Copyright 2013 Pearson Education Inc Publishing as Prentice Hall Chapter 9 The Analysis of Competitive Markets Review Questions 1 What is meant by deadweight loss Why does a price ceiling usually result in a deadweight loss Deadweight loss refers to the benefits lost by consumers and or producers when markets do not operate efficiently The term deadweight denotes that these are benefits unavailable to any party A price ceiling set below the equilibrium price in a perfectly competitive market will result in a deadweight loss because it reduces the quantity supplied by producers Both producers and consumers lose surplus because less of the good is produced and consumed The reduced ceiling price benefits consumers but hurts producers so there is a transfer from one group to the other The real culprit then and the primary source of the deadweight loss is the reduction in the amount of the good in the market 2 Suppose the supply curve for a good is completely inelastic If the government imposed a price ceiling below the market clearing level would a deadweight loss result Explain When the supply curve is completely inelastic it is vertical In this case there is no deadweight loss because there is no reduction in the amount of the good produced The imposition of the price ceiling transfers all lost producer surplus to consumers Consumer surplus increases by the difference between the market clearing price and the price ceiling times the market clearing quantity Consumers capture all decreases in total revenue and no deadweight loss occurs 3 How can a price ceiling make consumers better off Under what conditions might it make them worse off If the supply curve is highly inelastic a price ceiling will usually increase consumer surplus because the quantity available will not decline much but consumers get to purchase the product at a reduced price If the demand curve is inelastic on the other hand price controls may result in a net loss of consumer surplus because consumers who value the good highly are unable to purchase as much as they would like See Figure 9 3 on page 321 in the text The loss of consumer surplus is greater than the transfer of producer surplus to consumers So consumers are made better off when demand is relatively elastic and supply is relatively inelastic and they are made worse off when the opposite is true 4 Suppose the government regulates the price of a good to be no lower than some minimum level Can such a minimum price make producers as a whole worse off Explain With a minimum price set above the market clearing price some consumer surplus is transferred to producers because of the higher price but some producer surplus is lost because consumers purchase less If demand is highly elastic the reduction in purchases can offset the higher price producers receive making producers worse off In the diagram below the market clearing price and quantity are P0 and Q0 The minimum price is set at P and at this price consumers demand Q Assuming that suppliers produce Q and not the larger quantity indicated by the supply curve producer surplus increases by area A due to the higher price but decreases by the much larger area B because the quantity demanded drops sharply The result is a reduction in producer surplus Note that Chapter 9 The Analysis of Competitive Markets 141 Copyright 2013 Pearson Education Inc Publishing as Prentice Hall if suppliers produce more than Q the loss in producer surplus is even greater because they will have unsold units 5 How are production limits used in practice to raise the prices of the following goods or services a taxi rides b drinks in a restaurant or bar c wheat or corn Municipal authorities usually regulate the number of taxis through the issuance of licenses or medallions When the number of taxis is less than it would be without regulation those taxis in the market may charge a higher than competitive price State authorities usually regulate the number of liquor licenses By requiring that any bar or restaurant that serves alcohol have a liquor license and then limiting the number of licenses available the state limits entry by new bars and restaurants This limitation allows those establishments that have a license to charge a higher than competitive price for alcoholic beverages Federal authorities usually regulate the number of acres of wheat or corn in production by creating acreage limitation programs that give farmers financial incentives to leave some of their acreage idle This reduces supply driving up the price of wheat or corn 6 Suppose the government wants to increase farmers incomes Why do price supports or acreage limitation programs cost society more than simply giving farmers money Price supports and acreage limitations cost society more than the dollar cost of these programs because the higher price that results in either case will reduce quantity demanded and hence consumer surplus leading to a deadweight loss because farmers are not able to capture