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Chapter 8—Monopoly
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following is not associated with the monopoly market structure?
a. Many sellers.
b. A single seller.
c. A unique product.
d. Impossible entry into the market.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Monopoly
TYP: RE
3. A monopoly is:
a. a seller of a highly advertised and differentiated product in a market with low barriers to
entry in the long run.
b. the only seller of a good for which there are no good substitutes in a market with high
barriers to entry.
c. the only buyer of a unique raw material.
d. the producer of a product subsidized by the government.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Monopoly
TYP: RE
7. Alcoa had a monopoly in the U.S. aluminum market from the late nineteenth century until the end of
World War II. Which barrier to entry was the source of Alcoa's monopoly power?
a. Ownership of a vital resource.
b. Government franchises and licenses.
c. Patents and copyrights.
d. Economies of scale.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Monopoly
TYP: RE
11. What is the name of the monopolist having a declining long-run average cost throughout the market?
a. Monopolistic competition.
b. Monopoly by legal barrier.
c. Natural monopoly.
d. Contrived monopoly.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Natural monopoly
TYP: RE
15. An industry in which total costs are kept to a minimum because only one firm serves the whole market
is called a:
a. natural monopoly.
b. competitive monopoly.
c. patent monopoly.
d. limit monopoly.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Natural monopoly
TYP: RE
18. A monopolist faces a downward sloping demand curve that is equal to which of the following?
a. The prevailing market price.
b. The market demand curve.
c. Its marginal cost curve.
d. Marginal revenue.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Monopolist
TYP: RE
19. The demand curve any monopolist uses in making output decisions is:
a. the same as the demand curve facing a perfectly competitive firm.
b. vertical, because there are no close substitutes for its product.
c. horizontal, because there are no close substitutes for its product.
d. the same as the market demand curve.
e. perfectly inelastic.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Monopolist
TYP: RE
26. Which of the following is a difference between a monopolist and a firm in perfect competition?
a. The marginal revenue curve is downward-sloping.
b. Marginal revenue equals price.
c. Economic profits are zero in the long-run.
d. The marginal revenue curve lies above the demand curve.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: RE
29. At the point where the marginal revenue equals zero for a monopolist facing a straight-line demand
curve, total revenue is:
a. greater than 1.
b. maximum.
c. less than 1.
d. equal to zero.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: CA
30. To maximize its profit, a monopoly should choose a price where demand is:
a. elastic.
b. inelastic.
c. unitary elastic.
d. vertical.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: CA
31. When marginal revenue is zero for a monopolist facing a downward-sloping straight-line demand
curve, the price elasticity of demand is:
a. greater than 1.
b. equal to 1.
c. less than 2.
d. equal to 0.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: CA
32. At any point where a monopolist's marginal revenue is positive, the downward-sloping straight-line
demand curve is:
a. perfectly elastic.
b. elastic, but not perfectly elastic.
c. unit elastic.
d. inelastic.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: CA
35. There is only one gas station within hundreds of miles. The owner finds that when she charges $3 a
gallon, she sells 199 gallons a day, and when she charges $2.99 a gallon, she sells 200 gallons a day.
The marginal revenue of the 200th gallon of gas is:
a. $.01.
b. $1.
c. $2.99.
d. $3.
e. $600.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: CA
36. At a price of $5, 24 units of the good would be sold; at a price of $7, 25 units of output would be sold.
The marginal revenue of the 25th unit of output is:
a. $14.
b. $55.
c. $6.
d. $168.
e. $175.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: SA
37. In Exhibit 8-1, the marginal revenue curve corresponding to the monopolist's demand curve would be
a straight line drawn between points:
a. A to B.
b. A to C.
c. A to D.
d. C to B.
e. C to D.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: SA
38. Which of the following points in Exhibit 8-1 would not lie on the marginal revenue curve
corresponding to the monopolist's straight-line demand curve?
a. A.
b. B.
c. C.
d. C and B.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: SA
39. At an output of 100 units, marginal revenue for a monopolist with the demand curve shown in Exhibit
8-1 would be:
a. positive.
b. zero.
c. negative.
d. infinity.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: SA
Q P TC
0 40 10
1 30 15
2 20 25
3 10 40
4 0 60
40. The marginal revenue of the second unit of output in Exhibit 8-2 is:
a. 10.
b. 20.
c. 30.
d. 40.
e. 60.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Marginal revenue curve
TYP: SA
41. Refer to Exhibit 8-2. Using the rule that focuses on the marginal approach to maximizing profits, the
monopolist maximizes profit by choosing price equal to:
a. $40.
b. $20.
c. $0.
d. $10.
e. $30.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
42. At the long-run equilibrium level of output, the monopolist's marginal cost will:
a. exceed price.
b. equal price.
c. be less than price.
d. be less than marginal revenue.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: RE
45. A monopolist will earn economic profits as long as his price exceeds:
a. marginal revenue.
b. average fixed cost.
c. average variable cost.
d. average total cost.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
49. Assume a monopolist's marginal cost and marginal revenue curves intersect and the demand curve
passes above its average total cost curve. The firm will:
a. make an economic profit.
b. stay in operation in the short run, but shut down in the long run.
c. shut down in the short run.
d. lower the price.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
53. To maximize its profits, a monopoly should produce the quantity where its marginal cost equals its:
a. average total cost.
b. average variable cost.
c. demand.
d. marginal revenue.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: E
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: RE
54. Suppose a monopolist's demand curve lies below its average variable cost curve. The firm will:
a. stay in operation in the short-run.
b. earn an economic profit.
c. earn an economic profit in the long run.
d. shut down.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
55. Assume a monopolist charges a price corresponding to the intersection of the marginal cost and
marginal revenue curves. If this price is between its average variable cost and average total cost
curves, the firm will:
a. earn an economic profit.
b. continue to operate in the short run.
c. shut down.
d. all of the above are true.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
56. Which of the following statements best describe the price, output, and profit conditions of monopoly?
a. Price will equal marginal cost at the profit-maximizing level of output and profits will be
positive in the long-run.
b. Price will always equal average variable cost in the short-run and either profits or losses
may result in the long run.
c. In the long-run, positive economic profit will be earned.
d. All of the above are true.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
57. A monopoly:
a. faces the market demand curve which is downward sloping.
b. has a marginal revenue curve which slopes downward and lies below its demand curve.
c. will maximize profits by producing an output level where MR = MC.
d. all of the above.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
Exhibit 8-3 Demand and cost curves for GeneTech, a monopolist with a patented vaccine
59. In Exhibit 8-3, how much vaccine should GeneTech produce to maximize its profit?
a. 300 doses per hour.
b. 400 doses per hour.
c. Between 400 and 500 doses per hour.
d. 500 doses per hour.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
60. As shown in Exhibit 8-3, in order to maximize its profit, what price should GeneTech charge for its
vaccine?
a. $20 per dose.
b. $25 per dose.
c. $35 per dose
d. $50 per dose.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
61. In Exhibit 8-3, what is the maximum hourly profit that GeneTech can earn from its vaccine?
a. $1,500.
b. $3,000.
c. $4,500.
d. $10,500.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
62. As shown in Exhibit 8-4, in order to maximize its profit (or minimize its loss), how much output
should the monopoly produce?
a. 2 units per hour.
b. 4 units per hour.
c. 6 units per hour.
d. 8 units per hour.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
63. As shown in Exhibit 8-4, in order to maximize its profit (or minimize its loss), what price should the
monopoly charge for its product?
a. $60 per unit.
b. $90 per unit.
c. $120 per unit.
d. $150 per unit.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
64. What should a profit maximizing monopolist do if she is currently producing where MC < MR?
a. Increase output until MC = MR.
b. Decrease output until MC = MR.
c. Shut down in the long run.
d. Keep producing at this level.
e. Operate only in the short run.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
66. Refer to Exhibit 8-5. The demand schedule and cost schedule for a monopolist are provided. Which
output level maximizes profit?
a. 2.
b. 6.
c. 4.
d. 5.
e. 7.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
67. By calculating the data provided in Exhibit 8-5, how much is the profit if the firm decides to produce 7
units?
a. 0.
b. 24.
c. 16.
d. 12.
e. 6.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
68. If a monopolist finds that at the present level of output marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost, the
firm should:
a. shut down.
b. expand output.
c. maintain the current output.
d. reduce output (but still produce).
e. raise prices.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
69. A monopolist earning economic profit in the short run determines that at its present level of output,
marginal revenue is $23 and marginal cost is $30. Which of the following should the firm do to
increase profit?
a. Raise price and lower output.
b. Lower price and lower output.
c. Raise price and raise output.
d. Lower price and raise output.
e. Lower output, but leave price unchanged.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
71. A monopoly firm can sell its fourth unit of output for a price of $250. In order to sell more than five
units, it must expect to receive a price:
a. equal to $250.
b. greater than $250.
c. less than $250.
d. equal to $340.
e. the price is impossible to calculate with the information given.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
72. The profit-maximizing output level for a monopolist is where the:
a. price is maximized.
b. output sold is maximized.
c. ATC curve is minimized.
d. maximum efficiency is achieved.
e. MR = MC.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: RE
73. Using the rule that focuses on the marginal approach to maximizing profits, a monopolist charges a
price where the:
a. output sold is maximized.
b. ATC curve is minimized.
c. MR = MC.
d. MR = 0.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: RE
74. Exhibit 8-6 indicates that a monopolist maximizes profits at output equal to:
a. 0.
b. 6.
c. 8.
d. 9.
e. 10.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
75. The monopoly price that maximizes profits in Exhibit 8-6 is:
a. $4.
b. $6.
c. $7.
d. $8.
e. $10.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
76. The maximum possible total monopoly profit in Exhibit 8-6 is:
a. $60.
b. $36.
c. $24.
d. $18.
e. $12.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
77. When the monopolist is maximizing total profit in Exhibit 8-6, the average total cost of producing that
output level is:
a. $4.
b. $6.
c. $7.
d. $8.
e. $10.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
79. A monopoly:
a. can increase price and increase output at the same time.
b. can charge any price it wants and still sell all of its output.
c. can sell any output it produces provided it accepts the market price.
d. must lower price in order to increase output.
e. faces a perfectly elastic demand curve.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
82. According to the information provided in Exhibit 8-7, if the Rudd Ice Company was a monopoly and
is currently charging a price of $8, what would you advise Rudd to do?
a. Stay where he is currently operating because he is charging the profit maximizing price.
b. Increase price and increase output.
c. Decrease price and increase output.
d. Increase output and hold price constant.
e. Increase price and hold output constant.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
83. According to the information provided in Exhibit 8-7, if the Rudd Ice Company was a monopoly and
is currently charging a price of $6, what would you advise Rudd to do?
a. Stay where he is currently operating because he is charging the profit maximizing price.
b. Increase price and decrease output.
c. Decrease price and increase output.
d. Increase output and hold price constant.
e. Increase price and hold output constant.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
84. As shown in Exhibit 8-7, in the short run, the monopoly will:
a. earn an hourly profit of $240.
b. earn an hourly profit of $80.
c. break even (i.e., earn zero economic profit).
d. suffer an hourly loss of $160.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
85. As shown in Exhibit 8-8, the profit-maximizing price for the monopolist is:
a. OP1.
b. OP2.
c. OP3.
d. OP4.
e. OP5.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
86. As shown in Exhibit 8-8, the monopolist's total cost is which of the following areas?
a. P1AEP5.
b. P2BDP4.
c. P3CDP5.
d. P4DEP5.
e. P3FQ2O.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
87. The profit-maximizing output for the monopolist in Exhibit 8-8 is:
a. zero.
b. OQ1.
c. OQ2
d. OQ3.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
88. As shown in Exhibit 8-8, if the monopolist produces the profit-maximizing output, total revenue is the
rectangular area:
a. OQAP1.
b. OQ2BP2.
c. OQ3CP3.
d. OQ2DP4.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: CA
89. As shown in Exhibit 8-8, the monopolist's profit maximizing price-quantity point is:
a. A.
b. B.
c. C.
d. D.
e. E.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
90. At the level of output where the marginal cost and marginal revenue curves intersect, a monopolist's
demand curve passes above its average total cost curve. The firm will:
a. be able to make a pure economic profit.
b. stay in operation in the short-run, but shut down.
c. shut down in the short-run.
d. increase its price.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist profit maximization TYP: SA
91. If the average total cost curve is always above the demand curve for a monopolist:
a. the profits of the monopolist will be large.
b. the monopolist must be producing inefficiently.
c. the monopolist will suffer economic losses.
d. entry will occur, forcing the monopolist to reduce price and expand output.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
92. Suppose a monopolist's demand curve lies below its average variable cost curve. The firm will:
a. earn an economic profit.
b. stay in operation in the short-run.
c. shut down.
d. none of the above.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: CA
93. Suppose a monopolist charges a price corresponding to the intersection of the marginal cost and
marginal revenue curves. If this price is between its average variable cost and average total cost
curves, the firm will:
a. earn an economic profit.
b. stay in operation in the short-run, but shut down in the long run if demand remains the
same.
c. shut down.
d. none of the above.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: CA
94. A monopolist will operate in the short run if which of the following is above average variable cost?
a. Marginal cost.
b. Marginal revenue.
c. Price.
d. All of the above.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: CA
95. In Exhibit 8-9, the profit-maximizing or loss-minimizing output for the monopolist is:
a. 200 units per day.
b. 300 units per day.
c. 400 units per day.
d. 500 units per day.
e. 600 units per day.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
96. In Exhibit 8-9, at the profit-maximizing or loss-minimizing output, the monopolist's total economic
profit is:
a. positive.
b. negative.
c. zero.
d. minimum.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
97. In Exhibit 8-9, the monopolist would charge which of the following prices to maximize profit or
minimize its loss?
a. $20.
b. $40.
c. $60.
d. $70.
e. $100.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
98. In Exhibit 8-10, the profit-maximizing or loss-minimizing output for the monopolist is:
a. 100 units per day.
b. 150 units per day.
c. 200 units per day.
d. 250 units per day.
e. 300 units per day.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
99. In Exhibit 8-10, at the profit-maximizing or loss-minimizing output, the monopolist's total economic
profit is:
a. positive.
b. negative.
c. zero.
d. minimum.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
100. In Exhibit 8-10, the monopolist would charge which of the following prices to maximize profit or
minimize its loss?
a. $10.
b. $20.
c. $30.
d. $35.
e. $50.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Monopolist loss minimization TYP: SA
101. Which of the following statements best describes the price, output, and profit conditions of monopoly?
a. Price will equal marginal cost at the profit-maximizing level of output and profits will be
positive in the long run.
b. Price will always equal average variable cost in the short-run and either profits or losses
may result in the long run.
c. In the long run, positive economic profit will be eliminated.
d. None of the above.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Monopoly in the long run
TYP: CA
107. For a monopolist to practice price discrimination, one necessary condition is that the product offered
for sale must be:
a. high quality.
b. expensive.
c. cheap.
d. impossible or difficult to resell.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Price discrimination
TYP: RE
109. The act of buying a commodity in one market at a lower price and selling it in another market at a
higher price is known as:
a. buying long.
b. selling short.
c. a tariff.
d. arbitrage.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Price discrimination
TYP: RE
114. For a monopolist to practice effective price discrimination, one necessary condition is:
a. identical price elasticity among groups of buyers.
b. differences in the price elasticity of demand among groups of buyers.
c. that the product is homogeneous market.
d. none of the above.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Price discrimination
TYP: RE
115. A price-discriminating monopoly charges the lowest price to the group that:
a. has the most elastic demand.
b. purchases the largest quantity.
c. engages in the most arbitrage.
d. is least responsive to price changes.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Price discrimination
TYP: CA
117. One of the necessary conditions for price discrimination to occur is that:
a. buyers in different markets have different elasticities of demand.
b. the demand curve is upward sloping.
c. buyers must be allowed to resell the good at a higher price elsewhere.
d. all of the above are necessary for price discrimination to occur.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: E TOP: Price discrimination
TYP: RE
119. ____ is the act of buying a commodity in one market at a lower price and selling it in another market at
a higher price.
a. Buying short.
b. Discounting.
c. Tariffing.
d. Arbitrage.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M TOP: Arbitrage
TYP: RE
120. Which of the following best explains an economic criticism of unregulated monopolists?
a. Monopolists do not try to minimize their costs of production.
b. Monopolists produce where marginal revenue is greater than marginal costs.
c. Monopolists attempt to produce too many products, and as a result, their prices are high,
and consumer's waste time trying to choose between too many options.
d. Monopolists restrict output, and as a result, they fail to produce units that are valued more
than the marginal cost of producing them.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: SA
122. Which of the following statements accurately describes a difference between a firm that is a
monopolist and one that is a competitive price taker?
a. Marginal revenue and market price are equal for the competitive price taker but not for the
monopolist.
b. The monopolist does not always produce the output that equates marginal cost and
marginal revenue; the competitive price taker does.
c. The monopolist charges the highest price possible; the competitive price taker charges a
price equal to its per-unit cost.
d. A monopolist can earn economic profit in the short run; a competitive price taker cannot.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: RE
123. Under both perfect competition and monopoly, a firm:
a. is a price taker.
b. is a price maker.
c. will shut down in the short-run if price falls short of average total cost.
d. always earns a pure economic profit.
e. sets marginal cost equal to marginal revenue.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: SA
125. A monopoly sets a market price that is higher than the marginal cost of production. This fact implies
that a monopoly's allocation of resources is:
a. unfair.
b. inefficient.
c. discriminatory.
d. excessive.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: SA
127. In contrast to a perfectly competitive firm, a monopolist operates in the long run at a quantity of output
at which:
a. P=MC.
b. MR=MC.
c. P=ATC.
d. P>MR.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: CA
130. Monopolists are criticized because they are inefficient. What is meant by this statement?
a. Monopolists charge too high a price.
b. Monopolists don't innovate enough to control pollution.
c. Monopolists produce a large quantity of waste.
d. Monopolists usually don't produce at the minimum of the ATC.
e. Monopolists could use their resources better elsewhere.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: D
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: CA
131. The monopolist, unlike the perfectly competitive firm, can continue to earn an economic profit in the
long run because of:
a. collusive agreements with competitors.
b. price leadership.
c. cartels.
d. a dominant firm.
e. extremely high barriers to entry.
ANS: E PTS: 1 DIF: E
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: RE
132. Suppose a monopolist and a perfectly competitive firm have the same cost curves. The monopolistic
firm would:
a. charge a lower price than the perfectly competitive firm.
b. charge a higher price than the perfectly competitive firm.
c. charge the same price as the perfectly competitive firm.
d. refuse to operate in the short run unless an economic profit could be made.
e. refuse to operate in the short run if an economic loss was present.
ANS: B PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: CA
133. Compared to a perfectly competitive firm with the same cost structure, a monopoly firm will charge a:
a. higher price and sell more.
b. lower price and sell more.
c. higher price and sell less.
d. lower price and sell less.
e. similar price and sell the same.
ANS: C PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: CA
134. If pizza used to be produced in a perfectly competitive market, and now the pizza market has become a
monopoly, we can expect:
a. less pizza to be sold at a higher price.
b. more pizza to be sold at a higher price.
c. less pizza to be sold at a lower price.
d. more pizza to be sold at a lower price.
e. the same amount of pizza to be sold at the same price.
ANS: A PTS: 1 DIF: E
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: SA
135. Compared to a perfectly competitive industry, a monopolist with the same marginal cost and demand
curve will charge:
a. a higher price and produce a higher volume of output.
b. a lower price and produce a higher volume of output.
c. a lower price and produce a lower volume of output.
d. a higher price and produce a lower volume of output.
e. the same price and produce the same volume of output.
ANS: D PTS: 1 DIF: M
TOP: Comparing monopoly and perfect competition TYP: SA
TRUE/FALSE
1. The two theoretical extremes of the market structure spectrum are occupied at one end by perfect
competition and on the other end by monopoly.
2. A monopoly market is characterized by a single seller of a product which has few, if any suitable
substitutes.
4. A monopolist is a price searcher because it has the ability to select the price along its demand curve of
its product.
6. In a natural monopoly, the long-run average cost curve declines and therefore average cost is lower
when there is only one seller.
ANS: T PTS: 1 DIF: D TOP: Natural monopoly
TYP: CA
7. Costs in a natural monopoly are lower because there is only one producer.
8. A natural monopoly maximizes profits at the point at which price equals minimum average total cost.
9. In order for a monopolist to earn an economic profit in short-run equilibrium, marginal revenue must
be equal to zero.
11. A monopolist will charge a lower price and produce more output than if it was operating in a
competitive market.
14. A monopoly earns the most profit by charging a price where demand is inelastic.
15. A monopolist that maximizes total revenue earns maximum economic profit.
16. Regardless of the demand for its product, a monopolist will be able to earn positive economic profits.
17. In order for a monopolist to earn a pure economic profit in short-run equilibrium, price must exceed
average total cost.
18. To earn an economic profit in the short-run, a monopolist sets marginal revenue equal to zero.
19. A profit maximizing monopolist sets price and output so that it always operates on the elastic portion
of its straight-line demand curve when in equilibrium.
20. Pure economic profit must be at a maximum for a monopolist who has a level of output in which total
revenue is at a maximum.
21. A monopolist always selects a price on the elastic portion of its demand curve.
22. A monopolist will be able to earn positive pure economic profits regardless of the price elasticity of
demand.
23. A monopolist will charge a lower price and produce more output than if it was operating in a
competitive market.
27. An argument in favor of price discrimination is that this pricing strategy permits some consumers who
otherwise would be excluded from a market to buy a good or service.
28. A monopoly can successfully price discriminate as long as there are no close substitutes for its
product.
29. When a monopoly price discriminates, it charges the highest price to the group of buyers with the least
elastic demand.
30. Price discrimination often permits some consumers who otherwise would be excluded from a market
to buy a good or service.
ESSAY
ANS:
A natural monopoly is a monopoly that results from very extensive economies of scale. Government is
justified in regulating a natural monopoly to ensure that the monopoly does not gouge consumers with
"unnecessarily" high prices.
PTS: 1
ANS:
Any firm should shut down if losses are greater than total fixed costs (or when price is less than
average variable cost; or when total revenue is less than total variable cost) in order to minimize losses
in the short run.
PTS: 1
ANS:
Any firm could incur losses if demand is weak and/or costs are high.
PTS: 1
4. Why can a monopoly earn economic profits in the long run?
ANS:
Because a monopoly experiences very strong barriers to entry, keeping potential competitors out of its
market, it can earn economic profits in the long run. Barriers to entry may include economies of scale,
financial and technological barriers to entry, sole ownership over a strategic resource, and even
government laws and regulation.
PTS: 1
ANS:
The firm must possess some ability to control market price (the firm must possess some monopoly
power), the ability to segment customers based on their elasticity of demand, and the product cannot
be easily resold.
PTS: 1
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nucleus with planetary negative electrons, and of the picture that
Niels Bohr has imagined by working these in with the “quanta” of
Planck.[479] The atoms of Leucippus and Democritus were different in
form and magnitude, that is to say, they were purely plastic units,
“indivisible,” as their name asserts, but only plastically indivisible.
The atoms of Western physics, for which “indivisibility” has quite
another meaning, resemble the figures and themes of music; their
being or essence consisting in vibration and radiation, and their
relation to the processes of Nature being that of the “motive” to the
“movement.”[480] Classical physics examines the aspect, Western the
working, of these ultimate elements in the picture of the Become; in
the one, the basic notions are notions of stuff and form, in the other
they are notions of capacity and intensity.
There is a Stoicism and there is a Socialism of the atom, the
words describing the static-plastic and the dynamic-contrapuntal
ideas of it respectively. The relations of these ideas to the images of
the corresponding ethics is such that every law and every definition
takes these into account. On the one hand—Democritus’s multitude
of confused atoms, put there, patient, knocked about by the blind
chance that he as well as Sophocles called ἀνάγκη, hunted like
Œdipus. On the other hand—systems of abstract force-points
working in unison, aggressive, energetically dominating space (as
“field”), overcoming resistances like Macbeth. The opposition of
basic feelings makes that of the mechanical Nature-pictures.
According to Leucippus the atoms fly about in the void “of
themselves”; Democritus merely regards shock and countershock as
a form of change of place. Aristotle explains individual movements
as accidental, Empedocles speaks of love and hate, Anaxagoras of
meetings and partings. All these are elements also of Classical
tragedy; the figures on the Attic stage are related to one another just
so. Further, and logically, they are the elements of Classical politics.
There we have minute cities, political atoms ranged along coasts
and on islands, each jealously standing for itself, yet ever needing
support, shut-in and shy to the point of absurdity, buffeted hither and
thither by the planless orderless happenings of Classical history,
rising to-day and ruined to-morrow. And in contrast—the dynastic
states of our 17th and 18th Centuries, political fields of force, with
cabinets and great diplomats as effective centres of purposeful
direction and comprehensive vision. The spirit of Classical history
and the spirit of Western history can only be really understood by
considering the two souls as an opposition. And we can say the
same of the atom-idea, regarded as the basis of the respective
physics. Galileo who created the concept of force and the Milesians
who created that of ἀρχή, Democritus and Leibniz, Archimedes and
Helmholtz, are “contemporaries,” members of the same intellectual
phases of quite different Cultures.
But the inner relationship between atom-theory and ethic goes
further. It has been shown how the Faustian soul—whose being
consists in the overcoming of presence, whose feeling is loneliness
and whose yearning is infinity—puts its need of solitude, distance
and abstraction into all its actualities, into its public life, its spiritual
and its artistic form-worlds alike. This pathos of distance (to use
Nietzsche’s expression) is peculiarly alien to the Classical, in which
everything human demanded nearness, support and community. It is
this that distinguishes the spirit of the Baroque from that of the Ionic,
the culture of the Ancien Régime from that of Periclean Athens. And
this pathos, which distinguishes the heroic doer from the heroic
sufferer, appears also in the picture of Western physics as tension. It
is tension that is missing in the science of Democritus; for in the
principle of shock and countershock it is denied by implication that
there is a force commanding space and identical with space. And,
correspondingly, the element of Will is absent from the Classical
soul-image. Between Classical men, or states, or views of the world,
there was—for all the quarrelling and envy and hatred—no inner
tension, no deep and urging need of distance, solitude, ascendancy;
and consequently there was none between the atoms of the Cosmos
either. The principle of tension (developed in the potential theory),
which is wholly untranslatable into Classical tongues and
incommunicable to Classical minds, has become for Western
physics fundamental. Its content follows from the notion of energy,
the Will-to-Power in Nature, and therefore it is for us just as
necessary as for the Classical thought it is impossible.
IV
Every atomic theory, therefore, is a myth and not an experience. In
it the Culture, through the contemplative-creative power of its great
physicists, reveals its inmost essence and very self. It is only a
preconceived idea of criticism that extension exists in itself and
independently of the form-feeling and world-feeling of the knower.
The thinker, in imagining that he can cut out the factor of Life, forgets
that knowing is related to the known as direction is to extension and
that it is only through the living quality of direction that what is felt
extends into distance and depth and becomes space. The cognized
structure of the extended is a projection of the cognizing being.
We have already[481] shown the decisive importance of the depth-
experience, which is identical with the awakening of a soul and
therefore with the creation of the outer world belonging to that soul.
The mere sense-impression contains only length and breadth, and it
is the living and necessary act of interpretation—which, like
everything else living, possesses direction, motion and irreversibility
(the qualities that our consciousness synthesizes in the word Time)
—that adds depth and thereby fashions actuality and world. Life itself
enters into the experiences as third dimension. The double meaning
of the word “far,” which refers both to future and to horizon, betrays
the deeper meaning of this dimension, through which extension as
such is evoked. The Becoming stiffens and passes and is at once
the Become; Life stiffens and passes and is at once the three-
dimensional Space of the known. It is common ground for Descartes
and Parmenides that thinking and being, i.e., imagined and
extended, are identical. “Cogito, ergo sum” is simply the formulation
of the depth-experience—I cognize, and therefore I am in space. But
in the style of this cognizing, and therefore of the cognition-product,
the prime-symbol of the particular Culture comes into play. The
perfected extension of the Classical consciousness is one of
sensuous and bodily presence. The Western consciousness
achieves extension, after its own fashion, as transcendental space,
and as it thinks its space more and more transcendentally it
develops by degrees the abstract polarity of Capacity and Intensity
that so completely contrasts with the Classical visual polarity of
Matter and Form.
But it follows from this that in the known there can be no
reappearance of living time. For this has already passed into the
known, into constant “existence,” as Depth, and hence duration (i.e.,
timelessness) and extension are identical. Only the knowing
possesses the mark of direction. The application of the word “time”
to the imaginary and measurable time-dimension of physics is a
mistake. The only question is whether it is possible or not to avoid
the mistake. If one substitutes the word “Destiny” for “time” in any
physical enunciation, one feels at once that pure Nature does not
contain Time. The form-world of physics extends just as far as the
cognate form-world of number and notion extend, and we have seen
that (notwithstanding Kant) there is not and cannot be the slightest
relation of any sort between mathematical number and Time. And yet
this is controverted by the fact of motion in the picture of the world-
around. It is the unsolved and unsolvable problem of the Eleatics—
being (or thinking) and motion are incompatible; motion “is” not (is
only “apparent”).
And here, for the second time, Natural science becomes dogmatic
and mythological. The words Time and Destiny, for anyone who uses
them instinctively, touch Life itself in its deepest depths—life as a
whole, which is not to be separated from lived-experience. Physics,
on the other hand—i.e., the observing Reason—must separate
them. The livingly-experienced “in-itself,” mentally emancipated from
the act of the observer and become object, dead, inorganic, rigid, is
now “Nature,” something open to exhaustive mathematical
treatment. In this sense the knowledge of Nature is an activity of
measurement. All the same, we live even when we are observing
and therefore the thing we are observing lives with us. The element
in the Nature-picture in virtue of which it not merely from moment to
moment is, but in a continuous flow with and around us becomes, is
the copula of the waking-consciousness and its world. This element
is called movement, and it contradicts Nature as a picture, but it
represents the history of this picture. And therefore, as precisely as
Understanding is abstracted (by means of words) from feeling and
mathematical space from light-resistances (“things”[482]), so also
physical “time” is abstracted from the impression of motion.
Physics investigates Nature, and consequently it knows time only
as a length. But the physicist lives in the midst of the history of this
Nature, and therefore he is forced to conceive motion as a
mathematically determinable magnitude, as a concretion of the pure
numbers obtained in the experiment and written down in formulæ.
“Physics,” says Kirchhoff, “is the complete and simple description of
motions.” That indeed has always been its object. But the question is
one not of motions in the picture but of motions of the picture.
Motion, in the Nature of physics, is nothing else but that
metaphysical something which gives rise to the consciousness of a
succession. The known is timeless and alien to motion; its state of
becomeness implies this. It is the organic sequence of knowns that
gives the impression of a motion. The physicist receives the word as
an impression not upon “reason” but upon the whole man, and the
function of that man is not “Nature” only but the whole world. And
that is the world-as-history. “Nature,” then, is an expression of the
Culture in each instance.[483] All physics is treatment of the motion-
problem—in which the life-problem itself is implicit—not as though it
could one day be solved, but in spite of, nay because of, the fact that
it is insoluble. The secret of motion awakens in man the
apprehension of death.[484]
If, then, Nature-knowledge is a subtle kind of self-knowledge—
Nature understood as picture, as mirror of man—the attempt to solve
the motion-problem is an attempt of knowledge to get on the track of
its own secret, its own Destiny.
VI
VII
VIII