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Economic Efficiency
v Review of Homework 1
v Economic Efficiency
♦ Perfectly competitive equilibrium attains economic
efficiency.
♦ Deadweight Loss
v Government Interventions
♦ Price Ceilings and Floors
♦ Excise Tax
♦ Incidence
Homework 1, Q4
v
y First, draw the indifference curve: For perfectly
substitutable goods, MRS is constant.
Second, draw the budget line.
Last, find the point (bundle of x and y) that (1) in the
budget set, and (2) on the highest indifference curve.
Constant Slope
If Px/Py < 1:
optimal bundle is X=I/Px, Y=0
Optimal bundle
If Px/Py > 1:
optimal bundle is X=0, Y = I/Py
Y = (3/2)X
6 U = 12
3 U=6
0 2 4 x
Perfect Complements
y U=min(3X, 2Y)
Y = (3/2)X
Demand for X:
IC2 Px*X+Py*(3/2)X = I
X= I/(Px+3Py/2)
IC1
Optimal bundle
0 x
Homework 1, Q6
4 5 6 Q
Demand: P = 12 – 2Q
P
Having 5 bottles of coke, consumers
12 receive a total benefit TB = (2 +12) × 5 ÷ 2 = 35
They pay 18 dollars, so the consumer
surplus will be 35-18=17.
4.8 5 6 Q
Where Are We?
Introduction
Competitive Markets
Managerial Economics Market Structure &
Profit-Maximizing Market Power & Monopoly
Pricing Decisions
Pricing with Market Power
Q
Q*
Total surplus = CS + PS
Price
Consumer Surplus S
P*
Producer Surplus D
Q* Quantity
Price Underproduction
Consumer Surplus
S
Ph
Producer Surplus D
Q Q* Quantity
Price Overproduction
P*
Q* Q Quantity
Perfectly Competitive Equilibrium Attains
Economic Efficiency
v Total Surplus is maximized at competitive market
equilibrium.
v How does the competitive market achieve economic
efficiency? “Invisible Hand”!
♦ No central planner: Each consumer maximizes his/her own
utility. Each firm maximizes its own profit.
♦ One price rule and “The right price”: Every consumer who is
willing to pay more than the cost of producing extra output is
able to buy; every consumer who is not willing to pay the cost of
the extra output does not buy.
Economic Efficiency and Deadweight Loss
v Price Ceilings
♦ The maximum legal price that can be charged
♦ Examples:
§ Gasoline prices in the 1970s
§ Rent control in New York City
v Price Floors
♦ The minimum legal price that can be charged
♦ Examples:
§ Minimum wage
§ Agricultural price supports
Welfare Without Price Restrictions
Price CS S
P*
PS
Quantity
Q*
Impact of a Price Ceiling
Price S
P*
P Ceiling
Shortage D
Qs Qd Quantity
Q*
Impact of a Price Ceiling
Price CS S
Deadweight Loss
P*
P Ceiling
Shortage D
PS
Qs Qd Quantity
Q*
Impact of a Price Floor
Price
Surplus S
PF
P*
Qd Q* QS Quantity
Impact of a Price Floor
Price
Surplus
CS S
PF
Deadweight Loss
P*
PS D
Qd Q* QS Quantity
Comments on minimum wage
v Supporters v Opponents
♦ Help the poorest class ♦ Increase unemployment
♦ Encourage people to join ♦ Benefit some workers at
workforce rather than the expense of the poorest
pursuing money through and least productive
illegal means. ♦ Increase labor cost (hurt
♦ Increase work ethic small business more)
♦ Remove low pay jobs and ♦ Jobs move to low-labor
encourage automation -cost areas.
No minimum wage in Singapore
No minimum wage in Singapore
v Parliament debate in 2011: overwhelming majority of
MPs did not support minimum wage law to help low
-skilled and low-wage workers.
v The MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh, Ms Josephine Teo,
pointed out that to be meaningful, a minimum wage must
force some employers to pay more than the market rate.
v “Companies that do not wish to engage in the illegal
practice (of paying below minimum wage) and find it too
costly to operate in Singapore will close shop or
relocate.”
Excise Tax
P S’
CS
S
Deadweight Loss
T
A
Pd
P*
Tax
Ps
D
Q1 Q* Q
PS
When the tax is paid by sellers
P CS
S
Deadweight Loss
Pd
P*
Tax
Ps
B
T
D
Q1 Q* Q
PS
When the tax is paid by buyers
P S’
S
T
A It does not matter if we shift
Pd the supply or the demand
curve: The market outcome is
P*
the same!
Ps
B T
D
Q1 Q* Q
Who bears the tax burden?
P S’
S
Increase in T
consumers’ price Consumers bear most
Pd of the tax burden.
P*
Ps
Decrease in
producers’ price
D
Q2 Q* Q
If demand is relatively elastic at (P*, Q*)
P S’
S
Increase in T
consumers’ price Producers bear most
of the tax burden.
Pd
P*
Decrease in
producers’ price Ps
D
Q3 Q* Q
P Incidence of a Tax in Two Extreme Cases
D
Q
P S