Reading Guide

Reading Guide for Unit 11: Oligopoly

Chapter and sections in Taylor to Read Pg # Comments/Assignment
12 Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly 229
Monopolistic Competition 230 Skip. Covered in previous Unit.
Differentiated Products 230
Perceived Demand for a Monopolistic Competitor 231
How a Monopolistic Competitor Chooses Price and Quantity 232
Monopolistic Competitors and Entry 234
Monopolistic Competition and Efficiency 235
The Benefits of Variety and Product Differentiation 236
Oligopoly 237 Read – Important. Pay particular attention to “Prisoner’s dilemma”
  Why Do Oligopolies Exist? 237
Collusion or Competition? 238
The Prisoner’s Dilemma 238
The Oligopoly Version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma 239
How to Enforce Cooperation 240
Trade-offs of Imperfect Competition 242
Key Concepts and Summary 242
Review Questions 244 review
13 Competition and Public Policy 245
Corporate Mergers 246 Read.
  Regulations for Approving Mergers 247
The Four-Firm Concentration Ratio 248
The Herfindahl-Hirshman Index 248
The Problem of Defining a Market 250
Regulating Anticompetitive Behavior 250 Ignore.
Restrictive Practices 251
The Microsoft Case 252
An Evolving Set of Standards 252
When Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: Regulating Natural Monopolies 253
The Choices in Regulating a Natural Monopoly 253
Cost-Plus versus Price Cap Regulation 255
The Great Deregulation Experiment 255
Doubts about Regulation of Prices and Quantities 256
The Effects of Deregulation 256
Frontiers of Deregulation 257
Around the World: From Nationalization to Privatization 258
Key Concepts and Summary 260
Review Questions 261