经济学原理·萨缪尔森--中山大学岭南学院ch10.ppt

CH.10 Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition A. Behavior of Imperfect Competitors Market Power: The degree of control that a single firm or a small number of firms has over the price and production decisions in an industry. Four-Firm Concentration Ratio The most common measure of market power is the four-firm concentration. Four-firm concentration: the percent of total industry output produced by the largest four firms. the Nature of Imperfect Competition Costs(成本) barriers（进入壁垒） strategic interaction（策略互动): Strategic interaction is a term that describes how each firm’s business strategy depends on their rivals’ strategies Theories of Imperfect Competition Firms operate in a cooperative mode when they try to minimize competition by agreeing explicitly or tacitly on price and output and other market issues. collusive oligopoly cooperative—collusion（共谋） Cartel(卡特尔) When oligopolists would be delighted to earn profits, taking into account their mutual inter-dependence, they will produce the monopoly output and price and earn the monopoly profit. Collusive Oligopoly Looks Much Like Monopoly The Antitrust Laws After the American public rose up and demanded the passage of tough antitrust laws in 1910, cartels and explicit collusion became illegal in the United States. Some obstacles hinder effective collusion Collusion is illegal. The member of Cartel may “cheat”. The competition from foreign firms. Monopolistic Competition Compare with perfect competition: Similarities: there are many buyers and sellers; entry and exit are ease; firms take other firm’s prices as given. Distinction: products are differentiated under monopolistic competition. Monopolistic Competitors Produce Many Similar Goods Monopolistic Competition Product differentiation leads to a downward slope in each seller’s demand curve . The decision of production: MR=MC Free Entry of Numerous Monopolistic Competitors Wipes Out Profit Long run equilibr