Economics Summary Sheet Part 2
Economics Summary Sheet Part 2
Equilibrium:
All buyers and sellers are satisfied with their respective quantities at the
market price
Nobody has any incentive to change
Optimal economic position
When both supply and demand curve shift to the right the equilibrium price
may rise, fall or remain unchanged
Surplus:
Pareto efficiency
If there is no opportunity for exchange or trade that will make at least one
person better off without harming other
Pareto improving transaction transaction that leaves one person better
off without harming others
Efficiency as a goal
Supply curve shifts to the right and there is a new equilibrium price and
significantly lower economic profit
People stop entering when P = minimum value of the ATC
Excess Demand:
Excess Supply:
It is important to note that these situations are not efficient. They are
similar in the fact that the quantity exchanged is below equilibrium
Elasticity
More elastic = shift to the buyer
Taxes are justified if their goods exceeds the dead weight loss
Elasticity
Less elastic = less loss
Consumers bear more as steepness increases
Consumption behaviour is less likely to change from a tax introduction so
they consume close to pre-tax levels
Price Subsidies:
Monopoly
Pure monopoly: single firm is the sole supplier of a product for which there
are no substitutes
Oligopoly: a market in which there are only a few rival firms producing
goods that are close substitutes
Monopolistic Competition
Perfectly competitive
All firms are price takers people will demand at the market price from all
firms
No incentive to change price firms supply along the line
Imperfectly competitive
Market power:
As one firm develops economies of scale becomes more efficient than other
firms hence can offer lower marginal cost and lower price so consumers come
to that firm creates natural monopoly
Competition Law:
A policy through which the government forces the monopolist to set the
price and quantity at the intersection of the Average Total cost curve and
the demand curve
This policy has many side effects and eliminates any positive profit accured to
the monopolist as:
The monopolist sets a price and quantity such that the total surplus is maximised
Second degree price discrimination:
The monopolist does not know the consumers reservation price BUT they
use a certain attribute to put them into a certain group
The group that is created usually has a trend in reservation prices