Ch 9微观经济学.pptVIP

A Model of Price Discrimination Two groups of consumers One group (A): less elastic D The other (B): more elastic D Maximize profit MR=MC in each market Lower price for group (B) * Exhibit 9 Price discrimination with two groups of consumers * D (a) LRAC, MC (b) 400 Quantity per period 0 500 Quantity per period 0 A monopolist facing two groups of consumers with different demand elasticities may be able to practice price discrimination to increase profit or reduce loss. With marginal cost the same in both markets, the firm charges a higher price to the group in panel (a), which has a less elastic demand than group in panel (b). Dollars per unit $3.00 1.00 LRAC, MC MR Dollars per unit $1.50 1.00 D’ MR’ Examples of Price Discrimination Airline travel Businesspeople (business class) Less elastic D; Higher price Same class, different prices Discount fares; weekend stay IBM laser printer 5 pages/minute: home; cheaper 10 pages/minute: business; expensive Telephone calls Off-peak and on-peak pricing * Perfect Price Discrimination The monopolist’s dream Charge consumers what they are willing to pay Charge different prices for each unit sold D curve becomes MR curve Convert consumer surplus into economic profit Allocative efficiency No deadweight loss Example: pricing policy of hand phone call charges reflect attempt to capture more consumer surplus as profit similar to perfect price discrimination * Exhibit 10 Perfect price discrimination * Quantity per period Q 0 Dollars per unit c Long-run average cost = Marginal cost D=Marginal revenue c a If a monopolist can charge a different price for each unit sold, it may be able to practice perfect price discrimination. Profit By setting the price of each unit equal to the maximum amount consumers are willing to pay for that unit (shown by the height of the demand curve), the monopolist can earn a profit equal to the area of the shaded triangle (ace). Consumer surplus is zero. Ironically, this outcome is efficient because the