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Competitive Factor Markets:The Demand for Jet Fuel

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Microeconomics ­ECO402
VU
Lesson 43
Competitive Factor Markets
Industry Demand for Labor
­  Assume that all firms respond to a lower wage
All firms would hire more workers.
Market supply would increase.
The market price will fall.
The quantity demanded for labor by the firm will be smaller.
The Industry Demand for Labor
Wage
Firm
Industry
Wage
($ per
Horizontal sum if
($ per
hour)
product price
hour)
unchanged
15
15
10
10
Industry
MRPL
DL
MRPL
Demand
5
5
DL
Curve
0
100 12
L0
L
L
50
150
Labor
Labor0
(worker-hours)
(worker-hours)
Question
­ How would a change to a non-competitive market impact the derivation of the market
demand for labor?
The Demand for Jet Fuel
Observations
­ Jet fuel is a factor (input) cost
­ Cost of jet fuel
 1971--Jet fuel cost equaled 12.4% of total operating cost
 1980--Jet fuel cost equaled 30.0% of total operating cost
 1990's--Jet fuel cost equaled 15.0% of total operating cost
­ The demand for jet fuel impacts the airlines and refineries alike
­ The short-run price elasticity of demand for jet-fuel is very inelastic
Question
­ How would the long-run price elasticity of demand compare to the short-run?
196
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Microeconomics ­ECO402
VU
The Short- and Long-Run
Price
MRPSR
MRPLR
Quantity of Jet Fuel
The Supply of Inputs to a Firm
­ Determining how much of an input to purchase
 Assume a perfectly competitive factor market
A Firm's Input Supply in a Competitive Factor Market
Observations
Price
Price
1) The firm is a price taker at $10.
($ per
($ per
2) S = AE = ME = $10
yard)
yard)
3) ME = MRP @ 50 units
Market Supply
S
of fabric
Supply of
Fabric Facing
Market
Demand 10
10
ME = AE
MRP
D
Demand
for Fabric
Yards of
Yards of
100
50
Fabric (thousands)
Fabric (thousands)
The Market Supply of Inputs
­ The market supply for physical inputs is upward sloping
 Examples:
jet fuel, fabric, steel
­ The market supply for labor may be upward sloping and backward bending
The Supply of Labor
­ The choice to supply labor is based on utility maximization
­ Leisure competes with labor for utility
­ Wage rate measures the price of leisure
­ Higher wage rate causes the price of leisure to increase
197
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Microeconomics ­ECO402
VU
­ Higher wages encourage workers to substitute work for leisure (i.e. the substitution
effect)
­
Higher wages allow the worker to purchase more goods, including leisure which reduces
work hours (i.e. the income effect)
­
If the income effect exceeds the substitution effect the supply curve is backward bending
Backward-Bending Supply of Labor
Supply of Labor
Wage
($ per
hour)
Income Effect >
Substitution Effect
Income Effect <
Substitution Effect
Hours of Work per Day
Substitution and Income Effects of a Wage Increase
Worker chooses point A:
Income 480
($ per
16 hours leisure, 8 hour work
day)
w = $20
Suppose wages increase to $20
Increase wage to $20 worker
P
chooses:
240
w = $10
20 hour leisure, 4 hours work
C
income = $80
B
A
Q
0
8
12
20
24
Hours of Leisure
16ubstitution effect
S
Income
effect
198
Table of Contents:
  1. ECONOMICS:Themes of Microeconomics, Theories and Models
  2. Economics: Another Perspective, Factors of Production
  3. REAL VERSUS NOMINAL PRICES:SUPPLY AND DEMAND, The Demand Curve
  4. Changes in Market Equilibrium:Market for College Education
  5. Elasticities of supply and demand:The Demand for Gasoline
  6. Consumer Behavior:Consumer Preferences, Indifference curves
  7. CONSUMER PREFERENCES:Budget Constraints, Consumer Choice
  8. Note it is repeated:Consumer Preferences, Revealed Preferences
  9. MARGINAL UTILITY AND CONSUMER CHOICE:COST-OF-LIVING INDEXES
  10. Review of Consumer Equilibrium:INDIVIDUAL DEMAND, An Inferior Good
  11. Income & Substitution Effects:Determining the Market Demand Curve
  12. The Aggregate Demand For Wheat:NETWORK EXTERNALITIES
  13. Describing Risk:Unequal Probability Outcomes
  14. PREFERENCES TOWARD RISK:Risk Premium, Indifference Curve
  15. PREFERENCES TOWARD RISK:Reducing Risk, The Demand for Risky Assets
  16. The Technology of Production:Production Function for Food
  17. Production with Two Variable Inputs:Returns to Scale
  18. Measuring Cost: Which Costs Matter?:Cost in the Short Run
  19. A Firm’s Short-Run Costs ($):The Effect of Effluent Fees on Firms’ Input Choices
  20. Cost in the Long Run:Long-Run Cost with Economies & Diseconomies of Scale
  21. Production with Two Outputs--Economies of Scope:Cubic Cost Function
  22. Perfectly Competitive Markets:Choosing Output in Short Run
  23. A Competitive Firm Incurring Losses:Industry Supply in Short Run
  24. Elasticity of Market Supply:Producer Surplus for a Market
  25. Elasticity of Market Supply:Long-Run Competitive Equilibrium
  26. Elasticity of Market Supply:The Industry’s Long-Run Supply Curve
  27. Elasticity of Market Supply:Welfare loss if price is held below market-clearing level
  28. Price Supports:Supply Restrictions, Import Quotas and Tariffs
  29. The Sugar Quota:The Impact of a Tax or Subsidy, Subsidy
  30. Perfect Competition:Total, Marginal, and Average Revenue
  31. Perfect Competition:Effect of Excise Tax on Monopolist
  32. Monopoly:Elasticity of Demand and Price Markup, Sources of Monopoly Power
  33. The Social Costs of Monopoly Power:Price Regulation, Monopsony
  34. Monopsony Power:Pricing With Market Power, Capturing Consumer Surplus
  35. Monopsony Power:THE ECONOMICS OF COUPONS AND REBATES
  36. Airline Fares:Elasticities of Demand for Air Travel, The Two-Part Tariff
  37. Bundling:Consumption Decisions When Products are Bundled
  38. Bundling:Mixed Versus Pure Bundling, Effects of Advertising
  39. MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION:Monopolistic Competition in the Market for Colas and Coffee
  40. OLIGOPOLY:Duopoly Example, Price Competition
  41. Competition Versus Collusion:The Prisoners’ Dilemma, Implications of the Prisoners
  42. COMPETITIVE FACTOR MARKETS:Marginal Revenue Product
  43. Competitive Factor Markets:The Demand for Jet Fuel
  44. Equilibrium in a Competitive Factor Market:Labor Market Equilibrium
  45. Factor Markets with Monopoly Power:Monopoly Power of Sellers of Labor