WJEC A-Level Business 601-5238-2
Enterprise and Starting a Business
Markets and Market Research
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Markets and Market Research
Perfect competition and monopolistic competition
- 3 things to know
- AS Unit 1
Overview
Main features of perfect competition, main features of monopolistic competition and markets close to monopolistic competition.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What happens in perfect competition if existing firms are earning high profits?
Give examples of markets close to monopolistic competition.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Name the main features of perfect competition.
Model answer
There are very many small buyers and sellers, the product is identical whoever supplies it, buyers and sellers have perfect information, and firms can enter and leave the market freely.
- 2
Why is a firm in perfect competition a price taker?
Model answer
Its output is a tiny part of the market and its product is identical to everyone else's, so charging more sells nothing while charging less is unnecessary.
- 3
What happens in perfect competition if existing firms are earning high profits?
Model answer
New firms enter freely, market supply rises, and the price is driven down until only normal profit remains.
- 4
Why is perfect competition described as a theoretical model?
Model answer
No real market meets all its conditions, because products are almost always differentiated in some way and information is never perfect.
- 5
Which real markets come closest to perfect competition?
Model answer
Markets for standardised commodities such as wheat, currencies and some raw materials come closest, because the product is essentially identical and prices are known to everyone.
- 6
How must a firm in a highly competitive market compete if it cannot set its price?
Model answer
It must reduce its own costs to survive at the market price, since it cannot raise revenue by charging more.
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