Guide to the Web for Economics
CHAPTER 13
Product Markets
The product market refers to the market for final
goods and services produced (supplied) by businesses and consumed
(demanded) by consumers. Profit maximizing firms determine how much
of a good to produce and how much to charge based on their costs and
the demand for the good. The economic environment and market
structure in which firms compete affects consumer demand and firm
costs, thereby influencing market quantities and prices. Because not
all firms operate in the same market environment it is important to
investigate the impact of market structure on variables such as
output, prices, profits, and efficiency. This chapter includes links
to Web resources relating to different forms of market structure,
organized as follows:
Competition and Markets
Antitrust and Government
Regulation
- History
of Antitrust Legislation
- Antitrust
Policy
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Site contains an index of links to antitrust economic
resources, policy and cases, with links to case studies and
recent press coverage of mergers, price fixing and vertical
restraints. Page also includes a fairly sophisticated merger
simulation.
- http://www.antitrust.org/
- American
Antitrust Institute
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Home page for the AAI links to information about the
Institute and its mission to promote fair competition. Page
includes recent activities and links to a wealth of Internet
resources for Antitrust.
- http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/
- FTC
Antitrust/Competition
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Site from the Federal Trade Commission links to current and
past FTC antitrust actions and cases, the Bureau of
Competition, a consumers guide to antitrust laws, and more.
Also provides a search mechanism for the site and some FTC
reports in a downloadable pdf format.
- http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/antitrust.htm
- Antitrust
Division of DOJ
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: search
- Site from the Antitrust Division of the Department of
Justice includes links to late-breaking news on antitrust
cases, announcements, and public documents. Page also links to
documents from cases filed since 1994 with an alphabetical
listing by defendant name.
- http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/index.html
- U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Home page for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with
links to many resources, including patent and trademark
databases for applications and other information on issued and
pending patents and trademarks.
- http://www.uspto.gov/
- U.S. Copyright
Office
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: search
- Home page for the U.S. Copyright Office with links to
downloadable information on copyrights, related publications,
legislation, and more.
- http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/
Monopolies and Regulation
- Rise
of Monopolies
- Profit-maximizing
Monopoly on econweb
- Type: publication Level: intermediate Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Site from econweb provides interactive Web-based materials
for learning the theory of monopolies using graphics with text
for explanation. Page also links to other samples and full
subscription information.
- http://econweb.com/Sample/Monopoly/ProfitMax1.html
- Price
Discrimination Guidelines
- Privatization
of Monopolies
- Type: publication Level: basic Length:
long Links: yes Graphics: no
- A 1997 article published in the electronic journal
Economic Perspectives, presenting an overview of
difficulties in regulation of monopolies, particularly natural
monopolies. Article discusses the difficulties of profit
regulation, price cap regulation, and more.
- http://www.usia.gov/journals/ites/0197/ijee/ej5c4.htm
- Microsoft
Monopoly
- Type: publication Level: basic Length:
long Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Page includes an article critical of Microsoft, offering
one perspective of how the company gains and exercises market
power, focusing on Microsofts tactics in their battle against
Netscape. Article was first published in the New York Times
Magazine in November of 1995.
- http://www.around.com/microsoft.html
- Is
Microsoft a Monopoly?
- Type: writing; Level: basic; Length: long; Links: yes; Graphics: yes; Other: search
- A long article discussing monopolies and making a case
against the Justice Department taking legal action against the
software giant. Also links to related writings and books about
Microsoft.
- http://www.smart.net/~kaz/microsoft.html
- Tech
Giants Back Microsoft
- Type: publication; Level: basic; Length: medium; Links: yes; Graphics: yes; Other: search
- Site from CNNfn contains a 1998 article about
Justice Department actions against Microsoft, producer of the
Windows software that runs more than 90% of the world's
personal computers. Page also links to related articles about
Microsoft.
- http://cnnfn.com/digitaljam/9804/30/microsoft/index.htm
- U.S. Postal Service
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Home page for the U.S. Postal Service providing a wealth of
information about the USPS and its rates for both the monopoly
on first-class mail and package delivery, where competition
exists. Page also allows searches of the site and downloading
of documents.
- http://www.usps.gov/
- Electricity
Monopolies in Norway
- Type: publication/list
Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- A downloadable article Incentive-based Regulation of
Electricity Monopolies in Norway, providing information
about a new regulatory model for Norwegian natural monopolies
in electricity.
- http://www.nve.no/english/regulation/index.html
- Deregulation
in Electric Utilities
- Type: publication Level: intermediate Length:
long Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Page includes full text of a Congressional Budget Office
study on the subject of stranded costs, examining the economic
implications of compensating utilities for such costs. The 1998
paper also discusses actions that states and the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission have taken to address the issue.
- http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=976&sequence=0&from=1
- Market
Power in the Electricity Industry
- Type: publication Level: intermediate Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Page contains a 1999 paper by the president of the American
Antitrust Institute that explains competition and market power,
focusing on electricity restructuring.
- http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/recent/may.htm
- Competition
from Generic Drugs in the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Type: publication Level: intermediate Length:
long Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- A Congressional Budget Office study examining the extent to
which competition from generic drugs has increased since the
1984 Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration. The
1998 paper also analyzes how that competition has affected the
returns from developing a drug.
- http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=655&sequence=0&from=1
- Technology
and Welfare under a Monopoly
- Type: publication Level: advanced Length:
long Links: no Graphics: yes Other: pdf
- Site contains the full pdf text of a 1998 article from the
Journal of Economic Education. Article demonstrates how
Monopolies work, why they are inefficient, and explores the
relationships between social welfare, adoption of technological
change, and output.
- http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/spring98/hennessy.pdf
- Merger
Simulation
- Type: writing Level: intermediate Length:
medium Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Canadian Competition Policy page providing a fairly
sophisticated merger simulation model that combines assumptions
about competition in the market with some pre-merger market
data to predict the impact of the merger on variables such as
price, consumers' surplus and total welfare.
- http://csgb.ubc.ca/ccpp/simulation/
- Journal
of Industrial Economics
- Type: publication Level: advanced Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Home page for a journal that publishes both theoretical and
empirical papers in all areas of industrial economics,
including applied oligopoly theory, product differentiation,
regulation, and monopoly theory. Includes links to abstracts of
current articles and the ability to search abstracts from past
issues.
- http://haas.berkeley.edu/~jindec/index.html
Monopolistic
Competition
Oligopolies
- Kinked
Demand Oligopoly on econweb
- Type: publication Level: intermediate Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Site from econweb providing interactive Web-based materials
for analyzing oligopoly behavior of firms, including several
graphics with text for explanation. Page also links to other
samples and full subscription information.
- http://econweb.com/Sample/Oligopoly/KindedDemand1.html
- OPEC
- Type: writing/list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Home page for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) with lots of information about OPEC and its
eleven members that supply more than 40% of the world's oil.
- http://www.opec.org/
- Market Share
within OPEC
- Type: writing Level: basic Length:
long Links: yes Graphics: yes
- Site provides a good history of the share of the world
crude oil market held by each member of the OPEC cartel. Page
includes excellent graphics and links to a comprehensive oil
price history and analysis.
- http://www.wtrg.com/opecshare.html
- Cournot
Oligopoly
- Type: publication Level: advanced Length:
short Links: no Graphics: yes Other: pdf
- Site contains the full pdf text of a 1998 article from the
Journal of Economic Education. Article presents a
graphical technique of solving a Cournot model of Oligopoly for
any number of non-identical firms.
- http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/spring98/sarkar.pdf
- Oligopoly
in California Insurance Market
- Type: publication Level: basic Length:
medium Links: yes Graphics: yes
- A 1997 article discussing the oligopoly in Californias
workers compensation insurance market, giving measures of the
concentration ratio and Herfindahl-Hirshman index.
- http://www.uwreport.com/wire/news0797/0710agn.htm
- Re-regulating
Airlines
- Type: publication Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: search
- A 1998 article from The Detroit News commenting on
the Department of Transportations efforts to crack down on
"predatory pricing" by major airlines.
- http://detnews.com/EDITPAGE/9804/08/1edit/1edit.htm
- Federal Express
Corporation
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Home page for Federal Express in the U.S. with detailed
information about FedEx and its services, including rates and
the shipping and tracking of packages. Page also allows
searches of the site and downloading of documents.
- http://www.fedex.com/us/
- United Parcel Service
- Type: list Level: basic Length:
short Links: yes Graphics: yes Other: pdf/search
- Home page for United Parcel Service containing links to
information about UPS, including a complete service guide for
domestic and international shipping and the ability to download
UPS software and rate information.
- http://www.ups.com/