Monopoly While a competitive firm is a price taker, amonopoly firm is a price maker. A firm is considered a monopoly if . . . – it is the sole seller of its product. – its product does not have close substitutes
Market Efficiency-Market Failure Recall that: Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” of the marketplace leads self-interested buyers and sellers in a market to maximize the total benefit that society can derive from a market
Interdependence and Trade Consider your typical day: – You wake up to a alarm clock made in Wenzhou – You put on some clothes made of cotton grown in Xinjiang and sewn in factories in Fujian Province
Efficiency v. Equity – Efficiency means society gets the most that it can from its scarce resources. – Equity means the benefits of those resources are distributed fairly among the members of society