Natural Monopoly
Generally, a monopoly is taken to be a situation whereby a given entity controls or owns the whole market or a significant portion of the same for a specified good or service. Essentially, there are several types of monopolies. In this text, I concern myself with natural monopolies.
A natural monopoly in the opinion of Baumol and Blinder (2007) "is an industry in which advantages of large-scale production make it possible for a single firm to produce the entire output of the market at a lower average cost than a number of firms, each producing a smaller quantity." Basically, what brings about a natural monopoly are the significant start-up as well as fixed costs associated with running a given type of business in a specific market. A good example of a natural monopoly in this case is a utility company operating in the utilities industry. For instance, when it comes to water distribution, such an undertaking can only take place through the construction of a network of pipes throughout the specified locality. In such...
Microsoft Monopoly Why was Microsoft investigated for antitrust behavior? In the eyes of some legal analysts, Microsoft was investigated and taken to court over antitrust allegations because of the belief that it would not live up to its own word about what it intended (McKenzie and Shughart, 1998). There was little doubt about the fact that by the mid- to late-1990s Microsoft had virtual control over the operating system (Windows) that it
Monopolies and Trusts: Appropriate Areas for Government Intervention? Capitalism is the economic system that has dominated the United States virtually since the day of its independence. A social and economic system based on the recognition of individual rights; capitalism demands that owners' rights to control, enjoy, and dispose of their own property must be respected. In a capitalist system, the purpose of government is to protect individual economic rights, and to make
Economy The current state of the U.S. economy is that the unemployment rate as of April 2012 is 8.1% and the consumer price index was flat for that month (BLS, 2012). The first quarter improvement in the GDP saw an increase of 2.2% (BEA, 2012). The current interest rates are rock bottom, at 0.15% for six months, 0.19% for one year, 0.84% for five years and 1.98% for ten years. Five years
Electricity Restructuring Restructuring of the electricity industry has been approached with a top-down approach that has failed to result in benefits to consumers. Economic theory states guidance on conditions that are essential for well-functioning markets to exist in which the consumer benefits and the firms utilize innovation to control costs. There is currently a debate surrounding the importance of each 'condition' as well as the resulting harm when conditions are unmet.
classification of an industry into a particular economic market system is really necessary to understand it clearly. Without it we can not analyze the market the way it should be done. This paper discusses about the market, its types as well as it discusses about its impacts on the decision of a company involved in the market in achieving its goals. After that there is a discussion about UK
These issues apply to many companies in the new economy, but this discussion will focus on Microsoft, a major target of the government for anti-trust violations. The network effects theory holds that products are more valuable to consumers the more widely they are used (Stenborg). This is certainly true of Microsoft Windows, an operating system that received the widest range of hardware and software compatibility as its popularity soared. Further,
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now