A monopolist firm faces a demand with constant elasticity of -2. It has a constant marginal cosy of 20$ per unit and sets price to maximize profit. If marginal cost should increase 25%, would the price charged also rise by 25%?
A monopolist produces where MR=MC. But the marginal revenue can be expressed as
Where "e" is the elasticity of demand.
Therefore, if a monopolist's marginal cost is $20 and elasticity is -2, then its optimal price is equal to
If the marginal cost increases by 25%, it will become
Therefore, the new price charged by the firm will be equal to
The percentage increase in price is equal to
Therefore, the firm must also increase the price by 25% when the marginal cost increases by 25%.
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