What is a perfectly contestable market?

A perfectly contestable market is the limiting case in which there are no barriers to entry or exit at all, entrants have access to the same technology and costs as the incumbent, and there are no sunk costs, so a firm can enter, trade and leave without losing anything it cannot recover. In this case the incumbent must price at the level that yields only normal profit, because any margin above it would be taken by an entrant.

Why is contestability not determined by the number of firms in a market?

Because what constrains an incumbent's price is not who is currently selling but who could sell tomorrow. A single firm facing costless entry cannot raise price above the normal-profit level without being undercut by an arrival, whereas twenty firms sheltered behind heavy sunk costs and licensing restrictions can hold prices high indefinitely. The head-count describes the market's structure; contestability describes the pressure on it.

Give an example of a market with very few firms that is nevertheless reasonably contestable, and explain why.

A route flown by only one or two airlines can still be contestable, because an aircraft is a mobile asset: a rival can move a plane onto the route, lease a slot and start selling seats within a season, and if the route proves unprofitable it can move the aircraft to another route and sell it on a deep second-hand market. Little of the capital committed is lost on exit, so the sitting airline cannot safely price far above cost.

Give an example of a market with many firms that is nevertheless not very contestable, and explain why.

Community pharmacy in the UK has many separate outlets but is not easily contested, because opening a new dispensing pharmacy requires a licence that is granted only where a need is shown. A would-be entrant that has spotted a profitable location cannot simply open there, so the number of existing firms gives a misleading impression of how much competitive pressure any one of them faces.

What is a barrier to entry?

A barrier to entry is anything that raises the cost or reduces the expected return of a new firm starting to supply a market, relative to the position of firms already there. Examples include large capital requirements, economies of scale that the entrant cannot immediately match, patents, established brand loyalty, control of an essential input or distribution channel, and legal restrictions such as licences.

CCEA A-Level Economics 4410

Key Economic Concepts

Topic overview The four factors of production Positive statements and normative judgements Economic agents and what they are trying to achieve Capital goods and consumption goods Product markets and factor markets

The Basic Economic Problem of Scarcity and Choice

Topic overview Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost Drawing and reading the production possibility frontier Using a PPF to show choice, opportunity cost, efficiency and growth Why an economy operates inside its frontier Specialisation and the division of labour Free market, planned and mixed economies

Demand and Supply in Product Markets

Topic overview What determines demand and what determines supply Movements along a curve versus shifts of a curve Why the demand curve slopes downwards Why the supply curve slopes upwards: marginal cost and the profit incentive Consumer surplus and producer surplus When consumers do not behave rationally

Markets and Equilibrium

Topic overview Market equilibrium and how markets clear How shifts in demand and supply change the equilibrium Price signals, incentives, rationing and the role of profit Joint, composite and derived demand and joint supply Tracing effects between interrelated markets Community surplus and allocative efficiency Demand and supply in housing, energy and commodity markets Indirect taxes and subsidies: impact and incidence

Elasticity of Demand and Supply

Topic overview Price elasticity of demand: measuring and interpreting Income and cross elasticity: normal, inferior, substitutes and complements Price elasticity of supply What determines the value of an elasticity Elasticity and total revenue How useful is elasticity for firms and government?

Factor Markets: Labour

Topic overview How a competitive labour market sets the wage Elasticity of labour demand and labour supply Wage differentials and why they persist Economic rent and transfer earnings Flexibility: trade unions, welfare and migration Minimum wages and government intervention in the labour market

Market Failures and Imperfections

Topic overview Market equilibrium, the social optimum and the meaning of market failure Externalities: private, external and social costs and benefits Community surplus and the externality diagrams Calculating and interpreting welfare loss Public goods, quasi-public goods and the free rider problem The consequences of missing markets for public goods Merit goods and demerit goods Information gaps and asymmetric information The consequences of merit goods, demerit goods and information failure Market power and other market imperfections Income and wealth inequality Absolute and relative poverty

Government Intervention in Markets

Topic overview Why governments step into markets Indirect taxes Subsidies, and choosing between taxes and subsidies Maximum and minimum prices State provision Regulation Information provision Tradeable pollution permits Government failure

The Circular Flow of Income

Topic overview Households, firms and the two-way flow Injections and withdrawals in an open economy with government Equilibrium and change in the circular flow

Measuring National Income

Topic overview Three routes to the same total: income, expenditure and output GDP as a measure of welfare and its limitations Domestic or national? GDP and GNP compared Nominal and real values: correcting for price changes Total and per capita measures

Aggregate Demand

Topic overview The four components of aggregate demand Why the aggregate demand curve slopes downwards Movements along and shifts in aggregate demand Factors that shift aggregate demand Investment: gross, net and fixed capital

Aggregate Supply

Topic overview Why short-run aggregate supply slopes upwards Factors that shift short-run aggregate supply Movements along and shifts in aggregate supply From the short run to the long run What determines long-run aggregate supply Keynesian and neoclassical views of long-run aggregate supply

Macroeconomic Equilibrium

Topic overview How aggregate demand and aggregate supply determine equilibrium Applying AD-AS analysis to growth and unemployment Applying AD-AS analysis to inflation

Macroeconomic Objectives

Topic overview Why governments target inflation, unemployment, the external balance and growth Objectives beyond the main four: the environment and the distribution of income and wealth Picturing inequality: the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient Where the objectives collide: the main policy conflicts Judging the trade-offs: how sharp is a conflict?

Inflation

Topic overview Inflation, deflation and disinflation: what the words actually mean Measuring the rate: the CPI and the RPI Working with index numbers Building a price index: the basket and the significance of weights Demand-pull and cost-push inflation The costs and consequences of inflation and deflation The policy response to inflation

Unemployment

Topic overview The claimant count and the ILO measure of unemployment Calculating and interpreting unemployment statistics Unemployment and economic inactivity: a distinction that changes the numbers The types of unemployment and what distinguishes them The causes of unemployment and of economic inactivity The costs and consequences of unemployment and inactivity Policies for unemployment and intervention in the labour market

Economic Growth

Topic overview Actual and potential growth on a production possibility frontier Measuring economic growth The economic cycle and output gaps The causes of economic growth Benefits, costs and the sustainability of growth Policies to promote economic growth using AD–AS analysis

Fiscal Policy and Its Effects

Topic overview What fiscal policy is and how it works Government spending and taxation: the main categories Direct and indirect taxation Fiscal policy in the AD-AS model Evaluating the impact of fiscal policy on output, employment, prices and agents

Monetary Policy

Topic overview The nature of monetary policy and the interest rate instrument The transmission mechanism from interest rates to aggregate demand Monetary policy in the AD-AS model Evaluating the impact of monetary policy on output, employment, prices and agents

Supply-Side Policies

Topic overview The nature of supply-side policy and tax cuts Deregulation and evaluating market-based supply-side policy Competition and innovation as supply-side policy Infrastructure as supply-side policy Labour market reform Education, training and the skills of the workforce Labour productivity: determinants and significance Supply-side policies in the AD-AS model Evaluating the impact of supply-side policies

Exchange Rates and the National Economy

Topic overview What an exchange rate is and how it is measured Exchange rate changes in the AD-AS model Holding the exchange rate above or below the market clearing level Why a government might have an exchange rate policy Evaluating the impact of exchange rate changes on output, employment, prices and agents

Short Run Versus Long Run

Topic overview The short run, the long run and the law of diminishing returns Fixed, variable and total costs of production Calculating and drawing the short-run cost curves Revenue curves: total, average and marginal revenue The profit-maximising output Shutdown, breakeven, and normal and supernormal profit Long-run cost, economies of scale and minimum efficient scale Efficiency, X inefficiency and the effects of firm size

Business Objectives

Topic overview Why firms pursue maximum profit Alternative objectives: revenue, growth, managerial utility, satisficing and the environment Ownership, control and the principal-agent problem Stakeholders, and public versus private sector objectives

Business Growth

Topic overview How and why firms grow, and why some stay small Organic growth versus merger and acquisition Horizontal, vertical and conglomerate integration Evaluating the motives for and consequences of growth

Measuring Markets

Topic overview Market size, market share and market growth The n firm concentration ratio Difficulties in measuring market share accurately Sales value against sales volume

Analysing Market Structures

Topic overview What defines a market structure Price and output across the structures Efficiency across the market structures Market structure and innovation How useful are the models of market structure?

Perfect Competition

Topic overview The price taker's revenue curves and short-run equilibrium The firm and the industry side by side How the market moves from the short run to the long run

Monopoly

Topic overview Barriers to entry Monopoly equilibrium and its consequences Price discrimination Natural monopoly Creative destruction

Monopolistic Competition

Topic overview The firm's demand curve when products are differentiated Short-run equilibrium for the firm Long-run equilibrium and excess capacity How the market moves from the short run to the long run

Oligopoly

Topic overview Concentration and interdependence: what marks out an oligopoly Collusion and price leadership Price wars and sustaining collusion Non-price competition and product differentiation The kinked demand curve model Game theory and the pay-off matrix Evaluating the costs and benefits of oligopoly

Contestable Markets

Topic overview What makes a market contestable Sunk costs and hit-and-run entry How ease of entry changes the behaviour of firms Judging contestability and its significance

Competition Policy

Topic overview The aims and shape of competition policy Breaking up firms and controlling mergers Regulation, regulators and price caps Evaluating regulation and its alternatives Taxation and subsidies as competition remedies Nationalisation Privatisation, and choosing between public and private ownership Banning unfair trading practices Judging competition policy and government failure

Trade and Globalisation

Topic overview Calculating absolute and comparative advantage Evaluating comparative advantage and its limits The gains and losses from free trade Globalisation and its effects Foreign direct investment The instruments of protectionism Evaluating protectionism The World Trade Organisation Trading blocs, trade creation and trade diversion

Economic Development

Topic overview What economic development means and how it differs from growth The difficulties of measuring development National income statistics and comparisons of living standards The Human Development Index Growth in less developed countries: benefits, costs and constraints Promoting development: aid, institutions, debt and trade

Balance of Payments

Topic overview How the balance of payments is put together Consequences of current account deficits and surpluses Policies to correct current account imbalances Expenditure-switching and expenditure-reducing policies

Exchange Rate Systems and Competitiveness

Topic overview How foreign exchange markets operate The influences on currency demand and supply Monetary policy, intervention and other influences on the exchange rate Fixed and floating exchange rate systems The Marshall-Lerner condition and the J-curve The effect of exchange rate changes on the current account Trade-weighted exchange rate indices Purchasing power parity and comparing competitiveness Evaluating exchange rate policy

European Union (EU)

Topic overview The economic case for membership of a trading bloc The costs and constraints of membership, and the position of candidate countries Enlargement, withdrawal and changes in the structure of the union The Eurozone: one currency and one interest rate

Monetary Policy and the Financial Sector

Topic overview Central banks, the banking sector and the money supply Setting the base rate and the transmission of monetary policy The Fisher equation of exchange and the quantity theory of money The financial sector and the real economy Moral hazard in banking Regulating the financial system Regulation and the money supply in a global economy Quantitative easing The money supply and monetary policy in an open economy The effectiveness of monetary policy

Fiscal Deficits and the National Debt

Topic overview The deficit and the debt: a flow and a stock What determines the size of a fiscal deficit Discretionary policy and automatic stabilisers Financing the deficit: bonds, borrowing and crowding out The benefits and costs of a deficit and of the national debt Fiscal policy, macroeconomic objectives and economic agents

Macroeconomic Policies and Objectives in a Global Economy

Topic overview Comparing the performance of different economies Global events and how they reach the domestic economy Responding to external demand and supply shocks Problems and constraints facing policymakers How the priority given to macroeconomic objectives has changed Comparing policies against one another

Quantitative Skills in Economics

Topic overview Ratios, shares and proportions in economic data Percentages and percentage changes in economic data Averages, medians and quantiles Index numbers, weighting and rebasing Converting money values to real values Cost, revenue and profit Elasticity: calculating the number and reading its meaning Choosing and reading economic charts and diagrams Interpreting economic data critically

Contestable Markets

What makes a market contestable

1 thing to know
Unit A2 1

Overview

Contestable market, barrier to entry and barrier to exit.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is a contestable market, and what makes one perfectly contestable?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is a contestable market?
Model answer
A contestable market is one in which firms can enter and leave freely, so that any supernormal profit earned by an incumbent invites entry and the threat of that entry disciplines the incumbent's behaviour. Contestability is a property of the entry and exit conditions, not of the number of firms already trading.
2
What is a perfectly contestable market?
Model answer
A perfectly contestable market is the limiting case in which there are no barriers to entry or exit at all, entrants have access to the same technology and costs as the incumbent, and there are no sunk costs, so a firm can enter, trade and leave without losing anything it cannot recover. In this case the incumbent must price at the level that yields only normal profit, because any margin above it would be taken by an entrant.
3
Why is contestability not determined by the number of firms in a market?
Model answer
Because what constrains an incumbent's price is not who is currently selling but who could sell tomorrow. A single firm facing costless entry cannot raise price above the normal-profit level without being undercut by an arrival, whereas twenty firms sheltered behind heavy sunk costs and licensing restrictions can hold prices high indefinitely. The head-count describes the market's structure; contestability describes the pressure on it.
4
Give an example of a market with very few firms that is nevertheless reasonably contestable, and explain why.
Model answer
A route flown by only one or two airlines can still be contestable, because an aircraft is a mobile asset: a rival can move a plane onto the route, lease a slot and start selling seats within a season, and if the route proves unprofitable it can move the aircraft to another route and sell it on a deep second-hand market. Little of the capital committed is lost on exit, so the sitting airline cannot safely price far above cost.
5
Give an example of a market with many firms that is nevertheless not very contestable, and explain why.
Model answer
Community pharmacy in the UK has many separate outlets but is not easily contested, because opening a new dispensing pharmacy requires a licence that is granted only where a need is shown. A would-be entrant that has spotted a profitable location cannot simply open there, so the number of existing firms gives a misleading impression of how much competitive pressure any one of them faces.
6
What is a barrier to entry?
Model answer
A barrier to entry is anything that raises the cost or reduces the expected return of a new firm starting to supply a market, relative to the position of firms already there. Examples include large capital requirements, economies of scale that the entrant cannot immediately match, patents, established brand loyalty, control of an essential input or distribution channel, and legal restrictions such as licences.

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Key Economic Concepts

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Demand and Supply in Product Markets

Markets and Equilibrium

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