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Why Monopolies Can Be Inefficient - Assignment Example

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The paper "Why Monopolies Can Be Inefficient" is a wonderful example of an assignment on macro and microeconomics. or Off-campus students, hard copy, signed assignments for this course may be submitted using the Division of Teaching and Learning Services assignment submission system. On-campus students should submit a hard copy, signed assignments through their particular campus submission system…
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PART C Proposed weekly schedule Week Week beginning dates Module/Topic Chapter Events and submissions 1 07 July 2008 Introduction to economic way of thinking 1 & 2 2 14 July Basics of market mechanisms: demand and supply analysis 3 & 4 3 21 July Elasticity of demand and supply 5 4 28 July Production costs 6 5 4 August Perfect competition 7 6 11 August Monopoly 8 Vacation period 7 25 August Monopolistic competition and oligopoly 9 Assessment item 1 due Tuesday 26th August 2008 8 1 September Labour market and microeconomic reforms 10 9 8 September Macroeconomic fundamentals: GDP and business cycles 11 & 12 10 15 September Inflation and unemployment. A simple model of macro economy 13 & 14 11 22 September Monetary and fiscal systems 15 (16 & 17) 12 29 September Review 06 – 08 October Review Period 09 -24 October Examination Period Note: A recess is held during term. Please consult the CQU Handbook for specific dates and other information at: http://handbook.cqu.edu.au Assessment Assignment submission For Off-campus students, hard copy, signed assignments for this course may be submitted using the Division of Teaching and Learning Services assignment submission system. On-campus students should submit hard copy, signed assignments through their particular campus submission system. Policies and procedures for assessment Students must familiarise themselves with the following policies and procedures: Assessment and examination policy and procedures University Assessment of Coursework Policy http://policy.cqu.edu.au Assignment preparation and presentation Chapter 1 Guide for Students http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=492 Referencing style Detailed information: Chapter 2 Guide for Students http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=492 Assignment submission Chapter 1 Guide for Students http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=492 Applying for extensions http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=7 Assignment grading http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=7 Plagiarism policy http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy.jsp?policyid=198 Plagiarism detailed explanation Chapter 2 Guide for Students http://fbi.cqu.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=492 Assessment details for ALL students Assessment item 1—assignment Due date: Tuesday 26th August 2008 ASSESSMENT Weighting: 40% Question 1 – 22 marks Question 2 – 22 marks Question 3 – 44 marks An additional 12 marks are allocated for overall research (see assessment criteria below)). Marks out of 100 will be scaled back to 40%. 1 Length: 500 words each for questions 1 and 2; 3,000 words for question 3. Objectives This assessment item relates to the course learning outcomes 1, 2 and 3 as listed in Part A. Question1 1: (22 marks) Part a) The table below shows a production possibilities frontier (PPF) for two goods.   A B C D E Capital goods 0 1 2 3 4 Consumption goods 25  23  19  13  0 i) Draw, using appropriate labels, a diagram showing the PPF. Graph should be in the form of the first illustration at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_possibilities_frontier , with one axis representing Capital Goods and the other representing Consumption Goods. I’ve supplied a version in an Excel sheet. ii) What is the cost of producing the third unit of capital goods? What is the cost of production of the fourth unit of capital goods? The third unit of capital goods costs 6 units of consumption goods (that is, production declines from 19 units to 13 units); the fourth unit of capital goods costs 13 units of consumption goods, as production declines from 13 units to 0 units. iii) On the same diagram, draw the PPF as if there is a 50% decrease in supply of natural resources in the economy. At 50% resources (assuming that fractional units are possible):   A B C D E Capital goods 0 1 2 3 3.12 Consumption goods 12.5  10.5  6.5  0.5 0 (Note that the marginal rate of transformation between capital goods and consumption goods is unchanged; so the first unit of capital goods still costs two units of consumer goods, and so on.) This set of points is on the Excel graph as well. Part b) Utilise the demand-supply market models (for each market below) to graphically illustrate and explain the following scenarios (in the short run). Identify for each scenario what the effects on price and quantity are likely to be. Graphing: See first graph at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand . The Wikipedia graph has a little arrow showing an increase in demand from D1 to D2; in all three of these cases, we’re talking about a decrease in demand, so that little arrow would be reversed. i) The market for cars if there is an increase in petrol prices. If we assume that only one kind of car exists, then it would follow that an increase in the price of petrol would cause a decrease in demand for cars – since consumers would drive less, and choose alternative means of transportation. However, if we assume that more economical cars exist, a significant increase in the price of petrol could actually stimulate the total demand for new cars, since consumers would have a strong incentive to replace gas-guzzlers with more efficient models; this would be especially true where alternatives such as efficient mass transportation were unavailable or expensive. In the simpler case illustrated (of only one kind of car), we would see the demand curve shift downwards/leftwards, such that at any given price fewer cars would be sold. ii) The market for margarine as the price of butter reduces. Since at least some consumers decide between margarine and butter based on their relative prices, a decrease in the price of butter would cause the demand curve for margarine to shift downwards/leftwards – since at any given margarine price, an increased number of consumers would buy butter instead, leading to consumption of less margarine. iii) The market for computer monitors as the price of computers increases. Since monitors are typically bought together with new computers, and increased computer prices would reduce sales of new computers, the demand curve for monitors would shift downwards/leftwards. It is worth noting that for some computer upgrades – for example, random-access memory or hard disks – an increase in the price of computers might lead to an increase in demand for the upgrade (assuming the upgrade’s price had not changed), since an increased number of computer owners would choose to upgrade their existing computers rather than purchase new ones. The same would not be true for monitors, since they do not contribute directly to a computer’s performance; buying a new monitor will not speed up your old computer. Part c) There is noooooo... Part C! Question 2: (22 marks) Part a) The table below shows a cost schedule for a competitive firm.  Quantity Fixed cost Variable cost Total cost Marginal cost Average Total cost Average Variable Cost Average Fixed cost 0 40 0 40 0 (infinite) N/A (infinite) 1 40  8 48 8 48 8 40 2 40 17  57 9 28.5 8.5 20 3 40 27  67 10 21.3 9 13.3 4 40  38 78 11 19.5 9.5 10 5 40  50   90 12 18 10 8 6 40 64  104 14 17.3 10.7 6.7 7 40 80  120 16 17.1 11.4 5.7 8 40 98 138 18 17.25 12.25 5 9 40 118 158 20 17.55 13.1 4.4 10 40 140 180 22 18 14 4 11 40 164 204 24 18.3 14.9 3.6 12 40 190 230 26 19.2 15.8 3.3 i) Complete the table. What is the average fixed cost of the 3rd unit of output? The average fixed cost for the third unit of output is 13.3 – that is, 40 divided by 3. Part b) i) Using the numbers from the table above, draw a diagram showing Marginal Cost, Average Total Cost, Average Variable Cost and Average Fixed Cost curves. Comment on the shape of the curves. I’ll send an Excel spreadsheet for this one: EconAssignment_1.xls Marginal Cost increases for each additional unit produced, and the Average Variable Cost increases along with it (albeit at a slower rate, which is to be expected given that it’s an average). Average Total Cost initially declines, as additional units are allocated a smaller proportion of the fixed cost; but after the seventh unit, Average Total Cost begins to increase as the marginal cost of production exceeds the average cost. Average Fixed Cost declines as quantity increases. ii) Find the profit maximising output if the price is $10, and calculate profit. Illustrate on your diagram. Profit is maximised at the point where marginal cost equals price; in this case, the maximum profit (or minimum loss) takes place when 3 units are sold, for total revenue of $30 and a loss of $37. (Selling 2 units results in the same total loss, so the result is essentially the same.) As a “sanity check”, we can see that selling 1 unit leads to a loss of $38, and selling 4 units also leads to a loss of $38. Mark the Marginal Cost line where it crosses the $10 level and label it PM-10 – that’s your profit-maximization point. iii) Find the profit maximising output if the price is $20. Calculate profit. Illustrate on your diagram. At a price of $20, profit is maximised when 8 or 9 units are sold; in either case, profit is $22. Sanity check: at an output level of either 7 or 10 units results in a profit of $20. Mark the Marginal Cost line where it crosses the $20 level and label it PM-20. Part c) The table below shows a cost schedule for a monopoly. Q P TC MC TR MR 0 40 10 0 0 0 1 30 15 5 30 30 2 20 25 10 40 10 3 10 40 15 30 -10 4 0 60 20 0 -30 i) Find the marginal revenue of the second unit of output. Since the first unit of output is sold at a price of 30 and two units of output would be sold at a price of 20, the marginal revenue of the second unit is (20 x 2) – 30 = 10. ii) Using the marginal approach to maximise profits, find the price that monopolist would charge to maximise its profit. What is the level of profit maximising output? At a price of 30, the monopolist would sell one unit of output for a profit of 30 – 15 = 15; at a price of 20, the monopolist would sell two units of output for a profit of 40 – 25 = 15. (In other words, the marginal cost of producing the second unit equals the marginal revenue of selling the second unit.) To sell the third unit, the price would fall to 10 and the monopolist would take a loss of 10. Thus either one or two units maximises the monopolist’s profit. Question 3: (44 marks) Part a) Explain why monopolies can be inefficient and cause deadweight losses. Are there circumstances where monopolies generate benefits? Identify some of the options for limiting monopoly power. In a theoretical perfectly competitive market, a large number of essentially identical “price-taking” producers sell a particular good, such that no producer can materially affect the market by increasing or decreasing production. It is assumed that as the quantity of the good produced increases, the marginal cost per unit of the good increases as well; and as the quantity purchased increases, the marginal utility of the good to customers (and thus the price at which the good can be sold) decreases. Because each sale of the good does not affect the overall market, the marginal revenue of each unit of production equals the market price. Producers will continue to produce the good up to the point at which the marginal cost of production equals the marginal utility, and both marginal cost and marginal utility equal the market price: producing more of the good would create producer losses, as the good could be sold only at a price lower than the marginal cost of production, and producing less of the good would forego profits, as another producer would simply step in to replace the lost production. In such a competitive market, consumers benefit to the extent that they are able to purchase the good at a price that is lower than the marginal utility of all but the last unit purchased; the gap between the market price and the aggregate utility of the goods purchased is the consumer surplus. Producers, in turn, benefit to the extent that the selling price of the good is greater than the marginal cost of production of all but the last unit produced; the gap between the total variable cost of production and the market price constitutes the producer surplus. Thus, on a typical supply-and-demand graph the entire space between the demand curve, the supply curve, and the vertical axis represents the combined consumer and producer surpluses. A monopoly market exists where a single producer (or, in some cases, a group of producers coordinating their activities) has control of all production of a good, and can thus influence the market price by producing more or less of the good. In this situation, the marginal revenue of a given unit of production is reduced by the fact that increasing production decreases the price of the good. (Note that the standard monopoly model assumes that the demand side of the market is composed of a large number of identical consumers, all of whom pay the same price for the good; only the producer side of the market is changed from the competitive-market model.) Thus, the marginal-revenue curve for a monopoly market declines at a steeper curve than the demand curve. As in the competitive market model, monopoly producers produce their good up to the point where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. However, since the marginal revenue curve is no longer congruent with the demand curve, a monopoly producer will typically maximize its profit by producing a lower quantity of the good at a higher price. Under monopoly conditions, three segments of the total competitive-market surplus are reallocated or lost: First a substantial portion of the consumer surplus is converted to a monopoly producer surplus, as consumers pay a higher price for what they purchase. Second, the consumer surplus associated with all production beyond the quantity produced by the monopoly is lost entirely; and third, the producer surplus associated with this foregone production is also lost. The latter two segments of lost surplus together constitute the “deadweight loss” – the surplus that is lost to the economy because a monopoly imposes a lower level of production than a fully competitive market. In addition to this “deadweight” loss to the economy (which would exist even if the monopoly producer were maximally efficient in its operations), monopolies tend to be inefficient simply because they are not subject to the competitive pressures that force firms in competitive markets to be efficient in order to survive. Under the idealized and simplistic assumptions of the standard market model, monopolies are more or less by definition a bad thing, since they reduce total output and total surplus. However, there are some situations in which monopolies are actually beneficial to an economy. One problem with the competitive-market model is that it creates no incentive for innovation or creativity. If any new invention, process, or creative work can be freely and immediately utilized by all producers, the innovator derives no advantage from his/her innovation and thus has wasted the time and expense of performing creative work. The long-standing solution to this problem has been to grant patent and copyright protection to original inventions and creations. Both these forms of protection in fact create limited-term monopolies for the owner of a patent or copyright; and yet even the most ardent advocates of competitive markets appreciate the value of patent and copyright protection to the economy. Another problem with fully competitive markets is that they result in maximal production, even when this results in the rapid use of a limited natural resource or heavy pollution of the environment. A monopoly natural-resource producer, by limiting production and raising prices, will use the resource in question at a slower rate; this may be socially beneficial even if it is not the result of anything other than the economic self-interest of the monopolist. (It is equally true that a monopolist that does have good intentions is in a better position to operate in a socially beneficial manner than a supplier in a fully competitive market. The monopolist can afford a degree of deliberate “inefficiency”, compared to the competitive supplier that will not be able to sell its goods at a higher price to support paying better wages or generating less pollution. Well-intentioned operators in competitive industries often lobby for environmental regulation of their industry for precisely this reason – it is the only way they can operate as they wish without being put out of business by less scrupulous competitors.) Governments typically limit monopoly power in two general ways: either they make it more difficult for monopolies to form and persist, or they regulate the monopoly’s operations to ensure that the public does not pay too high a penalty for the existence of the monopoly. In order to prevent the formation of monopolies, governments create and enforce various laws to punish “anti-competitive behaviour” – such as selling products below cost to drive small suppliers out of business, collusion among suppliers to fix prices, buying competing firms to the extent that the purchaser would control too large a segment of the market, and so on. Regulation of tolerated (or mandated) monopolies can involve such measures as regulating the price that can be charged for the good produced; this is typical for industries such as electric power generation or mass transportation. Part b) Choose two case studies of monopoly from your home country. Explain inefficiency and DWL from monopoly in your case studies. Illustrate with the diagram. What are the options your government is taking to deal with monopoly. Suggest options for dealing with monopoly power in each of your case studies. 1) AWB Limited is the renamed, semi-privatised version of the former Australian Wheat Board; it became a private company owned by wheat farmers in 1999, and has been traded on the stock exchange since 2001. Despite its privatisation, however, AWB has retained many features of a government-protected monopoly. Only after the emergence of a scandal revolving around bribes paid to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was AWB’s monopoly weakened; the first non-AWB wheat shipment since 1939 left Australia in early 2007. Despite this limited move towards a free market, AWB remains an effective near-monopoly player, with other agencies licensed to export only a small percentage of Australia’s wheat surplus. AWB acts as Australia’s wheat-buyer of last resort—farmers do not have to sell their wheat through AWB, but since the export market is far bigger than the domestic market for Australian wheat, and AWB has a functional monopoly on the export market, most of Australia’s 36,000 wheat farmers in fact do business with AWB. AWB pools the wheat contributed by many farmers and sells it in bulk; farmers are paid in stages, based on sales of the overall pool of similar-grade wheat and their proportional contribution. In the international wheat market, AWB is one of several major providers, competing with United States suppliers, Canada, and others. AWB accounts for around 15% of the globally-traded wheat supply; so while it does not enjoy full monopoly control of the international wheat market, it is part of a small group of large suppliers that collectively control over 70% of the market. The reason for government and industry support for AWB’s effective monopoly is that by consolidating all exported Australian wheat as a single vendor, Australia avoids having growers competing with one another for foreign contracts. AWB is intended to prevent the Australian wheat market from becoming a classically competitive one in which producers act as “price-takers”; instead, AWB, with its strong power to influence the international wheat market, can get higher prices and pass along its proceeds to growers, in return for a percentage of the revenues it generates. AWB is obligated by its own constitution to maximise the returns of Australian wheat farmers; and in many ways AWB has been successful in helping them avoid the costs of competing to sell to sophisticated large-scale wheat buyers. However, as the monopoly provider of this service to Australia’s wheat farmers, AWB appears to be rather inefficient: while it claims to provide net benefits to farmers worth some $200 million per year, its own costs related to providing the “single desk” for Australian wheat exports are some $300 million per year. Large farmers, and even some smaller farmers, have questioned whether they would be better off working out their own export deals, or at least having another large-scale buyer-exporter with which they could do business. AWB is different from a standard monopoly producer in that it does not have the power to limit production of wheat; the company is obligated to purchase whatever wheat of acceptable quality Australian growers wish to sell. Accordingly, AWB does not create the normal deadweight losses associated with a monopoly, since no production is lost in its effort to increase the price paid for Australian wheat. However, AWB’s high expenses, along with some export deals that have set below-market prices for Australian wheat, have made the monopoly’s continued existence a matter of considerable controversy. For the time being, though, it would appear that any opening of the Australian wheat export market to competition will be done very carefully and slowly. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4762648.stm http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/05/business/web.1205wheat.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWB_Limited http://www.ncc.gov.au/ast6/Ch3Struc.html 2) eBay, while not technically a monopoly, controls such a large portion of the online auction business that it has near-monopoly power over its business segment. In 2002, eBay bought PayPal, a leading provider of online payment services. Even before acquiring PayPal, eBay featured PayPal as one of its recommended means of paying for goods bought online; and after the acquisition, eBay has had an obvious interest in funnelling more business through PayPal. Just as eBay charges sellers for placing auction listings and collects fees based upon the closing price of eBay-hosted auctions, PayPal charges fund recipients for the services it provides. Thus when an item is sold through eBay and paid via PayPal, eBay and its subsidiary gain two fees for the same transaction. While these fees are paid by sellers, the costs are obviously passed on to buyers. While buyers and especially sellers frequently complain about PayPal fees, dispute-resolution system flaws, and various other problems, PayPal, like eBay itself, has had little difficulty to date in maintaining its leading position in it industry. In April 2008, eBay Australia announced that it intended to force all buyers and sellers on its site to use PayPal to make and receive payments—offering the justification that although the use of PayPal would reduce fraud in online transactions, customers were not sufficiently competent to choose the best payment method on their own. (Cash on delivery would still be a permissible payment method, but only if offered alongside PayPal as an option.) eBay organised a series of meetings with buyers and sellers over the two-month period before their decision was slated to take effect; in one of these meetings, a senior eBay executive asserted (in response to a challenge that forcing the use of PayPal was undemocratic) that “We're not allowing people to offer unsafe choices, just like in this democracy you can't go out and buy heroin on the streets.” Both buyers and sellers strongly objected to eBay’s proposed policy change; sellers in particular asserted that PayPal, far from eliminating or reducing online fraud, simply passes on the cost of fraud from buyers to sellers. eBay users strongly suspected that the proposed policy change had nothing to do with increasing the security of online transactions, and everything to do with raising the transaction fees that would be paid by an essentially captive market. Indeed, over 700 people submitted objections to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, arguing that this move was simply a disguised attempt at a monopolistic revenue grab. The Commission ultimately agreed with these complaints, and issued a draft decision denying eBay’s application for an exemption from anti-competition rules. Faced with seemingly inevitable defeat, eBay withdrew its plan to force users to use PayPal, although sellers on eBay Australia remain obligated to include PayPal as one of their payment options. Had eBay been allowed to make PayPal the only online payment option available to its customers, the online auctioneer would have had an effective monopoly in both online auctions and online auction payments. In theory, buyers and sellers could do business through other sites; but since the vast majority of potential buyers use eBay, and the fees involved are charged to sellers and are essentially invisible to buyers, it is very difficult for the online auction market effectively to abandon the leading online auction venue. Instead, it is likely that had eBay been allowed to proceed with its policy change, PayPal payment fees would indeed have risen; and ultimately, eBay sellers would have been forced to pass these increased costs along to buyers, or simply to earn less profit on their sales. In this scenario, deadweight losses could have arisen either because sellers would set higher minimum prices or higher shipping charges (which are frequently used on eBay as a way to cover other expenses) to cover increased PayPal fees; or because sellers who could no longer operate profitably in an increased-fee environment would simply stop selling. In the first case, transaction volume net of fees on eBay would decrease because the same goods would be offered at a higher price; in the second case transaction volume would fall simply because sellers operating at a low profit margin could no longer sell their goods at a profit. In either case, this reduced volume of business would represent a deadweight loss, since both sellers and buyers would lose the surplus they would otherwise receive for these transactions. For the transactions that still took place on eBay, eBay and PayPal would gain an increased share of the surplus generated; this surplus would be lost to buyers to the extent that they ultimately paid more for the same goods, and to sellers to the extent that their prices remained the same but their selling expenses increased. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,23515926-15306,00.html http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/EBay_Australia_to_only_permit_payment_via_PayPal http://apcmag.com/ebay_boss_not_offering_paypal_is_like_buying_heroin.htm http://www.thebankchannel.com/2008/04/ebay-australias-paypal-mandate-has-no.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/02/ebay_australia_paypal_battle/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/04/ebay_australia_paypal/ http://apcmag.com/ebay_fails_in_bid_to_force_users_to_use_paypal.htm http://www.itnews.com.au/News/79791,ebay-drops-aussie-paypal-monopoly.aspx Part c) Identify what distinguishes public goods from private goods. Two primary characteristics identify something as a private good: it is “rivalrous”, in that its possession by one individual makes it unavailable (or at least less available) to other individuals; and it is “excludable”, in that individuals who do not pay for the good do not have access to it. A classic examples of a private good is a loaf of bread: if I eat the bread, you cannot eat it; and you cannot normally obtain bread without paying for it. A public good is one that is neither rivalrous nor excludable; that is, an individual’s use of it does not diminish its availability to other individuals, and nobody can be prevented from using it even if s/he has not paid for it. Typical examples are lighthouses, air traffic control systems, or national defense. Some goods are neither fully private nor fully public. Goods that are excludable but not rivalrous are sometimes called “club goods”; a typical example is cable television, which is not available to those who do not pay for it but does not become less available when any given individual purchases it. Another – and more problematic – category consists of goods that are rivalrous but non-excludable, such as publicly-accessible grazing land or deep-water fisheries. These “common goods” are depleted by use but are available to all who want to use them, so that an unregulated market consisting of individuals who rationally pursue their own interest will tend to overexploit them and cause serious degradation over time. This is known as “the tragedy of the commons”, and remains a major economic and political problem. Public goods present a challenge for economics, in that they are obviously important to the smooth functioning of society, and yet will not be provided by the operation of an untrammelled free market consisting of “rational actors” looking out for their own individual interests. For example, let us assume that contributions to national defence are optional. As a rational actor, I am quite happy to let my neighbours pay for defence, since the soldiers they hire will protect me from foreign threats even if I have not contributed to their upkeep; but if my neighbours think the same way I do – and under the assumption of rationality, they will – nobody will pay for national defence, and thus nobody will be protected. The only obvious way to provide public goods (and to preserve common goods such as environmental quality or fisheries) is for groups of people to depart from purely “rational” free-market thinking and act collectively to make decisions that cannot be made by the free market alone. Thus, for example, while I would certainly choose to let someone else pay for my defence against foreign enemies, I am content to pay my compulsory share as long as I am satisfied that my neighbours are similarly compelled. Assessment criteria Besides the textbook, you should also refer to a few other books, journal articles and relevant websites in answering these questions. Sources must be acknowledged and a list of references provided. Concepts must be defined accurately and completely. The assumptions upon which the analysis is based must be stated at the onset. Diagrams must be drawn properly, correctly labelled and the relations they depict explained. Photocopied and scanned graphs are not acceptable. It is preferable to hand-draw a graph than to copy one. Answers must be complete, addressing the specific tasks nominated in the questions. Where a question has more than one part, so too should the answers. Ensure complete coverage. You must work on the assignment questions progressively each week – which will prevent you from asking for extensions. Remember an extension is not a gift, it is a burden. Examination Due date: 09 -24 October 2008 (Examination period) Weighting: 60% Length: Duration 2 hours There is an examination for this course. The examination will be held during the examination period as set out in the Calendar of Principal Dates which can be located in the Handbook. Students should also refer to the Handbook for rules relating to examinations. The examination is closed-book. Closed-book means you are not permitted to take any materials into the examination room with you. You may take a non-electronic translation-only dictionary into the examination room in accordance with CQU policy. You may take a non-programmable, non-text-retrievable silent-only calculator into the examination room in accordance with CQU policy. Duration: Two (2) hours. Perusal time: 15 minutes. Course weighting for the exam: 60%. View important examination information at: http://handbook.cqu.edu.au/Handbook/information.jsp?id=126 The examination timetables will be made available later in the term. View examination timetable at: http://www.cqu.edu.au/studinfo/admin/timetabling/index.htm All sections of the course will be examinable, though the emphasis will be on Chapters 10-15. Further details of the expectations will be provided in class. Further information on the examination will be available on your course website during the term and within your revision lecture. Students should also note that if Supplementary Assessment is granted, this will in many cases take the form of a Supplementary Examination as is required for professional body accreditations. NOTE: The examination information provided in this Course Profile also relates to Deferred Exams. No separate advice will be provided in the case of a deferred exam. Read More
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There are instances when for social and technical reasons, only one service provider can effectively and efficiently operate as one firm in the market and they are referred to as natural monopolies(Waterson, 1988).... Since they are the only ones operating in the market, monopolists can set their prices as high as they want without giving any thought to what the repercussions will be to the consumer.... The main characteristic of natural monopolies is that they have a significant cost advantage over potential market rivals, they enjoy substantial economies of scale, and splitting the monopoly results in lost economies of scale....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay
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