Question

Both the Onus ferry operator in the monopoly market and each of the Yuri ferry operators in the perfectly competitive market will want to produce at the point that the marginal revenue is equal to the marginal cost. Explain in detail the two reasons that the monopoly’s marginal revenue will always be less than its price while the marginal revenue in the perfectly competitive market will always be equal to the market price. (2 points)

Answer 1

Answer: Please refer to Explanation.

Explanation:

Monopoly.

The 2 reasons why the monopoly’s marginal revenue will always be less than its price are;

a) Even though Monopolies have very large influence on the prices of goods and services they offer, for a Monopoly to sell more goods, they generally have to lower their prices. This will lead to a situation where Marginal Revenue, which is the additional revenue made per additional unit sold will be less than Price because additional revenue for a new unit will be less than the last one because prices are dropped .

b) A Monopoly's demand schedule is downward sloping. This means that demand rises as prices drop. As prices drop therefore, more goods will be sold but the marginal revenue will be less because prices had to be dropped to get an additional unit to be sold. That unit therefore will bring in less revenue than the last unit.

Perfectly Competitive Market

In such a market, the seller is a Price Taker. This means that sellers in this market do not sell at a price that they want but rather at a price the market has established to be the Equilibrium. This is because of the high competition in the market. Since they are all selling at the same price, this means that every additional revenue they get is the same as the price the market charges. This means that Price equals Marginal Revenue in this market.