Introduction. Learning Objectives. Learning Objectives. Chapter 24. Perfect Competition

Transcription

1 Chapter 24 Perfect Competition Introduction A relatively new health care product offered for sale is the full-body CT scan. There are many firms offering this service, and yet they all charge nearly identical prices. Why would such a personal service not vary in price much between different providers? Slide 24-2 Learning Objectives Learning Objectives Identify the characteristics of a perfectly competitive market structure Discuss the process by which a perfectly competitive firm decides how much output to produce Understand how the short-run supply curve for a perfectly competitive firm is determined Explain how the equilibrium price is determined in a perfectly competitive market Describe what factors induce firms to enter or exit a perfectly competitive industry Distinguish among constant-, increasing-, and decreasing-cost industries based on the shape of the long-run industry supply curve Slide 24-3 Slide

2 Chapter Outline Chapter Outline Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure The Demand Curve of the Perfect Competitor How Much Should the Perfect Competitor Produce? Using Marginal Analysis to Determine the Profit-Maximizing Rate of Production Short-Run Profits The Short-Run Shutdown Price The Perfect Competitor s Short-Run Supply Curve Slide 24-5 Slide 24-6 Chapter Outline Did You Know That... Competitive Price Determination The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Long-Run Equilibrium Competitive Pricing: Marginal Cost Pricing Clothing retailers commonly cite bad weather as the reason for poor profit performance? The competitive nature of this market best explains why profits are kept to a modest level? Slide 24-7 Slide

3 Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure Perfect Competition A market structure in which the decisions of individual buyers and sellers have no effect on market price Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure Perfectly Competitive Firm A firm that is such a small part of the total industry that it cannot affect the price of the product or service that it sells Slide 24-9 Slide Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure Price Taker A competitive firm that must take the price of its product as given because the firm cannot influence its price International Example: How Free Entry Can Shift Resources In 1981, Chile began offering a program of school choice. If parents decided to enroll their children in a private school, public funds would be made available to that school to cover all or part of tuition. Slide Slide

4 International Example: How Free Entry Can Shift Resources Such a program reorders the incentives both for parents and schools. Since inception of the program, more than 1,200 new private schools have been formed. Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure Price taker: A firm can sell as much as wants at the going market price. There is no incentive to sell for a lower price. Attempts to charge a higher price will result in no sales. Slide Slide Characteristics of a Perfectly Competitive Market Structure Characteristics of perfect competition Large number of buyers and sellers Homogenous products When you buy a head of lettuce do you ask what farm it came from? No barriers to entry or exit Buyers and sellers have equal access to information The Demand Curve of the Perfect Competitor Question If the perfectly competitive firm is a price taker, who or what sets the price? Slide Slide

5 The Demand Curve for Recordable DVDs The Demand Curve of the Perfect Competitor Neither an individual buyer nor seller can influence the price S The perfectly competitive firm: Is a price taker (i.e., must sell for $5) Price per DVD 5 E D The interaction of market supply and demand yields an equilibrium price of $5 and quantity of 30,000 units Will sell all units for $5 Will not be able to sell at a higher price Will not choose to sell more units at a lower price 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 DVDs per Day Figure 24-1, Panel (a) Slide Slide The Demand Curve Facing the Perfectly Competitive Firm How Much Should the Perfect Competitor Produce? The firm will produce the level of output that will maximize profits given the market price. Economic Total profit Revenues = total revenue (TR) - total cost (TC) The price per unit times the total quantity sold Figure 24-1, Panels (a) and (b) Slide Slide

6 How Much Should the Perfect Competitor Produce? Economic profit = total revenue (TR) - total cost (TC) TR = P x Q How Much Should the Perfect Competitor Produce? Economic profit = total revenue (TR) - total cost (TC) TC = explicit + opportunity cost P determined by the market in perfect competition Q determined by the producer to maximize profit Slide Slide Profit Maximization Profit Maximization Total Output/ Sales/ Total Market Total Total day Costs Price Revenue Profit 0 $10 $5 $0 $ Figure 24-2, Panel (a) Slide Figure 24-2, Panel (b) Slide

7 How Much Should the Perfect Competitor Produce? Profit-maximizing rate of production The rate of production that maximizes total profits, or the difference between total revenues and total costs Also, the rate of production at which marginal revenue equals marginal cost Slide Total Output/ Sales/ Market Marginal Marginal day Price Cost Revenue 0 $5 $5 $ Figure 24-2, Panel (c) Profit Maximization Slide Using Marginal Analysis to Determine the Profit-Maximizing Rate of Production Using Marginal Analysis to Determine the Profit-Maximizing Rate of Production Marginal revenue is the change in total revenue divided by the change in output Marginal cost is the change in total cost divided by the change in output Profit maximization Economic profits = TR TC Profit-maximizing output occurs when MC = MR For a perfectly competitive firm, this is at the intersection of the firm s demand schedule and its marginal cost curve Slide Slide

8 Short-Run Profits Short-Run Profits To find out what our competitive individual DVD producer is making in terms of profits in the short run, we have to determine the excess of price above average total cost Price and Cost per Unit ($) Recall: Profits are maximized at 7.5 units where MC = MR. How do we measure profits? Slide DVDs per Day Slide Short-Run Profits Minimization of Short-Run Losses Price and Cost per Unit ($) Profits MC ATC d P = MR = AR Profit is maximized where MR = MC ATC = TC/output TC = ATC output TR = P output Profit = (P - ATC) output Price and Cost per Unit ($) Losses ATC P = MR = AR MC d 1 d 2 Losses are minimized where MR = MC Loss = ($3-4.35) 5.5 or $ Figure 24-3 DVDs per Day Slide Figure 24-4 DVDs per Day Slide

9 Short-Run Profits The Short-Run Shutdown Price Short-run average profits or average losses are determined by comparing average total costs with price (average revenue) at the profit-maximizing rate of output. In the short run, the perfectly competitive firm can make economic profits or economic losses. What do you think? Would you continue to produce if you were incurring a loss? In the short run? In the long run? Slide Slide Short-Run Shutdown and Break-Even Price The Short-Run Shutdown Price What do you think? Would you continue to produce if you were incurring a loss? In the short run? In the long run? Figure 24-5 Slide Slide

10 The Short-Run Shutdown Price The Short-Run Shutdown Price As long as the price per unit sold exceeds the average variable cost per unit produced, the firm will be covering at least part of the opportunity cost of the investment in the business that is, part of its fixed costs. Short-Run Break-Even Price The price at which a firm s total revenues equal its costs At the break-even price, the firm is just making a normal rate of return on its capital investment Short-Run Shutdown Price The price that just covers average variable costs It occurs just below the intersection of the marginal cost curve and the average variable cost curve Slide Slide The Meaning of Zero Economic Profits Why produce if you are not making a profit? Hint: Distinguish between economic profits and accounting profits When economic profits are zero, accounting profits are positive The Perfect Competitor s Short-Run Supply Curve Question What does the supply curve for the individual firm look like? Answer The firm s supply curve is the marginal cost curve above the short-run shutdown point. Thus, the competitive firm s short-run supply curve is its marginal costs curve equal to and above the point of intersection with the average variable cost curve. Slide Slide

11 The Individual Firm s Short-Run Supply Curve The Perfect Competitor s Short-Run Supply Curve The Industry Supply Curve Given the price, the quantity is determined where MC = MR Short-run supply = MC above minimum AVC The locus of points showing the minimum prices at which given quantities will be forthcoming Figure 24-6 Slide Slide Deriving the Industry Supply Curve The Perfect Competitor s Short-Run Supply Curve Panel (a) Panel (b) Panel (c) S = ΣMC Factors that influence the industry supply curve (determinants of supply) Price and Marginal Cost per Unit P 2 P 1 MC A q A1 q A2 Price and Marginal Cost per Unit P 2 P 1 q B1 MC B q B2 Price and Marginal Cost per Unit P 2 P 1 F (q A1 + q B1) G (q A2 + q B2) Firm s productivity Factor costs Taxes and subsidies Number of firms Quantity per Time Period Quantity per Time Period Quantity per Time Period Figure 24-7, Panels (a), (b), and (c) Slide Slide

12 Competitive Price Determination Competitive Price Determination Question How is the market, or going, price established in a competitive market? Answer This price is established by the interaction of all the suppliers (firms) and all the demanders. The competitive price is determined by the intersection of the market demand curve and the market supply curve The market supply curve is equal to the horizontal summation of the supply curves of the individual firms Slide Slide Competitive Price Determination Competitive Price Determination P e is the price the firm must take P e and Q e determined by the interaction of the industry S and market D Given P e, firm produces q e where MC = MR -If AC = AC 1, break-even -If AC = AC 2, losses -If AC = AC 3, economic profit Figure 24-8, Panel (a) Slide Figure 24-8, Panel (b) Slide

13 The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Profits and losses act as signals for resources to enter an industry or to leave an industry. The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Signals Compact ways of conveying to economic decision makers information needed to make decisions A true signal not only conveys information but also provides the incentive to react appropriately Slide Slide The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Summary Economic profits Signal resources to enter the market and the price falls to the break-even price Economic losses Signal resources to exit the market and the price increases to the break-even level The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Summary At break-even Resources will not enter or exit because the market is yielding a normal rate of return In the long run, the perfectly competitive firm will make zero economic profits (a normal rate of return) Slide Slide

14 The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Long-Run Industry Supply Curve A market supply curve showing the relationship between price and quantities forthcoming after firms have been allowed time to enter or exit from an industry The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Constant-Cost Industry An industry whose total output can be increased without an increase in long-run per-unit costs Slide Slide Constant-Cost Industry The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Panel (a) Constant Cost Increasing-Cost Industry Price per Unit P 2 P 1 E 1 E 2 E 3 S 1 S L S 2 An industry in which an increase in industry output is accompanied by an increase in long-run per unit costs D 1 D 2 Quantity per Time Period Figure 24-9, Panel (a) Slide Slide

15 Increasing-Cost Industry The Long-Run Industry Situation: Exit and Entry Price per Unit P 2 P 1 Panel (b) Increasing Cost S 1 S 2 ' S L Decreasing-Cost Industry An industry in which an increase in industry output leads to a reduction in long-run per-unit costs D 2 D 1 Quantity per Time Period Figure 24-9, Panel (b) Slide Slide Decreasing-Cost Industry Example: The Market for Transistors Price per Unit Figure 24-9, Panel (c) P 1 P 2 Panel (c) Decreasing Cost D 1 S 1 Quantity per Time Period S L '' D 2 S 2 Slide Since the late 1960 s, the annual production of transistors has expanded from 1 billion to 1 quintillion. At the same time, the cost per unit has dropped from about $1 to a miniscule fraction of a penny. Transistor production serves as a good illustration of a decreasing-cost industry. Slide

16 Long-Run Equilibrium Long-Run Firm Competitive Equilibrium Firms will adjust plant size until there is no further incentive to change. MC SAC LAC In the long run, a competitive firm produces where price, marginal revenue, marginal cost, short-run minimum average cost, and long-run minimum average cost are equal. Price per Unit P E d = MR = P = AR Q e Slide Figure Units per Year Slide Competitive Pricing: Marginal Cost Pricing Marginal Cost Pricing A system of pricing in which the price charged is equal to the opportunity cost to society of producing one more unit of the good or service in question Competitive Pricing: Marginal Cost Pricing Market Failure A situation in which an unrestrained market operation leads to either too few or too many resources going to a specific economic activity Slide Slide

17 Issues and Applications: Full-Body Medical Scanning Full-body CT scans can provide early detection of internal diseases. In the late 1990 s, the price of the procedure was about $1,500. This price was well above the provider s average cost. Issues and Applications: Full-Body Medical Scanning More firms entered the market of providing CT scans in response to the profit level. In recent years, some physicians have recommended against the procedure. The simultaneous increase in supply and decrease in demand has dropped the prevailing price to about $400, which allows the remaining firms to earn a normal profit. Slide Slide Summary Discussion of Learning Objectives The characteristics of a perfectly competitive market structure Large number of buyers and sellers Homogeneous product No barriers to entry and exit Buyers and sellers have equal access to information Summary Discussion of Learning Objectives How a perfectly competitive firm decides how much to produce Economic profits are maximized when marginal cost equals marginal revenue above minimum average variable cost Slide Slide

18 Summary Discussion of Learning Objectives The short-run supply curve of a perfectly competitive firm The rising part of the marginal cost curve above minimum average variable cost The equilibrium price in a perfectly competitive market A price at which the total amount of output supplied by all firms is equal to the total amount of output demanded by all buyers Summary Discussion of Learning Objectives Incentives to enter or exit a perfectly competitive industry Economic profits induce entry of new firms Economic losses will induce firms to exit the industry Slide Slide Summary Discussion of Learning Objectives The long-run industry supply curve and constant-, increasing-, and decreasing-cost industries The relationship between price and quantity after firms have been able to enter or exit the industry Constant-cost industry Horizontal long-run supply curve Increasing-cost industry Upward-sloping long-run supply curve Decreasing-cost industry Downward-sloping long-run supply curve End of Chapter 24 Perfect Competition Slide