Monopoly and Price Discrimination

338 Words2 Pages
Monopoly and Price Discrimination What we called monopoly is the sole seller if the product and that product do not have close substitutes. Monopoly can control the prices of their goods, but their profit is not limited because high prices reduce the amount that their consumers buy. The most important cause of monopoly is barriers to entry. The three main sources are owned by a single firm, the government gives a single firm the exclusive right to produce some good or services, and the cost of production makes a single producer more efficient than a large number of producers like the distribution of water. Monopoly is the sole producer in the market; its demand curve is the market demand. If a monopoly raises the price of its good, consumers buy less of it. Monopoly can alter the price of its good by adjusting the quantity it supplies to the market. In monopolized markets, price exceeds marginal cost; for a monopoly firm, P>MR=MC A monopoly firm charges a price above marginal cost compare to competitive firm. Policymakers in the government can respond to the monopoly problem by trying to make industries more competitive, regulating the behavior of monopolies, turning some private monopolies into public enterprises, or do nothing. Price discriminate means the exactly same product could sell to different consumers for different prices, even though the costs of producing for the products are the same. Price discrimination is impossible when product is sold in competitive markets. For a firm to price discriminate, it must have market power. There are three lessons to be learned about price discrimination are price discrimination rational strategy for a profit-maximizing monopolist, price discrimination requires the ability to separate customers according to their willingness to pay, price discrimination can reduce the inefficiency inherent in monopoly.

More about Monopoly and Price Discrimination

Open Document