9. Historically, in many cities, taxi fares were often way above the market equilibrium rate, due to government licensing restrictions. In essence, these taxi cartels used government laws to earn excess profits by erecting barriers to entry. How- ever, modern ride-sharing services such as Uber have found innovative ways to bypass these government restrictions, and protests by the taxi industry have been frequent. In some cas- es, governments responded by banning Uber. Compare and contrast resource allocation and market outcomes under the restricted license system and a competitive system. In which case will it be easier (and cheaper) for customers to get a ride? Do you think governments should ban Uber to increase the profits of taxi drivers? Why or why not?

When OPEC raised the price of oil dramatically in the mid-1970s, experts said it was unlikely that the cartel could stay together over the long term-that the incentives for individual members. to cheat would become too strong. More than fort),r years later, OPEC still exists. Why do you think OPEC has been able to beat the odds and continue to collude? Hint: You may wish to consider non-economic reasons.

For many years, the Justice Department has tried to break up large firms like IBM, Microsoft, and most recently Google, on the grounds that their large market share made them essentially monopolies. In a global market, where U.S. films compete with firms from other countries, would this policy make the same sense as it might in a purely domestic context?

Some years ago. two intercity bus companies, Greyhound Lines, Inc. and Trailways Transportation System, wanted to merge. One possible definition of the market for this case was the market for intercity bus service. Another possible definition was the market for intercity transportation, including personal cars, car rentals, passenger trains, and commuter air flights.' Which definition do you think the bus companies preferred, and why?

Consider any market that has a demand curve given by: Qd = 240 - 2P. Where Qd is the total quantity demanded in the market, given in millions of units and P is the market price, calculated in monetary units. Imagine that there are 2 Cournot oligopolists operating in this market with Cmg = CVme = 15 and fixed monthly costs equal to 1,400. About this market, ask yourself: a) What is the profit of each of the oligopolists? b) Imagine that one of the companies managed to implement a process innovation capable of halving its Cmg and CVme, so that they would go from 15 to 7.5. This investment implies an additional monthly expense of $1,800. Discuss the statement: "If this situation occurs, the innovative company will not implement variable cost reduction, as the quantity supplied in the market will increase very little; prices will remain very close to what they are today and its profits will not increase"

Many schemes for price discrintination involve somecosL For example, discount coupons take up the timeand resources of both the buyer and the seller. Thisquestion considers the implications of costly pricediscrimination. To keep things simple, let's assumethat our monopolist's production costs arc simplyproportional to output so that average total cost andmarginal cost arc constant and equal to each other.CHAPTER 15 MONOPOLY 317a. Draw the cost., demand, and marginal-revenuecurves for the monopolist. Show the pricethe monopolist would charge without pricediscrimination.b. ln your diagram, mark the area equal to the mernopolist's prolit and call it X. Mark the area equalto consumer surplus and call it Y. Mark the areaequal to the deadweight loss and call it Z.c. Now suppose that the monopolist can perfectlyprice discriminate. What is the monopolist'sprofit? (Give your answer in terms of X, Y, and Z.)d. What is the change in the monopolist's prolit fromprice discrimination? What is the…

A monopoly faces an inverse demand curve, p(y) = 100 − 2y, and has constant marginal costs of 20. What is its profit-maximizing level of output and price?   What is the socially optimal price and output for this firm? (Perfectly competitive solution)   What is the deadweight loss due to the monopolistic behavior of this firm?       d.    Show your work algebraically and graphically.

part 9 10 11 9. How doesthe price and output of a monopolist differ from thatofthe perfectly competitive A:industry? i.10. Whatportion of the consumer surplusin the competitive situation wastransferredto the firm inthe monopoly situation?11. How does a monopoly affect consumersurplus? Is this good or bad?

3) Bookface, the largest online social media network in the world, is being sued for abusing market power and attempting to create a monopoly. To defend his company, its founder Zark Muckerberg claims that in the social media industry, users want to be on whichever platform their friends are, which makes the creation of monopolies inevitable. Prosecutors, however, disagree. They claim that Bookface has used its market power to drive small companies out of the market. a. Which side is right? b. Please discuss this phenomenon and its sources.

For many years, the Justice Department has tried to break up large firms like IBM,Microsoft, and most recently Google, on the grounds that their large market share madethem essentially monopolies. In a global market, where U.S. firms compete with firms fromother countries, would this policy make the same sense as it might in a purely domesticcontext?