1. Chapter 15 APPLIED COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS Copyright ©2002 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved. MICROECONOMIC THEORY BASIC PRINCIPLES AND EXTENSIONS EIGHTH EDITION WALTER NICHOLSON

2. Economic Efficiency and Welfare Analysis The area between the demand and the supply curve represents the sum of consumer and producer surplus This area is maximized at the competitive market equilibrium

3. Economic Efficiency and Welfare Analysis Quantity Price P *P * Q *Q * S D Consumer surplus is the area above price and below demand Producer surplus is the area below price and above supply

4. At output Q 1, total surplus will be smaller Economic Efficiency and Welfare Analysis Quantity Price P *P * Q *Q * S D Q1Q1 At outputs between Q 1 and Q*, demanders would value an additional unit more than it would cost suppliers to produce

5. Economic Efficiency and Welfare Analysis Mathematically, we wish to maximize consumer surplus + producer surplus = For the equilibria along the long-run supply curve, P(Q)=AC=MC

6. Economic Efficiency and Welfare Analysis Maximizing total surplus with respect to Q yields U’(Q)=P(Q)=AC=MC This implies that maximization occurs where the marginal value of Q to the representative consumer is equal to market price –this occurs at the market equilibrium

7. Welfare Loss Computations Use of consumer and producer surplus notions makes possible the explicit calculation of welfare losses caused by restrictions on voluntary transactions –in the case of linear demand and supply curves, the calculation is simple because the areas of loss are often triangular

8. Welfare Loss Computations Suppose that the demand is given by Q D = 10 - P and supply is given by Q S = P - 2 Market equilibrium occurs where P*=6 and Q*=4

9. Welfare Loss Computations Restriction of output to Q 0 =3 would create a gap between what demanders are willing to pay (P D ) and what suppliers require (P S ) P D = 10 - 3 = 7 P S = 2 + 3 = 5

10. The welfare loss from restricting output to 3 is the area of a triangle Welfare Loss Computations Quantity Price S D 6 4 7 5 3 The loss = (0.5)(2)(1) = 1

11. Welfare Loss Computations The welfare loss will be shared by producers and consumers In general, it will depend on the price elasticity of demand and the price elasticity of supply to determine who bears the larger portion of the loss –the side of the market with the smallest price elasticity (in absolute value)