Producer Protection, Prior Market Structure and the Effects of Government Regulation

“For example, the federal government regulates the quality of food and water, the safety of workplaces and airspaces, and the integrity of the banking and finance system.” (Bianco, Canon 2011, p 582) Regulations find out if the product is a market failure. There are two types of regulations, which are economic and social. “Economic regulations sets prices or conditions on entry of firms into an industry, where as social regulation address issues of quality and safety.” (Bianco, Canon 2011, p 582) Economic regulations are concerned with the price regulation of monopolies.

There are different types of businesses, for example, some use monopolies, trust and pools, while other eliminate competition for higher prices. As stated in “Progressive reformers regarded regulation as a cure for all sorts of socioeconomic and political problems” , “The Sherman Act of 1890 attempted to outlaw the restriction of competition by large companies that co-operated with rivals to fix outputs, prices, and market shares, initially through pools and later through trusts” , meaning, competition is the

In this essay I will discuss a few terms and how their relationships apply between regulation and market structures, as well as how regulation policies affect the market.

The numbers of firms that produce identical products or goods which are homogenous are called market structure. Industrial regulation is the government regulation on an entire industry with the objective of keeping a close eye on the industry prices and take advantage of consumers. Rules set by government and agencies that help control the operations of businesses who may demonstrate monopoly power in their organization. Monopoly may lead to consumers being exploited (higher prices) and consumers paying way too much for a product.

Using the data and your knowledge of economics assess the arguments for and against the government intervening in the UK electricity industry.

There have been positive attributes from the regulations. One of the positive effects on businesses is that enhanced environmental security has allowed for more investors to start trade in the regions with effective regulatory measures. This is because increased regulatory measures have resulted in the investors gaining not only positive returns, but also consumer trust due to their compliance (Lieberman, 2010). Therefore, there has been significant growth in investment; however, the negative influences have managed to cover these positive influences. The government has also managed to generate substantial amounts of money from the charges and used them in establishing a friendly environment for other potential investors.

The public interest theory of regulation, or economic theory of regulation states that industrial regulation is essential in maintaining a natural monopoly. Natural monopolies turning into a regular monopoly charging monopoly prices can be harmful to society. Something that everyone most generally uses or needs like public resources i.e. electricity and water. Almost every person in our society requires these resources. The initial cost for creating a firm that can provide these services is high. Some startup cost can include power stations as well as power lines, labor costs, the cost of producing the power, and many other costs. These naturally occurring costs can often bar entry or discourage entry into the industry. In the event that a firm does make it into the industry and starts producing these public resources such as

There are two types of regulations: economic and social. An Economic regulation is the prescription of price and output for a specific industry, as Social regulation is the prescription of health, safety, performance, and environmental standards that apply across several industries. Most economic regulations happened after the Great Depression, under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which a natural monopoly, like utilities, railroads, and communication would match that of a competitive market, thus setting a market-price cap. Understanding that in some aspects the government cannot stop a monopoly without causing market harm in some cases, so they attempt to rectify it. The government gives companies fair rates of returns, which is a price that allows a monopoly firm to earn a normal profit, similar to one gained when a companies marginal cost matches their marginal revenue. This is especially important, because when the government calls for the deregulation of a company, it leaves behind stranded assets, properties that lose values after the intervention. Other ways government can aid in the deregulation of a business is through privatization and contracting out; the government can either enlist a private firm to do a service on their behalf, or even transferring the public enterprise to private

Numerous independent agencies can impose restrictions on prices, entry into markets, disclosures or contract terms. Yet agencies often conduct little or no economic analysis to identify the need for, or effects of, restrictions before they're adopted. So agencies can impose massive mandates

This also means that our political leaders that should be concerned about the effects of regulation. In my opinion, there advantages and disadvantages to regulation. The advantages are the Government should be regulating certain things to make life safer and to make America stronger, and better place to live. The disadvantages are, the government should be regulating with more common sense. What I'm saying is the government should consider the costs and the benefits of what they're regulating. Unfortunately, if the Government does not, Americans run the risk of some kind of regulation that can't be explained by anyone except a bunch of lawyers which is going to cost the taxpayers more

(cite 9) Before deregulation there was, and still is regulation in some areas of business and commerce as it relates to transportation. “Regulation consists of requirements the government imposes on private firms and individuals to achieve government’s purposes. These include better and cheaper goods and, protecting existing firms from unfair competition, and economic regulation that limits who can enter a business”. Litan, R. (2008). Regulation in the transportation industry gained momentum in the 1800s after the civil war. The monopoly created by railroads at that time gave birth to many rail carrier abuses and unfair business practices such as the bribing of elected public officials and showing favoritism to preferred customers. They even went so far as to manipulate the price of stocks and bonds on the market by Stifling or eliminating competition. According to Talley, W.(2001) the regulatory periods can be further broken down into three periods; “the Monopoly Era (1800s), the Competition Era (1930s) and the Reform Era

As illustrated by Sloman and Hinde (2007), an Oligopoly by nature has price stability, even when there has been no collusion between firms. This theory is based on two assumptions. For example, if Tate and Lyle were to lower their prices, British Sugar and the other rivals would feel the need to follow suit to prevent losing customers to Tate and Lyle. Contrastingly, if British Sugar raised their prices, Tate and Lyle would not follow suit. They would keep their prices the same and gain customers from British Sugar. The kinked demand model illustrates this.

Natural monopolies are cases in which production costs, infrastructure, and demand structure lead to a single monopolizing firm producing the good at lower cost than any other arrangement. Under such situations, firms will tend to over-charge and under-supply, causing a reduction in social surplus and an inefficient distribution of goods. A lack of competition is a fundamental violation of the idealized market assumptions. Little or no competition leads to inefficiencies of production and operation (Weimer and Vining p. 102). Furthermore, natural monopolies give an unfair and non-competitive advantage to firms that have entered the industry first. In cases of natural monopolies, government must typically regulate private industry in an attempt to maximize surplus, or, alternatively, government may provide the good or service publicly.

v. If applicable, the nature of the regulatory environment, for example, banking, insurance, or public utilities.

Has the economy ever thought about direct impact from monopoly and oligopoly industries? The structure of a monopoly based industry exemplifies one seller in the entire market. On the other hand, the concept of an oligopoly industry illustrates few sellers that have the potential of making a direct impact in one single industry idea. The economy has depended on the market share of a monopoly and an oligopoly trade. However, a monopoly industry differs from an oligopoly industry due to a monopoly competitor dominates a majority of the market share of many industries and an oligopoly competitor contains few sellers who dominate a market share based on one single industry idea.