When we compare economic welfare in a monopoly market to a competitive market, the profits earned by the monopolist represent a. a loss in total welfare. b. a transfer of benefits from the consumer to the producer. c. the higher marginal revenues gained by the monopolists in comparison to competitive firms. d. the higher marginal costs incurred by the monopolists in comparison to competitive firms.

Consider the local telephone company, a natural monopoly. the following graph shows the monthly demand curve for phone services and the company’s marginal revenue (mr), marginal cost (mc), and average total cost (atc) curves. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 price (dollars per subscription) quantity (thousands of subscriptions) d mr mc atc 8, 60 suppose that the government has decided not to regulate this industry, and the firm is free to maximize profits, without constraints. complete the first row of the following table. pricing mechanism short run long-run decision quantity price profit (subscriptions) (dollars per subscription) profit maximization marginal-cost pricing average-cost pricing suppose that the government forces the monopolist to set the price equal to marginal cost. complete the second row of the previous table. suppose that the government forces the monopolist to set the price equal to average total cost. complete the third row of the previous table. under average-cost pricing, the government will raise the price of output whenever a firm’s costs increase, and lower the price whenever a firm’s costs decrease. over time, under the average-cost pricing policy, what will the local telephone company most likely do

Six years ago, an 80-kw diesel electric set cost $160,000. the cost index for this class of equipment six years ago was 187 and is now 194. the cost-capacity factor is 0.6. the plant engineering staff is considering a 120-kw unit of the same general design to power a small isolated plant. assume we want to add a precompressor, which (when isolated and estimated separately) currently costs $13291. determine the total cost of the 120-kw unit. (hint: skip $ and comma symbols)

Which of the following is a competitive benefit experienced by the first mover firm in an industry? a. the first mover will be able to achieve a less steep learning curve. b. the first mover will be able to reduce the switching costs. c. the first mover will not have to patent its products or technology. d. the first mover will be able to reduce costs through economies of scale.