chapter 11 monopolistic competition and product differentiation

Chapter 11

Monopolistic Competition and Product Differentiation

Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. 11-2

Assumptions of the Monopolistic Competition Model

• Free entry and exit in the long run No barriers to entry

• Many firms, each one small relative to the size of the market Firms will have limited market power.

• Each firm produces a differentiated product Consumers view the goods as close substitutes,

but not perfect substitutes.


Short-Run Profit Maximization for the Monopolistic Competitor

• Product differentiation creates a small amount of market power due to customer loyalty. Even if the firm raises its price, it will still retain

some of its customers.


Economic Efficiency

• Is a monopolistic competitive industry Allocatively efficient? Productively efficient? Technologically efficient?


Figure 11.3 Short-Run Profits


Loss Minimization and the Shut-Down Point

• If demand decreases or costs increase, profits will fall. If the demand curve just touches the ATC curve

at the profit-maximizing level of output, the firm will earn normal economic profits.

If the demand curve just touches the AVC curve at the profit-maximizing level of output, the firm will be indifferent between operating and shutting down.


Figure 11.4 Minimizing Losses and Reaching the Shutdown Point


Monopolistic Competition in the Long Run

• In the short run, monopolistically competitive firms behave much like a monopolist.

• In the long run, however, monopolistic competition differs from monopoly because of free entry into the market.


Firm Entry in Monopolistic Competition

• If firms in a monopolistically competitive market are earning positive economic profits, then new firms will enter the market. Similar to perfect competition


Figure 11.5 Effects of New Entrants on the Demand for Cheesesteaks at John’s Roast Pork


Firm Entry in Monopolistic Competition

• An important difference between monopolistic competition and perfect competition is that price does not fall to the minimum point on the long-run average cost curve. The firms are not efficient.


Summary of Monopolistic Competition

• Each firm maximizes profits by producing the output for which MR = MC. Price is determined by the demand curve.

• Long-run entry implies that firms will be driven towards zero economic profits in the long run. P = LAC

• Price will be greater than the minimum point of LAC.

• Firms have different demand and costs, leading to long-run turnover of firms.


Allocative Efficiency

• For monopolistically competitive firms, the profit-maximizing level of output is less than that which minimizes LAC. Monopolistically competitive firms are not

as efficient as perfectly competitive firms.


Figure 11.6 The Long-Run Monopolistic Competition Equilibrium Versus the Perfect Competition Equilibrium


Excess Capacity

• As a result of underproduction at both the firm and industry level, monopolistically competitive firms are said to exhibit excess capacity. Output could be increased without any

firms earning losses.


The Benefits of Variety

• Is the reduction in efficiency associated with monopolistic competition bad for society?

• Not necessarily: Because consumers value variety, the

benefits of product differentiation may offset the costs of excess capacity.


Table 11.1 Summary of Market Structure Characteristics for Perfect Competition, Monopolistic Competition, and Monopoly


Advertising: Information or Persuasion?

• Unlike perfectly competitive firms or monopolists, monopolistically competitive firms will advertise to inform customers about their product.


Brand Identity and Brand Loyalty

• The goal of advertising is to create: Brand Identity—the consumer’s ability to

recognize a product and associate it with a specific name.

Brand Loyalty—a consumer’s willingness to remain with a specific product despite the existence of competing products.• Makes demand less elastic


Types of Advertising

• Informational—increases consumers’ knowledge of important product characteristics and price.

• Persuasive—attempts to alter consumer tastes and preferences by using subjective information.


Summary (cont’d)

• In the long run, because of free entry and exit, monopolistically competitive firms will earn zero economic profits.

• Monopolistically competitive firms are less efficient than perfectly competitive firms. Excess capacity

• Product differentiation offsets some of the loss of efficiency.


Summary (cont’d)

• Firms use adverting to differentiate their product from competing products. Informational Persuasive

chapter 11 monopolistic competition and product differentiation

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