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allocative efficiency
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producing the optimal quantity of some output; the quantity where the marginal benefit to society of one more unit just equals the marginal cost
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barriers to entry
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the legal, technological, or market forces that may discourage or prevent potential competitors from entering a market
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copyright
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a form of legal protection to prevent copying, for commercial purposes, original works of authorship, including books and music
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deregulation
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removing government controls over setting prices and quantities in certain industries
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intellectual property
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the body of law including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret law that protect the right of inventors to produce and sell their inventions
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legal monopoly
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legal prohibitions against competition, such as regulated monopolies and intellectual property protection
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marginal profit
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profit of one more unit of output, computed as marginal revenue minus marginal cost
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monopoly
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a situation in which one firm produces all of the output in a market
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natural monopoly
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economic conditions in the industry, for example, economies of scale or control of a critical resource, that limit effective competition
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patent
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a government rule that gives the inventor the exclusive legal right to make, use, or sell the invention for a limited time
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predatory pricing
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when an existing firm uses sharp but temporary price cuts to discourage new competition
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trade secrets
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methods of production kept secret by the producing firm
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trademark
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an identifying symbol or name for a particular good and can only be used by the firm that registered that trademark