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Market Structures: Imperfect Competition Overview

Explore various market structures between monopoly and perfect competition - oligopoly, monopolistic competition, collusion, game theory, and strategic behavior. Learn about pricing, profits, and strategic entry deterrence in different market settings.

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Market Structures: Imperfect Competition Overview

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  1. Chapter 9Market structure and imperfect competition David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch, Economics, 9th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2008 PowerPoint presentation by Alex Tackie and Damian Ward

  2. Most markets fall between the two extremes of monopoly and perfect competition An imperfectly competitive firm would like to sell more at the going price faces a downward-sloping demand curve recognises its output price depends on the quantity of goods produced and sold

  3. Imperfect competition An oligopoly an industry with few producers each recognising that its own price depends both on its own actions and those of its rivals. In an industry with monopolistic competition there are many sellers producing products that are close substitutes for one another each firm has only limited ability to influence its output price.

  4. Market structure

  5. The minimum efficient scale and market demand (1) The minimum efficient scale (mes) is the output at which a firm’s long-run average cost curve stops falling. The size of the mes relative to market demand has a strong influence on market structure. £ LAC2 LAC3 LAC1 D Output

  6. The minimum efficient scale and market demand (2) If mes is small then there are more likely to be a higher number of firms. LAC_1 is like a perfectly competitive firm’s cost function, LAC_2 seems to belong to an oligopolist and LAC_3 seems to belong to a natural monopolist. £ LAC2 LAC3 LAC1 D Output

  7. Monopolistic competition Characteristics: many firms no barriers to entry product differentiation so the firm faces a downward-sloping demand curve The absence of entry barriers means that profits are competed away...

  8. Monopolistic Competition (1) MC • In the short run, monopolistically competitve firm faces DD. Firm produces Q0 whereMC=MR and gets Q0*(P0-AC0) super-normal profit • The supernormal profits etracts more firms in the long run. This decreases the demand for the incumbent firms. • The demand faced by an incumbent firm shifts to DD’. P0 AC AC0 DD MR DD’ Q0 Çıktı

  9. Monopolistic competition (2) Firms end up in TANGENCY EQUILIBRIUM, making normal profits. Firms do not operate at minimum LAC. Price exceeds marginal cost. Unlike perfect competition, the firm here is eager to sell more at the going market price. MC £ AC F P1=AC1 D MR Q1 Output

  10. Oligopoly A market with few sellers. The essence of an oligopolistic industry is the need for each firm to consider how its own actions affect the decisions of its relatively few competitors. Oligopoly may be characterised by collusion or by non-co-operation.

  11. Collusion and cartels COLLUSION an explicit or implicit agreement between existing firms to avoid or limit competition with one another. CARTEL is a situation in which formal agreements between firms are legally permitted. e.g. OPEC

  12. Collusion is difficult if There are many firms in the industry The product is not standardised Demand and cost conditions are changing rapidly There are no barriers to entry Firms have surplus capacity

  13. Game theory: some key terms Game a situation in which intelligent decisions are necessarily interdependent. Strategy a game plan describing how the player will act or move in every conceivable situation. Dominant strategy where a player’s best strategy is independent of those chosen by others.

  14. The Prisoners’ Dilemma Game Consider two firms in a duopoly each with a choice of producing ‘high’ or ‘low’ output:

  15. The Prisoners’ Dilemma Each firm has a dominant strategy to produce high so they make 1 unit profit each but they would both be better off producing low as long as they can be sure that the other firm also produces low. So collusion can bring mutual benefits but there is incentive for each firm to cheat.

  16. More on collusion The probability of cheating may be affected by agreement or threats. Pre-commitment an arrangement, entered voluntarily, restricting future options. Credible threat a threat which, after the fact, is optimal to carry out.

  17. Strategic entry deterrence Some entry barriers are deliberately erected by incumbent firms: threat of predatory pricing spare capacity advertising and R&D product proliferation Actions that enforce sunk costs on potential entrants

  18. Summary…. The polar extremes of perfect competition and monopoly are rarely encountered in practice. Imperfect competition is more the norm.

  19. Potential competition can have an impact on the behaviour of incumbent firms. Many business practices can be rationalised as strategic competition. Summary (cont.)

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