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Questions › DSE › DSE 2010 › Q58
2 marksMicroeconomics › Monopolistic competition and oligopoly › Bertrand competitionHardabout 4 min

DSE 2010 Question 58: Monopolistic competition and oligopoly

Consider a Bertrand duopoly with firms 1 and 2 producing a homogeneous good and setting prices p1,p2p_{1},p_{2}p1​,p2​ that must be positive integers. If p1<p2p_{1}<p_{2}p1​<p2​ (resp. p1>p2p_{1}>p_{2}p1​>p2​), firm 1 (resp. firm 2) sells 5−p15-p_{1}5−p1​ (resp. 5−p25-p_{2}5−p2​) and the other sells nothing; if p1=p2p_{1}=p_{2}p1​=p2​, each sells (5−p1)/2(5-p_{1})/2(5−p1​)/2. Firm 1 has constant average cost 5/25/25/2 and firm 2 has constant average cost 3/23/23/2. In equilibrium

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Consider a Bertrand duopoly with firms 1 and 2 producing a homogeneous good and setting prices p₁,p₂ that must be positive integers. If p₁<p₂ (resp. p₁>p₂), firm 1 (resp. firm 2) sells 5-p₁ (resp. 5-p₂) and the other sells nothing; if p₁=p₂, each sells (5-p₁)/2. Firm 1 has constant average cost 5/2 and firm 2 has constant average cost 3/2. In equilibrium (A) p₁=2=p₂ (B) p₁=3=p₂ (C) p₁=3 and p₂=2 (D) p₁=3 and p₂ is 2 or 3

Also written as: Consider a Bertrand duopoly with firms 1 and 2 producing a homogeneous good and setting prices p_1,p_2 that must be positive integers. If p_1<p_2 (resp. p_1>p_2), firm 1 (resp. firm 2) sells 5-p_1 (resp. 5-p_2) and the other sells nothing; if p_1=p_2, each sells (5-p_1)/2. Firm 1 has constant average cost 5/2 and firm 2 has constant average cost 3/2. In equilibrium

Monopolistic competition and oligopoly has come up 104 times in 7 exams since 2004.

What this question tests

This question is on Bertrand competition, part of Monopolistic competition and oligopoly in Microeconomics.

Firms competing on price, and why identical firms price at marginal cost.

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Question from the DSE 2010 paper. Solutions are TestStop's own. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any examination authority.