The task for Assignment 2 is available below:
Your task is to select a real-world market and determine which model of market structure studied you think would be most appropriate to describe that market. You should discuss how the nature of the market structure relates to the market outcomes observed.
Market Selection
You must clearly define the market that you are analysing.
As this is an individual assignment, students should not intentionally select the same market as their classmates.
Economic Analysis
The exact details of your analysis may depend on what is appropriate for the market selected. In most cases many of the below will be relevant, but not all will be relevant to all cases. You should focus on what is most relevant to your market to draw out the key relevant concepts for your case. A coherent argument should be presented around this. Do not simply go through the dot-points below sequentially or use these as subheadings.
Topics that may be useful to address:
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How well the market fits the assumptions of the model
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The nature of the product (eg. differentiated?)
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Factors about the production technology of the product, such as: Are there economies of scale? How might the minimum efficient scale compare to the size of the market? Are there any other interesting aspects of the cost structure that might be an important part of the story regarding the type of market observed, the pricing, or profits?
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How large is the number of competitors?
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What is the degree of market power of firms in this market?
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How do firms compete or set prices in this market?
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Are there significant barriers to entry?
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What outcomes do we observe such as prices, mark-ups, profits and firm entry/exit?
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It may be useful to contrast short-run and long-run responses in the market to changes in demand or supply factors, or more particularly to economic profits
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Is it an increasing-cost or decreasing-cost industry, and is this relevant to the analysis?