Answer: It could limit how much the company charges customers.
It could insist a company get approval before making certain decisions.
A natural monopoly refers to a situation when one firm can cater to the entire market demand for a product. A natural monopoly can exist in an industry in because of high start-up costs, certain unique raw materials or processes or technologies that are required to run a business. In a natural monopoly, there is only one firm that benefits from very large economies of scale.
A government intervenes or regulates a natural monopoly primarily in order to protect consumer interests.
A natural monopoly has the power to raise the prices of its products as per its wish, since it is the only supplier of the product. Hence the government looks into the cost history of the firm and fixes regulation. The government can also set a price that a firm can exceed over a fixed period of time. This is known as a price cap regulation.
It is assumed that the natural monopoly will function in an economically rational manner. However, the government can insist that the natural monopoly get its approval before making certain decisions. This may occur due to a decision to decrease the quantity of goods produced.
Answer:
d. percentage change in the quantity demanded of one good divided by the percentage change in the price of another good.
Explanation:
Price-demand elasticity measures the demand sensitivity of a good when a change in the price of another good occurs. For example, what happens to the demand for bread when the price of butter varies? This depends on the cross elasticity of demand since these goods tend to be complementary.
The price elasticity of cross demand between two goods is easily calculated by a formula where the numerator is the change in the quantity of a good and the denominator is the percentage change in the price of the complementary good.
If the calculation of elasticity is greater than 1, it means that the amount demanded for bread is sensitive (elastic) to the price of butter and tends to vary sharply. If the result is between 0 and 1, the demand is inelastic, that is, the amount of bread demanded will not change considerably when the price of butter varies. If the calculation is equal to 1, then the demand for bread varies perfectly with the price of butter.
