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Profit maximization using the total revenue and total cost curves of a perfect competitor. To obtain the profit maximizing output quantity, we start by recognizing that profit is equal to total revenue minus total cost (). Given a table of costs and revenues at each quantity, we can either compute equations or plot the data directly on a graph.
An oligopoly (from Ancient Greek ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and πωλέω (pōléō) 'to sell') is a market in which pricing control lies in the hands of a few sellers. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] As a result of their significant market power, firms in oligopolistic markets can influence prices through manipulating the supply function .
A monopolist can set a price in excess of costs, making an economic profit. The above diagram shows a monopolist (only one firm in the market) that obtains a (monopoly) economic profit. An oligopoly usually has economic profit also, but operates in a market with more than just one firm (they must share available demand at the market price).
Martin Shubik developed the Bertrand–Edgeworth model to allow for the firm to be willing to supply only up to its profit maximizing output at the price which it set (under profit maximization this occurs when marginal cost equals price). [2] He considered the case of strictly convex costs, where marginal cost is increasing in output.
Classical economic theory assumes that a profit-maximizing producer with some market power (either due to oligopoly or monopolistic competition) will set marginal costs equal to marginal revenue. This idea can be envisioned graphically by the intersection of an upward-sloping marginal cost curve and a downward-sloping marginal revenue curve ...
Notice that at the profit-maximizing quantity where =, we must have = which is why we set the above equations equal to zero. Now that we have two equations describing the states at which each firm is producing at the profit-maximizing quantity, we can simply solve this system of equations to obtain each firm's optimal level of output, q 1 , q 2 ...
The emergence of oligopoly market forms is mainly attributed to the monopoly of market competition, i.e., the market monopoly acquired by enterprises through their competitive advantages, and the administrative monopoly due to government regulations, such as when the government grants monopoly power to an enterprise in the industry through laws ...
An oligopoly usually has "economic profit" also, but usually faces an industry/market with more than just one firm (they must share available demand at the market price). Economic profit is much more prevalent in uncompetitive markets such as in a perfect monopoly or oligopoly situation, where few substitutes exit.