Monopoly and Efficiency
I could not pass up an opportunity to include an article
by George Stigler, one of the very best economists of his
time. It is in The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics:
www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Monopoly.html
The theory of monopoly is easily reduced to a simple
graph. Here are two sites that have interactive explanations
and demonstrations of the theory of monopoly. The first is
short, and the second very long and complete:
plaza.mit.edu/econ/index.php?id=21
hspm.sph.sc.edu/COURSES/ECON/Monopoly/Mon.html
This short piece on oligopoly contains the key points on
the topic:
www.tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/monopoly/oligopoly_notes.htm
This entry in The Concise Encyclopedia of
Economics gives the case against occupational
licensing:
www.econlib.org/library/Enc/OccupationalLicensing.html
Even though businesses find it profitable to price
discriminate, the public often does not believe that higher
demand is a justified reason to charge more. An article in
The New York Times discusses forms of price
discrimination people accept as fair and forms they think
unfair:
www.nytimes.com/2005/06/27/business/27consuming.html?ex=1277524800&en=72ef44cbd51eac99&ei=5090
This entry in The Concise Encyclopedia of
Economics probably gives you more than you want to know
about antitrust policy:
www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Antitrust.html
Why do economists tend to distrust occupational
licensing? See if you can see any rationale for licensing in
this case:
www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20080130_Bidding_goodbye.html
The late George Stigler pioneered studies that examined
the actual effects of regulation, and found that those
effects were often quite different from the publicly stated
goals of the regulation. Here is a short biographical note
on Stigler:
www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Stigler.html
These links were checked on July 5, 2008
  
Copyright
Robert Schenk
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