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Industrial Organization
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the study of how firms' decisions about prices and quantities depend on the market conditions they face
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What is the purpose of firms?
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to maximize profit
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Explicit costs are
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actual monetary payments for resources purchased.
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Implicit costs are
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the opportunity cost of the means of production
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accounting profit
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total revenue minus total explicit cost (TR - EC)
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economic profit
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total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs (TR - (EC + IC))
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Fixed costs
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Costs that do not vary with the quantity of output produced
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variable costs
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costs that vary with the quantity of output produced
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production function
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the relationship between quantity of inputs used to make a good and the quantity of output of that good
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What are the aspects of a competitive firm?
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price takers, identical products are sold, there are many sellers, and there is free entry and exit, and demand is a horizontal line (price)
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For a competitive firm, price is equal to
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the average revenue which is equal to the marginal revenue
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In a competitive firm, what is our profit maximizing quantity, & how do we determine it?
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The quantity is where marginal cost is equal to marginal revenue
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The firm's short-run decision to shutdown is based on if
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total revenue is less than variable costs, or if price is less than average variable costs (TR < VC) or (P < AVC)
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The firm's long-run decision to exit the market is if
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total revenue is less than total costs, or price is less than average total cost (TR < TC = P < ATC)
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The firm's long-run decision to enter the market is if
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total revenue is greater than total costs, or price is greater than average total costs (TR > TC = P > ATC)
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the only stable equilibrium is when
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minimum ATC is equal to the price, or when prof it is 0
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in a competitive market, profit can only experience profits or losses in the short run. how do you measure profit?
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if price is greater than (or above the curve of) the average total cost, then profit = TR - TC = (P - ATC) x Q
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in a competitive market, profit can only experience profits or losses in the short run. how do you measure losses?
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if price is less than the (or below the curve of the) average total cost, then loss = TC - TR = (ATC - P) x Q = negative profit
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Efficient scale in a competitive market is
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the point where marginal cost and the lowest point of average total cost intersect
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monopolies are caused by
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barriers to entry, which keeps market power
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The barriers to entry in a monopoly are
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Monopoly resources, government regulation, and natural monopoly
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What are the aspects of a monopoly?
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price makers, and one seller, downward sloping demand
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monopolies tend to
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charge prices that exceeds marginal cost
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in a monopoly, high price
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reduces the quantity purchased
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monopoly resources
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a key resource required for production and is owned by a single firm
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government regulation
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gives a single firm the exclusive right to produce some good or service
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in a monopoly, at what quantity do we produce to maximize profit?
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MR = MC
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How can you calculate profit in a monopoly?
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TR - TC = (P-ATC) x Q
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where is the deadweight loss in a monopoly?
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the triangle between the demand curve and mc curve
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We have deadweight loss in a monopoly when
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The quantity is not at equilibrium
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price discrimination
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a rational strategy to increase profit
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In an imperfect competition market,
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between perfect competition and monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition
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in an oligopoly
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there are few sellers and they offer similar products
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monopolistic competition looks like ___ in short run, ____ in the long run
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monopoly, perfect competition
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in monopolistic competition
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there are many sellers, different products (not price takers and downward sloping demand curve), free entry and exit
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the economic profit of monopolistic competition in the long run
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is zero economic profit
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profit maximization in short run equilibrium for a monopolistic competition
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is similar to a monopoly. quantity is where MR = MC, and price is on the demand curve.
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a monopolistic competition profits if
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price is greater than ATC
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a monopolistic competition has losses if
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P is less than ATC
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what are the critiques of advertising?
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we're manipulating people's tastes, so it's not informational advertising it's psychological
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oligopoly definition
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a form of imperfect competition and only a few forms work together
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oligopoly characteristics
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few sellers that offer similar or identical products
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for a small group of sellers, oligopolists
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best off cooperating in order to act like a monopolist
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in mash equilibrium
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economic actors interact with one another, each choose their best strategy, given the strategies that all other actors have chosen
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Prisoner's Dilemma
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a particular "game" between two captured prisoners that illustrates why cooperation is difficult to maintain even when it is mutually beneficial
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controversies over antitrust policy
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1. resale price maintenance
2. predatory pricing
3. tying
2. predatory pricing
3. tying
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resale price maintenance
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an agreement between a manufacturer and a distributor on the price at which a product will be resold
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predatory pricing
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selling a product below cost to drive competitors out of the market
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tying
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A form of price discrimination in which one good, called the base good, is tied to a second good called the variable good