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Marginal Revenue Product : Competitive Output Market Vs. Monopoly

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6. a) Marginal Revenue Product: Competitive Output Market vs. Monopoly: As shown, marginal revenue product for a competitive output market will be equal to the marginal product of labour multiplied by the price of the product (MRPL = MPL(P) because in a competitive market MR = P) whereas the marginal revenue product for a monopoly is instead equal to the marginal product of labour multiplied by marginal revenue (Can also be written as MRP = MP(P) for a competitive output market and MRP = MP(MR) for a monopolistic output market). Also, in a competitive market, the MRP curve falls because the marginal product of labour falls (price does not cause it to fall due to price being held constant). In the case of a monopoly, the MRP curve falls because both the marginal product of labour and the marginal revenue fall. Due to this, the MRP curve for a monopoly will always be lower than the competitive MRP curve as marginal revenue is less than the price; MR < P for a monopoly. b) Effect of an Increase in the Wage Rate in a Competitive Labour Market: As shown in the graph, in a competitive labour market the supply of labour is perfectly elastic. Therefore, an increase in wage will cause the wage and supply of labour curve to shift from S1 to S2, and will cause the wage to increase from W1 to W2. An increase in the wage rate will cause the profit maximizing quantity of labour demanded to move from L1 to L2 as the equilibrium quantity demanded decreases due to the higher wage of

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