Market structures Essay Example for Free

Market structures Essay This week was very informative and interesting for me, I have learned a lot from this week. This week has helped me in comparing various market structures and their characteristic, along with evaluating the effectiveness of competitive strategies within market structures. Furthermore, this week has helped me in determining profit-maximizing strategies based on market structure analysis. Some of the most interesting things learned were the examples of monopolistically, oligopoly and monopoly. Keeping the concepts of Monopoly, oligopoly and perfect competition straight has proven to be a real challenge. The amount of information presented is overwhelming at times. I had to step back and reread several sections repeatedly to ensure a clear understanding. The side-by-side comparisons of market structure was very helpful and presented in a manner that was clear and concise, promoting a better understanding of their differences. Monopolistically would be coffee shops there is a lot of different coffee shops in one area each coffee shops offers certain specialize different from the other shops. An oligopoly would be vet office with only a few in a certain locations. An example of monopoly market would be a telephone company that is assigned to a certain area. A monopoly is a company that rules a location but if priced to high from competitors can lose if monopoly. When firms consider profit-maximizing strategies it is important to look at the short-term and long-term processes of product output. When doing this, one needs examine the different types of competition. Any market types of competition will affect a company’s marginal revenue and marginal costs. A monopoly can control the market of certain goods or service, and a phone company is an example of this. Phone companies often are the only supplier, so they have no competition and set their prices as consumers will pay them. In a monopolistic comp etitive environment competitive strategies are constantly changing because of different goods and services hitting the market. Finally, an oligopoly environment an organization will bear in mind how its actions will affect its rivals. Many firm’s use the concepts to be successful. I was able to understand what a market economy is. I also was able to understand how a market works. A market works by an individual providing a service and in return that person would be compensated for that service. Also when someone wants a product in order to receive that product a payment is made in exchange for thus product. The chapter also goes on to discuss capitalism and socialism, I would define socialism as a society making the decision about what people want and need and how much of those products to produce, basically the society is making the decision. Capitalism I feel based on the definition stated in the text book, can be defined as when a small group of individuals have the main control over the controlling companys of products and service that are used on a daily basis. This allows them to set a price and the amount of the product or service that are available. The chapter also makes us aware of feudalism, which basically means you follow the footsteps of your predecessors, if your parents were farmers you will be a farmer, in essence following the traditions. The chapter also discusses Mercantilism, this in essence means that the government has the means and the rights to hire a non government controlled company in order to achieve the needs of the government. I did very well with the various market structures and their characteristics, but not so well with the other topics. A monopoly is the only player in their respective industry. An example of a monopoly is the local power company because you cant get power anywhere else, unless it is natural energy. An oligopoly is similar to a monopoly but there is more than one firm that dominates the market. An example of an oligopoly is the operating software for smart phones, which has two dominate players, Apple and Google. Monopolistic competition is where many companies sell basically the same product with minor differences. Perfect competition is when everyone sells the same thing, everyone has the same information, and it is easy to enter and exit into the market. I personally do not believe that an example of perfect competition exists; the closest industry may be agriculture. For firms to maximize their profits costs need to be kept low and revenues need to be boosted. Whichever route a company uses to maximize profits, it will affect both cost and revenue. For instance, if a company decides to advertise a new product, the advertising will affect cost and revenue. The price of the advertising will increase the costs of the product, but at the same time increase revenues because consumers are now aware of the product. The chapters on Monopoly Perfect Competition were as I had previously understood, and the conditions for each make sense. The development of evolving economic systems as discussed in Chapter 3 was like a history lesson review and the restatement of the three different types of businesses that exist (sole proprietorship, partnership, and corporation) a good reminder of what has been learned in prior classes. I gained some new understandings of Monopolistic Competition I had never heard the two used together before, but is a nice blend of the two market types. I didnt struggle with any of these things. What I did struggle with was the concepts, structures, and quite frankly the math surrounding Pricing and Profit Maximization in all the markets. I found it counter intuitive to my experience in business to not produce more, so as to create demand and keep pricing high, as is suggested in a Monopoly. The profit maximizing exercise was a challenge which boiled down to MR = MC is the profit maximizing rule for the monopolist. (Colander, 2010) This differs from the profit maximizing equation for Perfect Competition which is MC = MR = P but the TR and TCC graph for evaluating the best output level is perplexing and will likely take me the better part of 20 minutes to put one together myself I did enjoy this week’s team assignment. Was enjoyable writing about the new product option and th eorizing about the potential for said product. This week’s readings covered many different kinds of market structures. Starting with the basic Perfect Competition where the businesses sell the exact same product, to a monopoly that states that there is only one business that has complete control. From Monopolistic Competition which is where the businesses sell a similar product but not an identical product to the Oligopoly which is where there a few giants that control the industry. We went through all the different market structures, and there were many examples that were given to help explain the differences between the different market structures. One of the parts of the reading that I found very interesting, was on page 369, it discussed the idea of a sticky prices† This is where the idea is that if one company lowers its prices to try and gain business. The other businesses that are in competition will lower their prices too. This will prevent anyone from getting an edge on the competition. The gas prices are a perfect example of this. In Chapter 15, the cost of Welfare Cost Triangle, is discussed. The Welfare Cost Triangle is one of the many reasons that Monopolys are frowned upon by economists. It creates an untrue reflection to the cost to the society. With a monopoly the business can charge any price that they see fit and therefore it creates and unbalanced marginal cost. Chapter 3 discussed the idea that it is not just the United States Economy that is affected across the world. Many times as we are going through our lessons, and we, as a class are discussing economics, I fail to remember that there are many more markets in the world then just the United States. The chapter discusses the history of economics and how they work in the different social environments. They were very straight forward and very self explanatory. References: Colander, D. C. (2010).Economics (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Comparing Utilitarianism and the Judeo-Christian Ethic Essay -- John

Utilitarianism is the ethical doctrine which essentially states that which is good is that which brings about the most happiness to the most people. John Stuart Mill believed that the decisions we make should always benefit the most people as much as possible regardless of the consequences to the minority or even yourself. He would say all that matters in the decision of right versus wrong is the amount of happiness produced by the consequences. In the decisions we make Mill would say that we need to weigh the outcomes and make our decision based on that outcome that benefits the majority. For Mill, pleasure is the only desirable consequence of our decisions or actions. The Judeo-Christian ethic embraced by Augustine places questions of right and wrong under the authority of a divine creator - God. The Judeo-Christian ethic can be summed up in one word - Love. In Matthew 22:40 Jesus says: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love you neighbor as yourself.'; When Augustine said, 'Love God and do what you will';, I believe he is asserting the fact that when a person loves God truly he or she is in God's will. John 14:15 says, 'If you love me, you will obey what I command.'; If a person obeys God which is loving God and loving his creation then a person is in his will. The decisions made by a person in God's will are thus ethical decision in view of ...

Boston Bombing: Summary Essay

On Monday April 15 2013, which was Patriot Day, an atrocity happened in Boston, United States. As everyone already knew, it was the Boston Marathon Bombing. The annual Boston Marathon bombing started just like other years, without any clue of the calamity. The marathon began as usual and horde of crowds gather along the sidewalk, cheering for their families and friends. The contestants endured the tiredness and headed towards the finish line. A spontaneous chant of â€Å"Go, Go!† bursted out as the runners moved closer and closer towards the ending. But just then, a bomb was released on Boylston Street, near the finish line. Many people screamed, and the air was filled with dirt and gases. 13 minutes later, another bomb went off also on Boylston Street, but few blocks further. Debris from the building along the side walk was blown over into pieces, flying over in the air. Some runners collapsed on the ground, failing to stand up. They tried to combat the bomb but unfortunately, they couldn’t. The air was so polluted and you hardly could see anything. 3 people died, and 264 were injured. A exciting and interesting event turned into one that was a totally disaster and grievous. But fortunately, rescue workers came as soon as possible. According to FBI, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the weapons that took part in the bombing were pressure cooker bombs that was especially made for this marathon. These types of bomb was intended to damage the runner’s limb, making them unable to run. Most of the victims suffered severe leg injuries and wounds. This event was globally significant because it had caused a lot of reactions from people all over the world. In the united states, a moment of silence were observed on the day after the bombing to show respects towards the victims. President Obama ordered the flags lowered to half- staff, also to show a kind of respect. In China, people posted message on social websites to give comment about the death of a Chinese contestant, who was attending collage in Boston. People were aware of her death since many Chinese wanted to send their children overseas for collage. People all around the world will learn from this event and be more cautious.

What Makes Lucy From New York - 1412 Words

Introduction In the Age 7 and Age 14 in America documentaries, various children from different parts of the US were interviewed in regards to their life, what kind of family they were born into, and their opinions on various real-world aspects, such as discrimination, wealth, and relationships. The child that I chose to analyze is Lucy from New York. Nature/Nurture Lucy was living a life situated around a different set of nurture characteristics when compared to other children. At the age of 7, she was living in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City along with her parents. There was no mention as to whether she had siblings. The Upper East Side of New York is considered to be affluent and home to many wealthy people. She†¦show more content†¦For example, throughout the various interviews, whenever Kate and Alexis were talking , she would suddenly interrupt and give her opinion on the asked question (ie. school uniforms, discrimination, etc). Also, she is willing to correct someone else when they make a mistake. For example, when Alexis mistakenly told the interviewer that suspended means getting kicked out of school, Lucy immediately jumps into the conversation and rectifies Alexis’ mistake. A 7 year old Lucy also seems to be rather insightful in regards to real world questions; it seems as if she has already been en lightened by the world around her when compared to her friends. As stated in the documentary, she knows that it is possible to have children even before you are married and she already understands the concept of drugs and strangers and what to do in a real-world situation. At the age of 14, Lucy described herself as critical, sarcastic and she also believes that she is rather rebellious. She states that she has always had a problem with authority. Lucy does not seem to understand why this might be. This may have to do with the nature side of her development. When Lucy was 7 years old, she was not willing to back down when others were wrong and she was willing to correct them. A 14 year old Lucy also stated that whenever she knows that she is right and the other person is wrong, she will not allow someone to put her in her place. However, an older Lucy believes that she can take criticism