s long-run cost
curves differ from its short-run
cost curves.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Average Total Cost in the Short
and Long Runs...
Quantity of
Cars per Day
0
Average
Total
Cost
ATC in short
run with
small factory
ATC in short
run with
medium factory
ATC in short
run with
large factory
ATC in long run
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economies and Diseconomies
of Scale
?Economies of scale occur when long-run
average total cost declines as output
increases.
?Diseconomies of scale occur when long-
run average total cost rises as output
increases.
?Constant returns to scale occur when
long-run average total cost does not
vary as output increases.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economies and Diseconomies
of Scale
Diseconomies
of scale
Quantity of
Cars per Day
0
Average
Total
Cost
ATC in long run
Economies
of scale
Constant Returns
to scale
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The goal of firms is to maximize profit,
which equals total revenue minus total
cost.
?When analyzing a firm’s behavior, it is
important to include all the
opportunity costs of production.
?Some opportunity costs are explicit
while other opportunity costs are
implicit.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?A firm’s costs reflect its production
process.
?A typical firm’s production function gets
flatter as the quantity of input increases,
displaying the property of diminishing
marginal product.
?A firm’s total costs are divided between
fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs don’t
vary with quantities produced; variable
costs do.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Average total cost is total cost
divided by the quantity of output.
?Marginal cost is the amount by
which total cost would rise if output
were increased by one unit.
?The marginal cost always rises with
the quantity of output.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The average-total-cost curve is U-
shaped.
?The marginal-cost curve always
crosses the average-total-cost curve
at the minimum of ATC.
?A firm’s costs often depend on the
time horizon being considered.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economic Profit versus
Accounting Profit
Revenue
Total
opportunity
costs
How an Economist
Views a Firm
Explicit
costs
Economic
profit
Implicit
costs
Explicit
costs
Accounting
profit
How an Accountant
Views a Firm
Revenue
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Production Function...
Quantity of
Output
(cookies
per hour)
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Number of Workers Hired0 12345
Production function
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Total-Cost Curve...
Total
Cost
$80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Quantity of Output
(cookies per hour)
0 20 40 1401201008060
Total-cost
curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Total-Cost Curve...
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
$16.00
0
24681012
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Total Cost
Total-cost
curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Average-Cost and Marginal-Cost
Curves...
ATC
AVC
MC
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Costs
AFC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
024681012
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Costs
MC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Cost Curves and Their Shapes
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
024681012
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Total Costs
ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Relationship Between Marginal
Cost and Average Total Cost
MC
ATC
$0.00
$0.50
$1.00
$1.50
$2.00
$2.50
$3.00
$3.50
024681012
Quantity of Output
(glasses of lemonade per hour)
Costs
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Big Bob’s Cost Curves...
$0.00
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
$16.00
$18.00
$20.00
0246810121416
Quantity of Output
(bagels per hour)
Total Cost
Total Cost Curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Big Bob’s Cost Curves...
AFC
AVC
MC
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0246810121416
Quantity of Output
Costs
ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Average Total Cost in the Short
and Long Runs...
Quantity of
Cars per Day
0
Average
Total
Cost
ATC in short
run with
small factory
ATC in short
run with
medium factory
ATC in short
run with
large factory
ATC in long run
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economies and Diseconomies
of Scale
Diseconomies
of scale
Quantity of
Cars per Day
0
Average
Total
Cost
ATC in long run
Economies
of scale
Constant Returns
to scale
Firms in Competitive
Markets
Chapter 14
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Meaning of Competition
?A perfectly competitive market
has the following characteristics:
?There are many buyers and sellers in
the market.
?The goods offered by the various
sellers are largely the same.
?Firms can freely enter or exit the
market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Meaning of Competition
?As a result of its characteristics, the
perfectly competitive market has the
following outcomes:
?The actions of any single buyer or seller
in the market have a negligible impact on
the market price.
?Each buyer and seller takes the market
price as given.
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The Meaning of Competition
Buyers and sellers in competitive
markets are said to be price takers.
Buyers and sellers must accept the
price determined by the market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
Total revenue for a firm is the selling
price times the quantity sold.
TR = (P X Q)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
Total revenue is proportional to the
amount of output.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
Average revenue tells us how much
revenue a firm receives for the
typical unit sold.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
In perfect competition, average
revenue equals the price of the
good.
Average revenue =
Total revenue
Quantity
=
(Price Quantity)
Quantity
=Price
×
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
Marginal revenue is the change in
total revenue from an additional unit
sold.
MR =?TR/ ?Q
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Revenue of a Competitive Firm
For competitive firms, marginal
revenue equals the price of the
good.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Total, Average, and Marginal
Revenue for a Competitive Firm
Quantity
(Q)
Price
(P)
Total Revenue
(TR=PxQ)
Average Revenue
(AR=TR/Q)
Marginal Revenue
(MR= )
1 $6.00 $6.00 $6.00
2 $6.00 $12.00 $6.00 $6.00
3 $6.00 $18.00 $6.00 $6.00
4 $6.00 $24.00 $6.00 $6.00
5 $6.00 $30.00 $6.00 $6.00
6 $6.00 $36.00 $6.00 $6.00
7 $6.00 $42.00 $6.00 $6.00
8 $6.00 $48.00 $6.00 $6.00
QTR ?? /
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization for the
Competitive Firm
?The goal of a competitive firm is to
maximize profit.
?This means that the firm will want
to produce the quantity that
maximizes the difference between
total revenue and total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization:
A Numerical Example
Price
(P)
Quantity
(Q)
Total Revenue
(TR=PxQ)
Total Cost
(TC)
Profit
(TR-TC)
Marginal Revenue
(MR= )
Marginal Cost
MC=
0 $0.00 $3.00 -$3.00
$6.00 1 $6.00 $5.00 $1.00 $6.00 $2.00
$6.00 2 $12.00 $8.00 $4.00 $6.00 $3.00
$6.00 3 $18.00 $12.00 $6.00 $6.00 $4.00
$6.00 4 $24.00 $17.00 $7.00 $6.00 $5.00
$6.00 5 $30.00 $23.00 $7.00 $6.00 $6.00
$6.00 6 $36.00 $30.00 $6.00 $6.00 $7.00
$6.00 7 $42.00 $38.00 $4.00 $6.00 $8.00
$6.00 8 $48.00 $47.00 $1.00 $6.00 $9.00
QTR ?? / QTC ?? /
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization for the
Competitive Firm...
P = AR = MR
P=MR
1
MC
Quantity
0
Costs
and
Revenue
ATC
AVC
Q
MAX
The firm maximizes
profit by producing
the quantity at
which marginal cost
equals marginal
revenue.
MC
1
Q
1
MC
2
Q
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization for the
Competitive Firm
Profit maximization occurs at the
quantity where marginal revenue
equals marginal cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization for the
Competitive Firm
When MR > MC D increase Q
When MR < MC D decrease Q
When MR = MC D Profit is
maximized.
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc. All rights reserved
The Marginal-Cost Curve and the
Firm’s Supply Decision...
Quantity
0
Costs
and
Revenue
MC
ATC
AVC
Q
1
P
1
P
2
Q
2
This section of the
firm’s MC curve is
also the firm’s
supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision
to Shut Down
?A shutdown refers to a short-run
decision not to produce anything
during a specific period of time
because of current market
conditions.
?Exit refers to a long-run decision to
leave the market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision
to Shut Down
The firm considers its sunk costs
when deciding to exit, but ignores
them when deciding whether to shut
down.
?Sunk costs are costs that have
already been committed and cannot
be recovered.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision
to Shut Down
?The firm shuts down if the revenue it
gets from producing is less than the
variable cost of production.
Shut down if TR < VC
Shut down if TR/Q < VC/Q
Shut down if P < AVC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision to
Shut Down...
Quantity
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
MC
If P < AVC,
shut down.
If P > AVC,
keep producing
in the short run.
If P > ATC,
keep producing
at a profit.
Firm’s short-run
supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision
to Shut Down
The portion of the marginal-cost
curve that lies above average
variable cost is the competitive
firm’s short-run supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Long-Run Decision to
Exit or Enter a Market
?In the long-run, the firm exits if the
revenue it would get from producing is
less than its total cost.
Exit if TR < TC
Exit if TR/Q < TC/Q
Exit if P < ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Long-Run Decision to
Exit or Enter a Market
?A firm will enter the industry if such an
action would be profitable.
Enter if TR > TC
Enter if TR/Q > TC/Q
Enter if P > ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Competitive Firm’s Long-
Run Supply Curve...
Quantity
MC = Long-run S
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
Firm enters
if P > ATC
Firm exits
if P < ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Competitive Firm’s Long-
Run Supply Curve
The competitive firm’s long-run
supply curve is the portion of its
marginal-cost curve that lies
above average total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Competitive Firm’s Long-
Run Supply Curve...
Quantity
MC
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
Firm’s long-run
supply curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run and
Long-Run Supply Curves
?Short-Run Supply Curve
?The portion of its marginal cost curve
that lies above average variable cost.
?Long-Run Supply Curve
?The marginal cost curve above the
minimum point of its average total cost
curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Profit in the Graph for
the Competitive Firm...
Profit
Q Quantity
0
Price
P = AR = MR
ATCMC
P
ATC
a. A Firm with Profits
Profit-maximizing quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Profit in the Graph for
the Competitive Firm...
Loss
Quantity
0
Price
P = AR = MR
ATCMC
P
Q
ATC
b. A Firm with Losses
Loss-minimizing quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Supply in a Competitive Market
Market supply equals the sum
of the quantities supplied by the
individual firms in the market.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Short Run: Market Supply
with a Fixed Number of Firms
?For any given price, each firm
supplies a quantity of output so that
its marginal cost equals price.
?The market supply curve reflects the
individual firms’ marginal cost
curves.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Short Run: Market Supply
with a Fixed Number of Firms...
(a) Individual Firm Supply (b) Market Supply
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
Supply
MC
1.00
$2.00
100 200
1.00
$2.00
100,000 200,000
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Long Run: Market Supply
with Entry and Exit
?Firms will enter or exit the market
until profit is driven to zero.
?In the long run, price equals the
minimum of average total cost.
?The long-run market supply curve is
horizontal at this price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Long Run: Market Supply
with Entry and Exit...
(a) Firm’s Zero-Profit Condition (b) Market Supply
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
P =
minimum
ATC
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
Supply
MC
ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Long Run: Market Supply
with Entry and Exit
?At the end of the process of entry and
exit, firms that remain must be making
zero economic profit.
?The process of entry & exit ends only
when price and average total cost are
driven to equality.
?Long-run equilibrium must have firms
operating at their efficient scale.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Firms Stay in Business with
Zero Profit
?Profit equals total revenue minus total
cost.
?Total cost includes all the opportunity
costs of the firm.
?In the zero-profit equilibrium, the firm’s
revenue compensates the owners for the
time and money they expend to keep the
business going.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the
Short Run
?An increase in demand raises
price and quantity in the short
run.
?Firms earn profits because price
now exceeds average total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
(a) Initial Condition
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC
ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
P
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
(b) Short-Run Response
D
2
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
Q
2
B
P
2
P
2
Profit
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
(c) Long-Run Response
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
D
2
B
Q
2
P
2
S
2
C
Q
3
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Why the Long-Run Supply
Curve Might Slope Upward
?Some resources used in
production may be available only
in limited quantities.
?Firms may have different costs.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal Firm
The marginal firm is the firm
that would exit the market if
the price were any lower.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Because a competitive firm is a price
taker, its revenue is proportional to
the amount of output it produces.
?The price of the good equals both the
firm’s average revenue and its
marginal revenue.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?To maximize profit a firm chooses
the quantity of output such that
marginal revenue equals marginal
cost.
?This is also the quantity at which
price equals marginal cost.
?Therefore, the firm’s marginal cost
curve is its supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?In the short run when a firm cannot
recover its fixed costs, the firm will choose
to shut down temporarily if the price of
the good is less than average variable cost.
?In the long run when the firm can recover
both fixed and variable costs, it will
choose to exit if the price is less than
average total cost.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?In a market with free entry and exit,
profits are driven to zero in the long
run and all firms produce at the
efficient scale.
?Changes in demand have different
effects over different time horizons.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization for the
Competitive Firm...
P = AR = MR
P=MR
1
MC
Quantity
0
Costs
and
Revenue
ATC
AVC
Q
MAX
The firm maximizes
profit by producing
the quantity at
which marginal cost
equals marginal
revenue.
MC
1
Q
1
MC
2
Q
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Marginal-Cost Curve and the
Firm’s Supply Decision...
Quantity
0
Costs
and
Revenue
MC
ATC
AVC
Q
1
P
1
P
2
Q
2
This section of the
firm’s MC curve is
also the firm’s
supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Firm’s Short-Run Decision to
Shut Down...
Quantity
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
MC
If P < AVC,
shut down.
If P > AVC,
keep producing
in the short run.
If P > ATC,
keep producing
at a profit.
Firm’s short-run
supply curve.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Competitive Firm’s Long-
Run Supply Curve...
Quantity
MC = Long-run S
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
Firm enters
if P > ATC
Firm exits
if P < ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Competitive Firm’s Long-
Run Supply Curve...
Quantity
MC
ATC
AVC
0
Costs
Firm’s long-run
supply curve
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Profit in the Graph for
the Competitive Firm...
Profit
Q Quantity
0
Price
P = AR = MR
ATCMC
P
ATC
Profit-maximizing quantity
a. A Firm with Profits
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Measuring Profit in the Graph for
the Competitive Firm...
Loss
Quantity
0
Price
P = AR = MR
ATCMC
P
Q
Loss-minimizing quantity
ATC
b. A Firm with Losses
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Short Run: Market Supply
with a Fixed Number of Firms...
(a) Individual Firm Supply
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
(b) Market Supply
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
Supply
MC
1.00
$2.00
100 200
1.00
$2.00
100,000 200,000
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Long Run: Market Supply
with Entry and Exit...
(a) Firm’s Zero-Profit Condition
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
P =
minimum
ATC
(b) Market Supply
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
Supply
MC
ATC
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC
ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
(a) Initial Condition
P
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
D
2
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
(b) Short-Run Response
Q
2
B
P
2
P
2
Profit
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Increase in Demand in the Short
Run...
Market
Firm
Quantity
(firm)
0
Price
MC ATC
P
1
Quantity
(market)
Price
0
D
1
P
1
Q
1
A
S
1
Long-run
supply
(c) Long-Run Response
D
2
B
Q
2
P
2
S
2
C
Q
3
Monopoly
Chapter 15
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopoly
While a competitive firm is a
price taker, a monopoly firm is
a price maker.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopoly
?A firm is considered a monopoly if . . .
… it is the sole seller of its product.
… its product does not have close
substitutes.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Why Monopolies Arise
The fundamental cause of
monopoly is barriers to entry.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Why Monopolies Arise
Barriers to entry have three sources:
? Ownership of a key resource.
? The government gives a single firm the
exclusive right to produce some good.
? Costs of production make a single producer
more efficient than a large number of
producers.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopoly Resources
Although exclusive ownership of a key
resource is a potential source of
monopoly, in practice monopolies
rarely arise for this reason.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Government-Created Monopolies
Governments may restrict entry by giving a
single firm the exclusive right to sell a
particular good in certain markets.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Government-Created Monopolies
Patent and copyright laws are two
important examples of how
government creates a monopoly to
serve the public interest.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Natural Monopolies
An industry is a natural monopoly when a
single firm can supply a good or service to
an entire market at a smaller cost than
could two or more firms.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Natural Monopolies
A natural monopoly arises when there
are economies of scale over the relevant
range of output.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Economies of Scale as a Cause of
Monopoly...
Cost
Average
total
cost
Quantity of Output
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopoly versus Competition
Monopoly
?Is the sole producer
?Has a downward-sloping demand curve
?Is a price maker
?Reduces price to increase sales
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Competition versus Monopoly
Competitive Firm
?Is one of many producers
?Has a horizontal demand curve
?Is a price taker
?Sells as much or as little at same price
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Demand Curves for Competitive and
Monopoly Firms...
Quantity of
Output
Demand
(a) A Competitive Firm’s
Demand Curve
(b) A Monopolist’s
Demand Curve
0
Price
0 Quantity of
Output
Price
Demand
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Monopoly’s Revenue
?Total Revenue
P x Q = TR
?Average Revenue
TR/Q = AR = P
?Marginal Revenue
?TR/?Q = MR
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Monopoly’s Total, Average, and
Marginal Revenue
Quantity
(Q)
Price
(P)
Total Revenue
(TR=PxQ)
Average
Revenue
(AR=TR/Q)
Marginal Revenue
(MR= )
0 $11.00 $0.00
1 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00
2 $9.00 $18.00 $9.00 $8.00
3 $8.00 $24.00 $8.00 $6.00
4 $7.00 $28.00 $7.00 $4.00
5 $6.00 $30.00 $6.00 $2.00
6 $5.00 $30.00 $5.00 $0.00
7 $4.00 $28.00 $4.00 -$2.00
8 $3.00 $24.00 $3.00 -$4.00
QTR
??
/
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Monopoly’s Marginal Revenue
A monopolist’s marginal revenue is
always less than the price of its good.
?The demand curve is downward sloping.
?When a monopoly drops the price to sell one
more unit, the revenue received from
previously sold units also decreases.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Monopoly’s Marginal Revenue
When a monopoly increases the
amount it sells, it has two effects on
total revenue (P x Q).
?The output effect—more output is
sold, so Q is higher.
?The price effect—price falls, so P is
lower.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Demand and Marginal Revenue Curves
for a Monopoly...
Quantity of Water
Price
$11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
12345 678
Marginal
revenue
Demand
(average revenue)
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit Maximization of a Monopoly
?A monopoly maximizes profit by
producing the quantity at which
marginal revenue equals marginal cost.
?It then uses the demand curve to find the
price that will induce consumers to buy
that quantity.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Profit-Maximization for a Monopoly...
Monopoly
price
QuantityQ
MAX
0
Costs and
Revenue
Demand
Average total cost
Marginal revenue
Marginal
cost
A
1. The intersection of
the marginal-revenue
curve and the marginal-
cost curve determines
the profit-maximizing
quantity...
B
2. ...and then the demand
curve shows the price
consistent with this
quantity.
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Comparing Monopoly and
Competition
?For a competitive firm, price equals
marginal cost.
P = MR = MC
?For a monopoly firm, price exceeds
marginal cost.
P > MR = MC
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A Monopoly’s Profit
Profit equals total revenue minus total costs.
Profit = TR - TC
Profit = (TR/Q - TC/Q) x Q
Profit = (P - ATC) x Q
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The Monopolist’s Profit...
Mo
n
o
p
o
l
y
p
r
o
f
i
t
Quantity0
Costs and
Revenue
Demand
Marginal cost
Marginal revenue
Q
MAX
B
Monopoly
price
E
Average
total cost
D
Average total cost
C
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The Monopolist’s Profit
The monopolist will receive
economic profits as long as price is
greater than average total cost.
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The Market for Drugs...
Costs and
Revenue
Price
during
patent life
Price after
patent
expires
Monopoly
quantity
Competitive
quantity
Quantity
Marginal
revenue
0
Marginal
cost
Demand
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The Welfare Cost of Monopoly
?In contrast to a competitive firm, the
monopoly charges a price above the
marginal cost.
?From the standpoint of consumers, this high
price makes monopoly undesirable.
?However, from the standpoint of the owners
of the firm, the high price makes monopoly
very desirable.
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The Efficient Level of Output...
Price
0
Quantity
Marginal cost
Demand
(value to buyers)
Efficient
quantity
Cost to
monopolist
Value
to
buyers
Value
to
buyers
Cost to
monopolist
Value to buyers is greater
than cost to seller.
Value to buyers is less
than cost to seller.
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The Deadweight Loss
Because a monopoly sets its price above
marginal cost, it places a wedge between
the consumer’s willingness to pay and the
producer’s cost.
?This wedge causes the quantity sold to
fall short of the social optimum.
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The Inefficiency of Monopoly...
Quantity0
Demand
Marginal
revenue
Marginal cost
Monopoly
price
Deadweight
loss
Efficient
quantity
Monopoly
quantity
Price
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The Inefficiency of Monopoly
The monopolist produces less
than the socially efficient
quantity of output.
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The Deadweight Loss
?The deadweight loss caused by a monopoly is
similar to the deadweight loss caused by a tax.
?The difference between the two cases is that
the government gets the revenue from a tax,
whereas a private firm gets the monopoly
profit.
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Public Policy Toward Monopolies
Government responds to the problem of
monopoly in one of four ways.
? Making monopolized industries more
competitive.
? Regulating the behavior of monopolies.
? Turning some private monopolies into public
enterprises.
? Doing nothing at all.
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Increasing Competition with
Antitrust Laws
? Antitrust laws are a collection of statutes aimed at
curbing monopoly power.
? Antitrust laws give government various ways to
promote competition.
?They allow government to prevent mergers.
?They allow government to break up companies.
?They prevent companies from performing activities
which make markets less competitive.
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Two Important
Antitrust Laws
?Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
?Reduced the market power of the large and
powerful “trusts” of that time period.
?Clayton Act (1914)
?Strengthened the government’s powers and
authorized private lawsuits.
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Regulation
Government may regulate the prices
that the monopoly charges.
?The allocation of resources will be
efficient if price is set to equal
marginal cost.
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Marginal-Cost Pricing for a Natural
Monopoly...
Regulated
price
Quantity
0
Loss
Price
Demand
Marginal cost
Average total cost
Average
total cost
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Regulation
In practice, regulators will allow
monopolists to keep some of the benefits
from lower costs in the form of higher
profit, a practice that requires some
departure from marginal-cost pricing.
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Public Ownership
Rather than regulating a natural
monopoly that is run by a private firm,
the government can run the monopoly
itself. (e.g. in the U.S., the government
runs the Postal Service).
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Doing Nothing
Government can do nothing at all
if the market failure is deemed
small compared to the
imperfections of public policies.
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Price Discrimination
Price discrimination is the practice of
selling the same good at different
prices to different customers, even
though the costs for producing for the
two customers are the same.
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Price Discrimination
Price discrimination is not possible
when a good is sold in a competitive
market since there are many firms all
selling at the market price. In order to
price discriminate, the firm must have
some market power.
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Perfect Price Discrimination
Perfect price discrimination
refers to the situation when the
monopolist knows exactly the
willingness to pay of each
customer and can charge each
customer a different price.
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Price Discrimination
?Two important effects of price
discrimination:
?It can increase the monopolist’s profits.
?It can reduce deadweight loss.
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Welfare Without Price
Discrimination...
Deadweight
loss
Consumer
surplus
Price
0 Quantity
Profit
Demand
Marginal cost
Marginal
revenue
Quantity sold
Monopoly
price
(a) Monopolist with Single Price
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Welfare With Price
Discrimination...
Price
0 Quantity
Demand
Marginal cost
Quantity sold
(b) Monopolist with Perfect Price Discrimination
Profit
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Examples of Price Discrimination
?Movie tickets
?Airline prices
?Discount coupons
?Financial aid
?Quantity discounts
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The Prevalence of Monopoly
?How prevalent are the problems of
monopolies?
?Monopolies are common.
?Most firms have some control over their
prices because of differentiated products.
?Firms with substantial monopoly power are
rare.
?Few goods are truly unique.
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Summary
?A monopoly is a firm that is the sole
seller in its market.
?It faces a downward-sloping demand
curve for its product.
?A monopoly’s marginal revenue is
always below the price of its good.
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Summary
?Like a competitive firm, a monopoly
maximizes profit by producing the
quantity at which marginal cost and
marginal revenue are equal.
?Unlike a competitive firm, its price
exceeds its marginal revenue, so its
price exceeds marginal cost.
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Summary
?A monopolist’s profit-maximizing level
of output is below the level that
maximizes the sum of consumer and
producer surplus.
?A monopoly causes deadweight losses
similar to the deadweight losses caused
by taxes.
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Summary
?Policymakers can respond to the
inefficiencies of monopoly behavior with
antitrust laws, regulation of prices, or by
turning the monopoly into a
government-run enterprise.
?If the market failure is deemed small,
policymakers may decide to do nothing
at all.
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Summary
?Monopolists can raise their profits by
charging different prices to different
buyers based on their willingness to
pay.
?Price discrimination can raise
economic welfare and lessen
deadweight losses.
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Graphical
Review
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Economies of Scale as a Cause of
Monopoly...
Average
total
cost
Quantity of Output
Cost
0
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Demand Curves for Competitive and
Monopoly Firms...
Quantity of
Output
Demand
(a) A Competitive Firm’s
Demand Curve
(b) A Monopolist’s
Demand Curve
0
Price
0 Quantity of
Output
Price
Demand
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Demand and Marginal Revenue Curves
for a Monopoly...
Quantity of Water
Price
$11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
12345 678
Marginal
revenue
Demand
(average revenue)
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Profit-Maximization for a Monopoly...
Monopoly
price
QuantityQ
MAX
0
Costs and
Revenue
Demand
Average total cost
Marginal revenue
Marginal
cost
A
1. The intersection of
the marginal-revenue
curve and the marginal-
cost curve determines
the profit-maximizing
quantity...
B
2. ...and then the demand
curve shows the price
consistent with this
quantity.
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The Monopolist’s Profit...
Mo
n
o
p
o
l
y
p
r
o
f
i
t
Quantity0
Costs and
Revenue
Demand
Marginal cost
Marginal revenue
Q
MAX
B
Monopoly
price
E
Average
total cost
D
Average total cost
C
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The Market for Drugs...
Costs and
Revenue
Price
during
patent life
Price after
patent
expires
Monopoly
quantity
Competitive
quantity
0
Quantity
Demand
Marginal
cost
Marginal
revenue
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The Efficient Level of Output...
Price
0
Quantity
Marginal cost
Demand
(value to buyers)
Efficient
quantity
Cost to
monopolist
Value
to
buyers
Value
to
buyers
Cost to
monopolist
Value to buyers is greater
than cost to seller.
Value to buyers is less
than cost to seller.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Inefficiency of Monopoly...
Quantity0
Demand
Marginal
revenue
Marginal cost
Monopoly
price
Deadweight
loss
Efficient
quantity
Monopoly
quantity
Price
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Marginal-Cost Pricing for a Natural
Monopoly...
Regulated
price
Quantity
0
Loss
Price
Demand
Marginal cost
Average total cost
Average
total cost
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Welfare Without Price
Discrimination...
Deadweight
loss
Consumer
surplus
Price
0 Quantity
Profit
Demand
Marginal cost
Marginal
revenue
Quantity sold
Monopoly
price
(a) Monopolist with Single Price
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Welfare With Price
Discrimination...
Price
0 Quantity
Demand
Marginal cost
Quantity sold
(b) Monopolist with Perfect Price Discrimination
Profit
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Oligopoly
Chapter 16
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
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Imperfect Competition
Imperfect competition refers to
those market structures that fall
between perfect competition and
pure monopoly.
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Imperfect Competition
Imperfect competition includes
industries in which firms have
competitors but do not face so
much competition that they are
price takers.
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Types of Imperfectly
Competitive Markets
?Oligopoly
?Only a few sellers, each offering a
similar or identical product to the
others.
?Monopolistic Competition
?Many firms selling products that are
similar but not identical.
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The Four Types of Market Structure
Monopoly Oligopoly Monopolistic
Competition
Perfect
Competition
? Tap water
? Cable TV
? Tennis balls
? Crude oil
? Novels
? Movies
? Wheat
? Milk
Number of Firms?
Type of Products?
Many
firms
One
firm
Few
firms
Differentiated
products
Identical
products
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Markets With Only a
Few Sellers
Because of the few sellers, the
key feature of oligopoly is the
tension between cooperation
and self-interest.
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Characteristics of an Oligopoly
Market
?Few sellers offering similar or identical
products
?Interdependent firms
?Best off cooperating and acting like a
monopolist by producing a small quantity
of output and charging a price above
marginal cost
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A Duopoly Example
A duopoly is an oligopoly with
only two members. It is the
simplest type of oligopoly.
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A Duopoly Example: Demand
Schedule for Water
Quantity Price Total Revenue
0 $120 $ 0
10 110 1,100
20 100 2,000
30 90 2,700
40 80 3,200
50 70 3,500
60 60 3,600
70 50 3,500
80 40 3,200
90 30 2,700
100 20 2,000
110 10 1,100
120 0 0
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A Duopoly Example: Price and
Quantity Supplied
?The price of water in a perfectly competitive
market would be driven to where the marginal
cost is zero:
P = MC = $0
Q = 120 gallons
?The price and quantity in a monopoly market
would be where total profit is maximized:
P = $60
Q = 60 gallons
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A Duopoly Example: Price and
Quantity Supplied
?The socially efficient quantity of water is
120 gallons, but a monopolist would
produce only 60 gallons of water.
?So what outcome then could be expected
from duopolists?
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Competition, Monopolies, and
Cartels
?The duopolists may agree on a
monopoly outcome.
?Collusion
?The two firms may agree on the
quantity to produce and the price to
charge.
?Cartel
?The two firms may join together and act
in unison.
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Competition, Monopolies, and
Cartels
Although oligopolists would like to form
cartels and earn monopoly profits, often that
is not possible. Antitrust laws prohibit
explicit agreements among oligopolists as a
matter of public policy.
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The Equilibrium for an Oligopoly
A Nash equilibrium is a situation in
which economic actors interacting
with one another each choose their
best strategy given the strategies that
all the others have chosen.
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The Equilibrium for an Oligopoly
When firms in an oligopoly individually
choose production to maximize profit, they
produce quantity of output greater than the
level produced by monopoly and less than
the level produced by competition.
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The Equilibrium for an Oligopoly
The oligopoly price is less than the
monopoly price but greater than the
competitive price (which equals
marginal cost).
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Summary of Equilibrium for an
Oligopoly
?Possible outcome if oligopoly firms
pursue their own self-interests:
?Joint output is greater than the monopoly
quantity but less than the competitive
industry quantity.
?Market prices are lower than monopoly
price but greater than competitive price.
?Total profits are less than the monopoly
profit.
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A Duopoly Example: Demand
Schedule for Water
Quantity Price Total Revenue
0 $120 $ 0
10 110 1,100
20 100 2,000
30 90 2,700
40 80 3,200
50 70 3,500
60 60 3,600
70 50 3,500
80 40 3,200
90 30 2,700
100 20 2,000
110 10 1,100
120 0 0
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How the Size of an Oligopoly
Affects the Market Outcome
?How increasing the number of sellers
affects the price and quantity:
?The output effect: Because price is above
marginal cost, selling more at the going price
raises profits.
?The price effect: Raising production lowers
the price and the profit per unit on all units
sold.
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How the Size of an Oligopoly
Affects the Market Outcome
?As the number of sellers in an oligopoly
grows larger, an oligopolistic market looks
more and more like a competitive market.
?The price approaches marginal cost, and
the quantity produced approaches the
socially efficient level.
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Game Theory and the
Economics of Cooperation
?Game theory is the study of how people
behave in strategic situations.
?Strategic decisions are those in which
each person, in deciding what actions to
take, must consider how others might
respond to that action.
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Game Theory and the
Economics of Cooperation
?Because the number of firms in an
oligopolistic market is small, each firm
must act strategically.
?Each firm knows that its profit depends
not only on how much it produced but
also on how much the other firms
produce.
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The Prisoners’ Dilemma
The prisoners’ dilemma provides
insight into the difficulty in
maintaining cooperation.
Often people (firms) fail to cooperate
with one another even when cooperation
would make them better off.
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The Prisoners’ Dilemma
Bonnie’s Decision
Confess Remain Silent
Confess
Remain
Silent
Clyde gets
8 years
Bonnie gets
8 years
Bonnie gets
20 years
Bonnie gets
1 year
Bonnie goes
free
Clyde gets
20 years
Clyde gets
1 year
Clyde goes
free
Clyde’s
Decision
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The Prisoners’ Dilemma
The dominant strategy is the best
strategy for a player to follow
regardless of the strategies pursued
by other players.
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The Prisoners’ Dilemma
Cooperation is difficult to
maintain, because cooperation is
not in the best interest of the
individual player.
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Oligopolies as a
Prisoners’ Dilemma
Iraq’s Decision
High Production Low Production
High
Production
Low
Production
Iran gets
$40 billion
Iraq gets
$40 billion
Iraq gets
$30 billion
Iraq gets
$50 billion
Iraq gets
$60 billion
Iran gets
$30 billion
Iran gets
$50 billion
Iran gets
$60 billion
Iran’s
Decision
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Oligopolies as a
Prisoners’ Dilemma
Self-interest makes it difficult for the
oligopoly to maintain a cooperative
outcome with low production, high
prices, and monopoly profits.
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An Arms-Race Game
Decision of the United States (U.S.)
Arm Disarm
Arm
Disarm
USSR
at risk
U.S. at risk
U.S. at risk
and weak
U.S. safe
U.S. safe and
powerful
USSR at
risk and
weak
USSR
safe
USSR safe
and
powerful
Decision
of the
Soviet
Union
(USSR)
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An Advertising Game
Marlboro’s Decision
Advertise Don’t Advertise
Advertise
Don’t
Advertise
Camel gets
$3 billion
profit
Marlboro gets
$3 billion
profit
Marlboro
gets $2
billion profit
Marlboro gets
$4 billion
profit
Marlboro gets
$5 billion
profit
Camel gets
$2 billion
profit
Camel gets
$4 billion
profit
Camel gets
$5 billion
profit
Camel’s
Decision
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A Common-Resources Game
Exxon’s Decision
Drill Two Wells Drill One Well
Drill Two
Wells
Drill One
Well
Arco gets
$4 million
profit
Exxon gets
$4 million
profit
Exxon gets
$3 million
profit
Exxon gets $5
million profit
Exxon gets
$6 million
profit
Arco gets
$3 million
profit
Arco gets
$5 million
profit
Arco gets
$6 million
profit
Arco’s
Decision
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Why People Sometimes
Cooperate
Firms that care about future profits
will cooperate in repeated games
rather than cheating in a single game
to achieve a one-time gain.
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Jack and Jill’s Oligopoly Game
Jack’s Decision
Sell 40 gallons Sell 30 gallons
Sell 40
gallons
Sell 30
gallons
Jill gets
$1,600 profit
Jack gets
$1,600 profit
Jack gets
$1,500 profit
Jack gets
$1,800 profit
Jack gets
$2,000 profit
Jill gets
$1,500 profit
Jill gets
$1,800 profit
Jill gets
$2,000 profit
Jill’s
Decision
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Public Policy Toward
Oligopolies
Cooperation among oligopolists is
undesirable from the standpoint of
society as a whole because it leads to
production that is too low and prices
that are too high.
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Restraint of Trade and the
Antitrust Laws
?Antitrust laws make it illegal to restrain
trade or attempt to monopolize a market.
? Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890
? Clayton Act of 1914
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Controversies over Antitrust
Policy
?Antitrust policies sometimes may not
allow business practices that have
potentially positive effects:
?Resale price maintenance
?Predatory pricing
?Tying
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Resale Price Maintenance
Resale price maintenance (or fair trade)
occurs when suppliers (like wholesalers)
require the retailers that they sell to, to
charge customers a specific amount.
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Predatory Pricing
Predatory pricing occurs when a large
firm begins to cut the price of its
product(s) with the intent of driving its
competitor(s) out of the market.
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Tying
Tying refers to when a firm offers
two (or more) of its products
together at a single price, rather than
separately.
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Summary
?Oligopolists maximize their total profits
by forming a cartel and acting like a
monopolist.
?If oligopolists make decisions about
production levels individually, the result
is a greater quantity and a lower price
than under the monopoly outcome.
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Summary
?The prisoners’ dilemma shows that self-
interest can prevent people from
maintaining cooperation, even when
cooperation is in their mutual self-
interest.
?The logic of the prisoners’ dilemma
applies in many situations, including
oligopolies.
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Summary
?Policymakers use the antitrust laws
to prevent oligopolies from
engaging in behavior that reduces
competition.
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Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Four Types of Market Structure
Monopoly Oligopoly Monopolistic
Competition
Perfect
Competition
? Tap water
? Cable TV
? Tennis balls
? Crude oil
? Novels
? Movies
? Wheat
? Milk
Number of Firms?
Type of Products?
Many
firms
One
firm
Few
firms
Differentiated
products
Identical
products
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The Prisoners’ Dilemma
Bonnie’s Decision
Confess Remain Silent
Confess
Remain
Silent
Clyde’s
Decision
Clyde gets
8 years
Bonnie gets
8 years
Bonnie gets
20 years
Bonnie gets
1 year
Bonnie goes
free
Clyde gets
20 years
Clyde gets
1 year
Clyde goes
free
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Oligopolies as a
Prisoners’ Dilemma
Iraq’s Decision
High Production Low Production
High
Production
Low
Production
Iran’s
Decision
Iran gets
$40 billion
Iraq gets
$40 billion
Iraq gets
$30 billion
Iraq gets
$50 billion
Iraq gets
$60 billion
Iran gets
$30 billion
Iran gets
$50 billion
Iran gets
$60 billion
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An Arms-Race Game
Decision of the United States (U.S.)
Arm Disarm
Arm
Disarm
Decision
of the
Soviet
Union
(USSR)
USSR
at risk
U.S. at risk
U.S. at risk
and weak
U.S. safe
U.S. safe and
powerful
USSR at
risk and
weak
USSR
safe
USSR safe
and
powerful
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An Advertising Game
Marlboro’s Decision
Advertise Don’t Advertise
Advertise
Don’t
Advertise
Camel’s
Decision
Camel gets
$3 billion
profit
Marlboro gets
$3 billion
profit
Marlboro
gets $2
billion profit
Marlboro gets
$4 billion
profit
Marlboro gets
$5 billion
profit
Camel gets
$2 billion
profit
Camel gets
$4 billion
profit
Camel gets
$5 billion
profit
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A Common-Resources Game
Exxon’s Decision
Drill Two Wells Drill One Well
Drill Two
Wells
Drill One
Well
Arco’s
Decision
Arco gets
$4 million
profit
Exxon gets
$4 million
profit
Exxon gets
$3 million
profit
Exxon gets $5
million profit
Exxon gets
$6 million
profit
Arco gets
$3 million
profit
Arco gets
$5 million
profit
Arco gets
$6 million
profit
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Jack and Jill’s Oligopoly Game
Jack’s Decision
Sell 40 gallons Sell 30 gallons
Sell 40
gallons
Sell 30
gallons
Jill’s
Decision
Jill gets
$1,600 profit
Jack gets
$1,600 profit
Jack gets
$1,500 profit
Jack gets
$1,800 profit
Jack gets
$2,000 profit
Jill gets
$1,500 profit
Jill gets
$1,800 profit
Jill gets
$2,000 profit
Monopolistic
Competition
Chapter 17
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Four Types of Market Structure
Monopoly Oligopoly Monopolistic
Competition
Perfect
Competition
? Tap water
? Cable TV
? Tennis balls
? Crude oil
? Novels
? Movies
? Wheat
? Milk
Number of Firms?
Type of Products?
Many
firms
One
firm
Few
firms
Differentiated
products
Identical
products
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Types of Imperfectly
Competitive Markets
?Monopolistic Competition
?Many firms selling products that are similar
but not identical.
?Oligopoly
?Only a few sellers, each offering a similar or
identical product to the others.
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Monopolistic Competition
Markets that have some
features of competition and
some features of monopoly.
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Attributes of Monopolistic
Competition
?Many sellers
?Product differentiation
?Free entry and exit
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Many Sellers
There are many firms competing for the
same group of customers.
?Product examples include books, CDs,
movies, computer games, restaurants,
piano lessons, cookies, furniture, etc.
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Product Differentiation
?Each firm produces a product that is
at least slightly different from those
of other firms.
?Rather than being a price taker,
each firm faces a downward-sloping
demand curve.
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Free Entry or Exit
?Firms can enter or exit the market
without restriction.
?The number of firms in the market
adjusts until economic profits are
zero.
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Monopolistic Competitors in
the Short Run...
(a) Firm Makes a Profit
Quantity
0
Price
Demand
MR
ATC
Profit
MC
Profit-
maximizing quantity
Price
Average
total cost
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopolistic Competitors in
the Short Run...
Quantity
0
Price
Demand
MR
Losses
(b) Firm Makes Losses
MC
ATC
Average
total cost
Loss-
minimizing
quantity
Price
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Monopolistic Competition in
the Short Run
Short-run economic profits encourage new
firms to enter the market. This:
? Increases the number of products offered.
? Reduces demand faced by firms already in the
market.
? Incumbent firms’ demand curves shift to the
left.
? Demand for the incumbent firms’ products fall,
and their profits decline.
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Monopolistic Competition in
the Short Run
Short-run economic losses encourage firms
to exit the market. This:
? Decreases the number of products offered.
? Increases demand faced by the remaining
firms.
? Shifts the remaining firms’ demand curves
to the right.
? Increases the remaining firms’ profits.
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The Long-Run Equilibrium
Firms will enter and exit until
the firms are making exactly
zero economic profits.
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A Monopolistic Competitor
in the Long Run...
Quantity
Price
0
Demand
MR
ATC
MC
Profit-maximizing
quantity
P=ATC
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Two Characteristics of Long-
Run Equilibrium
?As in a monopoly, price exceeds marginal
cost.
?Profit maximization requires marginal
revenue to equal marginal cost.
?The downward-sloping demand curve makes
marginal revenue less than price.
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Two Characteristics of Long-
Run Equilibrium
?As in a competitive market, price equals
average total cost.
?Free entry and exit drive economic profit
to zero.
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Monopolistic versus Perfect
Competition
There are two noteworthy
differences between monopolistic
and perfect competition—excess
capacity and markup.
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Excess Capacity
?There is no excess capacity in perfect
competition in the long run.
?Free entry results in competitive firms
producing at the point where average
total cost is minimized, which is the
efficient scale of the firm.
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Excess Capacity
?There is excess capacity in
monopolistic competition in the long
run.
?In monopolistic competition, output is
less than the efficient scale of perfect
competition.
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Excess Capacity...
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity Quantity
Price
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Price
Demand
MC
ATC
Excess capacity
Quantity
produced
Efficient
scale
P = MC
Quantity
produced
= Efficient
scale
P
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Markup Over Marginal Cost
?For a competitive firm, price
equals marginal cost.
?For a monopolistically
competitive firm, price exceeds
marginal cost.
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Markup Over Marginal Cost
Because price exceeds marginal
cost, an extra unit sold at the
posted price means more profit
for the monopolistically
competitive firm.
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Markup Over Marginal Cost...
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity Quantity
Price
P = MC
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Quantity
produced
Price
P
Demand
Marginal
cost
MC
ATC
MR
Markup
Quantity
produced
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopolistic versus Perfect
Competition...
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity
Quantity
Price
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Quantity
produced
Efficient
scale
Price
P
Demand
MC
ATC
P = MC
Excess capacity
Marginal
cost
Markup
MR
Quantity produced =
Efficient scale
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
Monopolistic competition does not
have all the desirable properties of
perfect competition.
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
?There is the normal deadweight loss of
monopoly pricing in monopolistic
competition caused by the markup of
price over marginal cost.
?However, the administrative burden of
regulating the pricing of all firms that
produce differentiated products would be
overwhelming.
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
Another way in which monopolistic
competition may be socially inefficient is
that the number of firms in the market may
not be the “ideal” one. There may be too
much or too little entry.
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
Externalities of entry include:
? product-variety externalities.
? business-stealing externalities.
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
The product-variety externality:
Because consumers get some consumer
surplus from the introduction of a new
product, entry of a new firm conveys a
positive externality on consumers.
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Monopolistic Competition and
the Welfare of Society
The business-stealing externality:
Because other firms lose customers and
profits from the entry of a new competitor,
entry of a new firm imposes a negative
externality on existing firms.
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Advertising
When firms sell differentiated products
and charge prices above marginal cost,
each firm has an incentive to advertise in
order to attract more buyers to its
particular product.
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Advertising
?Firms that sell highly differentiated
consumer goods typically spend between
10 and 20 percent of revenue on
advertising.
?Overall, about 2 percent of total revenue,
or over $100 billion a year, is spent on
advertising.
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Advertising
?Critics of advertising argue that firms
advertise in order to manipulate people’s
tastes.
?They also argue that it impedes
competition by implying that products
are more different than they truly are.
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Advertising
?Defenders argue that advertising provides
information to consumers
?They also argue that advertising increases
competition by offering a greater variety
of products and prices.
?The willingness of a firm to spend
advertising dollars can be a signal to
consumers about the quality of the
product being offered.
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Brand Names
?Critics argue that brand names cause
consumers to perceive differences that do
not really exist.
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Brand Names
?Economists have argued that brand
names may be a useful way for
consumers to ensure that the goods they
are buying are of high quality.
?providing information about quality.
?giving firms incentive to maintain high
quality.
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Summary
?A monopolistically competitive market is
characterized by three attributes: many
firms, differentiated products, and free
entry.
?The equilibrium in a monopolistically
competitive market differs from perfect
competition in that each firm has excess
capacity and each firm charges a price
above marginal cost.
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Summary
?Monopolistic competition does not have
all of the desirable properties of perfect
competition.
?There is a standard deadweight loss of
monopoly caused by the markup of
price over marginal cost.
?The number of firms can be too large
or too small.
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Summary
?The product differentiation inherent
in monopolistic competition leads to
the use of advertising and brand
names.
?Critics of advertising and brand names
argue that firms use them to take
advantage of consumer irrationality and to
reduce competition.
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Summary
?Defenders argue that firms use
advertising and brand names to inform
consumers and to compete more
vigorously on price and product quality.
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Graphical
Review
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The Four Types of Market Structure
Monopoly Oligopoly Monopolistic
Competition
Perfect
Competition
? Tap water
? Cable TV
? Tennis balls
? Crude oil
? Novels
? Movies
? Wheat
? Milk
Number of Firms?
Type of Products?
Many
firms
One
firm
Few
firms
Differentiated
products
Identical
products
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Monopolistic Competitors in
the Short Run...
(a) Firm Makes a Profit
Quantity
0
Price
Demand
MR
ATC
Profit
MC
Profit-
maximizing quantity
Price
Average
total cost
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopolistic Competitors in
the Short Run...
Quantity
0
Price
Demand
MR
Losses
(b) Firm Makes Losses
MC
ATC
Average
total cost
Loss-
minimizing
quantity
Price
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A Monopolistic Competitor
in the Long Run...
Quantity
Price
0
Demand
MR
ATC
MC
Profit-maximizing
quantity
P=ATC
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Excess Capacity...
Quantity
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity
Price
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Price
Demand
MC
ATC
Excess capacity
Quantity
produced
Efficient
scale
P = MC
Quantity
produced
= Efficient
scale
P
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Markup Over Marginal Cost...
Quantity
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity
Price
P = MC
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Quantity
produced
Price
P
Demand
Marginal
cost
MC
ATC
MR
Markup
Quantity
produced
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Monopolistic versus Perfect
Competition...
Quantity
(a) Monopolistically Competitive Firm (b) Perfectly Competitive Firm
Quantity
Price
P = MR
(demand
curve)
MC
ATC
Quantity
produced
Efficient
scale
Price
P
Demand
MC
ATC
P = MC
Excess capacity
Marginal
cost
Markup
MR
Quantity produced =
Efficient scale
The Economics of
Labor Markets
Chapter 18
Copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the
work should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, Harcourt College Publishers,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
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Factors of Production
Factors of production are the
inputs used to produce goods
and services.
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The Market for the Factors of
Production
The demand for a factor of
production is a derived demand.
?A firm’s demand for a factor of
production is derived from its
decision to supply a good in
another market.
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The Demand for Labor
Labor markets, like other markets
in the economy, are governed by the
forces of supply and demand.
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The Versatility of Supply and
Demand...
(a) The Market for Apples (b) The Market for Apple Pickers
Quantity
of Apples
Quantity of
Apple Pickers
QL
W
00
Wage of
Apple
Pickers
Demand
Demand
Supply
Supply
Price of
Apples
P
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The Demand For Labor
Most labor services, rather than
being final goods ready to be enjoyed
by consumers, are inputs into the
production of other goods.
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The Production Function and
The Marginal Product of Labor
The production function illustrates
the relationship between the quantity
of inputs used and the quantity of
output of a good.
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How the Competitive Firm Decides
How Much Labor to Hire
Labor
L
Output
Q
Marginal
Product
of Labor
MPL
Value of the
Marginal
Product
of Labor
VMPL=PxMPL
Wage
W
Marginal Profit
00
1 100 100 $1,000 $500 $500
2 180 80 $800 $500 $300
3 240 60 $600 $500 $100
4 280 40 $400 $500 -$100
5 300 20 $200 $500 -$300
? Pr ofit VMPL W=?
MPL Q/ L=? ?
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The Production Function...
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0123456
Quantity of Apple Pickers
1
2
3
4
5
Quantity of Apples
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The Production Function and The
Marginal Product of Labor
The marginal product of labor is
the increase in the amount of
output from an additional unit of
labor.
MPL = ?Q/?L
MPL = (Q2 – Q1)/(L2 – L1)
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Diminishing Marginal Product
of Labor
?As the number of workers increases, the
marginal product of labor declines.
?As more and more workers are hired,
each additional worker contributes less to
production than the prior one.
?The production function becomes flatter
as the number of workers rises.
This property is called diminishing
marginal product.
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The Production Function...
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0123456
Quantity of Apple Pickers
1
2
3
4
5
Quantity of Apples
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The Value of the Marginal
Product of Labor
?The value of the marginal product is
the marginal product of the input
multiplied by the market price of the
output.
VMPL = MPL X P
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The Value of the Marginal
Product of Labor
?The value of the marginal product is
measured in dollars.
?It diminishes as the number of
workers rises because the market
price of the good is constant.
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The Value of the Marginal Product
and the Demand for Labor
?To maximize profit, the competitive,
profit-maximizing firm hires workers up
to the point where the value of marginal
product of labor equals the wage.
VMPL = Wage
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The Value of the Marginal Product
and the Demand for Labor
The value-of-marginal-product curve
is the labor demand curve for a
competitive, profit-maximizing firm.
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The Value of the Marginal Product
of Labor...
0 Quantity of
Apple Pickers
Value of
the
Marginal
Product
Value of marginal product
(demand curve for labor)
Market
wage
Profit-maximizing
quantity
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Input Demand and Output
Supply
When a competitive firm hires labor up to
the point at which the value of the
marginal product equals the wage, it also
produces up to the point at which the price
equals the marginal cost.
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What Causes the Labor
Demand Curve to Shift?
?Output Price
?Technological Change
?Supply of Other factors
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The Labor Supply Curve
?The labor supply curve reflects how
workers’ decisions about the labor-
leisure tradeoff respond to changes in
opportunity cost.
?An upward-sloping labor supply curve
means that an increase in the wages
induces workers to increase the quantity
of labor they supply.
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The Labor Supply Curve
Wage
(price of
labor)
Supply
0
Quantity of
Labor
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What Causes the Labor Supply
Curve to Shift?
?Changes in Tastes
?Changes in Alternative
Opportunities
?Immigration
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Equilibrium in the Labor
Market
?The wage adjusts to balance the
supply and demand for labor.
?The wage equals the value of the
marginal product of labor.
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Equilibrium in the Labor
Market...
Equilibrium
employment, L
Supply
0
Wage
(price of
labor)
Demand
Equilibrium
wage, W
Quantity of
Labor
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Equilibrium in the Labor
Market
?Labor supply and labor demand
determine the equilibrium wage.
?Shifts in the supply or demand
curve for labor cause the
equilibrium wage to change.
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A Shift in Labor Supply...
Wage
(price of
labor)
W
1
0 Quantity of
Labor
L
1
Supply, S
1
Demand
2. ...reduces
the wage...
3. ...and raises employment.
1. An increase in
labor supply...
S
2
W
2
L
2
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A Shift in Labor Supply
?An increase in the supply of labor :
?Results in a surplus of labor.
?Puts downward pressure on wages.
?Makes it profitable for firms to hire more
workers.
?Results in diminishing marginal product.
?Lowers the value of the marginal product.
?Gives a new equilibrium.
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A Shift in Labor Demand...
Wage
(price of
labor)
W
1
0
Quantity of
Labor
L
1
Supply
Demand, D
1
2. ...increases
the wage...
3. ...and increases employment.
1. An increase in
labor demand...
D
2
W
2
L
2
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Shifts in Labor Demand
?An increase in the demand for labor :
?Makes it profitable for firms to hire more
workers.
?Puts upward pressure on wages.
?Raises the value of the marginal product.
?Gives a new equilibrium.
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Three Determinants of
Productivity
?Physical Capital
? When workers work with a larger quantity of
equipment and structures, they produce more.
?Human Capital
? When workers are more educated, they produce
more.
?Technological Knowledge
? When workers have access to more sophisticated
technologies, they produce more.
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Productivity and Wage Growth
in the United States
Time Period
Growth Rate of
Productivity
Growth Rate of
Wages
1959 - 1997 1.8 1.7
1959 - 1973 2.9 2.9
1973 - 1997 1.1 1.0
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Productivity and Wage Growth
around the World
Country
Growth Rate
of Productivity
Growth Rate
of Real
Wages
South Korea 8.5 7.9
Hong Kong 5.5 4.9
Singapore 5.3 5.0
Indonesia 4.0 4.4
Japan 3.6 2.0
India 3.1 3.4
United Kingdom 2.4 2.4
United States 1.7 0.5
Brazil 0.4 -2.4
Mexico -0.2 -3.0
Argentina -0.9 -1.3
Iran -1.4 -7.9
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Other Factors of Production:
Land and Capital
?Capital refers to the stock of equipment
and structures used for production.
?The economy’s capital represents the
accumulation of goods produced in the past
that are being used in the present to
produce new goods and services.
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Prices of Land and Capital
?The purchase price is what a person
pays to own a factor of production
indefinitely.
?The rental price is what a person pays
to use a factor of production for a
limited period of time.
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Equilibrium in Markets for
Land and Capital
?The rental price of land and the rental
price of capital are determined by supply
and demand.
?The firm increases the quantity hired until
the value of the factor’s marginal product
equals the factor’s price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Markets for Land and
Capital...
(a) The Market for Land (b) The Market for Capital
Quantity
of Land
Quantity of
Capital
QQ00
Rental
Price of
Capital
Demand
Demand
Supply
Supply
Rental
Price of
Land
P
P
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Equilibrium in Markets for
Land and Capital
?Each factor’s rental price must equal
the value of their marginal product.
?They each earn the value of their
marginal contribution to the
production process.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Linkages Among the Factors
of Production
Factors of production are used together.
?The marginal product of any one
factor depends on the quantities of all
factors that are available.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Linkages Among the Factors
of Production
A change in the supply of one
factor alters the earnings of all
the factors.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Linkages Among the Factors
of Production
A change in earnings of any factor can
be found by analyzing the impact of
the event on the value of the marginal
product of that factor.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The three most important factors of
production are labor, land, and capital.
?The demand for factors, such as labor, is a
derived demand that comes from firms
that use the factors to produce goods and
services.
?Competitive, profit-maximizing firms hire
each factor up to the point at which the
value of the marginal product of the factor
equals its price.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The supply of labor arises from
individuals’ tradeoff between work and
leisure.
?An upward-sloping labor supply curve
means that people respond to an
increase in the wage by enjoying less
leisure and working more hours.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?The price paid to each factor adjusts to
balance the supply and demand for that
factor.
?Because factor demand reflects the value
of the marginal product of that factor, in
equilibrium each factor is compensated
according to its marginal contribution to
the production of goods and services.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Summary
?Because factors of production are used
together, the marginal product of any one
factor depends on the quantities of all
factors that are available.
?As a result, a change in the supply of one
factor alters the equilibrium earnings of
all the factors.
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Graphical
Review
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Versatility of Supply and
Demand...
(a) The Market for Apples (b) The Market for Apple Pickers
Quantity
of Apples
Quantity of
Apple Pickers
QL
P
W
00
Price of
Apples
Wage of
Apple
Pickers
Demand
Demand
Supply
Supply
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Production Function...
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0123456
Quantity of Apple Pickers
Quantity of Apples
1
2
3
4
5
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Value of the Marginal Product
of Labor...
0 Quantity of
Apple Pickers
Value of
the
Marginal
Product
Value of marginal product
(demand curve for labor)
Market
wage
Profit-maximizing
quantity
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Labor Supply Curve
Supply
Wage
(price of
labor)
Quantity of
Labor
0
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
Equilibrium in the Labor
Market...
Equilibrium
employment, L
Supply
Wage
(price of
labor)
Quantity of
Labor
0
Demand
Equilibrium
wage, W
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Shift in Labor Supply...
Wage
(price of
labor)
W
1
0 Quantity of
Labor
L
1
Supply, S
1
Demand
2. ...reduces
the wage...
3. ...and raises employment.
1. An increase in
labor supply...
S
2
W
2
L
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
A Shift in Labor Demand...
Wage
(price of
labor)
W
1
0
Quantity of
Labor
L
1
Supply
Demand, D
1
2. ...increases
the wage...
3. ...and increases employment.
1. An increase in
labor demand...
D
2
W
2
L
2
Harcourt, Inc. items and derived items copyright ? 2001 by Harcourt, Inc.
The Markets for Land and
Capital...
Quantity
of Land
Quantity of
Capital
QQ
P
P
00
Rental
Price of
Land
Rental
Price of
Capital
Demand
Demand
Supply
Supply
(a) The Market for Land (b) The Market for Capital