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Give reasons for the following statements: (i) Demand curve facing a perfectly competitive firm is a horizontal straight line. (ii) Demand curve facing a monopolistic competitive firm is a downward sloping curve. (iii) Demand curve facing a monopoly firm is less elastic than that curve facing a monopolistic competitive firm. |
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Answer» SOLUTION :(i) Under perfect COMPETITION, every firm is a price-taker firm. The price is set by industry demand and supply. Therefore, every firm faces a horizontal straight line demand CURVE indicating that it can SELL any quantity at the given price. (ii) A monopolistic competitive firm has to DESIGN its own pricing strategy. It can expect to sell larger quantity at a lower price, and vice-versa. Hence, its demand curve slopes downwards. (iii) A monopolist is the only producer of a good which has no close substitutes. A monopolistic competitive firm, on the other hand, produces a good that has several close substitutes. Hence, the demand curve facing a monopolistic competitive firm is more elastic than that faced by a monopoly firm. |
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