EBK ECONOMICS: PRINCIPLES AND POLICY
13th Edition
ISBN: 8220100605932
Author: Blinder
Publisher: Cengage Learning US
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Chapter 13, Problem 3DQ
To determine
The effects of the price control of regulatory agencies.
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What is the limitations in market regulation?
What are the objectives of regulators? Under
what conditions is regulation most likely to raise
welfare?
Suppose regulators are deciding how the local electric company is allowed to set prices. Demand for
electricity is given by P = 40-Q, where Q is millions of megawatt hours demanded annually. The electric
company is allowed to operate as a monopoly. The marginal cost of the company is $2, while the fixed cost
is $150 million annually.
(a) If the price of the electric company was not regulated, what price would it set? What would be its
profits and the deadweight loss?
(b) Knowing the fixed cost, demand curve, and marginal cost of the utility, the regulator decides to set
a linear price that allows the electric utility to break even. What is this price? What would be the
deadweight loss?
(c) Suppose that demand for electricity varies over the course of the day and is most inelastic in the
middle of the day. Illustrate how the regulator could use this information to improve on the
outcome in (b)? Would there be any challenges that would prevent regulators from using the
prices you…
Chapter 13 Solutions
EBK ECONOMICS: PRINCIPLES AND POLICY
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- With the aid of an appropriate diagram, discuss why should a monopoly beregulated by the government?arrow_forwardImagine that you are managing a small firm and thinking about entering the market of a monopolist. The monopolist is currently charging a high price, and you have calculated that you can make a nice profit charging 10% less than the monopolist. Before you go ahead and challenge the monopolist, what possibility should you consider for how the monopolist might react?arrow_forwardThe figure below presents the demand curve, marginal revenue, and marginal costs facing a monopolist. (A monopolist is a producer) Price ($) 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 ATC Quantity MC MR, D 567 8 9 10 11. a. Under monopoly pricing, are profits positive, negative, or zero? (Click to select) b. If government regulates average total cost pricing (P = ATC), are profits positive, negative, or zero? (Click to select) c. If government regulates efficient pricing, are profits positive, negative, or zero? (Click to select) d. Is this a natural monopoly? (Click to select)arrow_forward
- Being the only producer in a monopoly market, can a monopolist charge a very high price to maximize profit? Why, or why not?From a societal point of view, can we claim that perfect competition and monopoly are equally efficient? Why, or why not? Explain.arrow_forwardWhen governments deregulate an industry, using economic theory, explain what governments want to achieve in terms of social-well being.arrow_forwardA country that ends a 22-year old state monopoly in telecoms. The phone services market in this country is illustrated by the following equations: Demand: p = 80−q MC: p=−40+2q 1.Draw the the demand, the MR and the MC of the monopolist in the following graph. 2.Suppose a state monopoly on the phone services market. In this case, indicate the price paid by consumers and the quantity exchanged, and calculate the welfare loss compared to the optimal situation. 3.Now consider the situation after the abolition of the state monopoly. With the phone services market now competitive, the state is losing customers, and therefore also losing revenue as a result of new companies entering the market. To compensate for the drop in revenue, the government decides to impose an excise tax of $30 on the phone services market. In this case, indicate the price paid by consumers and the quantity exchanged, and calculate the welfare loss compared to the optimal situation. 4.Give an economic…arrow_forward
- A country that ends a 22-year old state monopoly in telecoms. The phone services market in this country is illustrated by the following equations: Demand: p = 80−q MC: p=−40+2q 1.Draw the the demand, the MR and the MC of the monopolist in the following graph. 2.Suppose a state monopoly on the phone services market. In this case, indicate the price paid by consumers and the quantity exchanged, and calculate the welfare loss compared to the optimal situation. 3.Now consider the situation after the abolition of the state monopoly. With the phone services market now competitive, the state is losing customers, and therefore also losing revenue as a result of new companies entering the market. To compensate for the drop in revenue, the government decides to impose an excise tax of $30 on the phone services market. In this case, indicate the price paid by consumers and the quantity exchanged, and calculate the welfare loss compared to the optimal situation. 4.Give an economic…arrow_forwardWhat is the usual shape of a marginal revenue curve for a monopolist? Why? When a monopolist identifies its profit-maximizing quantity of output, how does it decide what price to charge? Is a monopolist allocatively efficient? Why or why not? ALCOA does not have the monopoly power it once had. How do you suppose their barriers to entry were weakened? 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. firms compete with firms from other countries, would this policy make the same sense as it might in a purely domestic context? If public utilities are a natural monopoly, what would be the danger in deregulating them? Why does regulatory capture reduce the persuasiveness of the case for regulating industries for the benefit of consumers? In the middle of the twentieth century, major U.S. cities had multiple…arrow_forwardHello, can you complete this question and show me how you got it so I can study this before my exam.arrow_forward
- a. Why is a monopolist’s marginal revenue less than the price of its good? Can marginal revenue ever be negative? Explain. b. Draw the demand, marginal-revenue, average total-cost, and marginal-cost curves for a monopolist. Show the profit-maximizing level of output, the profit-maximizing price, and the amount of profit. c. Describe the two problems that arise when regulators tell a natural monopoly that it must set a price equal to marginal cost.arrow_forwardHow do I do this?arrow_forwardAt an output of 1,000 units, a monopoly firm’s average revenue is $40, its marginal revenue is $30, its marginal cost is $30, its average variable cost is $35, and fixed costs are $5,000. Given this information, we can conclude that the monopolist: a. is earning zero economic profit. b. is earning an economic profit equal to $5,000. c. is making an economic loss and should shut down. d. should increase output to maximize profit.arrow_forward
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