Cost reduction and the Herfindahl and Lerner indexes.        Consider an industry where demand has constant price elasticity and firms compete in output levels. In an initial equilibrium, both firms have the same marginal cost, c. Then Firm 1, by investing heavily in R&D, manages to reduce its marginal cost to c′ , c; a new equilibrium takes place. (a) What impact does the innovation have on the values of H and L? (b) What impact does the innovation have on consumer welfare? (c) What do the previous answers have to say about L as performance measure?

Microeconomic Theory
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ISBN:9781337517942
Author:NICHOLSON
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Chapter15: Imperfect Competition
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Problem 15.10P: Inverse elasticity rule Use the first-order condition (Equation 15.2 ) for a Cournot firm to show...
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Cost reduction and the Herfindahl and Lerner indexes.        Consider an industry where demand has constant price elasticity and firms compete in output levels. In an initial equilibrium, both firms have the same marginal cost, c. Then Firm 1, by investing heavily in R&D, manages to reduce its marginal cost to c′ , c; a new equilibrium takes place.

(a) What impact does the innovation have on the values of H and L?

(b) What impact does the innovation have on consumer welfare?

(c) What do the previous answers have to say about L as performance measure?

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