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I have a large paper to write on comparing and contrasting 5 types of markets: P

ID: 1250370 • Letter: I

Question

I have a large paper to write on comparing and contrasting 5 types of markets:
Perfect Competition
Monopolistic Competition
Oligopoly
Contestable Market
Monopoly

One of the concepts I have to talk about is allocative and productive efficiency. I think I have enough information on Perfect Competition and these efficiencies (feel free to mention it anyway lol), but I am finding little on the other four. Any short descriptions of those efficiencies in relation to the last four markets would be welcome.

EDIT: I have had some successful further research and found decent info on the first two and the last one. But I can find literally nothing on the Contestable Market because it keeps grouping it into the Perfect Competition. Oligopolies are pretty vague except that there is no efficiency. I'm just wondering what the short answer is to why.

Explanation / Answer

Monopolistic competitive firms will not achieve productive efficiency as firms will produce at an output which is less than the output of minimum average total cost (product differentiation is the major cause of excess capacity). Allocative efficiency is not achieved either because price (what the product is worth to consumers) is above the marginal cost (opportunity cost of product). Production by an oligopolist occurs where price exceeds marginal cost and average total cost. So, production is below the output at which average total cost is minimized, therefore, neither productive efficiency nor allocative efficiency is likely to occur under oligopoly. Firms in a contestable market produce at lowest possible average cost (otherwise a new firm could enter the market, use the cost saving to undercut the existing firm, and overtake some of the market because no entry or exit barriers or present in a contestable market). Therefore, firms are expected to be productively efficient (production occurs where average cost is at its minimum). Allocative efficiency is also achieved because the conditions of normal profit (average revenue = average cost) and least cost production (where marginal cost = average cost) combine to demonstrate that average revenue = average cost (average revenue is the same as price). In a monopolistic market, there is an underallocation of resources (smaller output than competitive markets), as well as higher prices than competitive markets; this causes the price to exceed the marginal cost, so allocative efficiency is not achieved. Productive efficiency is not achieved either because production is not at the minimum average total cost due to one of a few complications caused by natural monopolies, inefficiency, protection of expenditures, etc.