Consider the only electric company in a small town, which you
can assume operates as a...
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Economics
Consider the only electric company in a small town, which you
can assume operates as a natural monopoly. The following graph
shows the demand curve for electricity services per month, as well
as the provider’s marginal revenue (MR) curve, marginal cost (MC)
curve, and average total cost (ATC) curve. A graph plots price in
dollars per subscription on the y-axis ranging from 0 to 100 in
increments of 10 and quantity in thousands of subscriptions on the
x-axis ranging from 0 to 20 in increments of 2. A downward sloping
straight line blue demand curve labeled D is defined by (0,100) and
(20, 0). A downward sloping straight line black marginal revenue
curve labeled M R is defined by (0,100) and (10, 0). A horizontal
orange line labeled M C occurs at price level higher. A green curve
convex with respect to the origin decreases at a decreasing rate,
and is labeled A T C. Four grey stars are plotted, each with grey
dashed lines extending to both axes. One is plotted along the
demand curve at the quantity at which M C equals M R with
coordinates (7, 65). One is plotted along the A T C curve at this
same quantity with coordinates (7, 39). One is plotted at the
intersection of A T C and demand at (13, 35) One is plotted at the
intersection of M C and D at (14, 30).
024681012141618201009080706050403020100PRICE (Dollars per
subscription)QUANTITY (Thousands of subscriptions)DMRMCATC14, 30
Suppose the government has elected not to impose regulations on the
industry, and so the firm faces no regulatory constraints in
maximizing profits. 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 now that the government decides to require the
monopolist to set its price equal to marginal cost. Complete the
second row of the previous table. Suppose now that the government
decides to require the monopolist to set its 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 in
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