Prepared by Dr. Della Lee Sue, Marist College
MICROECONOMICS: Theory & Applications
Chapter 10: Using the Competitive Model
By Edgar K. Browning & Mark A. Zupan
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
12th Edition, Copyright 2015
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
Show how changes in market conditions or government
policies affect the welfare of consumers, producers, and
market participants as a whole.
Analyze the effects of an excise tax on a specific good on
the welfare of consumers, producers, and market
participants as a whole.
Detail how regulation of the U.S. airline industry affected
fares, airline company profits, and service quality.
(continued)
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
2
Learning Objectives (continued)
Explain how the entry restrictions imposed by most major
U.S. cities on taxis affect fares and the profits earned by
licensed taxi owners.
Understand the effects of international trade on consumer
and producer surplus and why a net gain results to a country
from either imports or exports.
Explore how governmentspecified maximum quantities, or
quotas, on sugar imports affect consumers, domestic
producers, and the net welfare of the United States as well
as other countries that produce sugar.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
3
Show how changes in market conditions or government policies affect the
welfare of consumers, producers, and market participants as a whole.
10.1 THE EVALUATION OF GAINS AND
LOSSES
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
4
The Evaluation of Gains and Losses
Consumer surplus – a measure of the net gain to a
consumer or group of consumers from purchasing a good
arising from cost being below the maximum that consumers
are willing to pay
Producer surplus – gains to producers from the sale of
output to consumers, arising from price exceeding the
minimum necessary to compensate the seller.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
5
Producer Surplus
Who gets the producer surplus?
Suppliers of inputs to the industry if the supply curve is
upwardsloping
Owners of inputs with horizontal supply curves to the
industry receive no producer surplus.
There is no aggregate producer surplus for a constantcost
competitive industry in longrun equilibrium.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
6
Figure 10.1 Producer Surplus
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
7
Consumer Surplus, Producer Surplus,
and Efficient Output
Total surplus – 2 approaches:
the sum of producer and consumer surplus
the sum of total surplus associated with each unit of
output, added over all units of output
Efficiency in output – the condition in which output is
expanded to the point where marginal benefit equals
marginal cost
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
8
Figure 10.2 Competition Maximizes
Total Surplus
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
9
The Deadweight Loss of a Price Ceiling
Deadweight loss – also called welfare cost, a measure of
the aggregate loss in wellbeing of participants in a market
resulting from an inefficient output level
Comparison of changes in consumer surplus and producer
surplus indicate who gains and who loses
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
10
Figure 10.3 A Price Ceiling Reduces
Total Surplus
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
11
Analyze the effects of an excise tax on a specific good on the welfare of
consumers, producers, and market participants as a whole.
10.2 EXCISE TAXATION
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
12
Excise Taxation
Excise tax – a tax levied on a specific good
Per unit tax: does not depend on the market price
Ad valorem tax: an excise tax that is levied as a certain
percentage of the market price
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
13
Figure 10.4 Effects of a PerUnit
Excise Tax
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
14
The Consequences of an Excise Tax
ShortRun Effects
Firms reduce output.
Market price rises.
LongRun Effects
Even when the tax is levied on and collected from firms,
consumers bear a cost as a result of the higher price.
After the longrun adjustment to the tax, firms make zero
economic profits.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
15
Who Bears the Burden of the Tax?
When an excise tax is imposed on a good, elasticity determines how
much output falls and how much the price to consumers rises.
For a given demand curve and tax per unit, the more inelastic the supply
curve:
the smaller is the tax burden on consumers
the larger is the tax burden on producers
the smaller is the output reduction
For a given supply curve and tax per unit, the more inelastic the demand
curve:
the greater is the tax burden on consumers
the smaller is the tax burden on producers
the smaller is the reduction in output
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
16
Figure 10.5 How Elasticities Affect the
Tax Burden
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
17
When the Consumer Bears the Entire
Burden of the Tax
Situations of extreme elasticity:
If the demand is perfectly inelastic, the demand curve is
vertical.
If the supply curve is perfectly elastic, the supply curve
is horizontal, which is the constantcost case.
In both cases,
the price to consumers rises by the amount of the tax.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
18
The Deadweight Loss of Excise
Taxation
Any deviation from the competitive level of output is
inefficient and results in a decrease in consumer surplus and
producer surplus (total loss)
Tax revenue: gain to the government
Excess burden –deadweight loss produced by a tax
Total loss = tax revenue + excess burden
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
19
Figure 10.6 The Deadweight Loss of
an Excise Tax
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
20
Figure 10.7 – Supply Elasticity and the
Deadweight Loss of Rent Control
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
21
Detail how regulation of the U.S. airline industry affected fares, airline
company profits, and service quality.
10.3 AIRLINE REGULATION AND
DEREGULATION
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
22
Airline Regulation and Deregulation
19381978: period of regulation in the airline industry by
the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB)
Factors that were regulated:
Fares
Routes between 2 cities
Entry of new firms into the industry
Support for deregulation:
Fares were set above the market equilibrium fare.
Accounting profits for the airline industry were below
the national average for all industries over the 20 years
prior to deregulation in 1978.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
23
What Happened to the Profits?
[in the airline industry]
Profitable routes covered the loss from unprofitable routes
that airlines were required to operate.
Airline employee unions bargained for higher wages when
fares were above competitive levels.
Nonprice competition increased costs.
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
24
Figure 10.8 Airline Regulation by the
CAB
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
25