Exam 17: Oligopoly

In the game in which two oil companies own adjacent oil fields, the companies will not use the oil efficiently because

Table 17-3 Imagine a small town in a remote area where only two residents, Maria and Miguel, own dairies that produce milk that is safe to drink. Each week Maria and Miguel work together to decide how many gallons of milk to produce. They bring milk to town and sell it at whatever price the market will bear. To keep things simple, suppose that Maria and Miguel can produce as much milk as they want without cost so that the marginal cost is zero. The weekly town demand schedule and total revenue schedule for milk is shown in the table below: -Refer to Table 17-3. Suppose that Maria and Miguel work together in order to operate as a profit-maximizing monopolist. How many gallons of milk will be produced and sold?

Table 17-31 Imagine a small town in a remote area where only two residents, Maria and Miguel, own dairies that produce milk that is safe to drink. Each week Maria and Miguel work together to decide how many gallons of milk to produce. They bring milk to town and sell it at whatever price the market will bear. To keep things simple, suppose that Maria and Miguel can produce as much milk as they want without cost so that the marginal cost is zero. The weekly town demand schedule and total revenue schedule for milk is shown in the table below: -Refer to Table 17-31. Discuss the difference between the monopoly outcome and the Nash equilibrium.

Which potentially anti-competitive business practice is often justified on the grounds that it corrects for the free rider problem?

As the number of firms in the oligopoly grows very large, the

Cartels in the United States are

Scenario 17-2. ​ Imagine that two oil companies, BQ and Exxoff, own adjacent oil fields. Under the fields is a common pool of oil worth $144 million. Drilling a well to recover oil costs $5 million per well. If each company drills one well, each will get half of the oil and earn a $67 million profit ($72 million in revenue - $5 million in costs). Assume that having X percent of the total wells means that a company will collect X percent of the total revenue. -Refer to Scenario 17-2. If BQ and Exxoff are able to successfully cooperate to maximize their joint profits, BQ will

Table 17-37​ Two restaurants with a focus on Mexican dining operate in Texama. Both Mitch's Mexican and Tim's Tacos need to decide whether to add Zesty Queso or Fresh Guacamole to their menus. The circumstances are that each firm wants to add only one of the two choices on their menu. Below you will find the profits for the stores, shown as: (1) the payoff to Mitch; (2) the payoff to Tim. ​ -Refer to Table 17-37. Based upon the information from the table, which firm has a dominant strategy?

Antitrust laws tend to target restraint of trade as characterized by __________.

Table 17-2 Imagine a small town in which only two residents, Abby and Brad, own wells that produce safe drinking water. Each week Abby and Brad work together to decide how many gallons of water to pump. They bring water to town and sell it at whatever price the market will bear. To keep things simple, suppose that Abby and Brad can pump as much water as they want without cost so that the marginal cost is zero. The weekly town demand schedule and total revenue schedule for water is shown in the table below: -Refer to Table 17-2. Suppose that Abby and Brad work together to operate as a profit-maximizing monopolist. What price will they charge for water?

Table 17-24 Two firms are considering going out of business and selling their assets. Each considers what happens if the other goes out of business. The payoff matrix below shows the net gain or loss to each firm. -Refer to Table 17-24. What is the Nash equilibrium?

All cartels are inherently reliant on

The story of the prisoners' dilemma contains a general lesson that applies to any group trying to maintain cooperation among its members.

Table 17-16 This table shows a game played between two players, A and B. The payoffs are given in the table as (Payoff to A, Payoff to B). -Refer to Table 17-16. Which of the following statements is true regarding this game?

The likely outcome of the standard prisoners' dilemma game is that

Table 17-6 Imagine a small town in which only two residents, Kunal and Naj, own wells that produce safe drinking water. Each week Kunal and Naj work together to decide how many gallons of water to pump, to bring the water to town, and to sell it at whatever price the market will bear. Assume Kunal and Naj can pump as much water as they want without cost so that the marginal cost of water equals zero. The weekly town demand schedule and total revenue schedule for water are shown in the table below. -Refer to Table 17-6. The socially efficient level of water supplied to the market would be

Scenario 17-1. ​ Assume that the countries of Irun and Urun are the only two producers of crude oil. Further assume that both countries have entered into an agreement to maintain certain production levels in order to maximize profits. In the world market for oil, the demand curve is downward sloping. -Refer to Scenario 17-1. If Irun fails to live up to the production agreement and overproduces, which of the following statements will be true of Urun's condition?

Like monopolists, oligopolists are aware that an increase in the quantity of output always

Describe the source of tension between cooperation and self-interest in a market characterized by oligopoly. Use an example of an actual cartel arrangement to demonstrate why this tension creates instability in cartels.

As the number of firms in an oligopoly increases, the magnitude of the price effect increases.