经济学导论
ESSENTIALS OF ECONOMICS
UNIT Three
Monopoly
Contents
1
2
Why Monopolies Arise?
Public Policy Toward Monopolies
Words & Usage
 Substitute 替代品
A substitute is something that you have or use instead of
something else.
例： Emotion should never be a substitute for sound policy.
感情不能代替政策。
Exclusive 专有的，唯一的；除外的，排他的
Something that is exclusive is used or owned by only one person
or group, and not shared with anyone else.
例：Our group will have exclusive use of a 60-foot boat.
我们组将有一条专用的60英尺的船。
If a company states that its prices, goods, or services
are exclusive of something, that thing is not included in the
stated price, although it usually still has to be paid for.
例：...the average cost of a three-course dinner exclusive of tax,
tip and beverage.
…不含税、小费和酒水费用的3道菜晚餐的平均花费。
Words & Usage
 Necessity 必需品
A necessity is something that you must have in order to live
properly or do something.
例： You can’t plan your retirement, a vacation, or any
kind of luxury or necessity without bank deposit.
没有存款，你就无法计划你的退休生活、假期生活或任何奢侈或必需品。
 Exert 发挥（威力等）；产生（影响等）
If someone or something exerts influence, authority, or
pressure, they use it in a strong or determined way, especially in
order to produce a particular effect.
例：He exerted considerable influence on the thinking of the
scientific community on these issues.
他对科学界在这些问题上的思考施加了相当大的影响。
Words & Usage
 Clout 影响
A person or institution that has clout has influence and power.
例： Mr. Sutherland may have the clout needed to push the two
trading giants into a deal.
萨瑟兰先生可能具有影响力来促使两大贸易巨头达成交易。
 Database 数据库
A database is a collection of data that is stored in a computer
and that can easily be used and added to.
例：The state maintains a database of names of people allowed to
vote.
该州有一个可以投票的人的姓名数据库。
Words & Usage
 Incentive 激励，刺激
If something is an incentive to do something, it encourages you
to do it.
例： There is little or no incentive to adopt such measures.
几乎或根本没有鼓励来采取这样的措施。
 Negligible 可以忽略的；微不足道的
An amount or effect that is negligible is so small that it is not
worth considering or worrying about.
例： But markets for commodities are global, and the risk of
any one consumer cornering supplies, or securing them at a
lower price, is negligible.
但对于商品来说，市场是全球性的，任何一个消费国对于供给的垄断或确保
供给维持低价的风险都是微不足道的。
Words & Usage
Merge 合并，结合
If one thing merges with another, or is merged with another,
they combine or come together to make one whole thing. You can
also say that two things merge, or are merged.
例： We can merge our two small businesses into a larger one.
我们可以把我们的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
Antitrust 反托拉斯的，反垄断的
In the United States, antitrust laws are intended to stop big
companies taking over their competitors, fixing prices with their
competitors, or interfering with free competition in any way.
例： The jury found that the NFL had violated antitrust laws.
该陪审团判定全美橄榄球联盟违反了反垄断法规。
Words & Usage
 Statute 法令，法规
A statute is a rule or law which has been made by a government
or other organization and formally written down.
例： The new statute covers the care for, raising, and protection of
children.
这项新法令涵盖了儿童的照料、养育和保护。
 Curb 控制，遏制
If you curb something, you control it and keep it within limits.
We should increase input in agriculture, develop advanced
technologies, curb market speculation, increase food assistance
and intensify cooperation in agriculture and food.
我们应该加大农业投入，发展先进技术，抑制市场投机，增加粮食援助，加
强农业和粮食合作。
Words & Usage
 Unfettered 自由自在的，无拘无束的
If you describe something as unfettered, you mean that it is not
controlled or limited by anyone or anything.
例：They have not agreed to provide unfettered access to nuclear
facilities.
他们还没有同意提供自由进入核设施的许可。
Coordinate 协调
If you coordinate an activity, you organize the various people
and things involved in it.
例：Government officials visited the earthquake zone on Thursday
morning to coordinate the relief effort.
政府官员星期四上午视察了地震灾区以协调救灾工作。
Words & Usage
Synergy 增效作用；协同作用
If there is synergy between two or more organizations or
groups, they are more successful when they work together than
when they work separately.
例：Of course, there's quite obviously a lot of synergy between
the two companies.
当然，这两家公司之间显然有许多的协同作用。
 Regulate 管理，管制
To regulate an activity or process means to control it, especially
by means of rules.
例：Under such a plan, the government would regulate
competition among insurance companies so that everyone gets
care at lower cost.
根据这样一个计划，政府会控制保险公司之间的竞争，这样每个人都能以较
低价格获得保险。
Words & Usage
 Inherent 内在的，固有的
The inherent qualities of something are the necessary and
natural parts of it.
例：What we're seeing in the economy now is the inherent
resilience of the American economy and the American people.
在经济方面，我们现在看到的是美国经济和美国人民一直以来所固有的弹性。
 Subsidize 资助；补贴
provide money or some other forms of financial support
例：Scotland has opted to use a chunk of this money to subsidize
university education.
苏格兰选择把这笔钱的一部分用来补贴大学教育。
Words & Usage
 Bureaucrat 官僚
Bureaucrats are officials who work in a large administrative
system. You can refer to officials as bureaucrats especially if you
disapprove of them because they seem to follow rules and
procedures too strictly.
例：The economy is still controlled by bureaucrats.
经济依然被官僚们所控制。
 Drawback 缺点，缺陷
A drawback is an aspect of something or someone that makes
them less acceptable than they would otherwise be.
In spite of this drawback, it is used extensively due to
its maturity, ubiquity, and performance.
尽管有这个缺点，但是由于其成熟性、普遍适用性和性能使它被广泛使用。
Words & Usage
 Remedy 补救，纠正，改善；去除
 If you remedy something that is wrong or harmful, you correct it
or improve it.
例：We shall try our best to remedy the conditions in the slum
area.
我们将尽全力来改善贫民区的状况。
 Theorem 定理，原理
A theorem is a statement in mathematics or logic that can be
proved to be true by reasoning.
例：We have a fundamental theorem that gives us a way
to compute this.
我们有一个定理能够提供计算的方法。
Why Monopolies Arise
 A firm is a monopoly if it is the sole seller of
its product and if its product does not have
close substitutes.
 The fundamental cause of monopoly is
barriers to entry into the market.
 Barriers to entry
1. A key resource is owned by a single firm
2. Government gives a single firm the exclusive right to produce
some goods or services
3. The cost of production make a single producer more efficient
than a large number of producers
Monopoly Resources
The price of water=
The marginal cost of pumping an extra gallon
High price
Low marginal cost
Monopoly Resources
Diamond company
80% of worldwide output
Unique property
Monopolies can exert substantial influence over the price of its product.
Emerald
Ruby
Sapphire
Government-Created Monopolies
Exclusive right
In the personal interest
Exclusive right
In the public interest
Government-Created Monopolies
Patent Law
20-year exclusive manufacturing& sale
Copyright Law
No one can print and sell without author’s permission
Government-Created Monopolies
Encouraging desirable behavior
Benefit : increased incentive for creative activity.
Costs : monopoly pricing
Natural Monopolies
 An industry is a natural monopoly when a
single firm can supply goods or services to
an entire market at a lower cost than could
two or more firms.
Number Fixed
(water
Costs(per
supplying company)
company)
Variable
Costs(per
company)
Output
Quantity(
gallon per
company)
Average
Total
Cost(per
gallon)
1
$2,000,000
$150,000
3,000,000
$0.72
2
$2,000,000
$75,000
1,500,000
$1.38
3
$2,000,000
$50,000
1,000,000
$2.05
Natural Monopolies
Determinants of being a monopoly:
1. Ownership of a key or protection from the government.
2. Market size.
Market
Market
Public Policy Toward Monopolies
 Problems caused by monopolies:
1. Fail to allocate resources efficiently;
2. Produce less than the socially desirable quantity of output;
3. Charge prices above marginal cost.
 Government response to those problems:
1. By trying to make monopolized industries more competitive;
2. By regulating the behavior of the monopolies;
3. By turning some private monopolies into public enterprises;
4. By doing nothing at all.
Increasing Competition with Antitrust Laws
Sherman
Antitrust
Act
To reduce the
market power of
the large and
powerful “trust”
that were viewed
as dominating the
economy at the
time.
Clayton
Act
To strengthen the
government’s
powers and
authorized private
lawsuits.
A
comprehensive
charter of
economic liberty
aimed at
preserving free
and unfettered
competition as
the rule of trade.
Increasing Competition with Antitrust Laws
merge
Federal Government
Competitiveness of market
Economic well-being
Synergies
of merger
Justice Department
Government has to consider the cost as well as benefits of mergers.
Regulation
Government agencies regulate natural monopolies in terms of pricing.
Exit
the
industry
Exit
the
industry
Maximized total surplus
Efficient resources allocation
Monopolies
have declining
average total
cost
Price = Marginal cost
Average total cost < Marginal cost = price
总剩余（total surplus）
总剩余是消费者剩余和生产者剩余之和。其中，消费者剩余是消费者对一种物品的支付意愿减去他们为此实际支付的
量，生产者剩余是生产者出售一种物品得到的量减去他们生产它的成本。要记住的是，总剩余等于物品对消费者的价
值（买者的评价）减去垄断者生产该物品的成本（卖者的成本）。
Regulation
No
incentive to
reduce
costs
Subsidizing monopolies
Dead-weight
losses
Allowing charging higher
price
Dead-weight
losses
Public Ownership
European countries: telecom, water, electric companies.
United States: postal service.
Private company managers
Bureaucrat managers
incentive
No incentive
beneficial
Keeping
costs
down
damaging
Social
welfare
Doing Nothing
A famous theorem in economics states that a competitive enterprise economy
will produce the largest possible income from a given stock of resources. No
real economy meets the exact conditions of the theorem, and all real
economies will fall short of the ideal economy—a difference called “market
failure”.
Market failure: market itself is not able to efficiently allocate
resources.