Chapter 10, Problem 2P

To determine

The long-run equilibrium quantity and price in a perfectly competitive and monopolistic firm and their profits have to be derived and compared.

Concept Introduction:

Perfect Competition- A market is said to be perfectly competitive when it has a virtually infinite number of buyers and sellers selling a homogenous product with free entry into and exit from the market. The buyers and sellers have perfect knowledge about the products and markets and there are no selling and transportation costs. The sellers are price takers and they face a perfectly elastic demand curve.

The monopolistic firm- A form of imperfect competition where there are a very large number of buyers and sellers in the market. The products are nearly but not perfectly homogenous, i.e. there is product differentiation. The entry and exit of firms are free. Unlike the perfect competition, the firms have selling costs and imperfect knowledge marks the structure of the market. The market is a deviation from the ideal but not as competitive as the oligopoly or duopoly market. The demand curve facing the firm here is high though not perfectly elastic. It is a downward sloping demand curve.

Marginal Revenue (MR) - The revenue earned by a firm by selling one additional unit of the output is the marginal revenue of the firm.

Marginal Cost (MC) - The cost incurred by a firm in the production of one more unit of output is the marginal cost of the firm.