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Market - Structure, Output - Profit Maximisation
Market - Structure, Output - Profit Maximisation
Market: Structure, Output and
Profit Maximisation
© Dr Prabha Bhola, RMSoEE, IIT Kharagpur
Economic Cost of Resources
• Opportunity cost of using any resource is:
– What firm owners must give up to use the
resource
• Market‐supplied resources
– Owned by others & hired, rented, or leased
• Owner‐supplied resources
– Owned & used by the firm
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Total Economic Cost
• Total Economic Cost
– Sum of opportunity costs of both market‐supplied
resources & owner‐supplied resources
• Explicit Costs
– Monetary payments to owners of market‐supplied
resources
• Implicit Costs
– Nonmonetary opportunity costs of using owner‐
supplied resources
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Economic Cost of Using Resources (Figure 1.1)
Explicit Costs
of
Market-Supplied Resources
The monetary payments to
resource owners
+
Implicit Costs
of
Owner-Supplied Resources
The returns forgone by not taking
the owners’ resources to market
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Types of Implicit Costs
• Opportunity cost of cash provided by owners
– Equity capital
• Opportunity cost of using land or capital
owned by the firm
• Opportunity cost of owner’s time spent
managing or working for the firm
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Economic Profit versus Accounting Profit
• Accounting profit = Total revenue – Explicit costs
• Accounting profit does not subtract implicit costs
from total revenue
• Firm owners must cover all costs of all resources
used by the firm
– Objective is to maximize economic profit
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Maximizing the Value of a Firm
• Value of a firm
– Price for which it can be sold
– Equal to net present value of expected future
profit
• Risk premium
– Accounts for risk of not knowing future profits
– The larger the rise, the higher the risk premium, &
the lower the firm’s value
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Maximizing the Value of a Firm
• Maximize firm’s value by maximizing profit in
each time period
– Cost & revenue conditions must be independent
across time periods
• Value of a firm =
1 2 T T
t
...
(1 r ) (1 r ) 2 (1 r )T t 1 (1 r )t
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Separation of Ownership & Control
• Principal‐agent problem
– Conflict that arises when goals of management
(agent) do not match goals of owner (principal)
• Moral Hazard
– When either party to an agreement has incentive
not to abide by all its provisions & one party
cannot cost effectively monitor the agreement
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Corporate Control Mechanisms
• Require managers to hold stipulated
amount of firm’s equity
• Increase percentage of outsiders serving on
board of directors
• Finance corporate investments with debt
instead of equity
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What is a Market?
• A market is any arrangement through which buyers &
sellers exchange goods & services
• Markets reduce transaction costs
– Costs of making a transaction other than the price of the
good or service
Market Structures
• Market characteristics that determine the
economic environment in which a firm operates
– Number & size of firms in market
– Degree of product differentiation
– Likelihood of new firms entering market
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Value of Market Exchange
• Typically, consumers value the goods they
purchase by an amount that exceeds the
purchase price of the goods
• Economic value
– Maximum amount any buyer in the market is
willing to pay for the unit, which is measured by
the demand price for the unit of the good
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Measuring the Value of Market Exchange
• Consumer surplus
– Difference between the economic value of a good
(its demand price) & the market price the
consumer must pay
• Producer surplus
– For each unit supplied, difference between market
price & the minimum price producers would accept
to supply the unit (its supply price)
• Social surplus
– Sum of consumer & producer surplus
– Area below demand & above supply over the
relevant range of output
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Measuring the Value of Market Exchange
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Price‐Takers vs. Price‐Setters
• Price‐taking firm
– Cannot set price of its product
– Price is determined strictly by market forces of
demand & supply
• Price‐setting firm
– Can set price of its product
– Has a degree of market power, which is ability to
raise price without losing all sales
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Market Power
• Ability of a firm to raise price without losing all
its sales
– Any firm that faces downward sloping demand has
market power
• Gives firm ability to raise price above average
cost & earn economic profit (if demand & cost
conditions permit)
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Measurement of Market Power
• Degree of market power inversely related to price
elasticity of demand
– The less elastic the firm’s demand, the greater its
degree of market power
– The fewer close substitutes for a firm’s product, the
smaller the elasticity of demand (in absolute value) &
the greater the firm’s market power
– When demand is perfectly elastic (demand is
horizontal), the firm has no market power
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Measurement of Market Power
• Lerner index
– Equals zero under perfect competition
– Increases as market power increases
– Also equals –1/E, which shows that the index (&
market power), vary inversely with elasticity
– The lower the elasticity of demand (absolute
value), the greater the index & the degree of
market power
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Measurement of Market Power
• If consumers view two goods as substitutes,
cross‐price elasticity of demand (EXY) is
positive
– The higher the positive cross‐price elasticity, the
greater the substitutability between two goods, &
the smaller the degree of market power for the
two firms
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Determinants of Market Power
• Entry of new firms into a market erodes
market power of existing firms by increasing
the number of substitutes
• A firm can possess a high degree of market
power only when strong barriers to entry exist
– Conditions that make it difficult for new firms to
enter a market in which economic profits are
being earned
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Common Entry Barriers
• Economies of scale
– When long‐run average cost declines over a wide
range of output relative to demand for the
product, there may not be room for another large
producer to enter market
• Barriers created by government
– Licenses, exclusive franchises
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Common Entry Barriers
• Input barriers
– One firm controls a crucial input in the production
process
• Brand loyalties
– Strong customer allegiance to existing firms may
keep new firms from finding enough buyers to
make entry worthwhile
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Common Entry Barriers
• Consumer lock‐in
– Potential entrants can be deterred if they believe
high switching costs will keep them from inducing
many consumers to change brands
• Network externalities
– Occur when value of a product increases as more
consumers buy & use it
– Make it difficult for new firms to enter markets
where firms have established a large network of
buyers
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Perfect Competition
• Large number of relatively small firms
• Undifferentiated product
• No barriers to entry
Monopoly
• Single firm
• Produces product with no close substitutes
• Protected by a barrier to entry
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Monopolistic Competition
• Large number of relatively small firms
• Differentiated products
• No barriers to entry
Oligopoly
• Few firms produce all or most of market
output
• Profits are interdependent
– Actions by any one firm will affect sales &
profits of the other firms
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Globalization of Markets
• Economic integration of markets located in
nations around the world
– Provides opportunity to sell more goods &
services to foreign buyers
– Presents threat of increased competition from
foreign producers
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Short‐Run Empirical Production Functions
Short-run cubic
production equations
Total product Q AL3 BL2
Average product of labor AP AL2 BL
Marginal product of labor MP 3 AL2 2 BL
Diminishing marginal B
begin at Lm
returns 3A
Restrictions on
A 0 and B 0
parameters
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Short‐Run Empirical Cost Functions
Short-run cubic
cost equations
Total variable cost TVC aQ bQ 2 cQ 3
Average variable cost AVC a bQ cQ 2
Marginal cost SMC a 2bQ 3cQ 2
Average variable cost b
Qm
reaches minimum at 2c
Restrictions on
a 0, b 0, c 0
parameters
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Monopolistic Competition
• Large number of firms sell a differentiated
product
– Products are close (not perfect) substitutes
• Market is monopolistic
– Product differentiation creates a degree of
market power
• Market is competitive
– Large number of firms, easy entry
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Monopolistic Competition
• Short‐run equilibrium is identical to
monopoly
• Unrestricted entry/exit leads to long‐run
equilibrium
– Attained when demand curve for each
producer is tangent to LAC
– At equilibrium output, P = LAC and MR =
LMC
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Short‐Run Profit Maximization for
Monopolistic Competition
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Long‐Run Profit Maximization for
Monopolistic Competition
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 1: Estimate demand equation
– Use statistical techniques from Chapter 7
– Substitute forecasts of demand‐shifting
variables into estimated demand equation to
get
Q a' bP
Where a' a cM
ˆ dPˆ
R
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 2: Find inverse demand equation
– Solve for P
a' 1
P Q A BQ
b b
1
Where a' a cM
ˆ dPˆ , A a' b , and B
R
b
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 3: Solve for marginal revenue
– When demand is expressed as P = A +
BQ, marginal revenue is
a' 2
MR A 2 BQ Q
b b
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 4: Estimate AVC & SMC
– Use statistical techniques from Chapter 10
AVC a bQ cQ 2
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 5: Find output where MR = SMC
– Set equations equal & solve for Q*
– The larger of the two solutions is the profit‐
maximizing output level
• Step 6: Find profit‐maximizing price
– Substitute Q* into inverse demand
P* = A + BQ*
Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 7: Check shutdown rule
– Substitute Q* into estimated AVC function
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Implementing the Profit‐Maximizing Output &
Pricing Decision
• Step 8: Compute profit or loss
– Profit = TR - TC
P Q* AVC Q* TFC
( P AVC )Q* TFC
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Aztec possesses market power via patents
• Sells advanced wireless stereo headphones
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Estimation of demand & marginal revenue
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Solve for inverse demand
Q 50, 000 500 P
Q 50, 000 500 P
500 500
Q 50, 000
P
500 500
1
P 100 Q
500
100 0.002Q
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Determine marginal revenue function
P 100 0.002Q
MR 100 0.004Q
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Demand & Marginal Revenue for Aztec
Electronics (Figure 12.9)
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Estimation of average variable cost and
marginal cost
– Given the estimated AVC equation:
Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Output decision
– Set MR = MC and solve for Q*
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Output decision
– Solve for Q* using the quadratic formula
0.036
6, 000
0.000006
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Pricing decision
– Substitute Q* into inverse demand
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Shutdown decision
– Compute AVC at 6,000 units:
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Maximizing Profit at Aztec Electronics: An
Example
• Computation of total profit
TR TVC TFC
( P** Q*)
* ( AVC ** Q*)
* TFC
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Profit Maximization at Aztec Electronics
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Multiple Plants
• If a firm produces in 2 plants, A & B
– Allocate production so MCA = MCB
– Optimal total output is that for which MR = MCT
• For profit‐maximization, allocate total output
so that
MR = MCT = MCA = MCB
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