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1. market structures
Definition: Market structures refer to the specific social organization that exists between buyers and sellers in a given market ie market structures are models of markets that describe a specific social organization between buyers and sellers. Market structure identifies how a market is made up in terms of: o The number of firms in the industry o The nature of the product produced o The degree of monopoly power each firm has o The degree to which the firm can influence price o Profit levels o Firms behaviour pricing strategies, non-price competition, output levels o The extent of barriers to entry o The impact on efficiency
Perfect competition
pure monopoly
Perfect competition
Monopolistic competition Oligopoly Duopoly
pure monopoly
Monopoly
The further right on the scale, the greater the degree of monopoly power exercised by the firm.
1.1.
There are several reasons why market structures are important to us ie the public. The following are three of these reasons: Households buy final goods and services or commodities in these commodity markets and firms buy factor inputs in these factor markets. Thus it is useful that households and firms know the markets in which they participate as buyers of goods and services These markets dominate our lives as we purchase foods, airline tickets, clothes, houses, cars, soaps, textbooks, financial services, electricity, cooking gas, health care services and a wide array of other goods and services for our daily use from firms selling these commodities These markets are dynamic and as such they are always changing their structures and as such they need to be studied to understand their new structures i.e. a monopolist market does not always remain a monopolist market they may change to become an oligopolistic market if for example one or two other firms succeed to enter a monopolist market as competitors.
Our group assignment will focus only on the monopoly market structure, that is why we discuss it under here:
The monopolist may or may not incur advertising cost and the absence of competition facilitates this option for monopolist i.e. there is no pressure to incur these costs for marketing the product
Control of Natural Resources: A prime source of monopoly power is the control of resources that are critical to the production of a final good. Legal Barriers: Legal rights can provide opportunity to monopolize the market in a good. Intellectual property rights, including patents and copyrights, give a monopolist exclusive control over the production and selling of certain goods. Property rights may give a firm the exclusive control over the materials necessary to produce a good. In addition to barriers to entry and competition, barriers to exit may be a source of market power. Barriers to exit are market conditions that make it difficult or expensive for a firm to leave the market. High liquidation costs are a primary barrier to exit.
Examples of Monopolist Markets in the Ethiopia: electricity, water markets, airlines, and telecommunication.
2. Imperfect Monopoly
It is also called as relative monopoly or simple or limited monopoly. It refers to a single seller market having no close substitute. It means in this market, a product may have a remote substitute. So, there is fear of competition to some extent e.g. Mobile (Cellphone) telcom industry (e.g. vodaphone) is having competition from fixed landline phone service industry (e.g. BSNL).
3. Private Monopoly
When production is owned, controlled and managed by the individual, or private body or private organization, it is called private monopoly. e.g. Tata, Reliance, Bajaj, etc. groups in India. Such type of monopoly is profit oriented.
4. Public Monopoly
When production is owned, controlled and managed by government, it is called public monopoly. It is welfare and service oriented. So, it is also called as 'Welfare Monopoly' e.g. Railways, Defence, etc.
5. Simple Monopoly
Simple monopoly firm charges a uniform price or single price to all the customers. He operates in a single market.
6. Discriminating Monopoly
Such a monopoly firm charges different price to different customers for the same product. It prevails in more than one market. 7. Legal Monopoly When monopoly exists on account of trademarks, patents, copy rights, statutory regulation of government etc., it is called legal monopoly. Music industry is an example of legal monopoly.
8. Natural Monopoly
It emerges as a result of natural advantages like good location, abundant mineral resources, etc. e.g. Gulf countries are having monopoly in crude oil exploration activities because of plenty of natural oil resources.
9. Technological Monopoly
It emerges as a result of economies of large scale production, use of capital goods, new production methods, etc. E.g. engineering goods industry, automobile industry, software industry, etc.
10. Joint Monopoly A number of business firms acquire monopoly position through amalgamation, cartels, syndicates, etc, it becomes joint monopoly. e.g. Actually, pizza making firm and burger making firm are competitors of each other in fast food industry, But when they combine their business that leads to reduction in competition. So they can enjoy monopoly power in market.
slower advance in the development and application of new technology. Advances in technology can improve the quality (e.g., ease of use, durability, environmental friendliness) of products, and they can also reduce their costs of production. Innovation is not as necessary for a monopolist as it is for a highly competitive firm, and, in fact, it can be a bad business strategy. Research and development by monopolists is often largely focused on ways of suppressing new, potentially competitive technologies (and includes such techniques as stockpiling patents) rather than true innovation. This can be a serious disadvantage, because economists have long recognized that innovation is a key factor (and possibly the single most important factor) in the growth of an economy as a whole .The adverse effects of monopolies can be much more noticeable on an individual level than in the aggregate. These effects include the destruction of businesses that would have survived had competition been based solely on quality and price (with a consequent loss of assets of the owners and jobs of the employees) and prices for products so high as to cause hardship or be unaffordable for some people. It is often said, even by those who have negative opinions about monopolies, that" monopoly itself is not necessarily bad, but rather it is the abuse of monopoly power that is harmful." This statement is an excessive simplification, and it can be indicative of alack of understanding of the full extent of harm that can be caused by monopolies. The abuse of monopoly power clearly can be harmful to an economy. The term abuse in this context refers to such tactics as predatory pricing, colluding with suppliers and the leveraging of a monopoly in one product to gain a monopoly for another product. But what is often overlooked, even by legislation whose supposed purpose is to restrain or regulate monopolies, is the fact that monopolies can be harmful even if they do not engage in such practices.
If a monopolist engages in behavior that produces results similar to that by firms in an industry that is characterized by intensive competition (i.e., charges prices close to cost and does not engage in price discrimination), then there might not be a problem. Unfortunately, however, this is rare even for a seemingly benevolent monopolist. The reason is that the very strong incentives to maximize profits that exist for virtually any business, whether pure monopolist, perfect competitor or somewhere in between, produce very different results for a monopolist
than they would for a firm in a highly competitive industry. And monopolists (as is the case with competitive firms) usually do not rank benevolence as a top corporate priority. Thus, the management and employees in a monopoly might not at all be aware that they are harming the economy, especially if their behavior is similar to that by a non-monopoly. In fact, they may even genuinely believe that they are benefiting the economy because of their conviction that they are more efficient and productive than a number of firms competing with each other would be. Another reason that the positive effects of even a benevolent monopolist would not be as great as for a competitive company is that innovations that improve quality and reduce production costs are often the result of desperation. (This is something that is easy for many owners of struggling businesses to understand, but is often difficult for others to fully grasp without experiencing it firsthand.) Monopolists generally consider themselves successful, and thus, although they often are innovators to some extent (typically mainly in their earlier years), they usually just do not have that extra motivation to produce truly breakthrough innovations that smaller companies desperate to gain market share (or to just survive) have.
P*
Q*
The Algebraic Determination of Monopoly Price and Output Example: Suppose demand and cost functions for a monopoly firm are given as: Demand function: Q = 100 0.2P. (1) Price function: P = 500 5Q. (2) Cost function: C = 50 + 20Q + Q2 (3) The problem is to determine the profit-maximizing level of output and price. This can be solved in the following way. Recall that profit is maximised at an output for which MR = MC. The first step is therefore to find MR and MC using the demand and cost functions as given in equations (1) and (3), and formulate the revenue function using equations (2): Total Revenue (R) = PQ, so that, R = (500 5Q) Q = 500Q 5Q2 MR = dR = 500 10Q dQ Similarly,
MC = dC = 20 + 2Q dQ Equating MR to MC, the profit-maximising condition, we get: MR = 500 10Q MC = 20 + 2Q, and, 500 10Q = 20 + 2Q 480 = 12Q Q* = 40. It follows that the profit-maximising level of output is Q* = 40 units. The profit-maximising price can be obtained by substituting Q* = 40 in the price function, equation (3.2.2) to get: P* = 500 5(40) = 300. Thus, the profit-maximising price, P* = N300. With these information, the total (maximum) profit can be calculated as follows: Profit () = R C = 500Q 5Q2 (50 + 20Q + Q2) = 500Q 5Q2 50 20Q Q2 = 480Q 6Q2 50 Substituting for Q = 40, we obtain: = 480(40) 6(40)2 50 = 19200 9600 50 = 9550. Thus, the maximum profit (*) = 9,550.
(a) the market size; (b) expected economic profit; and, (c) risk of inviting legal restrictions. All things being equal, the equilibrium monopoly price and output determination in the longrun is illustrated by figure 3.3.1 below. According to the figure 3.3.1, the AR and MR curves show the market demand and marginal revenue conditions facing the monopolist. The long-run average cost (LAC) and the long-run marginal cost (LMC) curves indicate the longrun cost conditions. As you can observe from figure 3.3.1, the monopolists LMC and MR intersect at point P, where output is represented as Q*. This represents the profit-maximising level of output. Given the AR curve, the price at which the output, Q* is represented by P*. It follows that, in the long-run, the monopolist output will be Q* and price, P*. This output-price combination will maximise the longrun profit. The total profit is shown by the shaded area. Figure 3.3.1: Monopoly Equilibrium in the Long-Run. P,R,C LMC LAC
P*
MR 0 Q*
AR=D Q
2.6.3.
A monopolist may be able to engage in a policy of price discrimination. Definition: PD is the sale of a homogenous product or service at different prices to different customers in different markets. PD occurs when a firm charges different price to different groups of customers for an identical good or service, for reasons not associated with costs of production. It is important to stress that charging different prices for similar goods is not PD. e.g. PD does not occur when a rail company charges a higher price for a first class seat. This is bec. the price premium over a second-class seat can be explained by differences in the cost of providing the service.
differentiation where pr differences might also refelect a different quality or standard of service. Some examples of PD are: cinemas and theatres cutting prices to attract younger and older audiences students discounts for rail travel, restaurant meals and holidays car rental firms cutting prs at weekends hotels offering cheap weekend breaks and winter discounts
2.6.3.2.
Main aim of PD is to increase the total revenue and /or profits of the supplier. It helps them to off-load capacity and can be used as a technique to take market share away from rival firms. Some consumers do benefit from this type of pricing they are priced into the market when with one price they might not have been able to afford a product. For most consumers however, the price they pays reflects pretty closely what they are willing to pay. In this respect, PD seeks to extract consumer surplus and turn into producer surplus (or monopoly profits).
2.6.3.3.
There are arguments on both sides of the coin indeed the overall impact of PD on economic welfare seems bound to be ambiguous. 1) Consumer surplus is reduced in most cases representing a loss of consumer welfare. For the majority of consumers, the price charged is significantly above MC. Those consumers in segments of the market where DD is inelastic would probably prefer to return to uniform pricing by firms with monopoly power. 2) However some consumers who can buy the product at a lower pr may benefit. Previously they may have been excluded from consuming it. Low-income consumers may be priced into the market if the supplier is willing and able to charge them a lower price. Good examples to use might include legal and medical services where charges are dependent on income levels.
3)
PD is clearly in the interests of businesses who achieve higher profits. A discriminating monopoly is extracting consumer surplus and turning it into extra super normal profit or producer surplus.
4)
The profits made in one market may allow firms to cross-subsidies loss-making activities /services that have important social benefits, e.g. profits made on commuter rail or bus services may allow transport co. to support loss making rural or night-time services. Without the ability to price discriminate, these services may have to be withdrawn and employment may suffer. In many cases, aggressive PD is seen as inimical to business survival during an economic Recession or sudden market downturn.
5)
The premium price paid by business purchases of software licenses might allow a software co. to offer educational users a lower-price for similar identical products
6)
An increase in total output resulting from selling extra units at a lower price might help a monopoly supplier to exploit EOS thereby reducing LRAC.
disadvantages of monopoly
1 exploitation of consumers 2 Customers are not able to enjoy the benefit of choice, had there been another or equally competitive market player for the same product or service (restriction of consumers choice) 3 absence of competition leads to inefficiency 4 Prices of products or services can be unreasonably high (increase in price of product) 5 exploitation of labor i.e. when price is greater than marginal cost