Identify a real-world example of price discrimination (preferably not one from the unit lesson), and explain which type of price discrimination it is. Next, using the good from your chosen price discrimination as an example, illustrate how the good fits the criteria necessary for successful price discrimination. Finally, discuss how the price discrimination example leads to an increase in total benefit to society. Have you ever paid a higher price for something than somebody else did? Ever pay a lower price? How did those experiences make you feel?

Would you rather have efficiency or variety? That is, one opportunity cost of the variety of products we have is that each product costs more per unit than if there were only one kind of product of a given type, like shoes. Perhaps a better question is, What is the right amount of variety? Can there be too many varieties of shoes, for example?

Explain why using the midpoint formula for calculating the elasticity of demand gives the same result whether price increases or decreases, but using the initial price and quantity instead of the average does not.

(Calculating Price Elasticity of Demand) Suppose that 50 units of a good are demanded at a price of Si per unit. A reduction in price to $0.20 results in an increase in quantity demanded to 70 units. Using the midpoint formula, show that these data yield a price elasticity of 0.25. By what percentage would a 10 percent rise in the price reduce the quantity demanded, assuming price elasticity remains constant along the demand curve?

The Stopdecay Company sells an electric toothbrush for $25. Its sales have averaged 8,000 units per month over the past year. Recently, its closest competitor, Decayfigh ter, reduced the price of its electric toothbrush from $35 to $30. As a result, Stopde cays sales declined by 1,500 units per month. What is the arc cross elasticity of demand between Stopdecays toothbrush and Decayfighters toothbrush? What does this indicate about the relationship between the two products? If Stopdecay knows that the arc price elasticity of demand for its toothbrush is 1.5, what price would Stopdecay have to charge to sell the same number of units as it did before the Decayfighter price cut? Assume that Decayfighter holds the price of its toothbrush constant at $30. What is Stopdecays average monthly total revenue from the sale of electric toothbrushes before and after the price change determined in part (b)? Is the result in part (c) necessarily desirable? What other factors would have to be taken into consideration?

According to the previous discussion, what factors influence the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes? What other factors not mentioned in the article might influence the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes?

Return to Figure 9.2. Suppose P0 is 10 and P1 is 11. Suppose a new firm with the same LRAC curve as the incumbent tries to bleak into the market by selling 4,000 units of output. Estimate from the graph what the new firms average cost of producing output would be. If the incumbent continues. to produce 6,000 units, how much output would the two films supply to the market? Estimate what would happen to the market price as a result of the supply of both the incumbent firm and the new entrant. Approximately how much profit would each firm earn? Figure 9.2 Economics of Scale and Natural Monoploy

Using the midpoint formula for calculating the elasticity of supply, if the price of a good rose from $95 to $105, what would be the elasticity of supply if the quantity supplied changed from a. 38 to 42? b. 78 to 82? c. 54 to 66?

Use Table 11.5 to calculate the four-firm concentration ratio for the U.S. auto market. Does this indicate a concentrated market or not?