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monopoly
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a market with a single firm that produces a good or service with no close substitutes and that is protected by a barrier that prevents others firms from entering that market
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no close substitutes, barrier to entry
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two key reasons monopoly arises
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barrier to entry
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a constraint that protects a firm from potential competitors
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natural, ownership, legal
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three types of barrier to entry
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natural monopoly
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a market in which economies of scale enable one firm to supply the entire market at the lowest possible cost
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ownership barrier
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occurs if one firm owns a significant portion of a key resource
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legal monopoly
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a market in which competition and entry are restricted by the granting of a public franchise, government license, patent, or copyright
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single-price monopoly
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a firm that must sell each unit of its output for the same price to all its customers
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price discrimination
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when a firm sells different units of a good or service at different prices
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economic rent
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any surplus - consumer surplus, producer surplus, or economic profit
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social interest theory
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the political and regulatory process relentlessly seeks out inefficiency and introduces regulation that eliminates deadweight loss and allocates resources efficiently
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capture theory
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regulation serves the self interest of the producer who captures the regulator and maximizes economic profit
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marginal cost pricing rule
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the quantity demanded at a price equal to marginal cost is the efficient quantity - the quantity at which marginal benefit equals marginal cost
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average cost pricing rule
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sets price equal to average total cost
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rate of return regulation
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a firm must justify its price by showing that its return on capital doesn't exceed a specified target rate
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price cap regulation
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a rule that specifies the highest price the firm is permitted to set
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perfect competition
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- many firms sell identical products to many buyers
- there are no restrictions on entry into the market
- established firms have no advantage over new ones
- sellers and buyer are well informed about prices
- there are no restrictions on entry into the market
- established firms have no advantage over new ones
- sellers and buyer are well informed about prices
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price taker
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a firm that cannon influence the market price because its production is an insignificant part of the total market
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total revenue
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equals the price of a firm's output multiplied by the units of outputs sold (price x quantity)
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marginal revenue
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the change in total revenue that results from a one-unit increase in the quantity sold (calculated vy dividing the change in total revenue by the change in the quantity sold)
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shutdown point
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the price and quantity at which it is indifferent between producing and shutting down; occurs at the price and the quantity at which average variable cost is at a minimum (loss = total fixed cost)
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short-run market supply curve
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shows the quantity supplied by all the firms in the market at each price when each firm's plant and the number of firms remain the same
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sunk cost
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the past expenditure on a plant that has no resale value
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total product
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the maximum output that a given quantity of labor can produce
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marginal product or labor
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the increase in total product that results from a one-unit increase in the quantity of labor employe, with al other inputs remaining the same
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average product of labor
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equal to total product divided by the quantity go labor employed
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diminishing marginal returns
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occur when the marginal product of an additional worker is less than the marginal product of the previous worker
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law of diminishing returns
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as a firm uses mrs of a variable factor of production with a given quantity of the fixed factor of production, the marginal product of the variable factor eventually diminishes
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total cost
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the cost of all the factors of production it uses
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total fixed cost
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the cost of the firm's fixed factor
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total variable cost
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the cost of the firm's variable factors
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marginal cost
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the increase in total cost that results from a one-unit increase in output
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average fixed cost
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is total fixed cost per unit of output
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average variable cost
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total variable cost per unit of output
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average total cost
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total cost per unit of output
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long-run average cost curve
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the relationship between the lowest attainable average total cost and output when the firm can change both the plant it uses and the quantity of labor it employs
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diseconomies of scale
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features of a firm's technology that make average total cost rise as output increases
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constant returns to scale
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features of a firm's technology that keep average total cost constant as output increases
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minimum efficient scale
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the smallest output which long-run average reaches its lowest level
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economic profit
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equal to total revenue minus total cost, with total cost measure as the opportunity cost of production
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implicit rental rate
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when a firm uses its own capital
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economic depreciation
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the fall in the market capital of a firm's capital over a given period
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normal profit
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the return to entrepreneurship is profit and the profit that an entrepreneur earns on average
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technology efficiency
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occurs when the firm produces a given output by using the least amount of inputs
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economic efficiency
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occurs when the firm produces a given output at the least cost
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command system
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a method of organizing production that uses a managerial hierarchy
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incentive system
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a method of organizing production that uses a market-like mechanism inside the firm
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principal-agent problem
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the problem of devising compensation rules that induce an agent to act in the best interest of a principal
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monopolistic competition
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a market structure in which a large number of firms compete by making similar but slightly different products
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oligopoly
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a market structure I'm which a small number of firms compete
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four-firm concentration ratio
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the percentage of the value of sales accounted for by the four largest firms in an industry
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HHI (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index)
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the square of the percentage market share of each firm summer over the largest 50 firms
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transaction costs
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the costs that arise from finding someone with whom to do business, of reaching an agreement about the price and other aspects of the exchange, and of ensuring that the terms of the agreement are fulfilled
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economies of scale
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when the cost of production a unit of good falls as its output rate increases
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economies of scope
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when a firm uses specialized and often expensive resources to produce a range of goods and services