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Microeconomics, Global Edition

Microeconomics, Global Edition

Jeffrey Perloff

(2016)

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Abstract

For all Intermediate Microeconomics courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.

 

Microeconomics has become a market leader because Perloff presents theory in the context of real, data-driven examples, and then develops intuition through his hallmark Solved Problems. Students gain a practical perspective, seeing how models connect to real-world decisions being made in today’s firms and policy debates.

 

The Seventh Edition is substantially updated and modified based on the extremely helpful suggestions of faculty and students who used the first six editions. Every chapter is thoroughly revised and includes new or updated examples and applications.

 

MyEconLab for Microeconomics is a total learning package for the intermediate microeconomics course. MyEconLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program that truly engages students in learning. It helps students better prepare for class, quizzes, and exams–resulting in better performance in the course–and provides educators a dynamic set of tools for gauging individual and class progress. 

 

This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience–for you and your students. Here’s how:

  • Improve Results with MyEconLab: MyEconLab delivers proven results in helping students succeed and provides engaging experiences that personalize learning.
  • Help Students Review and Apply Concepts: Examples and exercises help students practice and connect to real-world decisions being made today in today’s firms and policy debates.
  • Keep Your Course Current and Relevant: New examples, exercises, and statistics appear throughout the text.

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Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Supplements 20
Acknowledgments 20
Contents 6
Preface 14
Chapter 1 Introduction 25
1.1 Microeconomics: The Allocation of Scarce Resources 25
Trade-Offs 26
Who Makes the Decisions 26
Prices Determine Allocations 26
1.2 Models 27
APPLICATION Income Threshold Model and China 27
Simplifications by Assumption 27
Testing Theories 28
Positive Versus Normative 29
1.3 Uses of Microeconomic Models 30
Summary 31
Chapter 2 Supply and Demand 32
CHALLENGE Quantities and Prices of Genetically Modified Foods 32
2.1 Demand 33
The Demand Curve 34
APPLICATION Calorie Counting at Starbucks 37
The Demand Function 38
Solved Problem 2.1 39
Summing Demand Curves 40
APPLICATION Aggregating Corn Demand Curves 40
2.2 Supply 41
The Supply Curve 41
The Supply Function 43
Summing Supply Curves 44
Effects of Government Import Policies on Supply Curves 44
Solved Problem 2.2 45
2.3 Market Equilibrium 46
Using a Graph to Determine the Equilibrium 46
Using Math to Determine the Equilibrium 46
Forces That Drive the Market to Equilibrium 47
2.4 Shocking the Equilibrium 48
Effects of a Shift in the Demand Curve 48
Solved Problem 2.3 49
Effects of a Shift in the Supply Curve 50
2.5 Equilibrium Effects of Government Interventions 50
Policies That Shift Supply Curves 51
APPLICATION Occupational Licensing 51
Solved Problem 2.4 52
Policies That Cause Demand to Differ from Supply 53
APPLICATION Price Controls Kill 55
Solved Problem 2.5 57
Why Supply Need Not Equal Demand 57
2.6 When to Use the Supply-and-Demand Model 58
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Quantities and Prices of Genetically Modified Foods 59
Summary 60
Questions 61
Chapter 3 Applying the Supply-and-Demand Model 66
CHALLENGE Who Pays the Gasoline Tax? 66
3.1 How Shapes of Supply and Demand Curves Matter 67
3.2 Sensitivity of the Quantity Demanded to Price 68
Price Elasticity of Demand 69
Solved Problem 3.1 70
Elasticity Along the Demand Curve 70
Demand Elasticity and Revenue 73
Solved Problem 3.2 73
APPLICATION Do Farmers Benefit from a Major Drought? 74
Demand Elasticities over Time 75
Other Demand Elasticities 75
3.3 Sensitivity of the Quantity Supplied to Price 77
Elasticity of Supply 77
Elasticity Along the Supply Curve 78
Supply Elasticities over Time 79
APPLICATION Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 79
Solved Problem 3.3 80
3.4 Effects of a Sales Tax 82
Equilibrium Effects of a Specific Tax 82
The Equilibrium Is the Same No Matter Who Is Taxed 84
Solved Problem 3.4 84
Firms and Customers Share the Burden of the Tax 85
APPLICATION Taxes to Prevent Obesity 86
Solved Problem 3.5 87
Ad Valorem and Specific Taxes Have Similar Effects 87
Solved Problem 3.6 88
Subsidies 89
APPLICATION The Ethanol Subsidy 90
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Who Pays the Gasoline Tax? 90
Summary 91
Questions 92
Chapter 4 Consumer Choice 96
CHALLENGE Why Americans Buy More E-Books Than Do Germans 96
4.1 Preferences 98
Properties of Consumer Preferences 98
APPLICATION You Can’t Have Too Much Money 99
Preference Maps 100
Solved Problem 4.1 102
APPLICATION Indifference Curves Between Food and Clothing 106
4.2 Utility 106
Utility Function 106
Ordinal Preferences 107
Utility and Indifference Curves 107
Marginal Utility 109
Utility and Marginal Rates of Substitution 110
4.3 Budget Constraint 110
Slope of the Budget Constraint 112
Solved Problem 4.2 112
Effect of a Change in Price on the Opportunity Set 113
Effect of a Change in Income on the Opportunity Set 114
Solved Problem 4.3 114
4.4 Constrained Consumer Choice 114
The Consumer’s Optimal Bundle 115
APPLICATION Substituting Alcohol for Marijuana 116
Solved Problem 4.4 117
Optimal Bundles on Convex Sections of Indifference Curves 118
Buying Where More Is Better 119
Food Stamps 120
APPLICATION Benefiting from Food Stamps 122
4.5 Behavioral Economics 122
Tests of Transitivity 122
Endowment Effect 123
APPLICATION Opt In Versus Opt Out 124
Salience and Bounded Rationality 124
APPLICATION Unaware of Taxes 125
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Why Americans Buy More E-Books Than Do Germans 125
Summary 126
Questions 127
Chapter 5 Applying Consumer Theory 131
CHALLENGE Per-Hour Versus Lump-Sum Childcare Subsidies 131
5.1 Deriving Demand Curves 132
Indifference Curves and a Rotating Budget Line 133
Price-Consumption Curve 134
APPLICATION Smoking Versus Eating and Phoning 135
The Demand Curve Corresponds to the Price-Consumption Curve 136
Solved Problem 5.1 136
5.2 How Changes in Income Shift Demand Curves 137
Effects of a Rise in Income 137
Solved Problem 5.2 139
Consumer Theory and Income Elasticities 140
APPLICATION Fast-Food Engel Curve 143
5.3 Effects of a Price Change 144
Income and Substitution Effects with a Normal Good 144
Solved Problem 5.3 146
Solved Problem 5.4 147
APPLICATION Shipping the Good Stuff Away 148
Income and Substitution Effects with an Inferior Good 148
Solved Problem 5.5 149
Compensating Variation and Equivalent Variation 150
APPLICATION What’s the Value of Using the Internet? 150
5.4 Cost-of-Living Adjustments 150
Inflation Indexes 151
Effects of Inflation Adjustments 153
APPLICATION Paying Employees to Relocate 154
5.5 Deriving Labor Supply Curves 156
Labor-Leisure Choice 156
Income and Substitution Effects 159
Solved Problem 5.6 160
Shape of the Labor Supply Curve 161
APPLICATION Working After Winning the Lottery 162
Income Tax Rates and Labor Supply 163
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Per-Hour Versus Lump-Sum Childcare Subsidies 165
Summary 166
Questions 167
Chapter 6 Firms and Production 171
CHALLENGE Labor Productivity During Recessions 171
6.1 The Ownership and Management of Firms 172
Private, Public, and Nonprofit Firms 172
APPLICATION Chinese State-Owned Enterprises 173
The Ownership of For-Profit Firms 173
The Management of Firms 174
What Owners Want 174
6.2 Production Function 175
6.3 Short-Run Production 177
Total Product 177
Marginal Product of Labor 178
Solved Problem 6.1 178
Average Product of Labor 179
Graphing the Product Curves 179
Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns 181
APPLICATION Malthus and the Green Revolution 182
6.4 Long-Run Production 183
Isoquants 184
APPLICATION A Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Isoquant 186
Substituting Inputs 187
Solved Problem 6.2 189
6.5 Returns to Scale 190
Constant, Increasing, and Decreasing Returns to Scale 190
Solved Problem 6.3 191
APPLICATION Returns to Scale in Various Industries 192
Varying Returns to Scale 193
6.6 Productivity and Technical Change 195
Relative Productivity 195
APPLICATION A Good Boss Raises Productivity 195
Innovations 195
APPLICATION Tata Nano’s Technical and Organizational Innovations 197
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Labor Productivity During Recessions 197
Summary 199
Questions 199
Chapter 7 Costs 203
CHALLENGE Technology Choice at Home Versus Abroad 203
7.1 The Nature of Costs 204
Opportunity Costs 204
APPLICATION The Opportunity Cost of an MBA 205
Solved Problem 7 .1 205
Costs of Durable Inputs 206
Sunk Costs 207
7.2 Short-Run Costs 207
Short-Run Cost Measures 208
Short-Run Cost Curves 210
Production Functions and the Shape of Cost Curves 211
APPLICATION Short-Run Cost Curves for a Beer Manufacturer 214
Effects of Taxes on Costs 215
Solved Problem 7 .2 216
Short-Run Cost Summary 217
7.3 Long-Run Costs 217
All Costs Are Avoidable in the Long Run 217
Minimizing Cost 217
Isocost Line 218
Combining Cost and Production Information 220
Solved Problem 7 .3 222
Factor Price Changes 223
Solved Problem 7 .4 223
The Long-Run Expansion Path and the Long-Run Cost Function 224
Solved Problem 7 .5 226
The Shape of Long-Run Cost Curves 226
APPLICATION Economies of Scale in Nuclear Power Plants 229
Estimating Cost Curves Versus Introspection 230
7.4 Lower Costs in the Long Run 230
Long-Run Average Cost as the Envelope of Short-Run Average Cost Curves 231
APPLICATION Long-Run Cost Curves in Beer Manufacturing 232
APPLICATION Choosing an Inkjet or a Laser Printer 232
Short-Run and Long-Run Expansion Paths 233
The Learning Curve 233
APPLICATION Learning by Drilling 235
7.5 Cost of Producing Multiple Goods 236
APPLICATION Economies of Scope 237
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Technology Choice at Home Versus Abroad 238
Summary 239
Questions 240
Chapter 8 Competitive Firms and Markets 244
CHALLENGE The Rising Cost of Keeping On Truckin’ 244
8.1 Perfect Competition 245
Price Taking 245
Why the Firm’s Demand Curve Is Horizontal 246
Deviations from Perfect Competition 247
Derivation of a Competitive Firm’s Demand Curve 248
Solved Problem 8.1 249
Why We Study Perfect Competition 250
8.2 Profit Maximization 250
Profit 250
Two Steps to Maximizing Profit 251
8.3 Competition in the Short Run 254
Short-Run Output Decision 255
Solved Problem 8.2 257
Short-Run Shutdown Decision 258
APPLICATION Oil, Oil Sands, and Oil Shale Shutdowns 260
Solved Problem 8.3 261
Short-Run Firm Supply Curve 261
Short-Run Market Supply Curve 262
Short-Run Competitive Equilibrium 264
Solved Problem 8.4 266
8.4 Competition in the Long Run 267
Long-Run Competitive Profit Maximization 267
Long-Run Firm Supply Curve 267
APPLICATION The Size of Ethanol Processing Plants 268
Long-Run Market Supply Curve 268
APPLICATION Fast-Food Firms’ Entry in Russia 269
APPLICATION Upward-Sloping Long-Run Supply Curve for Cotton 272
APPLICATION Reformulated Gasoline Supply Curves 276
Solved Problem 8.5 277
Long-Run Competitive Equilibrium 278
CHALLENGE SOLUTION The Rising Cost of Keeping On Truckin’ 279
Summary 280
Questions 281
Chapter 9 Applying the Competitive Model 286
CHALLENGE “Big Dry” Water Restrictions 286
9.1 Zero Profit for Competitive Firms in the Long Run 287
Zero Long-Run Profit with Free Entry 287
Zero Long-Run Profit When Entry Is Limited 288
APPLICATION Tiger Woods’ Rent 290
The Need to Maximize Profit 290
9.2 Consumer Welfare 291
Measuring Consumer Welfare Using a Demand Curve 291
APPLICATION Willingness to Pay and Consumer Surplus on eBay 293
Effect of a Price Change on Consumer Surplus 294
APPLICATION Goods with a Large Consumer Surplus Loss from Price Increases 295
Solved Problem 9.1 296
9.3 Producer Welfare 297
Measuring Producer Surplus Using a Supply Curve 297
Using Producer Surplus 298
Solved Problem 9.2 299
Competition Maximizes Welfare 300
Solved Problem 9.3 302
APPLICATION Deadweight Loss of Christmas Presents 303
9.5 Policies That Shift Supply and Demand Curves 304
Restricting the Number of Firms 305
APPLICATION Licensing Cabs 307
Raising Entry and Exit Costs 308
9.6 Policies That Create a Wedge Between Supply and Demand 309
Welfare Effects of a Sales Tax 309
APPLICATION The Deadweight Cost of Raising Gasoline Tax Revenue 310
Solved Problem 9.4 311
Welfare Effects of a Subsidy 312
Solved Problem 9.5 312
Welfare Effects of a Price Floor 313
Solved Problem 9.6 315
APPLICATION How Big Are Farm Subsidies and Who Gets Them? 316
Welfare Effects of a Price Ceiling 317
Solved Problem 9.7 318
APPLICATION The Social Cost of a Natural Gas Price Ceiling 319
9.7 Comparing Both Types of Policies: Imports 319
Free Trade Versus a Ban on Imports 320
Free Trade Versus a Tariff 321
Free Trade Versus a Quota 323
APPLICATION The Chicken Tax Trade War 324
Rent Seeking 324
CHALLENGE SOLUTION “Big Dry” Water Restrictions 325
Summary 327
Questions 327
Chapter 10 Gener al Equilibrium and Economic Welfare 332
CHALLENGE Anti-Price Gouging Laws 332
10.1 General Equilibrium 334
Feedback Between Competitive Markets 335
Solved Problem 10.1 337
Minimum Wages with Incomplete Coverage 338
Solved Problem 10.2 340
APPLICATION Urban Flight 341
10.2 Trading Between Two People 341
Endowments 341
Mutually Beneficial Trades 343
Solved Problem 10.3 345
Bargaining Ability 345
10.3 Competitive Exchange 345
Competitive Equilibrium 346
The Efficiency of Competition 347
Obtaining Any Efficient Allocation Using Competition 347
10.4 Production and Trading 348
Comparative Advantage 348
Solved Problem 10.4 350
Efficient Product Mix 352
Competition 352
10.5 Efficiency and Equity 354
Role of the Government 354
APPLICATION The Wealth and Income of the 1% 355
Efficiency 356
Equity 358
APPLICATION How You Vote Matters 360
Efficiency Versus Equity 362
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Anti-Price Gouging Laws 363
Summary 364
Questions 365
Chapter 11 Monopoly 368
CHALLENGE Brand-Name and Generic Drugs 368
11.1 Monopoly Profit Maximization 370
Marginal Revenue 370
Solved Problem 11.1 372
Choosing Price or Quantity 374
Graphical Approach 375
Mathematical Approach 376
APPLICATION Apple’s iPad 377
Solved Problem 11.2 377
Effects of a Shift of the Demand Curve 378
11.2 Market Power 379
Market Power and the Shape of the Demand Curve 379
APPLICATION Cable Cars and Profit Maximization 381
Lerner Index 382
Solved Problem 11.3 382
Sources of Market Power 382
11.3 Market Failure Due to Monopoly Pricing 383
Solved Problem 11.4 385
11.4 Causes of Monopoly 386
Cost-Based Monopoly 386
Solved Problem 11.5 388
Government Creation of a Monopoly 388
APPLICATION Botox Patent Monopoly 390
11.5 Government Actions That Reduce Market Power 391
Regulating Monopolies 391
Solved Problem 11.6 394
APPLICATION Natural Gas Regulation 395
Increasing Competition 396
APPLICATION Generic Competition for Apple’s iPod 397
Solved Problem 11.7 397
11.6 Networks, Dynamics, and Behavioral Economics 398
Network Externalities 399
Network Externalities and Behavioral Economics 399
Network Externalities as an Explanation for Monopolies 400
APPLICATION Critical Mass and eBay 400
A Two-Period Monopoly Model 401
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Brand-Name and Generic Drugs 402
Summary 403
Questions 403
Chapter 12 Pricing and Advertising 408
CHALLENGE Sale Prices 408
12.1 Conditions for Price Discrimination 410
Why Price Discrimination Pays 410
APPLICATION Disneyland Pricing 412
Which Firms Can Price Discriminate 412
Preventing Resale 413
APPLICATION Preventing Resale of Designer Bags 414
Not All Price Differences Are Price Discrimination 414
Types of Price Discrimination 414
12.2 Perfect Price Discrimination 415
How a Firm Perfectly Price Discriminates 415
APPLICATION Google Uses Bidding for Ads to Price Discriminate 416
Perfect Price Discrimination Is Efficient but Harms Some Consumers 417
APPLICATION Botox Revisited 419
Solved Problem 12.1 420
Transaction Costs and Perfect Price Discrimination 420
12.3 Group Price Discrimination 420
APPLICATION Warner Brothers Sets Prices for a Harry Potter DVD 421
Group Price Discrimination with Two Groups 421
Solved Problem 12.2 422
APPLICATION Reselling Textbooks 423
Solved Problem 12.3 424
Identifying Groups 426
APPLICATION Buying Discounts 426
Welfare Effects of Group Price Discrimination 427
12.4 Nonlinear Price Discrimination 428
12.5 Two-Part Pricing 430
Two-Part Pricing with Identical Customers 431
Two-Part Pricing with Nonidentical Consumers 432
APPLICATION iTunes for a Song 434
12.6 Tie-In Sales 434
Requirement Tie-In Sale 434
APPLICATION Ties That Bind 435
Bundling 435
Solved Problem 12.4 437
12.7 Advertising 438
The Decision Whether to Advertise 438
How Much to Advertise 439
APPLICATION Super Bowl Commercials 440
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Sale Prices 441
Summary 442
Questions 443
Chapter 13 Oligopoly and Monopolistic Competition 448
CHALLENGE Government Aircraft Subsidies 448
13.1 Market Structures 450
13.2 Cartels 451
Why Cartels Form 451
Laws Against Cartels 453
APPLICATION Catwalk Cartel 455
Why Cartels Fail 456
Maintaining Cartels 456
APPLICATION Casket Entry 457
Mergers 458
APPLICATION Hospital Mergers: Market Power Versus Efficiency 458
13.3 Cournot Oligopoly 459
The Duopoly Nash-Cournot Equilibrium 460
An Airlines Market Example 460
Equilibrium, Elasticity, and the Number of Firms 464
APPLICATION Mobile Number Portability 466
Nonidentical Firms 466
Solved Problem 13.1 467
Solved Problem 13.2 469
APPLICATION Bottled Water 470
13.4 Stackelberg Oligopoly 471
Graphical Model 471
Solved Problem 13.3 473
Why Moving Sequentially Is Essential 474
Comparison of Competitive, Stackelberg, Cournot, and Collusive Equilibria 474
13.5 Bertrand Oligopoly 475
Identical Products 476
Differentiated Products 477
APPLICATION Welfare Gain from More Toilet Paper 479
13.6 Monopolistic Competition 480
APPLICATION Monopolistically Competitive Food Truck Market 480
Equilibrium 481
Solved Problem 13.4 482
Fixed Costs and the Number of Firms 482
Solved Problem 13.5 484
APPLICATION Zoning Laws as a Barrier to Entry by Hotel Chains 484
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Government Aircraft Subsidies 485
Summary 486
Questions 487
Chapter 14 Game Theory 492
CHALLENGE Competing E-book Standards 492
14.1 Static Games 494
Normal-Form Games 494
Predicting a Game’s Outcome 495
Multiple Nash Equilibria, No Nash Equilibrium, and Mixed Strategies 498
APPLICATION Tough Love 501
Solved Problem 14.1 501
Cooperation 502
APPLICATION Strategic Advertising 503
14.2 Repeated Dynamic Games 504
Strategies and Actions in Dynamic Games 505
Cooperation in a Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma Game 505
Solved Problem 14.2 507
14.3 Sequential Dynamic Games 507
Game Tree 507
Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium 508
Credibility 510
Dynamic Entry Game 511
APPLICATION Dominant Airlines 512
Solved Problem 14.3 513
14.4 Auctions 514
Elements of Auctions 515
Bidding Strategies in Private-Value Auctions 516
Winner’s Curse 517
APPLICATION Bidder’s Curse 518
14.5 Behavioral Game Theory 518
APPLICATION GM’s Ultimatum 519
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Competing E-book Standards 520
Summary 521
Questions 522
Chapter 15 Factor Markets 529
CHALLENGE Athletes’ Salaries and Ticket Prices 529
15.1 Competitive Factor Market 530
Short-Run Factor Demand of a Firm 531
Solved Problem 15.1 533
Solved Problem 15.2 534
Long-Run Factor Demand 535
Factor Market Demand 536
Competitive Factor Market Equilibrium 538
15.2 Effects of Monopolies on Factor Markets 539
Market Structure and Factor Demands 539
A Model of Market Power in Input and Output Markets 540
APPLICATION Unions and Profits 543
Solved Problem 15.3 544
15.3 Monopsony 545
Monopsony Profit Maximization 545
APPLICATION Walmart’s Monopsony Power 547
Welfare Effects of Monopsony 548
Solved Problem 15.4 549
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Athletes’ Salaries and Ticket Prices 549
Summary 550
Questions 551
Chapter 16 Interest Rates, Investments, and Capital Markets 554
CHALLENGE Should You Go to College? 554
16.1 Comparing Money Today to Money in the Future 555
Interest Rates 555
Using Interest Rates to Connect the Present and Future 558
APPLICATION Power of Compounding 558
Stream of Payments 560
Solved Problem 16.1 561
APPLICATION Saving for Retirement 562
Inflation and Discounting 563
APPLICATION Winning the Lottery 564
16.2 Choices over Time 565
Investing 565
Solved Problem 16.2 567
Solved Problem 16.3 568
Rate of Return on Bonds 568
Behavioral Economics: Time-Varying Discounting 569
APPLICATION Falling Discount Rates and Self-Control 570
16.3 Exhaustible Resources 570
When to Sell an Exhaustible Resource 571
Price of a Scarce Exhaustible Resource 571
APPLICATION Redwood Trees 574
Why Price May Be Constant or Fall 575
16.4 Capital Markets, Interest Rates, and Investments 577
Solved Problem 16.4 578
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Should You Go to College? 579
Summary 581
Questions 581
Chapter 17 Uncertainty 585
CHALLENGE BP and Limited Liability 585
17.1 Assessing Risk 587
Probability 587
Expected Value 589
Solved Problem 17 .1 589
Variance and Standard Deviation 590
17.2 Attitudes Toward Risk 591
Expected Utility 591
Risk Aversion 592
Solved Problem 17 .2 594
APPLICATION Stocks’ Risk Premium 595
Risk Neutrality 596
Risk Preference 597
APPLICATION Gambling 597
17.3 Reducing Risk 598
Obtain Information 599
Diversify 599
APPLICATION Diversifying Retirement Funds 601
Buy Insurance 601
Solved Problem 17 .3 602
APPLICATION Flight Insurance 604
APPLICATION Limited Insurance for Natural Disasters 605
17.4 Investing Under Uncertainty 606
Risk-Neutral Investing 606
Risk-Averse Investing 606
Solved Problem 17 .4 607
17.5 Behavioral Economics of Uncertainty 608
Biased Assessment of Probabilities 608
APPLICATION Biased Estimates 609
Violations of Expected Utility Theory 610
Prospect Theory 611
CHALLENGE SOLUTION BP and Limited Liability 613
Summary 614
Questions 615
Chapter 18 Externalities , Open-Access, and Public Goods 619
CHALLENGE Trade and Pollution 619
18.1 Externalities 620
APPLICATION Negative Externalities from Spam 621
18.2 The Inefficiency of Competition with Externalities 621
18.3 Regulating Externalities 624
APPLICATION Pulp and Paper Mill Pollution and Regulation 626
Solved Problem 18.1 627
APPLICATION Why Tax Drivers 627
Benefits Versus Costs from Controlling Pollution 628
APPLICATION Protecting Babies 628
18.4 Market Structure and Externalities 629
Monopoly and Externalities 629
Monopoly Versus Competitive Welfare with Externalities 630
Solved Problem 18.2 630
Taxing Externalities in Noncompetitive Markets 631
18.5 Allocating Property Rights to Reduce Externalities 631
Coase Theorem 631
APPLICATION Buying a Town 633
Markets for Pollution 633
APPLICATION Acid Rain Program 634
Markets for Positive Externalities 634
18.6 Rivalry and Exclusion 634
Open-Access Common Property 635
Club Goods 636
APPLICATION Piracy 637
Public Goods 637
Solved Problem 18.3 638
APPLICATION Radiohead’s “Public Good” Experiment 639
APPLICATION What’s Their Beef? 640
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Trade and Pollution 641
Summary 643
Questions 644
Chapter 19 Asymmetric Information 647
CHALLENGE Dying to Work 647
19.1 Adverse Selection 649
Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets 650
Products of Unknown Quality 650
Solved Problem 19.1 653
Solved Problem 19.2 653
19.2 Reducing Adverse Selection 654
Restricting Opportunistic Behavior 654
Equalizing Information 655
APPLICATION Changing a Firm’s Name 656
APPLICATION Adverse Selection on eBay Motors 657
19.3 Price Discrimination Due to False Beliefs About Quality 658
APPLICATION Reducing Consumers’ Information 659
19.4 Market Power from Price Ignorance 660
Tourist-Trap Model 660
Solved Problem 19.3 662
Advertising and Prices 662
19.5 Problems Arising from Ignorance When Hiring 662
Cheap Talk 663
Education as a Signal 664
Solved Problem 19.4 666
Screening in Hiring 668
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Dying to Work 670
Summary 671
Questions 672
Chapter 20 Contracts and Moral Hazards 675
CHALLENGE Changing Bankers’ Incentives 675
20.1 The Principal-Agent Problem 677
Efficiency 678
Symmetric Information 678
Asymmetric Information 679
APPLICATION Selfless or Selfish Doctors? 680
Solved Problem 20.1 681
20.2 Using Contracts to Reduce Moral Hazard 681
Fixed-Fee Contracts 682
Contingent Contracts 683
Solved Problem 20.2 683
Solved Problem 20.3 685
Solved Problem 20.4 687
APPLICATION Contracts and Productivity in Agriculture 688
Choosing the Best Contract 688
APPLICATION Music Contracts: Changing Their Tunes 689
20.3 Monitoring to Reduce Moral Hazard 690
Bonding 691
Solved Problem 20.5 692
Deferred Payments 693
Efficiency Wages 693
Monitoring Outcomes 694
APPLICATION Abusing Leased Cars 695
20.4 Checks on Principals 695
APPLICATION Layoffs Versus Pay Cuts 696
20.5 Contract Choice 698
CHALLENGE SOLUTION Changing Bankers’ Incentives 699
Summary 700
Questions 701
Chapter Appendixes 705
Appendix 2A: Regressions 705
Appendix 3A: Effects of a Specific Tax on Equilibrium 707
Appendix 4A: Utility and Indifference Curves 708
Appendix 4B: Maximizing Utility 710
Appendix 5A: The Slutsky Equation 712
Appendix 5B: Labor-Leisure Model 713
Appendix 6A: Properties of Marginal and Average Product Curves 714
Appendix 6B: The Slope of an Isoquant 714
Appendix 6C: Cobb-Douglas Production Function 714
Appendix 7A: Minimum of the Average Cost Curve 715
Appendix 7B: Japanese Beer Manufacturer’s Short-Run Cost Curves 715
Appendix 7C: Minimizing Cost 716
Appendix 8A: The Elasticity of the Residual Demand Curve 718
Appendix 8B: Profit Maximization 719
Appendix 9A: Demand Elasticities and Surplus 719
Appendix 11A: Relationship Between a Linear Demand Curve and Its Marginal Revenue Curve 720
Appendix 11B: Incidence of a Specific Tax on a Monopoly 720
Appendix 12A: Perfect Price Discrimination 721
Appendix 12B: Group Price Discrimination 722
Appendix 12C: Block Pricing 722
Appendix 12D: Two-Part Pricing 723
Appendix 12E: Profit-Maximizing Advertising and Production 723
Appendix 13A: Nash-Cournot Equilibrium 724
Appendix 13B: Nash-Stackelberg Equilibrium 726
Appendix 13C: Nash-Bertrand Equilibrium 727
Appendix 15A: Factor Demands 728
Appendix 15B: Monopsony 729
Appendix 16A: Perpetuity 730
Appendix 18A: Welfare Effects of Pollution in a Competitive Market 730
Appendix 20A: Nonshirking Condition 732
Answers to Selected Questions and Problems 733
Sources for Challenges and Applications 750
References 760
Definitions 768
Index 773
A 773
B 774
C 775
D 778
E 779
F 781
G 782
H 783
I 783
L 784
M 786
N 788
O 789
P 790
Q 793
R 793
S 794
T 797
U 798
V 798
W 798
Z 799
Credits 800