1. Chapter Twenty-Five Monopoly Behavior

2. How Should a Monopoly Price? u So far a monopoly has been thought of as a firm which has to sell its product at the same price to every customer. This is uniform pricing. u Can price-discrimination earn a monopoly higher profits?

3. Types of Price Discrimination u 1st-degree: Each output unit is sold at a different price. Prices may differ across buyers. u 2nd-degree: The price paid by a buyer can vary with the quantity demanded by the buyer. But all customers face the same price schedule. E.g. bulk-buying discounts.

4. Types of Price Discrimination u 3rd-degree: Price paid by buyers in a given group is the same for all units purchased. But price may differ across buyer groups. E.g., senior citizen and student discounts vs. no discounts for middle-aged persons.

5. First-degree Price Discrimination u Each output unit is sold at a different price. Price may differ across buyers. u It requires that the monopolist can discover the buyer with the highest valuation of its product, the buyer with the next highest valuation, and so on.

6. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) Sell the th unit for $

7. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) Sell the th unit for $ Later on sell the th unit for $

8. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) Sell the th unit for $ Later on sell the th unit for $ Finally sell the th unit for marginal cost, $

9. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) The gains to the monopolist on these trades are: and zero. The consumers’ gains are zero.

10. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) So the sum of the gains to the monopolist on all trades is the maximum possible total gains-to-trade. PS

11. First-degree Price Discrimination p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) The monopolist gets the maximum possible gains from trade. PS First-degree price discrimination is Pareto-efficient.

12. First-degree Price Discrimination u First-degree price discrimination gives a monopolist all of the possible gains-to-trade, leaves the buyers with zero surplus, and supplies the efficient amount of output.

13. Third-degree Price Discrimination u A monopolist manipulates market price by altering the quantity of product supplied to that market. u So the question “What discriminatory prices will the monopolist set, one for each group?” is really the question “How many units of product will the monopolist supply to each group?”

14. Third-degree Price Discrimination u Two markets, 1 and 2. u y 1 is the quantity supplied to market 1. Market 1’s inverse demand function is p 1 (y 1 ). u y 2 is the quantity supplied to market 2. Market 2’s inverse demand function is p 2 (y 2 ).

15. Third-degree Price Discrimination u For given supply levels y 1 and y 2 the firm’s profit is u What values of y 1 and y 2 maximize profit?

16. Third-degree Price Discrimination The profit-maximization conditions are

17. Third-degree Price Discrimination andso the profit-maximization conditions are and

18. Third-degree Price Discrimination

19. MR 1 (y 1 ) = MR 2 (y 2 ) says that the allocation y 1, y 2 maximizes the revenue from selling y 1 + y 2 output units. E.g. if MR 1 (y 1 ) > MR 2 (y 2 ) then an output unit should be moved from market 2 to market 1 to increase total revenue.  

20. Third-degree Price Discrimination MR 1 (y 1 )MR 2 (y 2 ) y1y1 y2y2 y1*y1*y2*y2* p 1 (y 1 *) p 2 (y 2 *) MC p 1 (y 1 ) p 2 (y 2 ) Market 1Market 2 MR 1 (y 1 *) = MR 2 (y 2 *) = MC and p 1 (y 1 *)  p 2 (y 2 *).

21. Third-degree Price Discrimination u In which market will the monopolist set the higher price?

22. Two-Part Tariffs u A two-part tariff is a lump-sum fee, p 1, plus a price p 2 for each unit of product purchased. u Thus the cost of buying x units of product is p 1 + p 2 x.

23. Two-Part Tariffs u Should a monopolist prefer a two- part tariff to uniform pricing, or to any of the price-discrimination schemes discussed so far? u If so, how should the monopolist design its two-part tariff?

24. Two-Part Tariffs u p 1 + p 2 x u Q: What is the largest that p 1 can be?

25. Two-Part Tariffs u p 1 + p 2 x u Q: What is the largest that p 1 can be? u A: p 1 is the “entrance fee” so the largest it can be is the surplus the buyer gains from entering the market. u Set p 1 = CS and now ask what should be p 2 ?

26. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit MC(y) Should the monopolist set p 2 above MC?

27. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit CS Should the monopolist set p 2 above MC? p 1 = CS. MC(y)

28. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit CS Should the monopolist set p 2 above MC? p 1 = CS. PS is profit from sales. MC(y) PS Total profit

29. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit Should the monopolist set p 2 = MC? MC(y)

30. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit Should the monopolist set p 2 = MC? p 1 = CS. CS MC(y)

31. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit Should the monopolist set p 2 = MC? p 1 = CS. PS is profit from sales. MC(y) CS Total profit PS

32. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit Should the monopolist set p 2 = MC? p 1 = CS. PS is profit from sales. MC(y) CS PS

33. Two-Part Tariffs p(y) y $/output unit Should the monopolist set p 2 = MC? p 1 = CS. PS is profit from sales. MC(y) CS Additional profit from setting p 2 = MC. PS

34. Two-Part Tariffs u The monopolist maximizes its profit when using a two-part tariff by setting its per unit price p 2 at marginal cost and setting its lump- sum fee p 1 equal to Consumers’ Surplus.

35. Two-Part Tariffs u A profit-maximizing two-part tariff gives an efficient market outcome in which the monopolist obtains as profit the total of all gains-to-trade.