Chapter 15 Monopoly

1. Recall the differences between Competition and Monopoly.

Competition Monopoly

Number of Firms Many One

Example Farmers Northwestern

Energy

Demand Curve Horizontal Slope Down

Pricing Power Price Taker Price Maker

Marginal Revenue

≡ ΔRevenue/ΔQ

= Price < Price

Firm Entry “Easy” Hard

2. A publisher faces the following demand schedule for the next novel from one of its

popular authors: The author is paid $2 million to write the book, and the marginal cost of

publishing the book is a constant $10 per book.

Price Quantity

Demanded

Total

Revenue

Total

Cost

Profit Marginal

Revenue

Marginal

Cost

$100 0 novels

90 100,000

80 200,000

70 300,000

60 400,000

50 500,000

40 600,000

30 700,000

20 800,000

10 900,000

0 1,000,000

a. Compute total revenue, total cost, and profit at each quantity. What quantity would a profit-

maximizing publisher choose? What price would it charge?

b. Compute marginal revenue. (Recall that MR = ΔTR/ΔQ.) How does marginal revenue

compare to the price? Explain.

c. On the next page, graph the marginal-revenue, marginal-cost, and demand curves. At what

quantity do the marginal-revenue and marginal-cost curves cross? What does this signify?

3. Notes:

a. For both Competition and Monopoly, profit maximization => MR = MC

b. For Competition, MR = P => MC = P

c. But for Monopoly, MR < P => MC < P

4. Deadweight Loss of Monopoly

a. The efficient level of output Q is where consumer willingness to pay (P) = MC

b. But in monopoly, P > MC => Q is “too small”

c. DWL is the loss in total surplus from monopoly versus efficient Q

d. In your graph, shade in the deadweight loss. Explain in words what this means.

e. If the author were paid $3 million instead of $2 million to write the book, how

would this affect the publisher's decision regarding what price to charge? Explain.

f. Suppose the publisher was not profit-maximizing but was concerned with

maximizing economic efficiency. What price would it charge for the book? How

much profit would it make at this price?

5. Why Do Monopolies Exist?

a. Natural Monopoly: MC < AC => AC is falling; One firm is cheaper than many

b. Government: Exclusive License, e.g. Patent and Copyright laws

c. Sole ownership of resource: Rare in reality (OPEC is Oligopoly)

6. You live in a town with 300 adults and 200 children, and you are thinking about putting

on a play to entertain your neighbors and make some money. A play has a fixed cost of

$2,000, but selling an extra ticket has zero marginal cost. Here are the demand schedules

for your two types of customer:

Price Adults Children

$10 0 0

9 100 0

8 200 0

7 300 0

6 300 0

5 300 100

4 300 200

3 300 200

2 300 200

1 300 200

0 300 200

a. To maximize profit, what price would you charge for an adult ticket? For a child's ticket? How

much profit do you make?

b. The city council passes a law prohibiting you from charging different prices to different

customers. What price do you set for a ticket now? How much profit do you make?

c. Who is worse off because of the law prohibiting price discrimination? Who is better off? (If

you can, quantify the changes in welfare.)

d. If the fixed cost of the play were $2,500 rather than $2,000, how would your answers to parts

(a), (b), and (c) change?

7. Price Discrimination (Movie & airline tickets, discount coupons, financial aid)

a. Charging different prices to different customers (or for different quantities)

b. Charge higher prices to customers with higher willingness to pay

c. Must be able to prevent resale

d. Can increase or decrease economic efficiency

e.

8. Too bad we don’t have time for Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly!