2.7 竞争和市场结构
Section outline
-
Competition and Market Structures
::竞争和市场结构Market structures describe the nature or degree of competition among companies, in the same industries, in a free enterprise economy. Economists have developed a theoretical model of an ideal situation where “perfect competition” occurs. Of course, this is only a model to compare to other types of market structures that are not “perfect”.
::市场结构描述的是同一行业和自由企业经济中公司之间的竞争性质或程度,经济学家们制定了一个理想情况理论模型,即“最佳竞争”发生时的理想情况,当然,这只是与其他非“完美”的市场结构相比的一种模式。For there to be “perfect competition” certain conditions must prevail in the market such as:
::为了实现“最佳竞争”,某些条件必须在市场上占上风,例如:1) a large number of buyers and sellers,
:1) 大量买卖双方,
2) they must deal in identical products,
:3) buyers and sellers act independently and compete with each other,
:4) both buyers and sellers must be well informed of the conditions in the markets, and
:5) both buyers and sellers can enter into and leave the market whenever they choose.
:So as you may have determined from the five conditions that must exist to have “perfect competition,” there really is no such thing. If any of the five conditions are not met, then the market structure is called “imperfect”.
::因此,正如你可能从必须存在的“完美竞争”的五个条件中确定的那样,实际上不存在这样的问题。 如果这五个条件中的任何一项没有得到满足,那么市场结构就被称为“不完美 ” 。There are three “imperfect markets”: monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.
::有三个“不完美的市场”:垄断竞争、寡头垄断和垄断。Universal Generalizations
::普遍化-
Perfect competition is a theory used to evaluate other types of markets.
::完美的竞争是一种用来评估其他类型的市场的理论。 -
There are four basic types of market structures: perfect, monopolistic, oligopoly, and monopoly.
::市场结构有四种基本类型:完美、垄断、寡头垄断和垄断。 -
The type of market structure is determined by the amount of competition among firms operating in the same industry.
::市场结构的类型取决于在同一行业经营的公司之间的竞争程度。 -
Competition in the marketplace affects price, demand, and supply of goods and services.
::市场竞争影响到货物和服务的价格、供求和供应。
Guiding Questions
::问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问-
How do changes in prices affect demand for goods and/or services for each type of market structure?
::价格变化如何影响每一类市场结构对货物和/或服务的需求? -
Why does the government allow for monopolies to exist?
::政府为什么允许垄断存在? -
To what extent should the government be involved in the free enterprise market?
::政府应在何种程度上参与自由企业市场?
Video: Market Structures
::视频:市场结构Market Structures
::市场结构Firms behave in much the same way as consumers behave. What does that mean? Let’s define what is meant by the firm. A firm (or business) combines inputs of labor, capital, land, and raw or finished component materials to produce outputs. If the firm is successful, the outputs are more valuable than the inputs. This activity of production goes beyond manufacturing (i.e., making things). It includes any process or service that creates value, including transportation, distribution, wholesale and retail sales. Production involves a number of important decisions that define the behavior of firms. These decisions include, but are not limited to:
::企业的行为方式与消费者的行为方式基本相同。 这意味着什么?让我们来定义公司的含义。一个公司(或企业)将劳动力、资本、土地和原材料或成品的原料投入结合起来生产产出。如果公司成功,产出比投入更有价值。这种生产活动超越了制造业(即制造商品 ) 。它包括任何创造价值的过程或服务,包括运输、分销、批发和零售销售。生产涉及决定公司行为的若干重要决定。这些决定包括,但不限于:-
What product or products should the firm produce?
::公司应生产什么产品或产品? -
How should the products be produced (i.e., what production process should be used)?
::应如何生产产品(即应使用何种生产工艺)? -
How much output should the firm produce?
::公司应生产多少产出? -
What price should the firm charge for its products?
::公司对其产品应收取什么价格? -
How much labor should the firm employ?
::公司应该雇用多少劳动力?
What It Means: Three Economic Questions: What, How, For Whom?
::意指:三个经济问题:什么、如何、对谁来说?
Three Economic Questions
In order to meet the needs of its people, every society must answer three basic economic questions:
::为了满足人民的需求,每个社会都必须回答三个基本经济问题:-
What
should we produce?
::我们应生产什么产品? -
How
should we produce it?
::我们应如何生产? -
For
whom
should we produce it?
::我们应当为谁生产这种产品?
A society (or country) might decide to produce candy or cars, computers or combat boots. The goods might be produced by unskilled workers in privately owned factories or by technical experts in government-funded laboratories. Once they are made, the goods might be given out for free to the poor or sold at high prices that only the rich can afford. The possibilities are endless.
::一个社会(或国家)可能决定生产糖果或汽车、计算机或战靴,这些货物可能由私营工厂的非熟练工人或政府资助的实验室的技术专家生产,一旦生产,这些货物可能免费提供给穷人,或者以只有富人才能承受的高价出售。 可能性是无限的。Although every society answers the three basic economic questions differently, in doing so, each confronts the same fundamental problems: resource allocation and scarcity.
::虽然每个社会对三个基本经济问题的回答不同,但每个社会都面临同样的根本问题:资源分配和稀缺。Resources are all of the ingredients needed for production, including physical materials (such as land, coal, or timber), labor (workers), technology (not just computers but, in a broader sense, all the technical ability and knowledge that is necessary to produce a given commodity), and capital (the machinery and tools of production). Scarcity refers to the essential fact that people’s wants or desires are always going to be greater than the resources available to fulfill those wants.
::资源是生产所需的全部要素,包括物质材料(如土地、煤炭或木材 ) 、 劳动力(工人 ) 、 技术(不仅包括计算机,而且从更广泛的意义上说,包括生产特定商品所必需的所有技术能力和知识 ) 、 资本(机械和生产工具 ) 。 稀缺指的是人们的愿望或愿望总是大于满足这些愿望的现有资源的基本事实。Simply put, scarcity means that resources are limited. No country can produce everything, no matter how rich its mines, how massive its forests, or how advanced its technology. Because of the constraints of scarcity, then, decisions must be made about resource allocation (that is, how best to allocate, or distribute, resources for the maximum benefit of the society).
::简言之,稀缺意味着资源是有限的。 任何国家都不能生产一切,无论地雷多么丰富、森林面积多么庞大、技术多么先进。 因此,由于稀缺的制约,必须就资源分配(即如何最好地分配或分配资源以给社会带来最大利益 ) 作出决定。
Source: "Three Economic Questions: What, How, For Whom?." Everyday Finance: Economics, Personal Money Management, and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved June 13, 2018 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/finance/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/three-economic-questions-what-how-whom
The answers to these questions depend on the production and cost conditions facing each firm. The answers also depend on the structure of the market for the product(s) in question. Market structure is a multidimensional concept that involves how competitive the industry is. It is defined by questions such as these:
::这些问题的答案取决于每家公司的生产和成本条件,答案也取决于所涉产品的市场结构。市场结构是一个多层面的概念,涉及该行业的竞争力。-
How much market power does each firm in the industry possess?
::该行业的每个公司拥有多少市场力量? -
How similar is each firm’s product to the products of other firms in the industry?
::每家公司的产品与该行业其他公司的产品有何相似之处? -
How difficult is it for new firms to enter the industry?
::新公司进入该行业有多么困难? -
Do firms compete on the basis of price, advertising, or other product differences?
::公司是否根据价格、广告或其他产品差异进行竞争?
1 illustrates the range of different market structures
::1 说明不同市场结构的范围The Spectrum of Competition
::竞争的光谱Firms face different competitive situations. At one extreme—perfect competition—many firms are all trying to sell identical products. At the other extreme—monopoly—only one firm is selling the product, and this firm faces no competition. Monopolistic competition and oligopoly fall between the extremes of perfect competition and monopoly. Monopolistic competition is a situation with many firms selling similar, but not identical, products. Oligopoly is a situation with few firms that sell identical or similar products.
::企业面临不同的竞争情况。 在一个极强的竞争中,许多公司都在试图销售相同的产品。 在另一个极端的垄断中,只有一家公司在出售产品,而这家公司没有竞争。垄断竞争和寡头垄断在完全竞争和垄断的极端之间倒下。垄断竞争是许多公司销售类似但并不完全相同的产品的一种情况。奥利戈波利是少数销售相同或类似产品的公司的一种情况。Case Study: Amazon
::案例研究:亚马逊In less than two decades, Amazon.com has transformed the way books are sold, bought, and even read. Prior to Amazon, books were primarily sold through independent bookstores with limited inventories in small retail locations. There were exceptions, of course; Borders and Barnes & Noble offered larger stores in urban areas. In the last decade, however, independent bookstores have become few and far between, Borders has gone out of business, and Barnes & Noble is struggling. Online delivery and purchase of books has indeed overtaken the more traditional business models. How has Amazon changed the book selling industry? How has it managed to crush its competition?
::在不到20年的时间里,Amazon.com改变了书籍的销售、购买甚至阅读方式。在亚马逊之前,书籍主要通过独立书店出售,在小零售点的存货有限。当然,也有例外;边境和Barnes & Noble在城市地区提供了较大的商店。然而,在过去十年里,独立书店变得很少,而且相距遥远,边境已经停业,Barnes & Noble正在挣扎。在线提供和购买书籍确实超越了传统的商业模式。亚马逊是如何改变图书销售行业的?它是如何压垮竞争的?A major reason for the giant retailer’s success is its production model and cost structure, which has enabled Amazon to undercut the prices of its competitors even when factoring in the cost of shipping. Read on to see how firms great (like Amazon) and small (like your corner deli) determine what to sell, at what output and price.
::巨型零售商成功的一个主要原因是其生产模式和成本结构,这使得亚马逊能够降低其竞争对手的价格,即使考虑到运费。 阅读看看大公司(如亚马逊 ) 和小公司(如你的角菜)如何决定销售、产出和价格。Traditionally, bookstores have operated in retail locations with inventories held either on the shelves or in the back of the store. These retail locations were very pricey in terms of rent. Amazon has no retail locations; it sells online and delivers by mail. Amazon offers almost any book in print, convenient purchasing, and prompt delivery by mail. Amazon holds its inventories in huge warehouses in low-rent locations around the world. The warehouses are highly computerized using robots and relatively low-skilled workers, making for low average costs per sale. Amazon demonstrates the significant advantages economies of scale can offer to a firm that exploits those economies.
::传统上,书店在零售点经营,存货存放在书架上或商店后部,这些零售点在租金方面价格很高,亚马逊没有零售点;亚马逊没有零售点;亚马逊在网上销售,通过邮件交付;亚马逊几乎提供印刷、方便购买和迅速邮寄的任何书籍;亚马逊在世界各地低租地点的大型仓库存放着书店库存;这些仓库使用机器人和相对低技能的工人高度电脑化,每次销售平均成本较低;亚马逊展示了规模经济对利用这些经济的企业的巨大优势。Perfect Competition and Why It Matters
::完美竞争和它为何重要Firms are said to be in perfect competition when the following conditions occur: (1) many firms produce identical products; (2) many buyers are available to buy the product, and many sellers are available to sell the product; (3) sellers and buyers have all relevant information to make rational decisions about the product being bought and sold; and (4) firms can enter and leave the market without any restrictions—in other words, there is free entry and exit into and out of the market.
::据说,当出现下列条件时,公司处于完全竞争状态A perfectly competitive firm is known as a price taker because the pressure of competing firms forces them to accept the prevailing equilibrium price in the market. If a firm in a perfectly competitive market raises the price of its product by so much as a penny, it will lose all of its sales to competitors. When a wheat grower, as discussed in the Bring it Home feature, wants to know what the going price of wheat is, he or she has to go to the computer or listen to the radio to check. The market price is determined solely by supply and demand in the entire market and not the individual farmer. Also, a perfectly competitive firm must be a very small player in the overall market, so that it can increase or decrease output without noticeably affecting the overall quantity supplied and price in the market.
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司被称为价格取价者,因为竞争对手公司的压力迫使它们接受市场上的主导平衡价格。 如果一个完全具有竞争力的市场中的公司将产品价格提升到一分钱,那么它就会失去所有销售给竞争者。 当小麦种植者(如《带回家》的特征所讨论)想知道小麦的价格是多少时,他或她必须去电脑或听收音机检查。市场价格完全取决于整个市场的供求,而不是个体农民。 此外,一个完全具有竞争力的公司必须在整个市场中扮演非常小的角色,这样它就可以在不明显影响总供应量和市场价格的情况下增减产量。A perfectly competitive market is a hypothetical extreme; however, producers in a number of industries do face many competitor firms selling highly similar goods, in which case they must often act as price takers. Agricultural markets are often used as an example. The same crops grown by different farmers are largely interchangeable. According to the United States Department of Agriculture monthly reports, in 2012, U.S. corn farmers received an average price of $6.07 per bushel and wheat farmers received an average price of $7.60 per bushel. A corn farmer who attempted to sell at $7.00 per bushel, or a wheat grower who attempted to sell for $8.00 per bushel would not have found any buyers. A perfectly competitive firm will not sell below the equilibrium price either. Why should they when they can sell all they want at the higher price? Other examples of agricultural markets that operate in close to perfectly competitive markets are small roadside produce markets and small organic farmers.
::一个完全具有竞争力的市场是一个假设的极端;然而,一些行业的生产者确实面临许多竞争商公司销售高度相似的商品,在这种情况下,他们必须经常充当价格购买者。农业市场常常被用作一个例子。不同的农民种植的同样的作物基本上可以互换。根据美国农业部的月度报告,2012年,美国玉米农民每灌木平均获得6.07美元的价格,小麦种植者每灌木丛平均获得7.60美元的价格。 玉米种植者试图以每灌木丛出售7.00美元的价格出售,或者小麦种植者试图以每灌木丛出售8.00美元的价格出售,却找不到任何买家。一个极具竞争力的公司也不会销售低于平衡价格。为什么他们能以更高的价格出售他们想要的所有产品?其他在接近竞争激烈的市场中经营的农产品市场是小路边产品市场和小有机农民。This chapter examines how profit-seeking firms decide how much to produce in perfectly competitive markets. In the short run, the perfectly competitive firm will seek the quantity of output where profits are highest or, if profits are not possible, where losses are lowest. In this example, the “short run” refers to a situation in which firms are producing with one fixed input and incur fixed costs of production. (In the real world, firms can have many fixed inputs.)
::本章审视了追求利润的公司如何在竞争激烈的市场上决定生产多少产品。 短期而言,完全具有竞争力的公司将寻求利润最高或如果不可能获得利润,损失最低的产出数量。 在这个例子中,“短期”是指公司以固定投入生产并承担固定生产成本的情况。 (在现实世界中,公司可以拥有许多固定投入。 )In the long run, perfectly competitive firms will react to profits by increasing production. They will respond to losses by reducing production or exiting the market. Ultimately, a long-run equilibrium will be attained when no new firms want to enter the market and existing firms do not want to leave the market, as economic profits have been driven down to zero.
::从长远看,完全具有竞争力的公司将通过增加生产对利润作出反应,通过减少生产或退出市场来应对损失。 最终,当没有新公司想进入市场,而现有公司不想退出市场,经济利润被挤到零时,就会实现长期平衡。How Perfectly Competitive Firms Make Output Decisions
::竞争激烈的公司如何作出产出决定A perfectly competitive firm has only one major decision to make—namely, what quantity to produce. To understand why this is so, consider a different way of writing out the basic definition of profit:
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司只有一项重大的决定需要做出——即生产数量。 要理解为什么如此,考虑以不同的方式写出利润的基本定义:Profit=Total revenue−Total cost
::利润=总收入-总成本=(Price)(Quantity produced)−(Average cost)(Quantity produced)
::=(价格(生产数量))-(平均成本(生产数量)Since a perfectly competitive firm must accept the price for its output as determined by the product’s market demand and supply, it cannot choose the price it charges. This is already determined in the profit equation, and so the perfectly competitive firm can sell any number of units at exactly the same price. It implies that the firm faces a perfectly elastic demand curve for its product: buyers are willing to buy any number of units of output from the firm at the market price. When the perfectly competitive firm chooses what quantity to produce, then this quantity—along with the prices prevailing in the market for output and inputs—will determine the firm’s total revenue, total costs, and ultimately, level of profits.
::由于一个完全具有竞争力的公司必须接受由产品市场供求决定的其产出价格,它无法选择其定价。 这一点已经在利润方程中决定,因此,完全具有竞争力的公司可以以完全相同价格出售任何数量的单位。 这意味着公司的产品面临着一个完全弹性的需求曲线:买方愿意以市场价格从公司购买任何数量的产出单位。 当完全具有竞争力的公司选择生产数量时,这一数量 — — 加上产出和投入市场的价格 — — 将决定公司的总收入、总成本和最终利润水平。Determining the Highest Profit by Comparing Total Revenue and Total Cost
::通过比较总收入和成本总额确定最高利润A perfectly competitive firm can sell as large a quantity as it wishes, as long as it accepts the prevailing market price. Total revenue is going to increase as the firm sells more, depending on the price of the product and the number of units sold. If you increase the number of units sold at a given price, then total revenue will increase. If the price of the product increases for every unit sold, then total revenue also increases. As an example of how a perfectly competitive firm decides what quantity to produce, consider the case of a small farmer who produces raspberries and sells them frozen for $4 per pack. Sales of one pack of raspberries will bring in $4, two packs will be $8, three packs will be $12, and so on. If, for example, the price of frozen raspberries doubles to $8 per pack, then sales of one pack of raspberries will be $8, two packs will be $16, three packs will be $24, and so on.
::完全有竞争力的公司只要接受当时的市场价格,就可以按自己的意愿销售数量。 总收入将随着公司销售量的增加而增加,这取决于产品的价格和销售单位的数量。 如果你增加按特定价格销售的单位数量,那么总收入就会增加。如果产品价格每售出一个单位,那么总收入也会增加。作为完全有竞争力的公司如何决定生产数量的例子,考虑生产松莓并冷冻每包4美元的小农户的情况。 一包松莓的销售将带来4美元,两包8美元,三包12美元,等等。 比如,冰冻的松果双倍到每包8美元,那么一包松果的销售将达到8美元,两包是16美元,三包24美元,等等。Total revenue and total costs for the raspberry farm, broken down into fixed and variable costs, are shown in 1 and also appear in 2. The horizontal axis shows the quantity of frozen raspberries produced in packs; the vertical axis shows both total revenue and total costs, measured in dollars. The total cost curve intersects with the vertical axis at a value that shows the level of fixed costs, and then slopes upward.
::按固定成本和可变成本分列的草莓养殖场总收入和总成本(按固定成本和可变成本分列)在1栏中显示,并在2栏中显示。 水平轴显示以包装制成的冷冻草莓数量;垂直轴显示总收入和以美元计的总成本。总成本曲线与垂直轴相交叉,其价值显示固定成本水平,然后向上倾斜。Total Cost and Total Revenue at the Raspberry Farm
::草莓农场总成本和总收入Total revenue for a perfectly competitive firm is a straight line sloping up. The slope is equal to the price of the good. Total cost also slopes up, but with some curvature. At higher levels of output, total cost begins to slope upward more steeply because of diminishing marginal returns. The maximum profit will occur at the quantity where the gap of total revenue over total cost is largest.
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司的总收入是直线增长。斜坡等于货物的价格。总成本也上升,但有一些曲线。在较高的产出水平下,总成本开始由于边际回报下降而急剧上升。 最大利润将以总收入相对于总成本的差额最大的数量出现。Table 1 - Raspberry Farm
::表1-草莓农场Quantity
::终止原因 原因 原因 原因 终止(Q)
:Total Cost
::费用共计共计(TC)
:Fixed Cost
::固定固定费用(FC)
:Variable Cost
::可变成本(VC)
:Total Revenue
::收入共计(TR)
:Profit
::利润0
$62
$62
-
$0
−$62
10
$90
$62
$28
$40
−$50
20
$110
$62
$48
$80
−$30
30
$126
$62
$64
$120
−$6
40
$144
$62
$82
$160
$16
50
$166
$62
$104
$200
$34
60
$192
$62
$130
$240
$48
70
$224
$62
$162
$280
$56
80
$264
$62
$202
$320
$56
90
$324
$62
$262
$360
$36
100
$404
$62
$342
$400
−$4
Based on its total revenue and total cost curves, a perfectly competitive firm like the raspberry farm can calculate the quantity of output that will provide the highest level of profit. At any given quantity, total revenue minus total cost will equal profit. One way to determine the most profitable quantity to produce is to see at what quantity total revenue exceeds total cost by the largest amount. In 2, the vertical gap between total revenue and total cost represents either profit (if total revenues are greater than total costs at a certain quantity) or losses (if total costs are greater than total revenues at a certain quantity). In this example, total costs will exceed total revenues at output levels from 0 to 40, and so over this range of output, the firm will be making losses. At output levels from 50 to 80, total revenues exceed total costs, so the firm is earning profits. But then at an output of 90 or 100, total costs again exceed total revenues and the firm is making losses. The highest total profits in the figure, occur at an output of 70–80, when profits will be $56.
::以总收入和总成本曲线为基础,一个像草莓农场这样的极具竞争力的公司可以计算出能提供最高利润水平的产出数量。 在一个特定数量中,总收入减去总成本将等于利润。 确定生产最盈利数量的方法之一是看总收入在哪个数量上超过总成本最大。 在2个中,总收入和总成本之间的纵向差距要么代表利润(如果总收入超过一定数量的总成本),要么代表损失(如果总成本大于总成本,那么总成本超过总收益,达到一定数量 ) 。 举例来说,总成本将超过产出水平从0到40的总收入,因此在这一产出范围中,总成本将超过总收益。 在50到80的产量水平上,总收入超过总成本,因此公司正在赚取利润。 但是,在90到100的产量上,总成本再次超过总收入,公司正在造成损失。 数字中最大的总利润为70到80,当利润为56时,总利润将达到70到80。A higher price would mean that total revenue would be higher for every quantity sold. A lower price would mean that total revenue would be lower for every quantity sold. What happens if the price drops low enough so that the total revenue line is completely below the total cost curve; that is, at every level of output, total costs are higher than total revenues? In this instance, the best the firm can do is to suffer losses. But a profit-maximizing firm will prefer the quantity of output where total revenues come closest to total costs and thus where the losses are smallest.
::更高的价格将意味着销售量的总收入将高于每一销售量的总收入。 较低的价格将意味着销售量的总收入将低于每一销售量的总收入。 如果价格低得足以使总收入项目完全低于总成本曲线,那么会发生什么情况?也就是说,在每一产出水平上,总成本都高于总收入?在这种情况下,公司所能做的最好就是遭受损失。 但是,利润最大化公司会更喜欢总收益最接近总成本因而损失最小的产量数量。Entry and Exit Decisions in the Long Run
::长期出入境决定和出境决定The line between the short run and the long run cannot be defined precisely with a stopwatch or even with a calendar. It varies according to the specific business. The distinction between the short run and the long run is, therefore, more technical: in the short run, firms cannot change the usage of fixed inputs, while in the long run, the firm can adjust all factors of production.
::短期与长期之间的界线无法精确地用手表或甚至用日历来界定,因具体业务而异。因此,短期与长期之间的区别更为技术性:从短期来看,公司不能改变固定投入的使用,而从长远看,公司可以调整所有生产要素。In a competitive market, profits are a red cape that incite businesses to charge. If a business is making a profit in the short run, it has an incentive to expand existing factories or to build new ones. New firms may start production, as well. When new firms enter the industry in response to increased industry profits it is called entry.
::在竞争激烈的市场中,利润是一种刺激企业收费的红色斗篷。 如果一个企业在短期内盈利,它就有扩大现有工厂或建造新工厂的动力。 新公司也可以开始生产。 当新公司因工业利润增加而进入该行业时,它被称为进入。Losses are the black thundercloud that causes businesses to flee. If a business is making losses in the short run, it will either keep limping along or just shut down, depending on whether its revenues are covering its variable costs. But in the long run, firms that are facing losses will shut down at least some of their output, and some firms will cease production altogether. The long run process of reducing production in response to a sustained pattern of losses is called exit. The following Clear It Up feature discusses where some of these losses might come from, and the reasons why some firms go out of business.
::损失是导致企业逃离的黑色雷电球。 如果企业在短期内正在造成损失,它要么继续无所作为,要么仅仅关闭,取决于其收入是否支付其可变成本。 但从长远看,面临损失的公司将至少关闭其部分产出,而有些公司将完全停止生产。 面对持续损失模式而削减生产的长期过程被称为退出。 之后的Clear It Up特征将讨论其中一些损失可能来自何处,以及某些公司为何停业的原因。Why do Firms Cease to Exist?
::为什么公司停止存在?Can we say anything about what causes a firm to exit an industry? Profits are the measurement that determines whether a business stays operating or not. Individuals start businesses with the purpose of making profits. They invest their money, time, effort, and many other resources to produce and sell something that they hope will give them something in return. Unfortunately, not all businesses are successful, and many new startups soon realize that their “business adventure” must eventually end.
::我们能否说出导致企业退出产业的原因? 利润是决定企业是否继续经营的衡量标准。 个人创办企业的目的是盈利。 他们投资自己的资金、时间、努力和许多其他资源来生产和销售他们希望能给他们的东西作为回报。 不幸的是,并非所有企业都成功,许多新创业者很快意识到他们的“企业冒险”最终必须结束。In the model of perfectly competitive firms, those that consistently cannot make money will “exit,” which is a nice, bloodless word for a more painful process. When a business fails, after all, workers lose their jobs, investors lose their money, and owners and managers can lose their dreams. Many businesses fail. The U.S. Small Business Administration indicates that in 2009–2010, for example, 533,945 firms “entered” in the United States, but 593,347 firms “exited.” About 96.3% and 96.6% of these business entries and exits, respectively, involved small firms with fewer than 20 employees.
::在极具竞争力的公司模式中,那些一直不能赚钱的公司会“退出 ” , 这是一种对更痛苦的过程来说是一个很好的、无血的词句。 毕竟,当企业失败时,投资者就会失去工作,投资者会失去钱,而所有者和经理人也会失去梦想。 许多企业会失败。 比如,美国小企业管理局指出,在2009-2010年,美国有533,945家公司“进入 ” , 但593,347家公司“退出 ” 。 其中大约96.3%和96.6%的入门和出门分别涉及员工不到20人的小企业。Sometimes a business fails because of poor management or workers who are not very productive, or because of tough domestic or foreign competition. Businesses also fail from a variety of causes that might best be summarized as bad luck. For example, conditions of demand and supply in the market shift in an unexpected way, so that the prices that can be charged for outputs fall or the prices that need to be paid for inputs rise. With millions of businesses in the U.S. economy, even a small fraction of them failing will affect many people—and business failures can be very hard on the workers and managers directly involved. But from the standpoint of the overall economic system, business exits are sometimes a necessary evil if a market-oriented system is going to offer a flexible mechanism for satisfying customers, keeping costs low, and inventing new products.
::有时,企业由于管理不善或工人生产力不高,或由于国内或外国竞争激烈而失败,企业也由于各种原因而失败,这些原因可能最好被概括为厄运。 例如,市场变化中的需求和供应条件意外地出现,因此产出可以收取的价格会下降,投入需要支付的价格也会上升。 在美国经济中,数百万企业即使有一小部分失败也会影响许多人 — — 直接涉及的工人和经理人可能非常困难。 但是,从整个经济体系的角度来看,如果市场导向系统要提供一个灵活的机制,满足客户、保持低成本和发明新产品,那么,企业退出有时就是一种必要的邪恶。Video: Comparing Market Structures
::视频:比较市场结构How Entry and Exit Lead to Zero Profits in the Long Run
::如何长期导致 " 零利润 " 的出入境No perfectly competitive firm acting alone can affect the market price. However, the combination of many firms entering or exiting the market will affect overall supply in the market. In turn, a shift in supply for the market as a whole will affect the market price. Entry and exit to and from the market are the driving forces behind a process that, in the long run, pushes the price down to minimum average total costs so that all firms are earning a zero profit.
::任何完全具有竞争力的公司都不能单枪匹马地影响市场价格,然而,许多公司进入或退出市场会影响市场的总体供应,反过来,整个市场供应的转变会影响市场价格,进出市场是推动这一进程的动力,从长远看,这一进程将价格降低到最低平均总成本,从而使所有公司都获得零利润。To understand how short-run profits for a perfectly competitive firm will evaporate in the long run, imagine the following situation. The market is in long-run equilibrium, where all firms earn zero economic profits producing the output level where P = MR = MC and P = AC. No firm has the incentive to enter or leave the market. Let’s say that the product’s demand increases, and with that, the market price goes up. The existing firms in the industry are now facing a higher price than before, so they will increase production to the new output level where P = MR = MC.
::要了解一个完全具有竞争力的公司短期利润从长远来看会如何蒸发,想象一下以下情况。 市场处于长期平衡状态,所有公司都从中赚取零经济利润,产生P=MR=MC和P=AC的产出水平。 没有一家公司有动力进入或离开市场。 可以说产品的需求会增加,市场价格也会随之上涨。 工业中现有的公司现在面临比以前更高的价格,因此它们将把生产提高到P=MR=MC的新产出水平。This will temporarily make the market price rise above the average cost curve, and therefore, the existing firms in the market will now be earning economic profits. However, these economic profits attract other firms to enter the market. Entry of many new firms causes the market supply curve to shift to the right. As the supply curve shifts to the right, the market price starts decreasing, and with that, economic profits fall for new and existing firms. As long as there are still profits in the market, entry will continue to shift supply to the right. This will stop whenever the market price is driven down to the zero-profit level, where no firm is earning economic profits.
::这将暂时使市场价格上升高于平均成本曲线,因此,市场上现有公司现在将赚取经济利润,然而,这些经济利润将吸引其他公司进入市场。许多新公司的进入导致市场供应曲线向右转移。 随着供应曲线向右转移,市场价格开始下降,而随之而来,新公司和现有公司的经济利润也随之下降。只要市场仍有利润,进入市场就会继续将供应转向右。 每当市场价格跌至零利润水平,没有公司赚取经济利益时,市场价格就会停止。Short run losses will fade away by reversing this process. Say that the market is in long run equilibrium. This time, demand decreases, and with that, the market price starts falling. The existing firms in the industry are now facing a lower price than before, and as it will be below the average cost curve, they will now be making economic losses. Some firms will continue producing where the new P = MR = MC, as long as they are able to cover their average variable costs. Some firms will have to shut down immediately as they will not be able to cover their average variable costs, and then will only incur their fixed costs, minimizing their losses. Exit of many firms causes the market supply curve to shift to the left. As the supply curve shifts to the left, the market price starts rising, and economic losses start to be lower. This process ends whenever the market price rises to the zero-profit level, where the existing firms are no longer losing money and are at zero profits again. Thus, while a perfectly competitive firm can earn profits in the short run, in the long run the process of entry will push down prices until they reach the zero-profit level. Conversely, while a perfectly competitive firm may earn losses in the short run, firms will not continually lose money. In the long run, firms making losses are able to escape from their fixed costs, and their exit from the market will push the price back up to the zero-profit level. In the long run, this process of entry and exit will drive the price in perfectly competitive markets to the zero-profit point at the bottom of the AC curve, where marginal cost crosses average cost.
::通过扭转这一进程,短期损失将会消失。 说市场处于长期的平衡状态。 此时, 需求下降, 市场价格开始下跌。 行业中现有的公司现在面临比以前低的价格, 并且由于价格曲线将低于平均成本曲线, 现在它们将造成经济损失。 一些公司将继续生产新的P=MR=MC, 只要它们能够支付平均可变成本。 有些公司将不得不立即关闭, 因为它们将无法支付其平均可变成本, 然后只能承担固定成本, 最大限度地减少损失。 许多公司的退出使得市场供应曲线向左移动。 随着供应曲线向左移动, 市场价格开始上升, 经济损失开始降低。 当市场价格升至零利润水平时, 只要现有公司不再损失货币, 并且再次处于零利润水平。 因此, 在一个竞争竞争激烈的公司可以在短期内赚取利润, 在长期的进入过程中, 将降低价格,直到它们达到零利润水平。 许多公司的退出导致市场曲线曲线曲线曲线向左移动, 反过来, 一个有竞争力的公司将持续地失去它们的价格。The Long Run Adjustment and Industry Types
::长期调整和工业类型Whenever there are expansions in an industry, costs of production for the existing and new firms could either stay the same, increase, or even decrease. Therefore, we can categorize an industry as being (1) a constant cost industry (as demand increases, the cost of production for firms stays the same), (2) an increasing cost industry (as demand increases, the cost of production for firms increases), or (3) a decreasing cost industry (as demand increases the costs of production for the firms decreases).
::只要行业有所扩张,现有公司和新公司的生产成本要么保持不变,要么增加,要么甚至减少,因此,我们可以将行业归类为For a constant cost industry, whenever there is an increase in market demand and price, then the supply curve shifts to the right with new firms’ entry and stops at the point where the new long-run equilibrium intersects at the same market price as before. But why will costs remain the same? In this type of industry, the supply curve is very elastic. Firms can easily supply any quantity that consumers demand. In addition, there is a perfectly elastic supply of inputs—firms can easily increase their demand for employees, for example, with no increase to wages. Tying in to our Bring it Home discussion, an increased demand for ethanol in recent years has caused the demand for corn to increase. Consequently, many farmers switched from growing wheat to growing corn. Agricultural markets are generally good examples of constant cost industries.
::对于一个不变成本产业来说,只要市场需求和价格出现增长,供应曲线就会随着新企业的进入而转向右翼,并停止在新的长期平衡以与以前相同的市场价格交叉的地方。 但为什么成本会维持不变? 在这种产业中,供应曲线非常弹性。 公司可以很容易地供应消费者需求的任何数量。 此外,投入供应完全弹性 — — 公司可以很容易地增加其对员工的需求,比如说,工资不会增加。 在“带家”的讨论中,近年来对乙醇的需求增加导致对玉米的需求增加。 因此,许多农民从种植小麦转向种植玉米。 农业市场通常是持续成本产业的好例子。For an increasing cost industry, as the market expands, the old and new firms experience increases in their costs of production, which makes the new zero-profit level intersect at a higher price than before. Here companies may have to deal with limited inputs, such as skilled labor. As the demand for these workers rise, wages rise and this increases the cost of production for all firms. The industry supply curve in this type of industry is more inelastic.
::对于成本不断增长的行业来说,随着市场扩张,新老企业的生产成本也随之增加,这使得新的零盈利水平的交叉价格比以前更高。 在这里,公司可能不得不应对有限的投入,如熟练劳动力。 随着对这些工人的需求增加,工资上升,这增加了所有企业的生产成本。 此类行业的工业供应曲线更加无弹性。For a decreasing cost industry, as the market expands, the old and new firms experience lower costs of production, which makes the new zero-profit level intersect at a lower price than before. In this case, the industry and all the firms in it are experiencing falling average total costs. This can be due to an improvement in technology in the entire industry or an increase in the education of employees. High tech industries may be a good example of a decreasing cost market.
::对于成本不断下降的行业来说,随着市场的扩大,老公司和新公司的生产成本较低,因此新的零盈利水平的交叉价格比以前低,在这种情况下,该行业和所有公司的平均总成本都在下降,这可能是整个行业的技术改善或雇员教育的增加造成的,高科技行业可能是成本市场下降的一个良好例子。3 (a) presents the case of an adjustment process in a constant cost industry. Whenever there are output expansions in this type of industry, the long-run outcome implies more output produced at exactly the same original price. Note that supply was able to increase to meet the increased demand. When we join the before and after long-run equilibriums, the resulting line is the long run supply (LRS) curve in perfectly competitive markets. In this case, it is a flat curve. 3(b) and 3 (c) present the cases for an increasing cost and decreasing cost industry, respectively. For an increasing cost industry, the LRS is upward sloping, while for a decreasing cost industry, the LRS is downward sloping.
::3 (a) 介绍一个不变成本行业的调整过程。每当这类行业的产出扩大时,长期的结果就意味着以完全相同的原价生产更多的产出。请注意,供应能够增加以满足增长的需求。当我们加入之前和之后的平衡时,由此产生的线是完全具有竞争力的市场上的长期供应曲线。在这种情况下,这是一个平曲线。3(b)和3(c)分别提出成本增加和成本减少的行业。对于成本不断增长的行业,LRS正在上升,而对于成本不断下降的行业,LRS则在下降。Adjustment Process in a Constant-Cost Industry
::固定成本工业中的调整过程In (a), demand increased and supply met it. Notice that the supply increase is equal to the demand increase. The result is that the equilibrium price stays the same as quantity sold increases. In (b), notice that sellers were not able to increase supply as much as demand. Some inputs were scarce, or wages were rising. The equilibrium price rises. In (c), sellers easily increased supply in response to the demand increase. Here, new technology or economies of scale caused the large increase in supply, resulting in declining equilibrium price.
::在(a)项中,需求增加,供应满足了需求。请注意,供应增加与需求增加相等,结果是平衡价格与销售量增加持平。在(b)项中,通知卖方无法增加供应与需求一样多。有些投入稀缺,或工资上升。平衡价格上升。在(c)项中,卖方因需求增加而容易增加供应。在这里,新技术或规模经济导致供应大幅增加,导致平衡价格下降。Efficiency in Perfectly Competitive Markets
::在极具竞争性的市场中的效率When profit-maximizing firms in perfectly competitive markets combine with utility-maximizing consumers, something remarkable happens: the resulting quantities of outputs of goods and services demonstrate both productive and allocative efficiency.
::当在竞争激烈的市场上实现利润最大化的公司与使用量最大化的消费者相结合时,就会发生一些显著的情况:由此而来的货物和服务产出数量既显示出生产效率,也显示出分配效率。Productive efficiency means producing without waste, so that the choice is on the production possibility frontier. In the long run in a perfectly competitive market, because of the process of entry and exit, the price in the market is equal to the minimum of the long-run average cost curve. In other words, goods are being produced and sold at the lowest possible average cost.
::从长远看,在竞争激烈的市场中,由于进出过程,市场价格等于长期平均成本曲线的最小值,换句话说,以尽可能低的平均成本生产和销售货物。Allocative efficiency means that among the points on the production possibility frontier, the point that is chosen is socially preferred—at least in a particular and specific sense. In a perfectly competitive market, price will be equal to the marginal cost of production. Think about the price that is paid for a good as a measure of the social benefit received for that good; after all, willingness to pay conveys what the good is worth to a buyer. Then think about the marginal cost of producing the good as representing not just the cost for the firm, but more broadly as the social cost of producing that good. When perfectly competitive firms follow the rule that profits are maximized by producing at the quantity where price is equal to marginal cost, they are thus ensuring that the social benefits received from producing a good are in line with the social costs of production.
::分配效率意味着,在生产可能性前沿的点数中,所选择的点数是社会所偏爱的点数,至少在特定和具体意义上是如此。在一个完全竞争的市场中,价格将等同于边际生产成本。 想想为商品支付的价格,作为为商品获得的社会效益的尺度;毕竟,愿意向买方支付什么好处;然后想想生产商品的边际成本不仅代表公司的成本,而且更广泛地说代表生产商品的社会成本。 如果完全竞争的公司遵循以价格等于边际成本的数量生产利润以最大利润为目的的规则,它们从而确保从生产商品获得的社会效益符合生产的社会成本。To explore what is meant by allocative efficiency, it is useful to walk through an example. Begin by assuming that the market for wholesale flowers is perfectly competitive, and so P = MC. Now, consider what it would mean if firms in that market produced a lesser quantity of flowers. At a lesser quantity, marginal costs will not yet have increased as much, so that price will exceed marginal cost; that is, P > MC. In that situation, the benefit to society as a whole of producing additional goods, as measured by the willingness of consumers to pay for marginal units of a good, would be higher than the cost of the inputs of labor and physical capital needed to produce the marginal good. In other words, the gains to society as a whole from producing additional marginal units will be greater than the costs.
::为了探索分配效率的含义,不妨举个例子。首先假设批发花卉的市场具有完全的竞争力,因此P=MC。现在,考虑一下如果该市场上的公司生产数量较少的花卉,它意味着什么。 数量较少,边际成本不会增加多少,因此价格将超过边际成本,即P > MC。 在这种情况下,从消费者愿意为一商品的边际单位支付价格来衡量,生产额外商品给整个社会带来的好处将高于生产边际商品所需的劳动力投入和实物资本的成本。 换句话说,生产额外的边际单位给整个社会带来的收益将大于成本。Conversely, consider what it would mean if, compared to the level of output at the allocatively efficient choice when P = MC, firms produced a greater quantity of flowers. At a greater quantity, marginal costs of production will have increased so that P < MC. In that case, the marginal costs of producing additional flowers is greater than the benefit to society as measured by what people are willing to pay. For society as a whole, since the costs are outstripping the benefits, it will make sense to produce a lower quantity of such goods.
::反之,考虑一下,如果与P=MC时分配高效选择的产出水平相比,公司生产更多花卉意味着什么,如果数量更多,生产边际成本就会增加,这样P < MC。在这种情况下,生产额外花卉的边际成本大于以人们愿意支付多少衡量的社会效益。对于整个社会来说,由于成本超过利益,生产较少的花卉是合情合理的。When perfectly competitive firms maximize their profits by producing the quantity where P = MC, they also assure that the benefits to consumers of what they are buying, as measured by the price they are willing to pay, is equal to the costs to society of producing the marginal units, as measured by the marginal costs the firm must pay—and thus that allocative efficiency holds.
::当竞争完全激烈的公司通过生产P=MC的数量而最大限度地增加利润时,它们还保证,按它们愿意支付的价格衡量,它们购买的商品给消费者带来的好处相当于生产边缘单位给社会造成的成本,以公司必须支付的边际成本来衡量,从而保持分配效率。The statements that a perfectly competitive market in the long run will feature both productive and allocative efficiency do need to be taken with a few grains of salt. Remember, economists are using the concept of “efficiency” in a particular and specific sense, not as a synonym for “desirable in every way.” For one thing, consumers’ ability to pay reflects the income distribution in a particular society. Thus, a homeless person may have no ability to pay for housing because they have insufficient income.
::长期而言,一个完全具有竞争力的市场将同时具有生产力和分配效率,这种说法确实需要用几粒盐来形容。 记住,经济学家在特定和具体意义上使用“效率”的概念,而不是“在各方面都可取”的同义词。 一方面,消费者的支付能力反映了特定社会的收入分配。 因此,无家可归的人可能因为收入不足而没有能力支付住房费用。Perfect competition, in the long run, is a hypothetical benchmark. For market structures such as monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly, which are more frequently observed in the real world than perfect competition, firms will not always produce at the minimum of average cost, nor will they always set price equal to marginal cost. Thus, these other competitive situations will not produce productive and allocative efficiency.
::从长远看,完美竞争是一个假设基准。 对于垄断、垄断竞争和寡头垄断等市场结构(在现实世界中比完美竞争更常见 ) , 公司不会总是以最低平均成本生产,也不会把价格与边际成本等同起来。 因此,这些其他竞争环境不会产生生产和分配效率。Moreover, real-world markets include many issues that are assumed away in the model of perfect competition, including pollution, inventions of new technology, poverty which may make some people unable to pay for basic necessities of life, government programs like national defense or education, discrimination in labor markets, and buyers and sellers who must deal with imperfect and unclear information. These issues are explored in other chapters. However, the theoretical efficiency of perfect competition does provide a useful benchmark for comparing the issues that arise from these real-world problems.
::此外,现实世界的市场还包括在完美竞争模式中假定的许多问题,包括污染、新技术的发明、可能使一些人无力支付基本生活必需品的贫困、国防或教育等政府方案、劳动力市场上的歧视以及必须处理不完善和不明确信息的买卖双方。这些问题在其他章节中探讨。然而,完美竞争的理论效率确实为比较这些现实世界问题所产生的问题提供了有用的基准。Monopoly
::垄断There is a widespread belief that top executives at firms are the strongest supporters of market competition, but this belief is far from the truth. Think about it this way: If you very much wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, would you rather be far better than everyone else, or locked in competition with many athletes just as good as you are? Similarly, if you would like to attain a very high level of profits, would you rather manage a business with little or no competition, or struggle against many tough competitors who are trying to sell to your customers?
::人们普遍相信公司高层管理人员是市场竞争的最有力支持者,但这一信念远非事实。 以这种方式想一想:如果你非常想赢得奥林匹克金牌,你宁愿比其他人好得多,还是像现在这样与许多运动员竞争? 类似地,如果你想获得高额利润,你是否宁愿管理一个竞争很少或没有竞争的企业,或与试图向客户出售金牌的许多强硬竞争者作斗争?If perfect competition is a market where firms have no market power and they simply respond to the market price, monopoly is a market with no competition at all, and firms have complete market power. In the case of monopoly, one firm produces all of the output in a market. Since a monopoly faces no significant competition, it can charge any price it wishes. While a monopoly, by definition, refers to a single firm, in practice the term is often used to describe a market in which one firm merely has a very high market share. This tends to be the definition that the U.S. Department of Justice uses.
::如果完美竞争是一个企业没有市场支配力而且它们只是对市场价格作出反应的市场,垄断就是一个根本没有竞争的市场,公司拥有完全的市场支配力。 在垄断的情况下,一个公司生产市场的所有产出。由于垄断不面临重大竞争,它可以收取它想要的任何价格。 垄断从定义上说是指一个公司,但实际上,这个术语常常被用来描述一个公司只拥有很高市场份额的市场。 这往往是美国司法部所使用的定义。Even though there are very few true monopolies in existence, we do deal with some of those few every day, often without realizing it: The U.S. Postal Service, your electric and garbage collection companies are a few examples. Some new drugs are produced by only one pharmaceutical firm—and no close substitutes for that drug may exist.
::尽管真正的垄断很少存在,但我们每天都在对付其中的少数垄断者,常常没有意识到这一点:美国邮政局、你们的电力和垃圾收集公司就是几个例子。 一些新药品只由一家制药公司生产 — — 并且可能不存在这种药品的近距离替代品。From the mid-1990s until 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted the Microsoft Corporation for including Internet Explorer as the default web browser with its operating system. The Justice Department’s argument was that, since Microsoft possessed an extremely high market share in the industry for operating systems, the inclusion of a free web browser constituted unfair competition to other browsers, such as Netscape Navigator. Since nearly everyone was using Windows, including Internet Explorer eliminated the incentive for consumers to explore other browsers and made it impossible for competitors to gain a foothold in the market. In 2013, the Windows system ran on more than 90% of the most commonly sold personal computers.
::从1990年代中期到2004年,美国司法部起诉微软公司将互联网探索者列为其操作系统的默认网络浏览器。 司法部的论据是,由于微软公司在运营系统行业中拥有极高的市场份额,免费网络浏览器的加入构成了对其他浏览器的不公平竞争,比如Netscape Navigator。 由于几乎所有人都在使用视窗,包括互联网探索者已经消除了消费者探索其他浏览器的动力,使得竞争者无法在市场上立足。 2013年,视窗系统运行在90%以上最常用的个人计算机上。Monopolies are protected from competition, including laws that prohibit competition, technological advantages, and certain configurations of demand and supply. It then discusses how a monopoly will choose its profit-maximizing quantity to produce and what price to charge. While a monopoly must be concerned about whether consumers will purchase its products or spend their money on something altogether different, the monopolist need not worry about the actions of other competing firms producing its products. As a result, a monopoly is not a price taker like a perfectly competitive firm, but instead exercises some power to choose its market price.
::垄断不受竞争保护,包括禁止竞争、技术优势和某些供求配置的法律。 然后,它讨论了垄断如何选择其利润最大化生产数量和价格。 虽然垄断必须关注消费者是购买其产品还是将其钱花在完全不同的东西上,但垄断者不必担心其他竞争企业生产其产品的行动。 因此,垄断不像一个完全具有竞争力的公司那样是价格收购者,而是行使某种权力选择其市场价格。Video: Monopolies and Anti-Competitive Markets
::录像:垄断和反竞争市场How Monopolies Form: Barriers to Entry
::垄断如何形成:入境障碍Because of the lack of competition, monopolies tend to earn significant economic profits. These profits should attract vigorous competition, and yet, because of one particular characteristic of monopoly, they do not. Barriers to entry are the legal, technological, or market forces that discourage or prevent potential competitors from entering a market. Barriers to entry can range from the simple and easily surmountable, such as the cost of renting retail space, to the extremely restrictive. For example, there are a finite number of radio frequencies available for broadcasting. Once the rights to all of them have been purchased, no new competitors can enter the market.
::由于缺乏竞争,垄断往往赚取巨大的经济利润,这些利润应当吸引激烈的竞争,然而,由于垄断的某一特点,这些利润并不具有。 进入的障碍是阻止或阻止潜在竞争者进入市场的法律、技术或市场力量。进入的障碍可以包括简单和容易克服的壁垒,如租用零售空间的费用,也可以包括极具限制性的障碍。例如,有一定数量的无线电频率可供广播使用。一旦购买了所有竞争者的权利,任何新的竞争者都无法进入市场。In some cases, barriers to entry may lead to monopoly. In other cases, they may limit competition to a few firms. Barriers may block entry even if the firm or firms currently in the market are earning profits. Thus, in markets with significant barriers to entry, it is not true that abnormally high profits will attract new firms, and that this entry of new firms will eventually cause the price to decline so that surviving firms earn only a normal level of profit in the long run.
::在某些情况下,进入壁垒可能导致垄断,在另一些情况下,它们可能会将竞争限制在少数公司,即使目前市场中的公司或公司正在赚取利润,障碍也可能阻碍进入,因此,在有重大进入壁垒的市场上,非正常的高利润不会吸引新公司,新公司的进入最终会导致价格下跌,使幸存的公司只能长期赚取正常利润。There are two types of monopolies based on the types of barriers to entry they exploit. One is natural monopoly where the barriers to entry are something other than legal prohibition. The other is legal monopoly where laws prohibit (or severely limit) competition.
::有一种是自然垄断,因为进入壁垒不是法律禁止,另一种是法律禁止(或严格限制)竞争的法律垄断。Natural Monopoly
::自然垄断Economies of scale can combine with the size of the market to limit competition. This situation, when economies of scale are large relative to the quantity demanded in the market, is called a natural monopoly. Natural monopolies often arise in industries where the marginal cost of adding an additional customer is very low, once the fixed costs of the overall system are in place. Once the main water pipes are laid through a neighborhood, the marginal cost of providing water service to another home is fairly low. Once electricity lines are installed through a neighborhood, the marginal cost of providing additional electrical service to one more home is very low. It would be costly and duplicative for a second water company to enter the market and invest in a whole second set of main water pipes, or for a second electricity company to enter the market and invest in a whole new set of electrical wires. These industries offer an example where, because of economies of scale, one producer can serve the entire market more efficiently than a number of smaller producers that would need to make duplicate physical capital investments.
::规模经济可以与限制竞争的市场规模相结合,当规模经济相对于市场所需数量而言规模经济较大时,这种情况被称为自然垄断,自然垄断经常发生在那些一旦整个系统固定成本到位,增加额外客户的边际成本非常低的行业;一旦主要水管通过一个街区铺设,向另一个家庭提供供水服务的边际成本相当低;一旦通过一个街区安装了电线,向另一个家庭提供额外电力服务的边际成本非常低;第二家水公司进入市场并投资于第二套主水管,或者第二家电力公司进入市场并投资全套新电线,成本昂贵且重复;这些行业提供了一个实例,即由于规模经济,一个生产者能够为整个市场提供比一些需要重复有形资本投资的小生产者更高效的服务。A natural monopoly can also arise in smaller local markets for products that are difficult to transport. For example, cement production exhibits economies of scale, and the quantity of cement demanded in a local area may not be much larger than what a single plant can produce. Moreover, the costs of transporting cement over land are high, and so a cement plant in an area without access to water transportation may be a natural monopoly.
::难以运输的产品在较小的当地市场也可能出现自然垄断。 比如,水泥生产具有规模经济,当地水泥需求量可能不会比单个工厂所能生产的数量大得多。 此外,陆运水泥的成本很高,因此,在无法获得水运的地区建造水泥厂可能是一种自然垄断。Control of a Physical Resource
::实物资源管制Another type of natural monopoly occurs when a company has control of a scarce physical resource. In the U.S. economy, one historical example of this pattern occurred when ALCOA—the Aluminum Company of America—controlled most of the supply of bauxite, a key mineral used in making aluminum. Back in the 1930s, when ALCOA controlled most of the bauxite, other firms were simply unable to produce enough aluminum to compete.
::另一种类型的自然垄断发生在公司控制稀有物质资源时。 在美国经济中,这种模式的一个历史例子就是美国铝业公司(ALCOA)控制了大部分铝土供应,铝土是用于制铝的关键矿物。 早在1930年代,当ALCOA控制了大部分铝土时,其他公司根本无法生产足够的铝来竞争。As another example, the majority of global diamond production is controlled by DeBeers, a multi-national company that has mining and production operations in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Canada. It also has exploration activities on four continents, while directing a worldwide distribution network of rough diamonds. Though in recent years they have experienced growing competition, their impact on the rough diamond market is still considerable.
::另一个例子是,全球钻石生产大部分由De Beers公司控制,该公司是一家在南非、博茨瓦纳、纳米比亚和加拿大从事采矿和生产业务的多国公司,在四大洲也开展勘探活动,同时指导一个世界范围的毛坯钻石销售网络,虽然近年来它们经历了日益激烈的竞争,但对毛坯钻石市场的影响仍然很大。Legal Monopoly
::法律垄断For some products, the government erects barriers to entry by prohibiting or limiting competition. Under U.S. law, no organization but the U.S. Postal Service is legally allowed to deliver first-class mail. Many states or cities have laws or regulations that allow households a choice of only one electric company, one water company, and one company to pick up the garbage. Most legal monopolies are considered utilities—products necessary for everyday life—that are socially beneficial to have. As a consequence, the government allows producers to become regulated monopolies, to insure that an appropriate amount of these products is provided to consumers. Additionally, legal monopolies are often subject to economies of scale, so it makes sense to allow only one provider.
::对于某些产品,政府禁止或限制竞争,从而设置了进入壁垒。根据美国法律,除了美国邮政局之外,任何组织都依法被允许发送头等邮件。许多州或城市都有法律或规章允许家庭只选择一家电力公司、一家水公司和一家公司来捡垃圾。 大部分法律垄断被认为是日常生活所必需的、对社会有利的公用事业产品。 因此,政府允许生产者成为受监管的垄断企业,以确保向消费者提供一定数量的此类产品。 此外,法律垄断常常受到规模经济的限制,因此只允许一个供应商是有道理的。Promoting Innovation
::促进创新Innovation takes time and resources to achieve. Suppose a company invests in research and development and finds the cure for the common cold. In this world of near ubiquitous information, other companies could take the formula, produce the drug, and because they did not incur the costs of research and development (R&D), undercut the price of the company that discovered the drug. Given this possibility, many firms would choose not to invest in research and development, and as a result, the world would have less innovation. To prevent this from happening, the Constitution of the United States specifies in Article I, Section 8: “The Congress shall have Power . . . To Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the Exclusive Right to their Writings and Discoveries.” Congress used this power to create the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, as well as the U.S. Copyright Office. A patent gives the inventor the exclusive legal right to make, use, or sell the invention for a limited time; in the United States, exclusive patent rights last for 20 years. The idea is to provide limited monopoly power so that innovative firms can recoup their investment in R&D, but then to allow other firms to produce the product more cheaply once the patent expires.
::创新需要时间和资源才能实现。 假设一个公司投资于研发并找到常见寒冷的治疗方法。 在这个信息几乎无处不在的世界里,其他公司可以采取配方,生产毒品,并因为它们没有承担研发成本,从而压低了发现该药物的公司的价格。 鉴于这一可能性,许多公司将选择不投资于研发,结果,世界将少有创新。 为了防止这种情况发生,《美国宪法》第一条第8节规定:“国会应拥有权力.促进科学和实用艺术的进步,确保作者和发明者拥有有限的时间,从而获得其著作和发明的独家权利。” 国会利用这一权力创建美国专利和商标办公室,以及美国版权办公室。 专利赋予发明者在有限时间内制造、使用或销售发明的专属法律权利;在美国,独家专利权将持续20年。 设想是让专利公司在有限的时间里生产更廉价的专利产品,然后让其他专利公司生产更廉价的专利产品。A trademark is an identifying symbol or name for a particular good like Chiquita bananas, Chevrolet cars, or the Nike “swoosh” that appears on shoes and athletic gear. Roughly 1.9 million trademarks are registered with the U.S. government. A firm can renew a trademark over and over again, as long as it remains in active use.
::商标是Chiquita香蕉、Chevployt汽车或鞋和运动用具上出现的耐克“swoosh”等特定商品的识别符号或名称。 大约190万个商标在美国政府注册。 只要商标仍在积极使用,公司可以一次又一次地更新商标。A copyright, according to the U.S. Copyright Office, “is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States for ‘original works of authorship’ including literary, dramatic, musical, architectural, cartographic, choreographic, pantomimic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, and audiovisual creations.” No one can reproduce, display, or perform a copyrighted work without permission of the author. Copyright protection ordinarily lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.
::据美国版权局称,版权 " 是美国法律为`原作者作品 ' 提供的一种保护形式,包括文学、戏剧、音乐、建筑、制图、舞蹈、全景、图片、制图、雕塑、雕塑和视听创作。 " 未经作者许可,任何人不得复制、展示或进行版权作品。 版权保护通常持续70年以上,持续作者的生命。Roughly speaking, patent law covers inventions and copyright protects books, songs, and art. In certain areas, like the invention of new software, it has been unclear whether patent or copyright protection should apply. There is also a body of law known as trade secrets. Even if a company does not have a patent on an invention, competing firms are not allowed to steal their secrets. One famous trade secret is the formula for Coca-Cola, which is not protected under copyright or patent law, but is simply kept secret by the company.
::简而言之,专利法涵盖发明,版权保护书籍、歌曲和艺术。在某些领域,如新软件的发明,不清楚专利或版权保护是否适用。还有一套法律被称为商业秘密。即使公司对发明没有专利,竞争公司也不得窃取其秘密。一个著名的行业秘密是可口可乐的公式,它不受版权或专利法的保护,而只是被公司保密。Taken together, this combination of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secret law is called intellectual property because it implies ownership over an idea, concept, or image, not a physical piece of property like a house or a car. Countries around the world have enacted laws to protect intellectual property although the time periods and exact provisions of such laws vary across countries. There are ongoing negotiations, both through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and through international treaties, to bring greater harmony to the intellectual property laws of different countries to determine the extent to which patents and copyrights in one country will be respected in other countries.
::这种专利、商标、版权和贸易秘密法的结合加在一起被称为知识产权,因为它意味着对一种思想、概念或图像的所有权,而不是像房屋或汽车这样的有形财产。世界各国都颁布了保护知识产权的法律,尽管这种法律的期限和具体规定因国家而异。目前正在通过世界知识产权组织(知识产权组织)和国际条约进行谈判,以使不同国家的知识产权法更加协调一致,以确定一个国家的专利和版权在其他国家将在多大程度上得到尊重。Government limitations on competition used to be even more common in the United States. For most of the twentieth century, only one phone company—AT&T—was legally allowed to provide local and long distance service. From the 1930s to the 1970s, one set of federal regulations limited which destinations airlines could choose to fly to and what fares they could charge; another set of regulations limited the interest rates that banks could pay to depositors; yet another specified what trucking firms could charge customers.
::在20世纪的大部分时间里,只有一家电话公司(AT&T)依法允许提供本地和长途服务。 从1930年代到1970年代,一套联邦条例限制航空公司选择飞往目的地的目的地以及它们可以收取的票价;另一套条例限制银行可以向存款人支付的利率;另一套条例具体规定了卡车公司可以向客户收取的费率。What products are considered utilities depends, in part, on the available technology. Fifty years ago, local and long distance telephone service was provided over wires. It did not make much sense to have multiple companies building multiple systems of wiring across towns and across the country. AT&T lost its monopoly on long distance service when the technology for providing phone service changed from wires to microwave and satellite transmission, so that multiple firms could use the same transmission mechanism. The same thing happened to local service, especially in recent years, with the growth in cellular phone systems.
::50年前,通过电线提供当地和长途电话服务,让多个公司在城镇和全国各地建立多条线路系统是没有道理的。 当电话服务技术从电线转向微波和卫星传输,使多个公司能够使用同样的传输机制时,AT&T失去了对长途服务的垄断。 特别是近年来,随着移动电话系统的增长,当地服务也发生了同样的情况。The combination of improvements in production technologies and a general sense that the markets could provide services adequately led to a wave of deregulation, starting in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1990s. This wave eliminated or reduced government restrictions on the firms that could enter, the prices that could be charged, and the quantities that could be produced in many industries, including telecommunications, airlines, trucking, banking, and electricity.
::生产技术的改进与市场能够充分提供服务的普遍感觉相结合,导致了自1970年代末开始直到1990年代的放松管制浪潮。 这一浪潮消除或减少了政府对可能进入的公司的限制、可以收取的价格以及许多行业,包括电信、航空公司、卡车、银行和电力业可以生产的数量。Around the world, from Europe to Latin America to Africa and Asia, many governments continue to control and limit competition in what those governments perceive to be key industries, including airlines, banks, steel companies, oil companies, and telephone companies.
::世界各地,从欧洲到拉丁美洲,到非洲和亚洲,许多国家政府继续控制和限制这些政府视为关键行业的竞争,包括航空公司、银行、钢铁公司、石油公司和电话公司。Regulating Natural Monopolies
::管制自然垄断Most true monopolies today in the U.S. are regulated natural monopolies. A natural monopoly poses a difficult challenge for competition policy, because the structure of costs and demand seems to make competition unlikely or costly. A natural monopoly arises when average costs are declining over the range of production that satisfies market demand. This typically happens when fixed costs are large relative to variable costs. As a result, one firm is able to supply the total quantity demanded in the market at lower cost than two or more firms—so splitting up the natural monopoly would raise the average cost of production and force customers to pay more.
::美国当今最真实的垄断是受监管的自然垄断。 自然垄断给竞争政策带来了困难的挑战,因为成本和需求结构似乎使竞争变得不可能或代价高昂。 当平均成本在满足市场需求的生产范围上下降时,自然垄断便会产生。 通常当固定成本相对于可变成本而言是巨大的时,这种垄断就会发生。 结果,一家公司能够以低于两家或两家以上公司的成本供应市场所需要的总量 — — 因此,分割自然垄断将提高生产的平均成本,迫使客户支付更多的费用。Public utilities, the companies that have traditionally provided water and electrical service across much of the United States, are leading examples of natural monopoly. It would make little sense to argue that a local water company should be broken up into several competing companies, each with its own separate set of pipes and water supplies. Installing four or five identical sets of pipes under a city, one for each water company, so that each household could choose its own water provider would be terribly costly. The same argument applies to the idea of having many competing companies for delivering electricity to homes, each with its own set of wires. Before the advent of wireless phones, the argument also applied to the idea of many different phone companies, each with its own set of phone wires running through the neighborhood.
::传统上在美国大部分地区提供水电服务的公用事业公司是自然垄断的主要例子,认为当地供水公司应该分成几个竞争的公司,每个公司都有自己的管道和供水。 在城市下安装四套或五套相同的管道,每个供水公司各安装一套,这样每个家庭可以选择自己的供水公司的费用就非常昂贵。同样的论点也适用于让许多竞争的公司向家庭提供电力,每个公司都有自己的电线。 在无线电话出现之前,这个论点也适用于许多不同的电话公司的想法,每个公司都有自己的电话线在附近运行。The Choices in Regulating a Natural Monopoly
::管制自然垄断的选择So what is the appropriate competition policy for a natural monopoly? 4 illustrates the case of natural monopoly, with a market demand curve that cuts through the downward-sloping portion of the average cost curve. Points A, B, C, and F illustrate four of the main choices for regulation. 3 outlines the regulatory choices for dealing with a natural monopoly.
::那么,什么是适合自然垄断的竞争政策? 4 说明自然垄断的情况,市场需求曲线贯穿平均成本曲线的向下倾斜部分。 A、B、C和F点说明了监管的四种主要选择。 3 概述了处理自然垄断的监管选择。Regulatory Choices in Dealing with a Natural Monopoly
::应对自然垄断的监管选择Figure 4 --A natural monopoly will maximize profits by producing at the quantity where marginal revenue (MR) equals marginal costs (MC) and by then looking to the market demand curve to see what price to charge for this quantity. This monopoly will produce at point A, with a quantity of 4 and a price of 9.3. If antitrust regulators split this company exactly in half, then each half would produce at point B, with average costs of 9.75 and output of 2. The regulators might require the firm to produce where marginal cost crosses the market demand curve at point C. However, if the firm is required to produce at a quantity of 8 and sell at a price of 3.5, the firm will suffer from losses. The most likely choice is point F, where the firm is required to produce a quantity of 6 and charge a price of 6.5.
::图4 -- -- 自然垄断将以边际收入等于边际成本(MC)的数量生产利润最大化,然后以市场需求曲线看一看这一数量的价格。这种垄断将在A点产生,数量为4,价格为9.3。如果反托拉斯监管机构将该公司完全分成一半,则每半点在B点生产,平均成本为9.75,产出为2. 监管者可能要求公司生产边际成本超过C点市场需求曲线的部分。 但是,如果公司需要以8倍的产量和3.5的销售价格生产,公司将遭受损失。最可能的选择是F点,要求公司生产6倍的产量和6.5的价格。Quantity
::终止原因 原因 原因 原因 终止Price
::价格价格价格Total Revenue *
::收入共计*Marginal Revenue
::边际收入Total Cost
::费用共计共计Marginal Cost
::边际成本Average Cost
::平均平均费用1
14.7
14.7
-
11.0
-
11.00
2
12.4
24.7
10.0
19.5
8.5
9.75
3
10.6
31.7
7.0
25.5
6.0
8.50
4
9.3
37.2
5.5
31.0
5.5
7.75
5
8.0
40.0
2.8
35.0
4.0
7.00
6
6.5
39.0
–1.0
39.0
4.0
6.50
7
5.0
35.0
–4.0
42.0
3.0
6.00
8
3.5
28.0
–7.0
45.5
3.5
5.70
9
2.0
18.0
–10.0
49.5
4.0
5.5
Regulatory Choices in Dealing with Natural Monopoly(*Total Revenue is given by multiplying price and quantity. However, some of the price values in this table have been rounded for ease of presentation.)
The first possibility is to leave the natural monopoly alone. In this case, the monopoly will follow its normal approach to maximizing profits. It determines the quantity where MR = MC, which happens at point P at a quantity of 4. The firm then looks to point A on the demand curve to find that it can charge a price of 9.3 for that profit-maximizing quantity. Since the price is above the average cost curve, the natural monopoly would earn economic profits.
::第一种可能性是将自然垄断抛在一边。 在这种情况下,垄断将遵循其通常的利润最大化方法。它决定MR = MC的数量,而MR = MC 是在P点发生的,数量为4 。 该公司然后在需求曲线上指出A,认为它可以为利润最大化的数量收取9.3美元。 由于价格高于平均成本曲线,自然垄断将赚取经济利益。A second outcome arises if antitrust authorities decide to divide the company, so that the new firms can compete. As a simple example, imagine that the company is cut in half. Thus, instead of one large firm producing a quantity of 4, two half-size firms each produce a quantity of 2. Because of the declining average cost curve (AC), the average cost of production for each of the half-size companies each producing 2, as shown at point B, would be 9.75, while the average cost of production for a larger firm producing 4 would only be 7.75. T herefore, t he economy would become less productively efficient since the good is being produced at a higher average cost. In a situation with a downward-sloping average cost curve, two smaller firms will always have higher average costs of production than one larger firm for any quantity of total output. In addition, the antitrust authorities must worry that splitting the natural monopoly into pieces may be only the start of their problems. If one of the two firms grows larger than the other, it will have lower average costs and may be able to drive its competitor out of the market. Alternatively, two firms in a market may discover subtle ways of coordinating their behavior and keeping prices high. Either way, the result will not be the greater competition that was desired.
::如果反托拉斯当局决定分裂公司,从而让新公司能够竞争,就会产生第二个结果。作为一个简单的例子,想象一下公司被削减一半。因此,如果不是一大公司生产数量为4,2个半规模公司,每个公司生产数量为2,那么由于平均成本曲线下降(AC),每个半规模公司生产2个公司的平均生产成本为9.75,而B点显示的每个半规模公司生产成本为9.75,而生产4家大公司的平均生产成本只有7.75。因此,经济效率会降低,因为商品的生产平均成本较高。在平均成本曲线下降的情况下,两家小公司的平均生产成本总是高于总产出数量的任何大公司。此外,反托拉斯当局必须担心,将自然垄断分成零散只是问题的开始。如果两家公司中的一家公司比另一家公司增长更大,其平均成本将会降低,并且能够将它的竞争对手推出市场。或者说,在市场中,两家公司的平均成本曲线向下倾斜,其生产成本总是会高于一个公司的平均生产成本。此外,两家公司在总产出量上总是会比一个大的公司的平均成本更高。此外,反会发现它们的行为和保持较高的竞争的结果。A third alternative is that regulators may decide to set prices and quantities produced for this industry. The regulators will try to choose a point along the market demand curve that benefits both consumers and the broader social interest. Point C illustrates one tempting choice: the regulator requires that the firm produce the quantity of output where marginal cost crosses the demand curve at an output of 8, and charge the price of 3.5, which is equal to marginal cost at that point. This rule is appealing because it requires price to be set equal to marginal cost, which is what would occur in a perfectly competitive market, and it would assure consumers a higher quantity and lower price than at the monopoly choice A. In fact, efficient allocation of resources would occur at point C, since the value to the consumers of the last unit bought and sold in this market is equal to the marginal cost of producing it.
::第三种选择是,监管者可以决定为该行业确定价格和生产数量。监管者将试图沿着市场需求曲线选择一个既有利于消费者也有利于更广泛的社会利益的点。 C点说明了一种诱人的选择:监管者要求公司生产产出数量,如果边际成本超过需求曲线,则其产出为8, 并收取3.5美元的价格, 相当于当时的边际成本。 这一规则具有吸引力,因为它要求价格与边际成本相等,而边际成本正是在一个完全竞争性的市场中发生的情况,并且这将确保消费者的数量和价格高于垄断选择A。 事实上,资源的有效分配将在C点发生,因为在这一市场上买卖的最后一批产品的消费者的价值相当于生产边际成本。Attempting to bring about point C through force of regulation, however, runs into a severe difficulty. At point C, with an output of 8, a price of 3.5 is below the average cost of production, which is 5.7, and so if the firm charges a price of 3.5, it will be suffering losses. Unless the regulators or the government offer the firm an ongoing public subsidy (and there are numerous political problems with that option), the firm will lose money and go out of business.
::然而,试图通过监管力量实现C点却遇到了严重困难。 在C点,产出为8,3.5的价格低于平均生产成本,即5.7,因此,如果公司收取3.5美元的价格,它将遭受损失。 除非监管者或政府向公司提供持续的公共补贴(而且这一选择存在许多政治问题 ) , 公司将失去钱财并退出业务。Perhaps the most plausible option for the regulator is point F; that is, to set the price where AC crosses the demand curve at an output of 6 and a price of 6.5. This plan makes some sense at an intuitive level: let the natural monopoly charge enough to cover its average costs and earn a normal rate of profit, so that it can continue operating, but prevent the firm from raising prices and earning abnormally high monopoly profits, as it would at the monopoly choice A. Of course, determining this level of output and price with the political pressures, time constraints, and limited information of the real world is much harder than identifying the point on a graph. For more on the problems that can arise from a centrally determined price, see the discussion of price floors and price ceilings in .
::也许监管者最可信的选择是F点,即将AC跨越需求曲线的价格定在6和6.5的输出值。这个计划在直观层面上具有某种意义:让自然垄断收费足以支付其平均成本并赚取正常利润率,以便它能够继续运作,但防止公司提高价格并赚取异常高的垄断利润,正如它在垄断选择A中选择的那样。 当然,用政治压力、时间限制和现实世界有限的信息来确定这一产出和价格水平比在图表中确定点要难得多。 关于中央确定的价格可能产生的问题,请参看关于价格底限和价格上限的讨论。The Great Deregulation Experiment
::大放松管制实验Governments at all levels across the United States have regulated prices in a wide range of industries. In some cases, like water and electricity that have natural monopoly characteristics, there is some room in economic theory for such regulation. But once politicians are given a basis to intervene in markets and to choose prices and quantities, it is hard to know where to stop.
::美国各级政府都对一系列行业的价格实行监管,在某些情况下,如具有自然垄断特征的水电,这种监管在经济理论中有一些空间。 但是,一旦政客们有了干预市场和选择价格和数量的基础,就很难知道在哪里可以停止。Doubts about Regulation of Prices and Quantities
::对价格和数量监管的怀疑Beginning in the 1970s, it became clear to policymakers of all political leanings that the existing price regulation was not working well. The United States carried out a great policy experiment—the deregulation discussed in —removing government controls over prices and quantities produced in airlines, railroads, trucking, intercity bus travel, natural gas, and bank interest rates. The Clear it Up discusses the outcome of deregulation in one industry in particular—airlines.
::从1970年代开始,所有政治倾向的决策者都清楚地认识到,现行价格监管不起作用。 美国进行了一场伟大的政策实验 — — 在其中讨论的放松管制 — — 取消了政府对航空公司、铁路、卡车、城市间公共汽车旅行、天然气和银行利率价格和数量的控制。 明确讨论了一个行业,特别是航空公司放松管制的结果。What are the Results of Airline Deregulation?
::航空公司放松管制的结果是什么?Why did the pendulum swing in favor of deregulation? Consider the airline industry. In the early days of air travel, no airline could make a profit just by flying passengers. Airlines needed something else to carry and the Postal Service provided that something with airmail. So the first U.S. government regulation of the airline industry happened through the Postal Service when. In 1926 the Postmaster General began giving airlines permission to fly certain routes based on the needs of mail delivery—and the airlines took some passengers along for the ride. In 1934, the Postmaster General was charged by the antitrust authorities with colluding with the major airlines of that day to monopolize the nation’s airways. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was created to regulate airfares and routes instead. For 40 years, from 1938 to 1978, the CAB approved all fares, controlled all entry and exit, and specified which airlines could fly which routes. There was zero entry of new airlines on the main routes across the country for 40 years because the CAB did not think it was necessary.
::在空中旅行的最初几天,没有航空公司能够仅仅通过搭乘乘客而获利。 航空公司需要其他交通工具,而邮政局则提供航空邮件。 因此,美国政府对航空业的首个监管是通过邮政局进行的。 1926年,邮政总长根据邮件递送的需要,开始允许航空公司开某些航线,航空公司也让一些乘客随行搭乘。 1934年,邮电总长被反托拉斯当局指控与当天的主要航空公司勾结以垄断国家航空航线。 1938年,民航局(CAB)成立来监管机票和航线。 从1938年到1978年,40年来,CAB批准了所有远方,控制所有出入口,并指定了哪些航空公司可以开哪条路线。 四十年来,新的航空公司没有进入全国主要航线,因为CAB认为没有必要。In 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act took the government out of the business of determining airfares and schedules. The new law shook up the industry. Famous old airlines like Pan American, Eastern, and Braniff went bankrupt and disappeared. Some new airlines like People Express were created—and then vanished.
::1978年,《航空公司放松管制法》使政府脱离了确定机票和时间表的工作。 新法律震撼了这一行业。 泛美、东方和布兰夫等著名老航空公司破产并失踪了。 一些新航空公司,如人民快报(People Express)被创建,然后消失。The greater competition from deregulation reduced airfares by about one-third over the next two decades, saving consumers billions of dollars a year. The average flight used to take off with just half its seats full; now it is two-thirds full, which is far more efficient. Airlines have also developed hub-and-spoke systems, where planes all fly into a central hub city at a certain time and then depart. As a result, one can fly between any of the spoke cities with just one connection—and there is greater service to more cities than before deregulation. With lower fares and more service, the number of air passengers doubled from the late 1970s to the start of the 2000s—an increase that, in turn, doubled the number of jobs in the airline industry. Meanwhile, with the watchful oversight of government safety inspectors, commercial air travel has continued to grow safer over time.
::放松管制导致的更大竞争在今后二十年中减少了大约三分之一的机票票价,每年节省了数十亿美元的消费者。 平均航班平均起飞时只有一半的座位;现在只有三分之二的座位,效率要高得多。 航空公司还开发了中标系统,飞机在某个时候全部飞入中枢城市,然后离开。 结果,在任何一个只连接一个连接的有话话直说的城市之间,可以飞过,对更多城市的服务比以前要多。 由于票价较低,服务量也更多,从1970年代末到2000年代初,航空乘客人数翻了一番,这反过来又增加了航空业就业机会的两倍。 与此同时,随着政府安全检查员的密切监督,商业航空旅行也随着时间的推移继续变得更安全。The U.S. airline industry is far from perfect. For example, a string of mergers in recent years has raised concerns over how competition might be compromised.
::美国航空业远非完美无缺。 比如,近年一系列兼并引起了人们对竞争如何可能受损的担忧。One difficulty with government price regulation is what economists call regulatory capture. This occurs when the firms supposedly being regulated end up playing a large role in setting the regulations that they will follow. When the airline industry was being regulated, for example, it suggested appointees to the regulatory board, sent lobbyists to argue with the board, provided most of the information on which the board made decisions, and offered well-paid jobs to at least some of the people leaving the board. In this situation, consumers can easily end up being not very well represented by the regulators. The result of regulatory capture is that government price regulation can often become a way for existing competitors to work together to reduce output, keep prices high, and limit competition.
::政府价格监管的一个难题是经济学家所谓的监管俘虏。 当据称受监管的公司最终在制订监管条例方面扮演了重要角色时,就会出现这种情况。 比如,当航空业被监管时,它向监管委员会推荐了任命者,派遣游说者与监管委员会争论,提供了董事会决策所依据的大部分信息,并且至少向离开董事会的一些人提供了高薪工作。 在这种情况下,消费者很容易被监管者代表得不甚好。 监管捕获的结果是政府价格监管常常成为现有竞争者共同努力减少产出、保持高价和限制竞争的一种方式。The Effects of Deregulation
::放松管制的影响Deregulation, both of airlines and of other industries, has its negatives. The greater pressure of competition led to entry and exit. When firms went bankrupt or contracted substantially in size, they laid off workers who had to find other jobs. Market competition is, after all, a full-contact sport.
::航空公司和其他行业的放松管制有其消极因素,竞争的压力更大导致出入境,当公司破产或规模大为减缩时,它们解雇了不得不找到其他工作的工人。 毕竟,市场竞争是一种全面接触的运动。A number of major accounting scandals involving prominent corporations such as Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Sarbanes-Oxley was designed to increase confidence in financial information provided by public corporations to protect investors from accounting fraud.
::Enron、Tyco International和WorldCom等涉及著名公司的一些重大会计丑闻导致2002年颁布了《Sarbanes-Oxley法》,目的是增强对公营公司为保护投资者免遭会计欺诈而提供的金融信息的信心。The Great Recession which began in late 2007 and which the U.S. economy is still struggling to recover from was caused at least in part by a global financial crisis, which began in the United States. The key component of the crisis was the creation and subsequent failure of several types of unregulated financial assets, such as collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs, a type of mortgage-backed security), and credit default swaps (CDSs, insurance contracts on assets like CMOs that provided a payoff even if the holder of the CDS did not own the CMO). Many of these assets were rated very safe by private credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poors, Moody’s, and Fitch.
::2007年底开始的、美国经济仍在努力从中复苏的大衰退至少部分是由全球金融危机造成的,这场危机始于美国。 危机的关键部分是产生并随后失败了几类不受监管的金融资产,如抵押贷款债务(抵押贷款债券,一种抵押贷款支持的担保 ) 、 信用违约互换(CDS, CMOs等资产的保险合同,即使CDS的持有者并不拥有CMO ) 。 其中许多资产被标准普尔斯、穆迪和惠誉等私人信用评级机构评为非常安全。The collapse of the markets for these assets precipitated the financial crisis and led to the failure of Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, numerous large commercial banks, such as Wachovia, and even the Federal National Mortgage Corporation (Fannie Mae), which had to be nationalized—that is, taken over by the federal government. One response to the financial crisis was the Dodd-Frank Act, which attempted major reforms of the financial system. The legislation’s purpose, as noted on dodd-frank.com is:
::这些资产的市场崩溃引发了金融危机,并导致主要投资银行雷曼兄弟公司、许多大型商业银行(如瓦乔维亚)乃至联邦国家抵押公司(Fannie Mae)破产,这些银行不得不被国有化,即由联邦政府接管。 金融危机的一个对策是《多德-弗兰克法案》,该法案试图对金融体系进行重大改革。 正如在dodd-frank.com上所指出的,立法的目的是:To promote the financial stability of the United States by improving accountability and transparency in the financial system, to end “too big to fail,” to protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts, [and] to protect consumers from abusive financial services practices. . .
::通过改善金融体系的问责制和透明度,促进美国的财政稳定,结束“太大而不能失败”的局面,结束救助,保护美国纳税人,[ 保护消费者免受滥用金融服务做法的侵害。We will explore the financial crisis and the Great Recession in more detail in the macroeconomic chapters of this book, but for now it should be clear that many Americans have grown disenchanted with deregulation, at least of financial markets.
::我们将在本书的宏观经济章节中更详细地探讨金融危机和大衰退,但现在应该清楚的是,许多美国人已经对放松管制,至少对金融市场的放松管制不再抱有幻想。All market-based economies operate against a background of laws and regulations, including laws about enforcing contracts, collecting taxes, and protecting health and the environment. The government policies discussed in this chapter—like blocking certain anticompetitive mergers, ending restrictive practices, imposing price cap regulation on natural monopolies, and deregulation—demonstrate the role of government to strengthen the incentives that come with a greater degree of competition.
::所有市场经济都以法律和法规为背景,包括执行合同、征税和保护健康与环境的法律。 本章讨论的政府政策 — — 比如阻止某些反竞争兼并、结束限制性做法、对自然垄断实行价格上限管制以及放松管制 — — 表明政府的作用是加强带来更大程度竞争的激励机制。Intimidating Potential Competition
::恐吓潜在竞争Businesses have developed a number of schemes for creating barriers to entry by deterring potential competitors from entering the market. One method is known as predatory pricing, in which a firm uses the threat of sharp price cuts to discourage competition. Predatory pricing is a violation of U.S. antitrust law, but it is difficult to prove.
::企业通过阻止潜在竞争者进入市场,制定了许多设置进入壁垒的计划。 一种方法被称为掠夺性定价,公司利用大幅降价威胁阻止竞争。 掠夺性定价违反了美国反托拉斯法,但难以证明。Consider a large airline that provides most of the flights between two particular cities. A new, small start-up airline decides to offer service between these two cities. The large airline immediately slashes prices on this route to the bone, so that the new entrant cannot make any money. After the new entrant has gone out of business, the incumbent firm can raise prices again.
::将一家大型航空公司视为提供两个特定城市之间大部分航班的航空公司。 一家新的小型新开办航空公司决定在这两个城市之间提供服务。 大型航空公司立即将这条通向骨骼的路线价格大幅飙升,新入住者无法赚钱。 新入住者倒闭后,在任公司可以再次提价。After this pattern is repeated once or twice, potential new entrants may decide that it is not wise to try to compete. Small airlines often accuse larger airlines of predatory pricing: in the early 2000s, for example, ValuJet accused Delta of predatory pricing, Frontier accused United, and Reno Air accused Northwest. In late 2009, the American Booksellers Association, which represents independently owned and often smaller bookstores, accused Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Target of predatory pricing for selling new hardcover best-sellers at low prices.
::在这种模式被重复一次或两次之后,潜在的新进入者可能会决定试图竞争是不明智的。 小航空公司常常指责大型航空公司掠夺性定价:例如,在2000年代初,ValuJet指控三角洲掠夺性定价,边境被告United和Reno Air指控西北地区。 2009年底,美国书商协会代表了独立拥有、往往规模较小的书店、亚马逊、沃尔玛以及以低价出售新硬封面畅销商的掠夺性定价目标。In some cases, large advertising budgets can also act as a way of discouraging the competition. If the only way to launch a successful new national cola drink is to spend more than the promotional budgets of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, not too many companies will try. A firmly established brand name can be difficult to dislodge.
::在某些情况下,大型广告预算也可以作为抑制竞争的一种方式。 如果成功推出新的国家可乐饮料的唯一方法就是支出超过可口可乐和百事可乐的促销预算,那么不会有太多的公司去尝试。 一个固定的品牌可能很难去除。Summing Up Barriers to Entry
::消除进入障碍3 lists the barriers to entry that have been discussed here. This list is not exhaustive, since firms have proved to be highly creative in inventing business practices that discourage competition. When barriers to entry exist, perfect competition is no longer a reasonable description of how an industry works. When barriers to entry are high enough, monopoly can result.
::3个清单列出了在这里讨论的进入壁垒。 这份清单并非详尽无遗,因为事实证明公司在发明阻碍竞争的商业做法方面很有创造性。 当存在进入壁垒时,完美的竞争不再是一个行业如何运作的合理描述。 当进入壁垒足够高时,垄断可以产生。Barriers to Entry
::进入障碍Barrier to Entry
::进入障碍Government Role?
::政府的作用?Example
::示例示例示例示例Natural monopoly
::自然垄断Government often responds with regulation (or ownership)
::政府往往通过监管(或所有权)作出反应Water and electric companies
::供水和电力公司Control of a physical resource
::对实物资源的控制No
::否 无DeBeers for diamonds
::钻石的De Beers公司Legal monopoly
::法律垄断垄断Yes
::是 是Post office, past regulation of airlines and trucking
::邮局、以往对航空公司和卡车运输的管制Patent, trademark, and copyright
::专利、商标和版权Yes, through protection of intellectual property
::是,通过保护知识产权New drugs or software
::新药或新软件Intimidating potential competitors
::恐吓潜在的竞争对手Somewhat
::某些东西Predatory pricing; well-known brand names
::掠夺性定价;著名品牌名称How a Profit-Maximizing Monopoly Chooses Output and Price
::如何使利润最大化的垄断企业选择产出和价格Consider a monopoly firm, comfortably surrounded by barriers to entry so that it need not fear competition from other producers. How will this monopoly choose its profit-maximizing quantity of output, and what price will it charge? Profits for the monopolist, like any firm, will be equal to total revenues minus total costs. The pattern of costs for the monopoly can be analyzed within the same framework as the costs of a perfectly competitive firm—that is, by using total cost, fixed cost, variable cost, marginal cost, average cost, and average variable cost. However, because a monopoly faces no competition, its situation and its decision process will differ from that of a perfectly competitive firm.
::将垄断公司视为一个被进入壁垒包围的垄断公司,它不必害怕其他生产者的竞争。这种垄断公司将如何选择其利润最大化的产出数量,以及它将收取什么价格? 垄断企业的利益与任何公司一样,将等于总收入减去总成本。 垄断的成本模式可以在一个完全具有竞争力的公司的成本(即使用总成本、固定成本、可变成本、边际成本、平均成本和平均可变成本)的相同框架内加以分析。 但是,由于垄断不面临竞争,其状况和决策过程将不同于竞争激烈的公司。Demand Curves Perceived by a Perfectly Competitive Firm and by a Monopoly
::由一家极具竞争力的公司和一家垄断公司所预见的曲线需求A perfectly competitive firm acts as a price taker, so its calculation of total revenue is made by taking the given market price and multiplying it by the quantity of output that the firm chooses. The demand curve as it is perceived by a perfectly competitive firm appears in 5 (a). The flat perceived demand curve means that, from the viewpoint of the perfectly competitive firm, it could sell either a relatively low quantity like Ql or a relatively high quantity like Qh at the market price P.
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司作为价格接受者行事,因此其计算总收入的方法是采用特定市场价格,乘以公司选择的产出数量。 一个完全具有竞争力的公司所认为的需求曲线出现在5(a)中。 平坦的认知需求曲线意味着,从完全具有竞争力的公司的观点看,它可以以P市场价格出售像Ql这样的相对低的数量或像Qh这样的相对高的数量。The Perceived Demand Curve for a Perfect Competitor and a Monopolist
::完美的竞争对手和垄断政客的预期需求曲线(a) A perfectly competitive firm perceives the demand curve that it faces to be flat. The flat shape means that the firm can sell either a low quantity (Ql) or a high quantity (Qh) at exactly the same price (P). (b) A monopolist perceives the demand curve that it faces to be the same as the market demand curve, which for most goods is downward-sloping. Thus, if the monopolist chooses a high level of output (Qh), it can charge only a relatively low price (Pl); conversely, if the monopolist chooses a low level of output (Ql), it can then charge a higher price (Ph). The challenge for the monopolist is to choose the combination of price and quantity that maximizes profits.
:What is the Difference between Perceived Demand and Market Demand?
::已知需求和市场需求之间的差别是什么?The demand curve as perceived by a perfectly competitive firm is not the overall market demand curve for that product. However, the firm’s demand curve as perceived by a monopoly is the same as the market demand curve. The reason for the difference is that each perfectly competitive firm perceives the demand for its products in a market that includes many other firms; in effect, the demand curve perceived by a perfectly competitive firm is a tiny slice of the entire market demand curve. In contrast, a monopoly perceives the demand for its product in a market where the monopoly is the only producer.
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司所认为的需求曲线并不是该产品的总体市场需求曲线。 然而,垄断所认为的公司需求曲线与市场需求曲线相同。 差异的原因是,每个完全具有竞争力的公司在包括许多其他公司在内的市场中看待其产品需求;事实上,完全具有竞争力的公司所认为的需求曲线是整个市场需求曲线的一小部分。 相反,垄断所认为的市场是其产品需求的唯一生产者。While a monopolist can charge any price for its product, that price is nonetheless constrained by demand for the firm’s product. No monopolist, even one that is thoroughly protected by high barriers to entry, can require consumers to purchase its product. Because the monopolist is the only firm in the market, its demand curve is the same as the market demand curve, which is, unlike that for a perfectly competitive firm, downward-sloping.
::尽管垄断者可以对其产品收取任何价格,但价格仍然受到对公司产品的需求的制约。 任何垄断者 — — 即使是受到进入壁垒高的彻底保护的垄断者 — — 都不能要求消费者购买其产品。 由于垄断者是市场中唯一的公司,其需求曲线与市场需求曲线相同,而市场需求曲线不同于竞争激烈、向下倾斜的公司。5 illustrates this situation. The monopolist can either choose a point like R with a low price (Pl) and high quantity (Qh), or a point like S with a high price (Ph) and a low quantity (Ql), or some intermediate point. Setting the price too high will result in a low quantity sold, and will not bring in much revenue. Conversely, setting the price too low may result in a high quantity sold, but because of the low price, it will not bring in much revenue either. The challenge for the monopolist is to strike a profit-maximizing balance between the price it charges and the quantity that it sells. But why isn’t the perfectly competitive firm’s demand curve also the market demand curve? See the following Clear it Up feature for the answer to this question.
::5 说明这种情况。 垄断者可以选择价格低(Pl)和数量高(Qh)的R等点,或者价格高(Ph)和数量低(Ql)的S等点,或者中间点。 将价格定得过高会导致销售量低,不会带来大量收入。 相反,定价过低可能导致销售量高,但是由于价格低,它也不会带来很多收入。 垄断者面临的挑战是在它收取的价格和销售的数量之间取得利润最大化的平衡。 但为什么竞争极好的公司的需求曲线不也是市场需求曲线呢?What Defines the Market?
::市场的定义是什么?A monopoly is a firm that sells all or nearly all of the goods and services in a given market. But what defines the “market”?
::垄断是一个在特定市场销售所有或几乎所有商品和服务的公司。 但“市场”的定义是什么?In a famous 1947 case, the federal government accused the DuPont company of having a monopoly in the cellophane market, pointing out that DuPont produced 75% of the cellophane in the United States. DuPont countered that even though it had a 75% market share in cellophane, it had less than a 20% share of the “flexible packaging materials,” which includes all other moisture-proof papers, films, and foils. In 1956, after years of legal appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the broader market definition was more appropriate, and the case against DuPont was dismissed.
::在一个著名的1947年案例中,联邦政府指责杜邦公司垄断了美联储市场,指出杜邦公司在美国生产了75%的美联储。 杜邦公司反驳说,尽管其在美联储中拥有75%的市场份额,但“弹性包装材料”的不到20%,其中包括所有其他防湿文件、电影和泡泡。 1956年,经过多年的法律上诉,美国最高法院认为更广泛的市场定义更为合适,而针对杜邦的案件被驳回。Questions over how to define the market continue today. True, Microsoft in the 1990s had a dominant share of the software for computer operating systems, but in the total market for all computer software and services, including everything from games to scientific programs, the Microsoft share was only about 16% in 2000. The Greyhound bus company may have a near-monopoly on the market for intercity bus transportation, but it is only a small share of the market for intercity transportation if that market includes private cars, airplanes, and railroad service. DeBeers has a monopoly in diamonds, but it is a much smaller share of the total market for precious gemstones and an even smaller share of the total market for jewelry. A small town in the country may have only one gas station: is this gas station a “monopoly,” or does it compete with gas stations that might be five, 10, or 50 miles away?
::如何定义市场的问题今天依然存在。 的确,1990年代微软在计算机操作系统的软件中占有主导份额,但在所有计算机软件和服务,包括从游戏到科学方案等所有软件和服务的总市场中,微软的份额在2000年只有大约16%。 2000年,微软的份额可能只有16 % 。 灰狗公共汽车公司可能在城市间公共汽车运输市场上拥有近乎垄断的市场,但如果该市场包括私人汽车、飞机和铁路服务,那么城市间运输市场中只有很小的份额。 De Beers在钻石方面拥有垄断权,但在宝石市场总额中所占的份额要小得多,在珠宝市场总额中所占的份额要小得多。 国内的一个小城镇可能只有一个加油站:这个加油站是“垄断”的,还是它与可能在五、十或五十英里外的加油站竞争的?In general, if a firm produces a product without close substitutes, then the firm can be considered a monopoly producer in a single market. But if buyers have a range of similar—even if not identical—options available from other firms, then the firm is not a monopoly. Still, arguments over whether substitutes are close or not close can be controversial.
::一般来说,如果一家公司生产的产品没有近效替代品,那么该公司就可被视为单一市场的垄断生产者。 但如果买方拥有一系列类似 — — 即使并非完全相同 — — 的其他公司可提供的选择,那么该公司就不是垄断。 但是,关于替代品是否接近或不接近的争论可能会引起争议。The Inefficiency of Monopoly
::垄断的低效率Most people criticize monopolies because they charge too high a price, but what economists object to is that monopolies do not supply enough output to be allocatively efficient. To understand why a monopoly is inefficient, it is useful to compare it with the benchmark model of perfect competition.
::多数人批评垄断,因为他们的收费太高,但经济学家反对的是,垄断并没有提供足够的产出来达到分配效率。 要理解为什么垄断效率低下,将垄断与完美竞争的基准模式相比较是有用的。Allocative efficiency is a social concept. It refers to producing the optimal quantity of some output, the quantity where the marginal benefit to society of one more unit just equals the marginal cost. The rule of profit maximization in a world of perfect competition was for each firm to produce the quantity of output where P = MC, where the price (P) is a measure of how much buyers value the good and the marginal cost (MC) is a measure of what marginal units cost society to produce. Following this rule assures allocative efficiency. If P > MC, then the marginal benefit to society (as measured by P) is greater than the marginal cost to society of producing additional units, and a greater quantity should be produced. But in the case of monopoly, price is always greater than marginal cost at the profit-maximizing level of output, as can be seen by looking back at . Thus, consumers will suffer from a monopoly because a lower quantity will be sold in the market, at a higher price, than would have been the case in a perfectly competitive market.
::分配效率是一个社会概念,它是指生产某些产出的最佳数量,即一个单位对社会的边际利益仅相当于边际成本。在一个完全竞争的世界中,利润最大化规则是每个公司生产产出的数量,P=MC,价格(P)是衡量买家对货物的价值和边际成本(MC)是衡量边际单位对社会产生成本的尺度。遵循这一规则,保证了分配效率。如果P > MC,那么对社会的边际利益(按P衡量)大于社会生产额外单位的边际成本,并且应该生产更多的数量。但是,在垄断的情况下,价格总是高于利润最大化产出水平的边际成本,从回顾可以看出这一点。因此,消费者将受到垄断的损害,因为市场销售量较低,价格比竞争竞争激烈的市场要高。The problem of inefficiency for monopolies often runs even deeper than these issues, and it also involves incentives for efficiency over longer periods of time. There are counterbalancing incentives here. On one side, firms may strive for new inventions and new intellectual property because they want to become monopolies and earn high profits—at least for a few years until the competition catches up. In this way, monopolies may come to exist because of competitive pressures on firms. However, once a barrier to entry is in place, a monopoly that does not need to fear competition can just produce the same old products in the same old way—while still ringing up a healthy rate of profit. John Hicks, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1972, wrote in 1935, “The best of all monopoly profits is a quiet life.” He did not mean the comment in a complimentary way. He meant that monopolies may bank their profits and slack off on trying to please their customers.
::垄断效率低下的问题往往比这些问题更加深层次,它也涉及在更长的时间内鼓励效率。这里有抵消性激励。一方面,公司可能争取新的发明和新的知识产权,因为它们想成为垄断和赚取高利润,至少在竞争赶上之前的几年里如此。这样,垄断可能因为公司的竞争压力而存在。然而,一旦进入障碍到位,不必担心竞争的垄断就只能以同样的老方式生产同样的旧产品 — — 同时也在不断唤起健康的利润率。 1972年获得诺贝尔经济学奖的约翰·希克斯(John Hicks)在1935年写道 , “ 所有垄断利润的最好是平静的生活 ” 他并没有用赞美的方式表达这一评论。 他的意思是,垄断可能让它们的利润入股,而不愿去取悦它们的客户。When AT&T provided all of the local and long-distance phone service in the United States, along with manufacturing most of the phone equipment, the payment plans and types of phones did not change much. The old joke was that you could have any color phone you wanted, as long as it was black. In 1982, AT&T was split by government litigation into a number of local phone companies, a long-distance phone company, and a phone equipment manufacturer. An explosion of innovation followed. Services like call waiting, caller ID, three-way calling, voice mail though the phone company, mobile phones, and wireless connections to the Internet all became available. A wide-range of payment plans was also offered. It was no longer true that all phones were black; instead, phones came in a variety of shapes and colors. The end of the telephone monopoly brought lower prices, a greater quantity of services, and also a wave of innovation aimed at attracting and pleasing customers.
::当AT&T提供美国所有本地和长途电话服务以及制造大部分电话设备时,付款计划和电话类型没有多大变化。旧的笑话是,只要是黑色的,你可以拥有你想要的任何彩色电话。1982年,政府的诉讼将AT&T分割成若干本地电话公司、长途电话公司和电话设备制造商。随后出现了创新的爆炸。诸如电话等候、电话识别、三路电话、电话公司语音邮件、移动电话和与互联网的无线连接等服务已经全部提供。还提出了广泛的付款计划。所有手机不是黑色的,而是手机的形状和颜色已经变异。随着电话垄断的结束,价格降低,服务数量增加,还有旨在吸引和吸引客户的创新浪潮。A monopolist is not a price taker, because when it decides what quantity to produce, it also determines the market price. For a monopolist, total revenue is relatively low at low quantities of output, because not much is being sold. Total revenue is also relatively low at very high quantities of output, because a very high quantity will sell only at a low price. Thus, total revenue for a monopolist will start low, rise, and then decline. The marginal revenue for a monopolist from selling additional units will decline. Each additional unit sold by a monopolist will push down the overall market price, and as more units are sold, this lower price applies to more and more units.
::垄断不是价格的取舍者,因为当它决定生产数量时,它也决定了市场价格。 对于垄断者来说,总收入在低产出量下相对较低,因为销售量不多。 总收入在高产出量下也相对较低,因为高产出量只能以低价格出售。 因此,垄断者的总收入将开始低、上升、然后下降。 出售额外单位的垄断者的边际收入将下降。 垄断者出售的每多一个单位都会推低总市场价格,随着更多的单位被出售,这一较低的价格将适用于越来越多的单位。The monopolist will select the profit-maximizing level of output where MR = MC, and then charge the price for that quantity of output as determined by the market demand curve. If that price is above average cost, the monopolist earns positive profits.
::垄断者将选择MR = MC的利润最大化产出水平,然后对市场需求曲线所决定的数量产出收取价格。 如果该价格高于平均成本,那么垄断者将获得正利润。Monopolists are not productively efficient, because they do not produce at the minimum of the average cost curve. Monopolists are not allocatively efficient, because they do not produce at the quantity where P = MC. As a result, monopolists produce less, at a higher average cost, and charge a higher price than would a combination of firms in a perfectly competitive industry. Monopolists also may lack incentives for innovation, because they need not fear entry.
::垄断者生产效率不高,因为其产量低于平均成本曲线。 垄断者生产效率不高,因为其生产量不能达到P=MC的水平。 结果,垄断者平均生产量低于P=MC的水平,平均成本更高,其价格也高于完全具有竞争力的行业企业的组合。 垄断者也可能缺乏创新激励,因为他们不需要害怕进入市场。Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly
::垄断竞争和奥利戈波利Perfect competition and monopoly are at opposite ends of the competition spectrum. A perfectly competitive market has many firms selling identical products who all act as price takers in the face of the competition. If you recall, price takers are firms that have no market power. They simply have to take the market price as given.
::完美竞争和垄断在竞争范围上是截然相反的。 一个完全竞争的市场有许多销售相同产品的公司,这些公司在竞争面前都充当价格承担者。 如果你记得,价格承担者是没有市场支配力的公司。 他们只需要按规定接受市场价格。Monopoly arises when a single firm sells a product for which there are no close substitutes. Microsoft, for instance, has been considered a monopoly because of its domination of the operating systems market.
::单家公司出售没有近距离替代品的产品,即产生垄断。 例如,微软公司由于控制操作系统市场而被视为垄断。What about the vast majority of real world firms and organizations that fall between these extremes, firms that could be described as imperfectly competitive? What determines their behavior? They have more influence over the price they charge than perfectly competitive firms, but not as much as a monopoly would. What will they do?
::世界上绝大多数处于这些极端地位的实体公司和组织,即可被描述为竞争不完善的公司,又如何呢?它们的行为由谁决定?它们比完全具有竞争力的公司对价格的影响更大,但不如垄断影响大。它们会做什么?One type of imperfectly competitive market is called monopolistic competition. Monopolistically competitive markets feature a large number of competing firms, but the products that they sell are not identical. Consider, as an example, the Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest shopping mall in the United States. In 2010, the Mall of America had 24 stores that sold women’s “ready-to-wear” clothing (like Ann Taylor and Coldwater Creek), another 50 stores that sold clothing for both men and women (like Banana Republic, J. Crew, and Nordstrom’s), plus 14 more stores that sold women’s specialty clothing (like Motherhood Maternity and Victoria’s Secret). Most of the markets that consumers encounter at the retail level are monopolistically competitive.
::一种不完美的竞争市场类型被称为垄断竞争。 垄断竞争市场以众多竞争企业为主,但它们销售的产品并不相同。 举例来说,美国最大的购物商场明尼苏达的美国购物中心(明尼苏达 ) 。 2010年,美国购物中心有24家商店出售女性的“现成”服装(如安泰勒和冷水溪 ) , 另有50家商店出售男女服装(如香蕉共和国、J.克鲁和诺德斯托姆等 ) , 加上14家商店出售女性特色服装(如母性母性母体和维多利亚的秘密 ) 。 消费者在零售业遇到的大多数市场都具有垄断性竞争力。The other type of imperfectly competitive market is oligopoly. Oligopolistic markets are those dominated by a small number of firms. Commercial aircraft provides a good example: Boeing and Airbus each produce slightly less than 50% of the large commercial aircraft in the world. Another example is the U.S. soft drink industry, which is dominated by Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Oligopolies are characterized by high barriers to entry with firms choosing output, pricing, and other decisions strategically based on the decisions of the other firms in the market. In this chapter, we first explore how monopolistically competitive firms will choose their profit-maximizing level of output. We will then discuss oligopolistic firms, which face two conflicting temptations: to collaborate as if they were a single monopoly, or to individually compete to gain profits by expanding output levels and cutting prices. Oligopolistic markets and firms can also take on elements of monopoly and of perfect competition.
::另一个例子是美国软饮料业,它以可口可乐和百事可乐为主。奥利戈波利斯的特点是在进入选择产出、定价和根据市场中其他公司的决定作出战略决定的公司方面设置了很高的壁垒。在本章中,我们首先探讨垄断性竞争公司如何选择其利润最大化产出水平。我们然后讨论垄断性公司,它们面对两种相互冲突的诱惑:合作,好像它们是一个单一垄断,或者通过扩大产出水平和降低价格进行个人竞争以获得利润。垄断市场和公司也可以垄断和竞争。Visit the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and learn more about its history and how it defines itself.
::访问石油输出国组织,更多地了解该组织的历史及其定义。Video: Oligopolies and Game Theory
::视频:奥利戈波利斯和游戏理论Monopolistic Competition
::垄断竞争Monopolistic competition involves many firms competing against each other, but selling products that are distinctive in some way. Examples include stores that sell different styles of clothing; restaurants or grocery stores that sell different kinds of food; and even products like golf balls or beer that may be at least somewhat similar but differ in public perception because of advertising and brand names. When products are distinctive, each firm has a mini-monopoly on its particular style or flavor or brand name. However, firms producing such products must also compete with other styles and flavors and brand names. The term “monopolistic competition” captures this mixture of mini-monopoly and tough competition, and the following Clear It Up feature introduces its derivation.
::垄断竞争涉及到许多相互竞争的公司,但销售的产品在某些方面是独特的,例如销售不同服装风格的商店;销售不同种类食品的餐馆或杂货店;甚至高尔夫球或啤酒等产品,由于广告和品牌名称的不同,这些产品可能有些相似,但在公众看法上可能有所不同。当产品不同时,每个公司在特定的风格、口味或品牌名称上都有微型垄断。然而,生产这类产品的公司也必须与其他风格、口味和品牌进行竞争。 “垄断竞争”一词抓住了这种微型垄断和激烈竞争的混合体,随后的“清清一色”特征引入了它的衍生。Differentiated Products
::差别化产品A firm can try to make its products different from those of its competitors in several ways: physical aspects of the product, location from which the product is sold, intangible aspects of the product, and perceptions of the product. Products that are distinctive in one of these ways are called differentiated products.
::公司可以通过几种方式试图使其产品与竞争对手的产品不同:产品的物理方面、产品销售的地点、产品的无形方面和对产品的看法。 在其中一种方式上与众不同的产品被称为有区别的产品。Physical aspects of a product include all the phrases you hear in advertisements: unbreakable bottle, nonstick surface, freezer-to-microwave, non-shrink, extra spicy, newly redesigned for your comfort. The location of a firm can also create a difference between producers. For example, a gas station located at a heavily traveled intersection can probably sell more gas, because more cars drive by that corner. A supplier to an automobile manufacturer may find that it is an advantage to locate close to the car factory.
::产品的物理方面包括广告中听到的所有词句:不可破碎的瓶子、非棍子表面、冷冻室到微波、不磨粉、额外的辣味、为舒适而新重新设计的厂商所在地点也可以在生产商之间造成差异。例如,位于交通偏僻交叉点的加油站可能会销售更多的天然气,因为车道经过该角的汽车司机会更多。 汽车制造商的供应商可能会发现靠近汽车厂的好处。Intangible aspects can differentiate a product, too. Some intangible aspects may be promises like a guarantee of satisfaction or money back, a reputation for high quality, services like free delivery, or offering a loan to purchase the product. Finally, product differentiation may occur in the minds of buyers. For example, many people could not tell the difference in taste between common varieties of beer or cigarettes if they were blindfolded. H owever, because of past habits and advertising, they have strong preferences for certain brands. Advertising can play a role in shaping these intangible preferences.
::无形的方面也可以区分产品。 某些无形的方面可能是承诺,比如保证满意度或回报,保证高品质的声誉,服务如免费交付,或提供贷款购买产品。 最后,产品差异可能在买主的头脑中出现。 比如,许多人无法辨别普通啤酒或香烟的口味差异,如果它们被蒙上眼睛。然而,由于过去的习惯和广告,他们对某些品牌有着强烈的偏好。 广告可以在塑造这些无形的偏好方面发挥作用。The concept of differentiated products is closely related to the degree of variety that is available. If everyone in the economy wore only blue jeans, ate only white bread, and drank only tap water, then the markets for clothing, food, and drink would be much closer to perfectly competitive. The variety of styles, flavors, locations, and characteristics creates product differentiation and monopolistic competition.
::差异化产品的概念与现有的多样化程度密切相关。 如果经济中的每个人都只穿蓝色牛仔裤,只吃白面包,只喝自来水,那么服装、食品和饮料的市场就会更接近于完全的竞争。 风格、口味、地点和特点的多样性造成了产品差异和垄断竞争。Perceived Demand for a Monopolistic Competitor
::对垄断竞争对手的预期需求A monopolistically competitive firm perceives a demand for its goods that is an intermediate case between monopoly and competition. offers a reminder that the demand curve as faced by a perfectly competitive firm is perfectly elastic or flat, because the perfectly competitive firm can sell any quantity it wishes at the prevailing market price. In contrast, the demand curve, as faced by a monopolist, is the market demand curve, since a monopolist is the only firm in the market, and hence is downward sloping.
::垄断竞争的垄断企业认为对商品的需求是垄断和竞争之间的中间情况。 这提醒人们,一个完全具有竞争力的公司所面临的需求曲线是完全弹性的或平坦的,因为完全具有竞争力的公司可以以市场价格出售它想要的任何数量。 相反,垄断者所面临的需求曲线是市场需求曲线,因为垄断是市场上唯一的公司,因此正在向下倾斜。Perceived Demand for Firms in Different Competitive Settings
::不同竞争环境中对公司的预期需求The demand curve faced by a perfectly competitive firm is perfectly elastic, meaning it can sell all the output it wishes at the prevailing market price. The demand curve faced by a monopoly is the market demand. It can sell more output only by decreasing the price it charges. The demand curve faced by a monopolistically competitive firm falls in between.
::一个完全具有竞争力的公司所面临的需求曲线是完全弹性的,这意味着它可以以当时的市场价格出售它想要的所有产出。 垄断公司所面临的需求曲线是市场需求。 它只能通过降低其定价来销售更多的产出。 一个垄断性竞争公司所面临的需求曲线在两者之间下跌。The demand curve as faced by a monopolistic competitor is not flat, but rather downward-sloping, which means that the monopolistic competitor can raise its price without losing all of its customers or lower the price and gain more customers. Since there are substitutes, the demand curve facing a monopolistically competitive firm is more elastic than that of a monopoly where there are no close substitutes. If a monopolist raises its price, some consumers will choose not to purchase its product—but they will then need to buy a completely different product. However, when a monopolistic competitor raises its price, some consumers will choose not to purchase the product at all, but others will choose to buy a similar product from another firm. If a monopolistic competitor raises its price, it will not lose as many customers as would a perfectly competitive firm, but it will lose more customers than would a monopoly that raised its prices.
::垄断竞争对手所面临的需求曲线不是平坦的,而是向下倾斜的,这意味着垄断竞争对手可以在不失去所有客户的情况下提高价格,或者降低价格并赢得更多的客户。 由于存在替代品,垄断竞争对手公司面临的需求曲线比没有近代替代品的垄断曲线更具弹性。 如果垄断竞争对手提高价格,一些消费者将选择不购买其产品 — — 但是他们随后将不得不购买完全不同的产品。 但是,当垄断竞争对手提高价格时,一些消费者将选择不购买产品,但另一些消费者将选择从另一家公司购买类似产品。 如果垄断竞争对手提高价格,它不会像一个完全具有竞争力的公司那样损失更多的客户,但它会失去更多的客户,而不是提高价格的垄断。At a glance, the demand curves faced by a monopoly and by a monopolistic competitor look similar—that is, they both slope down. But the underlying economic meaning of these perceived demand curves is different, because a monopolist faces the market demand curve and a monopolistic competitor does not. Rather, a monopolistically competitive firm’s demand curve is but one of many firms that make up the “before” market demand curve. Are you following? If so, how would you categorize the market for golf balls?
::乍一看,垄断和垄断竞争对手所面临的需求曲线看起来相似 — — 也就是说,它们都向下倾斜。 但是,这些感觉到的需求曲线背后的经济含义不同,因为垄断者面对市场需求曲线,垄断竞争者则没有。 相反,垄断竞争公司的需求曲线只是构成“之前”市场需求曲线的众多公司之一。 你是否在跟踪? 如果是这样,你会如何将高尔夫球市场分类?How a Monopolistic Competitor Chooses Price and Quantity
::垄断竞争者如何选择价格和数量The monopolistically competitive firm decides on its profit-maximizing quantity and price in much the same way as a monopolist. A monopolistic competitor, like a monopolist, faces a downward-sloping demand curve, and so it will choose some combination of price and quantity along its perceived demand curve.
::垄断竞争的垄断企业决定其利润最大化数量和价格的方式与垄断者大致相同。 垄断竞争者像垄断者一样面临着一个向下倾斜的需求曲线,因此,它会按照所察觉的需求曲线选择某种价格和数量组合。How a Monopolistic Competitor Chooses its Profit Maximizing Output and Price
::垄断竞争者如何选择其利润最大化产出和价格To maximize profits, the Authentic Chinese Pizza shop would choose a quantity where marginal revenue equals marginal cost, or Q where MR = MC. Here it would choose a quantity of 40 and a price of $16.
::为了实现利润最大化,真品中国披萨店将选择边际收入等于边际成本的数量,或者选择MR=MC的Q,在此选择40美元和16美元的价格。Revenue and Cost Schedule
::收入和支出表Quantity
::终止原因 原因 原因 原因 终止Price
::价格价格价格Total Revenue
::收入共计Marginal Revenue
::边际收入Total Cost
::费用共计共计Marginal Cost
::边际成本Average Cost
::平均平均费用10
$23
$230
-
$340
-
$34
20
$20
$400
$17
$400
$6
$20
30
$18
$540
$14
$480
$8
$16
40
$16
$640
$10
$580
$10
$14.50
50
$14
$700
$6
$700
$12
$14
60
$12
$720
$2
$840
$14
$14
70
$10
$700
–$2
$1,020
$18
$14.57
80
$8
$640
–$6
$1,280
$26
$16
The combinations of price and quantity at each point on the demand curve can be multiplied to calculate the total revenue that the firm would receive, which is shown in the third column of 3. The fourth column, marginal revenue, is calculated as the change in total revenue divided by the change in quantity. The final columns of 3 show total cost, marginal cost, and average cost. As always, marginal cost is calculated by dividing the change in total cost by the change in quantity, while average cost is calculated by dividing total cost by quantity.
::需求曲线上每一点的价格和数量组合可以乘以计算公司将获得的总收入,如第3栏第3栏所示。第四栏,边际收入,是总收入的变动除以数量的变化。最后一栏,即3栏,是总成本、边际成本和平均成本。与往常一样,边际成本的计算方法是将总成本的变化除以数量的变化,而平均成本的计算方法是将总成本除以数量。How a Monopolistic Competitor Determines How Much to Produce and at What Price
::垄断竞争者如何决定如何生产以及以什么价格生产The process by which a monopolistic competitor chooses its profit-maximizing quantity and price resembles closely a monopoly's decision making process. First, the firm selects the profit-maximizing quantity to produce. Then the firm decides what price to charge for that quantity.
::垄断竞争者选择利润最大化数量和价格的过程与垄断的决策过程非常相似。 首先,公司选择利润最大化数量生产。 然后,公司决定该数量的价格。Step 1. The monopolistic competitor determines its profit-maximizing level of output. In this case, the Authentic Chinese Pizza company will determine the profit-maximizing quantity to produce by considering its marginal revenues and marginal costs. Two scenarios are possible: If the firm is producing at a quantity of output where marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost, then the firm should keep expanding production, because each marginal unit is adding to profit by bringing in more revenue than its cost. In this way, the firm will produce up to the quantity where MR = MC. If the firm is producing at a quantity where marginal costs exceed marginal revenue, then each marginal unit is costing more than the revenue it brings in, and the firm will increase its profits by reducing the quantity of output until MR = MC.
::步骤1. 垄断竞争者垄断竞争者决定其利润最大化产出水平,在此情况下,真华披萨公司将考虑到其边际收入和边际成本,确定生产量的利润最大化; 两种可能性是:如果公司生产一定数量的产出,边际收入超过边际成本,那么公司就应该继续扩大生产,因为每个边际单位通过带来高于其成本的收入而增加利润; 这样,公司将生产到MR=MC的数量。 如果公司生产的数量是边际成本超过边际收入,那么每个边际单位的成本将超过其带来的收入,而公司将减少产量,直至MR=MC,从而增加利润。In this example, MR and MC intersect at a quantity of 40, which is the profit-maximizing level of output for the firm.
::在这个例子中,MR和MC相互交叉,数量为40,这就是公司产出的利润最大化水平。Step 2. The monopolistic competitor decides what price to charge. When the firm has determined its profit-maximizing quantity of output, it can then look to its perceived demand curve to find out what it can charge for that quantity of output. On the graph, this process can be shown as a vertical line reaching up through the profit-maximizing quantity until it hits the firm’s perceived demand curve. For Authentic Chinese Pizza, it should charge a price of $16 per pizza for a quantity of 40.
::步骤2. 垄断竞争者决定收取什么价格:当公司确定其利润最大化产出数量时,它可以看其想象的需求曲线,找出它可以收取多少产出。在图表中,这一过程可以显示为一条垂直线,通过利润最大化数量达到,直到它达到该公司所察觉的需求曲线。对于中国真品披萨,它应该收取每份披萨16美元的价格,每份40美元。Once the firm has chosen price and quantity, it is in a position to calculate total revenue, total cost, and profit. At a quantity of 40, the price of $16 lies above the average cost curve, so the firm is making economic profits. From we can see that, at an output of 40, the firm’s total revenue is $640 and its total cost is $580, so profits are $60. In 5, the firm’s total revenues are the rectangle with the quantity of 40 on the horizontal axis and the price of $16 on the vertical axis. The firm’s total costs are the light shaded rectangle with the same quantity of 40 on the horizontal axis but the average cost of $14.50 on the vertical axis. Profits are total revenues minus total costs, which is the shaded area above the average cost curve.
::一旦公司选择了价格和数量,它就可以计算总收入、总成本和利润。 在40年的时间里,16美元的价格高于平均成本曲线,因此公司正在获取经济利润。 从我们可以看到,在40年的产出中,公司总收入为640美元,总成本为580美元,利润为60美元。 在5年中,公司总收入与水平轴上的40美元数量和垂直轴上的16美元价格相纠缠。公司的总成本是横向轴上的40美元相同数量的浅色矩形,而垂直轴上的平均成本为14.50美元。 利润是总收入减去总成本,这是高于平均成本曲线的阴影区域。Although the process by which a monopolistic competitor makes decisions about quantity and price is similar to the way in which a monopolist makes such decisions, two differences are worth remembering. First, although both a monopolist and a monopolistic competitor face downward-sloping demand curves, the monopolist’s perceived demand curve is the market demand curve, while the perceived demand curve for a monopolistic competitor is based on the extent of its product differentiation and how many competitors it faces. Second, a monopolist is surrounded by barriers to entry and need not fear entry, but a monopolistic competitor who earns profits must expect the entry of firms with similar, but differentiated products.
::尽管垄断竞争者就数量和价格作出决定的过程与垄断者作出这种决定的方式相似,但两个差别值得记住。 首先,尽管垄断者和垄断竞争者都面临需求曲线向下倾斜,但垄断者认为的需求曲线是市场需求曲线,而垄断竞争者认为的需求曲线是基于其产品差异的程度及其面临的竞争者人数。 其次,垄断者被进入壁垒所包围,不需要担心进入,但赚取利润的垄断竞争者必须期望拥有类似但有区别产品的公司进入。Monopolistic Competitors and Entry
::垄断竞争者和进入If one monopolistic competitor earns positive economic profits, other firms will be tempted to enter the market. A gas station with a great location must worry that other gas stations might open across the street or down the road—and perhaps the new gas stations will sell coffee or have a carwash or some other attraction to lure customers. A successful restaurant with a unique barbecue sauce must be concerned that other restaurants will try to copy the sauce or offer their own unique recipes. A laundry detergent with a great reputation for quality must be concerned that other competitors may seek to build their own reputations.
::如果一个垄断竞争者获得积极的经济利润,其他公司就会被诱惑进入市场。 地点大的加油站必须担心其他加油站可能会在街对面或公路上打开 — — 也许新的加油站会出售咖啡或用洗车或吸引顾客。 一个拥有独特烧烤酱油的成功餐厅必须担心其他餐馆会尝试复制酱料或提供自己独特的食谱。 一个质量名声很高的洗涤剂必须担心其他竞争者可能试图建立自己的名声。The entry of other firms into the same general market (like gas, restaurants, or detergent) shifts the demand curve faced by a monopolistically competitive firm. As more firms enter the market, the quantity demanded at a given price for any particular firm will decline, and the firm’s perceived demand curve will shift to the left. As a firm’s perceived demand curve shifts to the left, its marginal revenue curve will shift to the left, too. The shift in marginal revenue will change the profit-maximizing quantity that the firm chooses to produce, since marginal revenue will then equal marginal cost at a lower quantity.
::其他公司进入同一总市场(如天然气、餐馆或洗涤剂)会改变垄断性竞争企业所面临的需求曲线。 随着更多的公司进入市场,任何特定企业的定价需求量将下降,而公司认为的需求曲线将向左转移。 随着公司认为的需求曲线向左转移,其边际收入曲线也将向左转移。 边际收入的转移将改变公司选择生产的利润最大化数量,因为边际收入将随之以较低数量等同边际成本。7 (a) shows a situation in which a monopolistic competitor was earning a profit with its original perceived demand curve (D 0 ). The intersection of the marginal revenue curve (MR 0 ) and marginal cost curve (MC) occurs at point S, corresponding to quantity Q 0 , which is associated on the demand curve at point T with price P 0 . The combination of price P 0 and quantity Q 0 lies above the average cost curve, which shows that the firm is earning positive economic profits.
::7(a) 表明垄断竞争者以其最初察觉的需求曲线(D0)赚取利润的情况。 边际收入曲线(MR0)和边际成本曲线(MC)在S点发生,相当于数量Q0,在T点需求曲线上与价格P0相联系。 价格P0和数量Q0的结合高于平均成本曲线,这表明公司正在赚取积极的经济利润。Monopolistic Competition, Entry, and Exit
::垄断竞争、进入和退出(a) At P 0 and Q 0 , the monopolistically competitive firm shown in this figure is making a positive economic profit. This is clear because if you follow the dotted line above Q 0 , you can see that price is above average cost. Positive economic profits attract competing firms to the industry, driving the original firm’s demand down to D 1 . At the new equilibrium quantity (P 1 , Q 1 ), the original firm is earning zero economic profits, and entry into the industry ceases. In (b) the opposite occurs. At P 0 and Q 0 , the firm is losing money. If you follow the dotted line above Q 0 , you can see that average cost is above price. Losses induce firms to leave the industry. When they do, demand for the original firm rises to D 1 , where once again the firm is earning zero economic profit.
:Unlike a monopoly, with its high barriers to entry, a monopolistically competitive firm with positive economic profits will attract competition. When another competitor enters the market, the original firm’s perceived demand curve shifts to the left, from D 0 to D 1 , and the associated marginal revenue curve shifts from MR 0 to MR 1 . The new profit-maximizing output is Q 1 , because the intersection of the MR 1 and MC now occurs at point U. Moving vertically up from that quantity on the new demand curve, the optimal price is at P 1 .
::与垄断不同,进入壁垒高,具有积极经济利润的垄断性竞争竞争企业将吸引竞争。 当另一个竞争者进入市场时,原公司认为的需求曲线从D0转向D1,相关的边际收入曲线从MR0转向MR1。 新的利润最大化产出是Q1,因为MR1和MC的交叉点现在出现在U点。 从新的需求曲线上从这个数量垂直上升,最佳价格是P1。As long as the firm is earning positive economic profits, new competitors will continue to enter the market, reducing the original firm’s demand and marginal revenue curves. The long run equilibrium is shown in the figure at point V, where the firm’s perceived demand curve touches the average cost curve. When price is equal to average cost, economic profits are zero. Thus, although a monopolistically competitive firm may earn positive economic profits in the short term, the process of new entry will drive down economic profits to zero in the long run. Remember that zero economic profit is not equivalent to zero accounting profit. A zero economic profit means the firm’s accounting profit is equal to what its resources could earn in their next best use. 7 (b) shows the reverse situation, where a monopolistically competitive firm is originally losing money. The adjustment to long-run equilibrium is analogous to the previous example. The economic losses lead to firms exiting, which will result in increased demand for this particular firm, and consequently lower losses. Firms exit up to the point where there are no more losses in this market, for example when the demand curve touches the average cost curve, as in point Z.
::只要该公司能够赚取积极的经济利润,新竞争者就将继续进入市场,减少原公司的需求和边际收入曲线。 长期平衡表现在V点的图中,因为该公司认为的需求曲线会波及平均成本曲线。 当价格等于平均成本时,经济利润是零。 因此,尽管垄断性的竞争性公司短期内可以赚取积极的经济利润,但新进入的过程将长期把经济利润推向零。 记住零经济利润不等于零会计利润。 零经济利润意味着公司在下一个最佳用途上可以赚到的资源。 7(b)显示相反的情况,一个垄断性的竞争性公司最初正在失去资金。 对长期平衡的调整与前一个例子相似。 经济损失将导致企业退出,这将导致对特定公司的需求增加,从而导致损失减少。 企业退出到这个市场没有更多损失的地步,例如当需求曲线超过平均成本曲线时,如Z点。Monopolistic competitors can make an economic profit or loss in the short run, but in the long run, entry and exit will drive these firms toward a zero economic profit outcome. However, the zero economic profit outcome in monopolistic competition looks different from the zero economic profit outcome in perfect competition in several ways relating both to efficiency and to variety in the market.
::垄断竞争者在短期内可以带来经济利润或损失,但从长远看,进入和退出将推动这些公司走向零经济利润结果。 然而,垄断竞争的零经济利润结果与在效率方面和市场多样性方面进行完美竞争的零经济利润结果不同。Monopolistic Competition and Efficiency
::垄断竞争和效率The long-term result of entry and exit in a perfectly competitive market is that all firms end up selling at the price level determined by the lowest point on the average cost curve. This outcome is why perfect competition displays productive efficiency: goods are being produced at the lowest possible average cost. However, in monopolistic competition, the end result of entry and exit is that firms end up with a price that lies on the downward-sloping portion of the average cost curve, not at the very bottom of the AC curve. Thus, monopolistic competition will not be productively efficient.
::在一个极具竞争力的市场中,进入和退出的长期结果是,所有公司最终都以平均成本曲线最低点确定的价格水平销售,这就是为什么完美竞争显示出生产效率的原因:产品正在以尽可能最低的平均成本生产;然而,在垄断性竞争中,进入和退出的最终结果是,公司最终的价格在平均成本曲线下行部分,而不是在AC曲线底部。 因此,垄断性竞争不会产生生产效率。In a perfectly competitive market, each firm produces at a quantity where price is set equal to marginal cost, both in the short run and in the long run. This outcome is why perfect competition displays allocative efficiency: the social benefits of additional production, as measured by the marginal benefit, which is the same as the price, equal the marginal costs to society of that production. In a monopolistically competitive market, the rule for maximizing profit is to set MR = MC—and price is higher than marginal revenue, not equal to it because the demand curve is downward sloping. When P > MC, which is the outcome in a monopolistically competitive market, the benefits to society of providing additional quantity, as measured by the price that people are willing to pay, exceed the marginal costs to society of producing those units. A monopolistically competitive firm does not produce more, which means that society loses the net benefit of those extra units. This is the same argument we made about monopoly, but in this case to a lesser degree. Thus, a monopolistically competitive industry will produce a lower quantity of a good and charge a higher price for it than would a perfectly competitive industry.
::在一个极具竞争力的市场中,每家公司的生产量在短期和长远上都与边际成本等价,这就是为什么完美竞争显示出分配效率的原因:按照与价格相同的边际利益来衡量,额外生产的社会效益等于这种生产的社会边际成本。在一个垄断性竞争的市场中,利润最大化的规则是确定MR=MC,价格高于边际收入,而不是因为需求曲线向下倾斜,而价格则不等同于边际收入。当垄断性竞争性市场的结果是P > MC时,按照人们愿意支付的价格衡量,提供额外数量的社会利益超过生产这些单位的社会的边际成本。一个垄断性竞争公司不会产生更多的生产成本,这意味着社会失去了这些额外单位的净利益。这是我们关于垄断的同样的论点,但在此情况下,价格要低一些。因此,垄断性竞争性工业将产生数量较低,按人们愿意支付的价格衡量,为社会提供额外数量的好处将超过生产这些单位的社会的边际成本。一个垄断性公司不会产生更多产品,这意味着社会将失去这些额外单位的净利益。The Benefits of Variety and Product Differentiation
::差异和产品差别的好处Even though monopolistic competition does not provide productive efficiency or allocative efficiency, it does have benefits of its own. Product differentiation is based on variety and innovation. Many people would prefer to live in an economy with many kinds of clothes, foods, and car styles; not in a world of perfect competition where everyone will always wear blue jeans and white shirts, eat only spaghetti with plain red sauce, and drive an identical model of car. Many people would prefer to live in an economy where firms are struggling to figure out ways of attracting customers by methods such as friendlier service, free delivery, guarantees of quality, variations on existing products, and a better shopping experience.
::尽管垄断竞争并不能提供生产效率或分配效率,但它也有其自身的好处。 产品差异基于多样性和创新。 许多人宁愿生活在一个拥有多种服装、食品和汽车风格的经济体中;而不是生活在一个完美的竞争世界中,在这个竞争世界中,每个人都会穿蓝色牛仔裤和白衬衫,只吃意大利面条,配有纯红色酱,并驱动同样的汽车模式。 许多人宁愿生活在一个企业努力寻找通过友好服务、免费交付、质量保证、现有产品变异以及更好的购物经验等方法吸引客户的经济体中。Economists have struggled, with only partial success, to address the question of whether a market-oriented economy produces the optimal amount of variety. Critics of market-oriented economies argue that society does not really need dozens of different athletic shoes or breakfast cereals or automobiles. They argue that much of the cost of creating such a high degree of product differentiation, and then of advertising and marketing this differentiation, is socially wasteful—that is, most people would be just as happy with a smaller range of differentiated products produced and sold at a lower price. Defenders of a market-oriented economy respond that if people do not want to buy differentiated products or highly advertised brand names, no one is forcing them to do so. Moreover, they argue that consumers benefit substantially when firms seek short-term profits by providing differentiated products. This controversy may never be fully resolved, in part because deciding on the optimal amount of variety is very difficult, and in part because the two sides often place different values on what variety means for consumers.
::经济学家为了解决市场经济能否产生最佳数量多样化的问题而挣扎不已,只取得了部分成功。 市场经济的批评者认为,社会并不真正需要几十种不同的运动鞋或早餐麦片或汽车。 他们认为,创造如此高度的产品差异,然后是广告和营销这种差异,其成本中的大部分是社会浪费的,也就是说,大多数人对以较低价格生产和销售的为数较少的有区别的产品同样感到高兴。 市场经济的捍卫者的反应是,如果人们不想购买有区别的产品或高额广告品牌名称,没有人会强迫他们这样做。 此外,他们认为,当公司通过提供有区别的产品来寻求短期利润时,消费者会大大受益。 这一争议可能永远无法完全解决,部分原因是,决定最佳品种数量非常困难,部分原因是,双方往往对消费者的多种手段持有不同的价值观。How Does Advertising Impact Monopolistic Competition?
::广告影响垄断竞争如何?The U.S. economy spent about $139.5 billion on advertising in 2012 according to Kantar Media Reports. Roughly one-third of this was television advertising, and another third was divided roughly equally between Internet, newspapers, and radio. The remaining third was divided up between direct mail, magazines, telephone directory yellow pages, billboards, and other miscellaneous sources. More than 500,000 workers held jobs in the advertising industry.
::根据Kantar媒体报告,2012年,美国经济在广告上花费了约1 395亿美元。 其中大约三分之一是电视广告,还有三分之一在互联网、报纸和电台之间大致平均分配。 其余三分之一在直接邮件、杂志、电话目录黄页、广告牌和其他杂项来源之间分配。 超过50万工人在广告行业中工作。Advertising is all about explaining to people, or making people believe, that the products of one firm are differentiated from the products of another firm. In the framework of monopolistic competition, there are two ways to conceive of how advertising works: either advertising causes a firm’s perceived demand curve to become more inelastic (that is, it causes the perceived demand curve to become steeper); or advertising causes demand for the firm’s product to increase (that is, it causes the firm’s perceived demand curve to shift to the right). In either case, a successful advertising campaign may allow a firm to sell either a greater quantity or to charge a higher price, or both, and thus increase its profits.
::广告只是向人们解释,或者让人们相信,一个公司的产品与另一个公司的产品是不同的。 在垄断竞争的框架中,有两种方法可以想象广告是如何运作的:要么广告导致一个公司认为的需求曲线变得更加无弹性(也就是说,它导致人们所认为的需求曲线变得更陡峭 ) ; 要么广告导致对公司产品的需求增加(也就是说,它导致公司认为的需求曲线向右转移 ) 。 在这两种情况下,成功的广告运动都可能允许一个公司销售更多数量或者收取更高的价格,或者两者兼而有之,从而增加利润。Monopolistic competition refers to a market where many firms sell differentiated products. Differentiated products can arise from characteristics of the good or service, location from which the product is sold, intangible aspects of the product, and perceptions of the product.
::垄断竞争是指许多公司销售差别化产品的市场,差别化产品可能来自货物或服务的特点、产品销售地点、产品的无形方面和对产品的看法。The perceived demand curve for a monopolistically competitive firm is downward-sloping, which shows that it is a price maker and chooses a combination of price and quantity. However, the perceived demand curve for a monopolistic competitor is more elastic than the perceived demand curve for a monopolist, because the monopolistic competitor has direct competition, unlike the pure monopolist. A profit-maximizing monopolistic competitor will seek out the quantity where marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost. The monopolistic competitor will produce that level of output and charge the price that is indicated by the firm’s demand curve.
::垄断竞争企业的预期需求曲线正在向下倾斜,这表明它是一个价格制造者,选择了价格和数量组合。 但是,垄断竞争者对垄断竞争者的需求曲线比对垄断竞争者的需求曲线更具弹性,因为垄断竞争者与纯粹的垄断者不同,直接竞争。 利润最大化的垄断竞争者将寻找边际收入相当于边际成本的数量。 垄断竞争者将产生这一产出水平,并收取公司需求曲线所显示的价格。If the firms in a monopolistically competitive industry are earning economic profits, the industry will attract entry until profits are driven down to zero in the long run. If the firms in a monopolistically competitive industry are suffering economic losses, then the industry will experience exit of firms until economic profits are driven up to zero in the long run.
::如果垄断竞争产业中的企业能够赚取经济利润,那么从长远看,该行业将吸引人们进入,直到利润被挤到零。 如果垄断竞争产业中的企业遭受经济损失,那么该行业将经历企业退出,直到经济利润从长远看被挤到零为止。A monopolistically competitive firm is not productively efficient because it does not produce at the minimum of its average cost curve. A monopolistically competitive firm is not allocatively efficient because it does not produce where P = MC, but instead produces where P > MC. Thus, a monopolistically competitive firm will tend to produce a lower quantity at a higher cost and to charge a higher price than a perfectly competitive firm.
::垄断性竞争企业效率不高,因为其产量低于平均成本曲线。 垄断性竞争企业效率不高,因为它生产的产品不是P=MC,而是生产P > MC。 因此,垄断性竞争企业往往以更高的成本生产较低数量的产品,并收取比完全具有竞争力的公司更高的价格。Monopolistically competitive industries do offer benefits to consumers in the form of greater variety and incentives for improved products and services. There is some controversy over whether a market-oriented economy generates too much variety.
::具有垄断竞争力的产业确实为消费者带来好处,其形式是增加种类和鼓励改进产品和服务。 对于市场导向型经济是否产生过多的多样化存在争议。Oligopoly
::奥利戈波利语NameMany purchases that individuals make at the retail level are produced in markets that are neither perfectly competitive, monopolies, nor monopolistically competitive. Rather, they are oligopolies. Oligopoly arises when a small number of large firms have all or most of the sales in an industry. Examples of oligopoly abound and include the auto industry, cable television, and commercial air travel. Oligopolistic firms are like cats in a bag. They can either scratch each other to pieces or cuddle up and get comfortable with one another. If oligopolists compete hard, they may end up acting very much like perfect competitors, driving down costs and leading to zero profits for all. If oligopolists collude with each other, they may effectively act like a monopoly and succeed in pushing up prices and earning consistently high levels of profit. Oligopolies are typically characterized by mutual interdependence where various decisions such as output, price, advertising, and so on, depend on the decisions of the other firm(s). Analyzing the choices of oligopolistic firms about pricing and quantity produced involves considering the pros and cons of competition versus collusion at a given point in time.
::个人在零售一级进行的许多采购都是在既不完全具有竞争力、垄断性、也不具有垄断性竞争力的市场上进行的,相反,它们是寡头垄断。当少数大公司在某一行业拥有全部或大部分销售时,就会产生寡头垄断。寡头垄断的例子很多,其中包括汽车业、有线电视和商业航空旅行等。寡头垄断公司就像袋中的猫一样。它们可以互相抓来抓去,也可以互相拥抱,互相舒适。如果寡头垄断者竞争激烈,他们最终可能表现得非常像完美的竞争者,推低成本,导致所有人获得零利润。如果寡头垄断者相互勾结,它们可能实际上像垄断者一样采取行动,成功地抬高价格和赚取持续高额利润。奥头垄断的典型特征是相互依存,例如产出、价格、广告等各种决定取决于其他公司的决定。分析寡头垄断公司在定价和数量方面的选择涉及在给定的时间里考虑竞争的利弊和串通。Why Do Oligopolies Exist?
::为什么奥利戈波利斯存在?A combination of the barriers to entry that create monopolies and the product differentiation that characterizes monopolistic competition can create the setting for an oligopoly. For example, when a government grants a patent for an invention to one firm, it may create a monopoly. When the government grants patents to, for example, three different pharmaceutical companies that each has its own drug for reducing high blood pressure, those three firms may become an oligopoly.
::创造垄断的进入壁垒和垄断竞争特有的产品差异相结合,可以为寡头垄断创造环境。 比如,当政府授予一家公司发明专利时,它可能会造成垄断。 比如,当政府授予三家不同的制药公司专利,它们各自拥有自己的药物来降低高血压时,这三家制药公司可能会变成寡头垄断。Similarly, a natural monopoly will arise when the quantity demanded in a market is only large enough for a single firm to operate at the minimum of the long-run average cost curve. In such a setting, the market has room for only one firm, because no smaller firm can operate at a low enough average cost to compete, and no larger firm could sell what it produced given the quantity demanded in the market.
::类似地,当市场需求量仅足以让一家公司以最低长期平均成本曲线运作时,自然垄断就会出现。 在这种环境下,市场只能容纳一家公司,因为没有一家较小的公司能够以足够低的平均成本经营竞争,而没有一家更大的公司能够销售其生产的产品,因为市场需求量很大。Quantity demanded in the market may also be two or three times the quantity needed to produce at the minimum of the average cost curve. This means that the market would have room for only two or three oligopoly firms (and they need not produce differentiated products). Again, smaller firms would have higher average costs and be unable to compete, while additional large firms would produce such a high quantity that they would not be able to sell it at a profitable price. This combination of economies of scale and market demand creates the barrier to entry, which led to the Boeing-Airbus oligopoly for large passenger aircraft.
::市场需求的数量也可能是平均成本曲线最低生产所需数量的两到三倍,这意味着市场只能容纳两到三家寡头企业(它们不需要生产有区别的产品),小公司平均成本较高,无法竞争,而其他大公司生产数量如此之大,无法以有利可图的价格出售,而规模经济和市场需求相结合,造成进入障碍,导致大型客机的波音-艾尔布斯寡头飞机。The product differentiation at the heart of monopolistic competition can also play a role in creating oligopoly. For example, firms may need to reach a certain minimum size before they are able to spend enough on advertising and marketing to create a recognizable brand name. The problem in competing with, say, Coca-Cola or Pepsi is not that producing fizzy drinks is technologically difficult, but rather that creating a brand name and marketing effort to equal Coke or Pepsi is an enormous task.
::垄断竞争的核心产品差异也可以在创造寡头垄断中发挥作用。 比如,公司可能需要达到一定的最小规模,才能在广告和营销上花费足够的资金来创建可识别的品牌名。 比如,与可口可乐或百事可乐竞争的问题并不是生产丰盛的饮料在技术上是困难的,而是创造与可口可乐或百事可乐同等的品牌名和营销努力是一项艰巨的任务。Collusion or Competition?
::串通还是竞争?When oligopoly firms in a certain market decide what quantity to produce and what price to charge, they face a temptation to act as if they were a monopoly. By acting together, oligopolistic firms can hold down industry output, charge a higher price, and divide up the profit among themselves. When firms act together in this way to reduce output and keep prices high, it is called collusion. A group of firms that have a formal agreement to collude to produce the monopoly output and sell at the monopoly price is called a cartel. See the following Clear It Up feature for a more in-depth analysis of the difference between the two.
::当某个市场中的寡头企业决定生产数量和价格时,它们会面临一种将行为视为垄断的诱惑。 通过共同行动,寡头垄断企业可以抑制工业产出,收取更高的价格,并在它们之间分配利润。 当公司以这种方式减少产出和保持高价时,它被称为串通。 一组有正式协议合作生产垄断产出和以垄断价格销售的公司被称为卡特尔。 见以下“清一色”特征,以便更深入地分析两者之间的差别。Collusion Versus Cartels: How Can I tell Which is Which?
::勾结Versus卡特尔:我怎么知道哪个是哪个?In the United States, as well as many other countries, it is illegal for firms to collude since collusion is anti-competitive behavior, which is a violation of antitrust law. Both the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have responsibilities for preventing collusion in the United States.
::在美国以及许多其他国家,公司串通是非法的,因为串通是反竞争行为,违反了反托拉斯法,司法部反托拉斯司和联邦贸易委员会都有责任防止在美国的串通。The problem of enforcement is finding hard evidence of collusion. Cartels are formal agreements to collude. Because cartel agreements provide evidence of collusion, they are rare in the United States. Instead, most collusion is tacit, where firms implicitly reach an understanding that competition is bad for profits.
::执法问题在于找到串通的确凿证据。 卡特尔是正式的串通协议。 由于卡特尔协议提供了串通的证据,因此在美国是罕见的。 相反,大多数串通是默认的,因为公司暗含着对竞争有害于利润的理解。The desire of businesses to avoid competing so that they can instead raise the prices that they charge and earn higher profits has been well understood by economists. Adam Smith wrote in Wealth of Nations in 1776, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
::经济学家们非常理解企业避免竞争的愿望,以便它们能够提高它们收取的价格并赚取更高的利润。 亚当·史密斯在1776年的《国家财富 》 ( World of Nations)中写道 , “ 同一行业的人民很少会聚在一起,即使是为了快乐和转移,但谈话最终的结果却是阴谋反对公众,或者为了提高价格。 ”Even when oligopolists recognize that they would benefit as a group by acting like a monopoly, each individual oligopoly faces a private temptation to produce just a slightly higher quantity and earn slightly higher profit—while still counting on the other oligopolists to hold down their production and keep prices high. If at least some oligopolists give in to this temptation and start producing more, then the market price will fall. Indeed, a small handful of oligopoly firms may end up competing so fiercely that they all end up earning zero economic profits—as if they were perfect competitors.
::即便寡头垄断者认识到他们作为一个群体通过垄断行动将受益,但每个寡头垄断者都面临着一种私人诱惑,即只生产略高一点的数量并赚取略高的利润 — — 同时仍然指望其他寡头垄断者抑制生产并保持高价。 如果至少某些寡头垄断者屈服于这一诱惑并开始生产更多产品,那么市场价格就会下跌。 事实上,少数寡头寡头垄断公司最终可能会激烈竞争,以至于最终都只能赚取零经济利润 — — 就像他们是最完美的竞争者一样。The Prisoner’s Dilemma
::囚犯的困境Because of the complexity of oligopoly, which is the result of mutual interdependence among firms, there is no single, generally-accepted theory of how oligopolies behave, in the same way that we have theories for all the other market structures. Instead, economists use game theory, a branch of mathematics that analyzes situations in which players must make decisions and then receive payoffs based on what other players decide to do. Game theory has found widespread applications in the social sciences, as well as in business, law, and military strategy.
::由于企业之间相互依存导致寡头垄断的复杂性,因此对于寡头垄断行为如何表现并不像我们拥有所有其他市场结构的理论那样有单一的、普遍接受的理论。 相反,经济学家使用游戏理论,这是一个数学分支,它分析的情况是,参与者必须作出决定,然后根据其他参与者的决定获得报酬。 游戏理论在社会科学以及商业、法律和军事战略中都得到了广泛的应用。The prisoner’s dilemma is a scenario in which the gains from cooperation are larger than the rewards from pursuing self-interest. It applies well to oligopoly. The story behind the prisoner’s dilemma goes like this:
::囚犯的两难处境是合作的好处大于追求私利的回报。 这很好地适用于寡头垄断。 囚犯困境背后的故事是这样的:Two co-conspiratorial criminals are arrested. When they are taken to the police station, they refuse to say anything and are put in separate interrogation rooms. Eventually, a police officer enters the room where Prisoner A is being held and says: “You know what? Your partner in the other room is confessing. So your partner is going to get a light prison sentence of just one year, and because you’re remaining silent, the judge is going to stick you with eight years in prison. Why don’t you get smart? If you confess, too, we’ll cut your jail time down to five years, and your partner will get five years, also.” Over in the next room, another police officer is giving exactly the same speech to Prisoner B. What the police officers do not say is that if both prisoners remain silent, the evidence against them is not especially strong, and the prisoners will end up with only two years in jail each.
::两名共谋罪犯被捕。当他们被带到警察局时,他们拒绝说什么,而是被单独关押在审讯室中。最后,一名警官进入关押A号囚犯的房间,并说 : “ 你知道吗? 在另一个房间里,你的搭档在认罪。 因此,你的搭档将被判处一年轻的徒刑,而且因为你保持沉默,法官会把你关在8年的监狱里。 为什么你不聪明?如果你承认,我们也会将你的监狱时间减为5年,你的伴侣也会被判5年。 在下一个房间里,另一名警官正在给B号囚犯讲同样的话。 警官们没有说,如果两个囚犯都保持沉默,对他们不利的证据就特别不强烈,而囚犯们将各只有两年的刑期。The game theory situation facing the two prisoners is shown in 4. To understand the dilemma, first consider the choices from Prisoner A’s point of view. If A believes that B will confess, then A ought to confess, too, so as to not get stuck with the eight years in prison. But if A believes that B will not confess, then A will be tempted to act selfishly and confess, so as to serve only one year. The key point is that A has an incentive to confess regardless of what choice B makes! B faces the same set of choices, and thus will have an incentive to confess regardless of what choice A makes. Confess is considered the dominant strategy or the strategy an individual (or firm) will pursue regardless of the other individual’s (or firm’s) decision. The result is that if prisoners pursue their own self-interest, both are likely to confess, and end up doing a total of 10 years of jail time between them.
::这两名囚犯所面临的游戏理论情况可见于4:为了理解困境,首先从囚犯A的观点出发考虑选择。如果A相信B会招供,那么A也应该招供,以免被困在8年的监狱里。但如果A相信B不会招供,那么A就会被诱惑自私自利地招供,只服一年。关键是A有动力招供,不管选择B做出什么选择!B面临同样的选择,因此有动力招供,而不管选择A做出什么选择。承认被视为主谋或个人(或公司)将追求的战略,而不管另一人(或公司)的决定如何。结果就是如果囚犯追求自己的私利,他们都有可能招供,最终在他们之间度过总共10年的牢狱时间。Prisoner B
::囚犯BRemain Silent (cooperate with other prisoner)
::保持沉默(与其他囚犯合作)Confess (do not cooperate with other prisoner)
::认罪(不与其他囚犯合作)Prisoner A
::囚犯ARemain Silent (cooperate with other prisoner)
::保持沉默(与其他囚犯合作)A gets 2 years, B gets 2 years
::A2年,B2年,B2年A gets 8 years, B gets 1 year
::A8岁8岁,B1岁1岁Confess (do not cooperate with other prisoner)
::认罪(不与其他囚犯合作)A gets 1 year, B gets 8 years
::甲一年,乙八年,甲一年,乙八年A gets 5 years B gets 5 years
::5年A分5年B分5年The game is called a dilemma because if the two prisoners had cooperated by both remaining silent, they would only have had to serve a total of four years of jail time between them. If the two prisoners can work out some way of cooperating so that neither one will confess, they will both be better off than if they each follow their own individual self-interest, which in this case leads straight into longer jail terms.
::这场游戏被称为两难困境,因为如果两个囚犯都保持沉默,他们只需在他们之间总共服四年的刑期。 如果两个囚犯能够找到某种合作方式,让双方都不会招供,那么他们两人都会比他们各自追求自己的私利更好,在这种情况下,这直接导致更长时间的监禁。The Oligopoly Version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma
::囚犯困境的奥利戈波里版本The members of an oligopoly can face a prisoner’s dilemma, also. If each of the oligopolists cooperates in holding down output, then high monopoly profits are possible. Each oligopolist, however, must worry that while it is holding down output, other firms are taking advantage of the high price by raising output and earning higher profits. 5 shows the prisoner’s dilemma for a two-firm oligopoly—known as a duopoly. If Firms A and B both agree to hold down output, they are acting together as a monopoly and will each earn $1,000 in profits. However, both firms’ dominant strategy is to increase output, in which case each will earn $400 in profits.
::寡头垄断者成员也可能面临囚犯的困境。 如果每个寡头垄断者都合作压低产出,那么高垄断利润是可能的。 但是,每个寡头垄断者必须担心,在它压低产出的同时,其他公司正在通过提高产出和赚取更高的利润来利用高价格。 5 表明囚犯对两家公司的寡头垄断的两难困境 — — 被称为双极垄断。 如果A公司和B公司都同意压低产出,他们就会作为垄断者共同行动,每个公司将赚取1 000美元的利润。 但是,两家公司的主导战略是增加产出,这样,每家公司将赚取400美元的利润。Firm B
::B公司Hold Down Output (cooperate with other firm)
::Hold down 输出(与其他公司合作)Increase Output (do not cooperate with other firm) Firm A
::A公司Hold Down Output (cooperate with other firm)
::Hold down 输出(与其他公司合作)A gets $1,000, B gets $1,000
::A1 000美元,B1 000美元A gets $200, B gets $1,500
::A拿200块,B拿1500块Increase Output (do not cooperate with other firm)
::增加产出(不与其他公司合作)A gets $1,500, B gets $200
::1500美元,1500美元,B200美元A gets $400, B gets $400
::A得到400块,B得到400块Can the two firms trust each other? Consider the situation of Firm A: If A thinks that B will cheat on their agreement and increase output, then A will increase output, too, because for A the profit of $400 when both firms increase output (the bottom right-hand choice in 5) is better than a profit of only $200 if A keeps output low and B raises output (the upper right-hand choice in the table). If A thinks that B will cooperate by holding down output, then A may seize the opportunity to earn higher profits by raising output. After all, if B is going to hold down output, then A can earn $1,500 in profits by expanding output (the bottom left-hand choice in the table) compared with only $1,000 by holding down output as well (the upper left-hand choice in the table).
::想想A公司的情况:如果A公司认为B会欺骗其协议并增加产出,那么A公司也会增加产出,因为对于A公司来说,当两家公司增加产出(5个中,右下选择)时,利润为400美元,比A公司保持低产出和B公司提高产出(表上右上选择)时,利润仅为200美元更好。 如果A公司认为B通过保持产出,B会合作,那么A公司可能会抓住机会通过提高产出来赚取更高的利润。 毕竟,如果B公司要压低产出,A公司可以通过扩大产出(表下左下选择)获得1 500美元的利润,而A公司则通过保持产出和(表上左下选择)只获得1 000美元利润。Thus, Firm A will reason that it makes sense to expand output if B holds down output and that it also makes sense to expand output if B raises output. Again, B faces a parallel set of decisions.
::因此,A公司会认为,如果B控制产出,扩大产出是有道理的,如果B控制了产出,如果B提高产出,扩大产出也是有道理的。 此外,B面临一系列平行的决定。The result of this prisoner’s dilemma is often that even though A and B could make the highest combined profits by cooperating in producing a lower level of output and acting like a monopolist, the two firms may well end up in a situation where they each increase output and earn only $400 each in profits.
::这名囚犯的困境的结果往往是,尽管A和B通过合作生产较低水平的产出,并像垄断者一样行事,可以取得最高的合并利润,但两家公司最终很可能都增加产出,每个公司只赚取400美元的利润。What is the Lysine Cartel?
::什么是赖氨酸卡特尔?Lysine, a $600 million-a-year industry, is an amino acid used by farmers as a feed additive to ensure the proper growth of swine and poultry. The primary U.S. producer of lysine is Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), but several other large European and Japanese firms are also in this market. For a time in the first half of the 1990s, the world’s major lysine producers met together in hotel conference rooms and decided exactly how much each firm would sell and what it would charge. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), however, had learned of the cartel and placed wire taps on a number of their phone calls and meetings.
::赖氨酸是一个每年6亿美元的工业,农民用氨基酸作为饲料添加剂,确保猪和家禽的适当生长。 赖氨酸的主要美国生产商是Archer Daniels Midland(ADM ) , 但其他几个欧洲和日本大公司也在这个市场上。 九十年代上半期,世界主要赖氨酸生产商在酒店会议室聚会,决定每家公司售出多少以及收取多少费用。 然而,美国联邦调查局(FBI)了解了卡特尔,并在他们的一些电话和会议上安装了窃听器。From FBI surveillance tapes, following is a comment that Terry Wilson, president of the corn processing division at ADM, made to the other lysine producers at a 1994 meeting in Mona, Hawaii:
::1994年在夏威夷莫纳(Mona)举行的一次会议上, 联邦调查局的监控磁带显示, ADM玉米加工部总裁Terry Wilson 在1994年的一次会议上向其他赖氨酸生产商发表评论如下:I wanna go back and I wanna say something very simple. If we’re going to trust each other, okay, and if I’m assured that I’m gonna get 67,000 tons by the year’s end, we’re gonna sell it at the prices we agreed to . . . The only thing we need to talk about there because we are gonna get manipulated by these [expletive] buyers—they can be smarter than us if we let them be smarter. . . . They [the customers] are not your friend. They are not my friend. And we gotta have ‘em, but they are not my friends. You are my friend. I wanna be closer to you than I am to any customer. Cause you can make us ... money. ... And all I wanna tell you again is let’s—let’s put the prices on the board. Let’s all agree that’s what we’re gonna do and then walk out of here and do it.
::我想回到过去,我想说一些非常简单的话。如果我们相信对方,那么,好吧,如果我确信到年底我将得到67,000吨,我们就会以我们同意的价格卖掉它。我们唯一需要谈论的就是那里,因为我们会被这些[快]买者操纵——如果我们让他们变得聪明,他们就会比我们聪明。他们不是你的朋友。他们不是我的朋友。我们必须有“他们,但他们不是我的朋友。你是我的朋友。我想更接近你,而不是我任何顾客。因为你可以让我们赚钱。我只想再次告诉你的是——让我们把价格放在板上。让我们都同意,这就是我们要做的,然后离开这里。The price of lysine doubled while the cartel was in effect. Confronted by the FBI tapes, Archer Daniels Midland pled guilty in 1996 and paid a fine of $100 million. A number of top executives, both at ADM and other firms, later paid fines of up to $350,000 and were sentenced to 24–30 months in prison.
::赖氨酸的价格在卡特尔生效期间翻了一番。 面对联邦调查局的磁带,Archer Daniels Midland于1996年认罪并缴纳了1亿美元的罚款。 ADM和其他公司的一些顶尖执行官后来支付了高达35万美元的罚款,并被判处24至30个月的监禁。In another one of the FBI recordings, the president of Archer Daniels Midland told an executive from another competing firm that ADM had a slogan that, in his words, had “penetrated the whole company.” The company president stated the slogan this way: “Our competitors are our friends. Our customers are the enemy.” That slogan could stand as the motto of cartels everywhere.
::在另一部联邦调查局的录音中,Archer Daniels Midland总裁告诉来自另一家竞争公司的一名执行官说,ADM有一个口号,用他的话来说是“渗透了整个公司 ” 。 公司总裁用这种口号表达了口号 : “ 我们的竞争对手是我们的朋友,我们的客户是我们的敌人。 ”这个口号可以作为各地卡特尔的座右铭。How to Enforce Cooperation
::如何实施合作How can parties who find themselves in a prisoner’s dilemma situation avoid the undesired outcome and cooperate with each other? The way out of a prisoner’s dilemma is to find a way to penalize those who do not cooperate.
::处于囚犯困境中的各方如何避免不理想的结果并相互合作? 摆脱囚犯困境的办法是找到惩罚不合作者的方法。Perhaps the easiest approach for colluding oligopolists, as you might imagine, would be to sign a contract with each other that they will hold output low and keep prices high. If a group of U.S. companies signed such a contract, however, it would be illegal. Certain international organizations, like the nations that are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), have signed international agreements to act like a monopoly, hold down output, and keep prices high so that all of the countries can make high profits from oil exports. Such agreements, however, because they fall in a gray area of international law, are not legally enforceable. If Nigeria, for example, decides to start cutting prices and selling more oil, Saudi Arabia cannot sue Nigeria in court and force it to stop.
::也许你可以想象,串通寡头垄断者最简单的方法或许就是彼此签署一份合同,让它们保持低产出和高价格。 但是,如果美国一些公司签署这样的合同,那将是非法行为。 某些国际组织,如石油输出国组织(欧佩克)成员国,已经签署了国际协定,以像垄断、压低产出和保持高价格那样行事,让所有国家都能从石油出口中获取高利润。 然而,由于它们位于国际法的灰色领域,这类协议在法律上是无法强制执行的。 比如,如果尼日利亚决定开始削减价格和出售更多的石油,沙特阿拉伯就不能在法庭上起诉尼日利亚,迫使它停止。Because oligopolists cannot sign a legally enforceable contract to act like a monopoly, the firms may instead keep close tabs on what other firms are producing and charging. Alternatively, oligopolists may choose to act in a way that generates pressure on each firm to stick to its agreed quantity of output.
::由于寡头垄断者不能签署法律上可执行的合同来像垄断一样行事,因此公司可以继续密切监视其他公司生产和收费的情况。 或者,寡头垄断者可以选择对每个公司施加压力,迫使它们坚持其商定的产出量。One example of the pressure these firms can exert on one another is the kinked demand curve, in which competing oligopoly firms commit to match price cuts, but not price increases. This situation is shown in 8. Say that an oligopoly airline has agreed with the rest of a cartel to provide a quantity of 10,000 seats on the New York to Los Angeles route, at a price of $500. This choice defines the kink in the firm’s perceived demand curve. The reason that the firm faces a kink in its demand curve is because of how the other oligopolists react to changes in the firm’s price. If the oligopoly decides to produce more and cut its price, the other members of the cartel will immediately match any price cuts—and therefore, a lower price brings very little increase in quantity sold.
::这些公司可以相互施加压力的一个例子是股价曲线,在股价曲线中,相互竞争的寡头企业承诺匹配价格削减,而不是价格上涨。 这一情况在8中可见。 说一家寡头航空公司已经与卡特尔的其余部分达成协议,以500美元的价格在纽约到洛杉矶航线上提供1万个座位。 这一选择决定了公司所察觉的需求曲线的轮廓。 公司在需求曲线中面临一股纠结的原因是其他寡头垄断者如何对公司价格的变化作出反应。 如果寡头垄断者决定生产更多和削减价格,那么其他卡特尔成员将立即与任何价格削减相匹配 — — 因此,价格降低将几乎无法增加销售的数量。If one firm cuts its price to $300, it will be able to sell only 11,000 seats. However, if the airline seeks to raise prices, the other oligopolists will not raise their prices, and so the firm that raised prices will lose a considerable share of sales. For example, if the firm raises its price to $550, its sales drop to 5,000 seats sold. Thus, if oligopolists always match price cuts by other firms in the cartel, but do not match price increases, then none of the oligopolists will have a strong incentive to change prices, since the potential gains are minimal. This strategy can work like a silent form of cooperation, in which the cartel successfully manages to hold down output, increase price, and share a monopoly level of profits even without any legally enforceable agreement.
::如果一家公司将其价格削减到300美元,它只能卖掉11 000个席位。 但是,如果航空公司想提高价格,另一家寡头垄断者不会提高价格,因此,提高价格的公司将损失相当大份额的销售。 比如,如果公司将其价格提升到550美元,其销售额将下降至5 000个。 因此,如果寡头垄断者总是与卡特尔中其他公司的减价相对应,但与价格上涨不相称,那么,寡头垄断者都不会有改变价格的强大动力,因为潜在收益微乎其微。 这一战略可以像一种默默的合作形式一样发挥作用,卡特尔成功地控制了产出、提高价格并分享了垄断利润水平,即使没有任何法律上可以执行的协议。A Kinked Demand Curve
::摇动需求曲线Consider a member firm in an oligopoly cartel that is supposed to produce a quantity of 10,000 and sell at a price of $500. The other members of the cartel can encourage this firm to honor its commitments by acting so that the firm faces a kinked demand curve. If the oligopolist attempts to expand output and reduce price slightly, other firms also cut prices immediately—so if the firm expands output to 11,000, the price per unit falls dramatically, to $300. On the other side, if the oligopoly attempts to raise its price, other firms will not do so, so if the firm raises its price to $550, its sales decline sharply to 5,000. Thus, the members of a cartel can discipline each other to stick to the pre-agreed levels of quantity and price through a strategy of matching all price cuts but not matching any price increases.
::如果寡头垄断集团试图扩大产出并略微降低价格,其他公司也会立即削减价格 — — 因此,如果公司将产出增加到11 000美元,单位价格就会大幅下跌到300美元。 另一方面,如果寡头垄断集团试图提高价格,其他公司就不会这样做,因此,如果公司将其价格提高到550美元,其销售量就会急剧下降到5 000美元,卡特尔成员可以鼓励公司履行其承诺,让公司面对一个有灵敏的需求曲线。 因此,如果寡头垄断集团试图扩大产出并略微降低价格,其他公司也会立即削减价格 — — 因此,如果公司将产出增加到11 000美元,单位价格就会急剧下跌到300美元。 另一方面,如果公司试图提高价格,其他公司就不会这样做,因此,如果公司将其价格提高到550美元,其销售量就会急剧下降到5 000美元。 因此,卡特尔成员可以通过匹配所有价格削减的战略,约束对方坚持达到预定的数量和价格水平,但没有达到任何价格上涨。Many real-world oligopolies, prodded by economic changes, legal and political pressures, and the egos of their top executives, go through episodes of cooperation and competition. If oligopolies could sustain cooperation with each other on output and pricing, they could earn profits as if they were a single monopoly. However, each firm in an oligopoly has an incentive to produce more and grab a bigger share of the overall marke. When firms start behaving in this way, the market outcome in terms of prices and quantity can be similar to that of a highly competitive market.
::许多现实世界的寡头垄断受到经济变化、法律和政治压力以及高层管理人员的自我压力的驱使,经历了合作和竞争。 如果寡头垄断能够维持在产出和定价方面彼此合作,它们就能赚取利润,仿佛它们是一个单一的垄断。 但是,寡头垄断中的每家公司都具有生产更多并占整个商标更大份额的动力。 当企业开始以这种方式行事时,价格和数量方面的市场结果可以类似于竞争激烈的市场。Tradeoffs of Imperfect Competition
::不当竞争的权衡取舍Monopolistic competition is probably the single most common market structure in the U.S. economy. It provides powerful incentives for innovation, as firms seek to earn profits in the short run, while entry assures that firms do not earn economic profits in the long run. However, monopolistically competitive firms do not produce at the lowest point on their average cost curves. In addition, the endless search to impress consumers through product differentiation may lead to excessive social expenses on advertising and marketing.
::垄断竞争可能是美国经济中最常见的单一市场结构。 它为创新提供了强有力的激励,因为公司在短期内寻求盈利,而进入则确保公司长期无法赚取经济利益。 然而,垄断竞争企业的产量并不处于平均成本曲线的最低点。 此外,通过产品差异来吸引消费者的无休止的追求可能导致广告和营销方面的过度社会支出。Oligopoly is probably the second most common market structure. When oligopolies result from patented innovations or from taking advantage of economies of scale to produce at low average cost, they may provide considerable benefit to consumers. Oligopolies are often buffeted by significant barriers to entry, which enable the oligopolists to earn sustained profits over long periods of time. Oligopolists also do not typically produce at the minimum of their average cost curves. When they lack vibrant competition, they may lack incentives to provide innovative products and high-quality service.
::寡头垄断可能是第二大常见市场结构。 当寡头垄断是专利创新或利用规模经济以低平均成本生产的结果时,它们可能给消费者带来相当大的利益。 寡头垄断往往受到重大进入壁垒的冲击,这使得寡头垄断者能够长期赚取持续利润。 寡头垄断者通常不会以最低平均成本曲线生产。 当它们缺乏活跃的竞争,它们可能缺乏提供创新产品和高质量服务的激励。The task of public policy with regard to competition is to sort through these multiple realities, attempting to encourage behavior that is beneficial to the broader society and to discourage behavior that only adds to the profits of a few large companies, with no corresponding benefit to consumers.
::与竞争有关的公共政策的任务是从这些多重现实中理顺,试图鼓励有利于广大社会的行为,劝阻只增加少数大公司的利润,而消费者却没有相应利益的行为。An oligopoly is a situation where a few firms sell most or all of the goods in a market. Oligopolists earn their highest profits if they can band together as a cartel and act like a monopolist by reducing output and raising price. Since each member of the oligopoly can benefit individually from expanding output, such collusion often breaks down—especially since explicit collusion is illegal.
::寡头垄断是一种少数公司在一个市场上出售大部分或全部货物的情况。 寡头垄断者如果能够作为卡特尔联合起来,并通过减少产出和提高价格而像独家垄断者一样行事,就能赚取最高利润。 由于寡头垄断者中的每个成员都可以从扩大产出中个别受益,这种串通往往破裂 — — 特别是因为明显的串通是非法的。The prisoner’s dilemma is an example of game theory. It shows how, in certain situations, all sides can benefit from cooperative behavior rather than self-interested behavior. However, the challenge for the parties is to find ways to encourage cooperative behavior.
::囚犯的两难困境是游戏理论的一个例子。 它表明,在某些情况下,各方如何能够从合作行为而不是自身利益行为中受益。 然而,各方面临的挑战是找到鼓励合作行为的方法。Characteristics of Market Structures
::市场结构的特点Number of firms in Industry
::工业企业数量Influence over Price
::对价格的影响Product differentiation
::产品差异化Advertising
::广告广告广告Entry into Market
::进入市场Examples
::实例Perfect competition
::完美竞争Many
::许多许多None
::无无无无无无无None
::无无无无无无无None
::无无无无无无无Easy
::容易易None
::无无无无无无无Monopolistic Competition
::垄断竞争Many
::许多许多Limited
::有限Fair Amount
::公允数额Fair Amount
::公允数额Easy
::容易易Gas stations
::天然气加油站Oligopoly
::奥利戈波利语NameFew
::少Some
::部分Fair Amount
::公允数额Some
::部分Difficult
::困难Automobiles
::汽车汽车Pure Monopoly
::纯垄断One
::一个Extensive
::广泛None
::无无无无无无无None
::无无无无无无无Almost impossible
::几乎不可能None
::无无无无无无无More than Cooking, Heating, and Cooling
::比煮饭、取暖和放凉还要多If you live in the United States, there is a slightly better than 50–50 chance your home is heated and cooled using natural gas. You may even use natural gas for cooking. However, those uses are not the primary uses of natural gas in the U.S. In 2012, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, home heating, cooling, and cooking accounted for just 18% of natural gas usage. What accounts for the rest? The greatest uses for natural gas are the generation of electric power (39%) and in industry (30%). Together these three uses for natural gas touch many areas of our lives, so why would there be any opposition to a merger of two natural gas firms? After all, a merger could mean increased efficiencies and reduced costs to people like you and me.
::如果你生活在美国,那么你的家有50-50个使用天然气被加热和冷却的机会。你甚至可以使用天然气做饭。然而,在美国,这些用途并不是天然气的主要用途。 2012年,根据美国能源信息管理局的数据,家庭供暖、冷却和烹饪只占天然气使用量的18%。 其余部分是什么?天然气的最大用途是发电(39 % ) 和工业(30 % ) 。 天然气的这三种用途加在一起,触及了我们生活的很多领域,因此为什么两家天然气公司的合并会遭到反对? 毕竟,合并可能意味着效率的提高以及像你和我这样的人的成本的降低。In October 2011, Kinder Morgan and El Paso Corporation, two natural gas firms, announced they were merging. The announcement stated the combined firm would link “nearly every major production region with markets,” cut costs by “eliminating duplication in pipelines and other assets,” and that “the savings could be passed on to consumers.”
::2011年10月,两家天然气公司“Kinder Morgan ” 和“El Paso Corporation ” ( El Paso Corporation,两家天然气公司)宣布合并。 宣布合并公司将“将几乎每个主要生产区与市场联系起来 ” , “ 消除管道和其他资产重复 ” , 降低成本,“储蓄可以转嫁给消费者 ” 。The objection? The $21.1 billion deal would give Kinder Morgan control of more than 80,000 miles of pipeline, making the new firm the third largest energy producer in North America. As the third largest energy producer, policymakers and the public wondered whether the cost savings really would be passed on to consumers, or would the merger give Kinder Morgan a strong oligopoly position in the natural gas marketplace?
::211亿美元的交易将使Kinder Morgan控制了超过80,000英里的管道,使新公司成为北美第三大能源生产国。 作为第三大能源生产国,决策者和公众都想知道成本节约是否真的会转嫁给消费者,或者合并是否会让Kinder Morgan在天然气市场上拥有强大的寡头地位?What should the balance be between corporate size and a larger number of competitors in a marketplace? What role should the government play? What did the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decide on the Kinder Morgan / El Paso Corporation merger? After careful examination, federal officials decided there was only one area of significant overlap that might provide the merged firm with strong market power. The FTC approved the merger, provided Kinder Morgan divest itself of the overlap area. Tallgrass purchased Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission, Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC, two processing facilities in Wyoming, and Kinder Morgan’s 50 percent interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline to meet the FTC requirements. The FTC was attempting to strike a balance between potential cost reductions resulting from economies of scale and concentration of market power.
::在市场中,公司规模和更多的竞争者之间应该保持什么样的平衡?政府应该发挥什么作用?联邦贸易委员会(FTC)决定Kinder Morgan/El Paso公司合并?经过仔细审查,联邦官员决定只有一个可能为合并的公司提供强大市场力量的重大重叠领域。 联邦贸易委员会批准了合并,但Kinder Morgan公司可以放弃重叠领域。 Tallgras购买了Kinder Morgan国家间天然气传输公司、Trailblazer管道有限公司(Trailblazer Pipeline Co. LLC ) 、 怀俄明的两个加工设施以及Kinder Morgan公司在洛基斯快车管道的50%利息以满足FTC的要求。 联邦贸易委员会试图在规模经济和市场力量集中导致的潜在成本削减之间取得平衡。Did the price of natural gas decrease? Yes, rather significantly. In 2010, the wellhead price of natural gas was $4.48 per thousand cubic foot; in 2012 the price had fallen to just $2.66. Was the merger responsible for the large drop in price? The answer is uncertain. The larger contributor to the sharp drop in price was the overall increase in the supply of natural gas. More and more natural gas was able to be recovered by fracturing shale deposits, a process called fracking. Fracking, which is controversial for environmental reasons, enabled the recovery of known reserves of natural gas that previously were not economically feasible to tap. Kinder Morgan’s control of 80,000-plus miles of pipeline likely made moving the gas from wellheads to end users smoother and allowed for an even greater benefit from the increased supply.
::天然气价格是否下降? 是的,相当显著。 2010年,天然气井头价格为每千立方英尺4.48美元;2012年,价格跌至266美元;合并是否导致了价格大幅下跌?答案是不确定的。 天然气价格大幅下跌的更大因素是天然气供应的总体增长。 越来越多的天然气能够通过碎裂的页岩矿床(一个被称为裂裂裂的过程)得到回收。 裂裂因环境原因引起争议,使得已知的天然气储量得以恢复,而以前在经济上是不可能开采的。 克尔摩根对80万多英里输油管的控制可能使天然气从油头转移到终端用户,并允许从增加的供应中获得更大的利益。The previous discussions on the theory of the firm identified three important lessons: First, that competition, by providing consumers with lower prices and a variety of innovative products, is a good thing; second, that large-scale production can dramatically lower average costs; and third, that markets in the real world are rarely perfectly competitive. As a consequence, government policymakers must determine how much to intervene to balance the potential benefits of large-scale production against the potential loss of competition that can occur when businesses grow in size, especially through mergers.
::之前关于公司理论的讨论确定了三个重要教训:第一,通过向消费者提供低价和各种创新产品,竞争是一件好事;第二,大规模生产可以大幅降低平均成本;第三,现实世界的市场很少完全具有竞争力。 因此,政府决策者必须决定如何进行干预,以平衡大规模生产的潜在利益和企业规模扩大(特别是通过兼并)时可能出现的竞争损失。For example, in 2006, AT&T and BellSouth, two telecommunications companies, wished to merge into a single firm. In the year before the merger, AT&T was the 121 st largest company in the country when ranked by sales with $44 billion in revenues and 190,000 employees. BellSouth was the 314 th largest company in the country, with $21 billion in revenues and 63,000 employees.
::例如,2006年,两家电信公司AT&T和Bell South希望合并为一家公司。 在合并前一年,AT&T是该国第121家最大的公司,销售额为440亿美元,雇员为190 000人。 Bell South是该国第314家最大的公司,收入为210亿美元,雇员为63 000人。The two companies argued that the merger would benefit consumers, who would be able to purchase better telecommunications services at a cheaper price because the newly created firm would be able to produce more efficiently by taking advantage of economies of scale and eliminating duplicate investments. However, a number of activist groups like the Consumer Federation of America and Public Knowledge expressed fears that the merger would reduce competition and lead to higher prices for consumers for decades to come. In December 2006, the federal government allowed the merger to proceed. By 2009, the new post-merger AT&T was the eighth largest company by revenues in the United States, and by that measure the largest telecommunications company in the world. Economists have spent – and will still spend – years trying to determine whether the merger of AT&T and BellSouth, as well as other smaller mergers of telecommunications companies at about this same time, helped consumers, hurt them, or did not make much difference.
::两家公司认为,合并有利于消费者,他们能够以更便宜的价格购买更好的电信服务,因为新创建的公司能够利用规模经济并消除重复投资,从而更有效地生产。 但是,美国消费者联合会和公众知识等一些活跃团体担心合并会减少竞争并在未来几十年内导致消费者价格上涨。 2006年12月,联邦政府允许合并进行。 到2009年,新的后兼并AT&T公司是美国收入排名第八的大公司,也是世界上最大的电信公司。 经济学家们花费了 — — 并且仍将花费 — — 几年时间试图确定合并AT&T和贝尔南公司以及其他较小的电信公司的合并是否同时帮助了消费者,伤害了他们,或者没有带来多大变化。This chapter discusses public policy issues about competition. How can economists and governments determine when mergers of large companies like AT&T and BellSouth should be allowed and when they should be blocked? The government also plays a role in policing anticompetitive behavior other than mergers, like prohibiting certain kinds of contracts that might restrict competition. In the case of natural monopoly, however, trying to preserve competition probably will not work very well, and so the government will often resort to a regulation of price and/or quantity of output. In recent decades, there has been a global trend toward less government intervention in the price and output decisions of businesses.
::本章讨论关于竞争的公共政策问题。经济学家和政府如何决定何时允许诸如AT&T和贝尔南公司等大公司的合并以及何时应该阻止这些合并? 政府也在控制兼并以外的反竞争行为方面发挥作用,比如禁止某些可能限制竞争的合同。 然而,在自然垄断的情况下,试图维护竞争可能不会很好地发挥作用,因此政府往往会诉诸价格和(或)产出数量监管。 近几十年来,全球趋势是政府减少对企业价格和产出决定的干预。Answer the self check questions below to monitor your understanding of the concepts in this section.
::回答下面的自我核对问题,以监测你对本节概念的理解。Self Check Questions
::自查问题1. What is a market structure?
::1. 什么是市场结构?2. How many possible market structures are there? List, explain, and give an example of each type of market structure.
::2. 有多少可能的市场结构?列出、解释和举例说明每一类市场结构。3. Explain the term "laissez-faire". When was it first used? What did it mean then? What does it mean today?
::3. 解释一下“laissez-faire”一词。它最初是什么时候使用的?是什么意思?今天是什么意思?4. What is product differentiation? Give an example.
::4. 什么是产品差别?举一个例子。5. What is collusion? How is it used?
::5. 什么是串通?如何利用这种串通?6. Define monopoly. Explain and give examples of the 3 possible types of monopolies that may exist.
::6. 界定垄断,解释并举例说明可能存在的三种可能的垄断类型。7. Explain and give examples of the 5 characteristics of perfect competition.
::7. 解释和举例说明完美竞争的5个特点。8. How can the actions of one oligopoly affect the other oligopolies? Give 3 examples.
::8. 一个寡头垄断者的行动如何影响另一个寡头垄断者?举三个例子。9. List at least 5 stores where you shop. For each one, give at least 1 reason why you choose to spend your money there.
::9. 列出至少5家商店的清单,每家商店至少要说明一个理由,说明为什么你选择在那里花钱。 -
Perfect competition is a theory used to evaluate other types of markets.
