3. Based on the best available econometric estimates, the market elasticity of demand for your firm’s product is -2. The marginal cost of producing your product is constant at $50. a. What is your optimal per unit price if you are a monopolist? b. What is your optimal per unit price if you compete against one other firm in a Cournot oligopoly? What is your optimal per unit price if you compete against 20 other firms in a Cournot oligopoly? c. What price pattern are you seeing between parts a and b? Explain why this makes intuitive sense (hint: at what price will you eventually sell your product if the number of firms continues to increase?).

Microeconomic Theory
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Chapter15: Imperfect Competition
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3. Based on the best available econometric estimates, the market elasticity of demand
for your firm’s product is -2. The marginal cost of producing your product is constant at $50.


a. What is your optimal per unit price if you are a monopolist?
b. What is your optimal per unit price if you compete against one other firm in a Cournot
oligopoly? What is your optimal per unit price if you compete against 20 other firms in a
Cournot oligopoly?
c. What price pattern are you seeing between parts a and b? Explain why this makes intuitive
sense (hint: at what price will you eventually sell your product if the number of firms
continues to increase?).
d. Suppose once again you are a monopolist, but your product sells to two different groups of
consumers segmented by region. The east coast customers have demand elasticity equal to
what is shown above (-2) and your west coast customers have demand elasticity equal to -4.
Determine the optimal prices under third-degree price discrimination. What conditions must
exist for third-degree price discrimination to enhance economic profits?
e. Graphically show how first-degree price discrimination gives you more profit (or producer
surplus) than charging the same per-unit price for all customers.

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