Managerial Economics

PART A

Market Demand  200  X  200  (x1x2x3)
Marginal Cost  40 for each firm

Break the Equations in such a way that we separate quantity of any one firm and do our workings accordingly. Hence,

P  200  x1  2Y (Where 2Y  x2x3)

To maximize Profit of x1 the equation will be
 (200  x1 2Y) x1  40x1
 200x1  x12  2Yx1  40x1
 160x1  x12  2Yx1

Now Find Derivative of the above equation and equate to 0
DP  Dx1  160 - 2x1  2Y  0

) 2x1  160 - 2Y
           
) x1  80  Y

As x1 is identical to x2 and x3

) x1  Y  80  Y

As, Y  Y  80
) 2Y  80
) Y  40

For Industry 403  120

Quantity
 x1  40
 x2  40
 x3  40

Price  200  (403)
Price  200  120
Price  80

For Profits
           1  (Price   Marginal Cost)x1
           1  (80   40)40
           1  4040
           1  1600

          As 1  2  3

Profits
          1  1600
          2  1600
          3  1600
         
Over all Profits  16003  4800

PART B
We have seen the pre merger situation in part (a)
Now if we merge Firm 1 and 2 then,
The Inverse Demand Function is
P  200  X, where X  (x1  x2  x3)
And Marginal Cost is 40
     
The combined profit after merger equals the profit of the merged firms A
) A  (200   X) xA   40 xA

Firm A s output, xA, equals x1  x2. Since marginal costs of both firms are constant, 40, firm A if indifferent about where its output is produced. After they are merged x1 and x2 are Indeterminate though their Sum is Determinate.

The First Order Condition for Profit-maximizations (FOC) of the two firms in the industry after the merger (firm A and the other firm)

The Best Response function in a Cournot competitor

    )    200   X3   x3  40  
    )    200   XA   xA  40
The mergers give rise to a number of effects which, for purpose of expositions, we sometimes describe as it occurring sequentially even though they come up simultaneously.
    ) Firm 3s FOC after the merger equation implies that dx3  dxA  - 0.5
    )  Firm As FOC implies that dxA  dx3  - 0.5
   
Working will be done through firm As equation

    ) Max (xA)  (200  XA   xA) xA   40xA
       
Now after differentiating the above equation

) 200   XA   2xA   40  0
) 160   X  xA
) 160   X  (XN), (Where N Number of firms in the industry and in this case N  2, Industry A and Industry 3)
) 160   X  (X2)
) 160  1.5X
) X  1601.5
) X  106.67

    By putting X  106.67 in the equation
) 200   xA   106.67  40
) xA  53.33
   
As X  xA  x3
) 106.67   53.33  x3
) x3  53.33
   
) A  (200   XA) xA   40 xA
) A  (200   106.67)53.33   40(53.33)
) A  2844(Approx)

We can notice that A  2844 is clearly LOWER than the sum of x1  x2 in part (a) that is 1600  1600 3200, hence it proves that the merge of Firm 1 and Firm 2 is Unprofitable.
PART C
The Inverse Demand Function is
P  200   X, where X  (x1  x2  x3)
And Marginal Cost is 20
     
The combined profit after merger equals the profit of the merged firms A
    ) A  (200   X) xA   20 xA
     
Firm A s output, xA, equals x1  x2. Since marginal costs of both firms are constant, 40, firm A if indifferent about where its output is produced. After they are merged x1 and x2 are Indeterminate though their Sum is Determinate.

The First Order Condition for Profit-maximizations (FOC) of the two firms in the industry after the merger (firm A and the other firm)
)    200  X3   x3  20  
)    200   XA   xA  20
The mergers give rise to a number of effects which, for purpose of expositions, we sometimes describe as it occurring sequentially even though they come up simultaneously.

) Firm 3s FOC after the merger equation implies that dx3  dxA  - 0.5
)  Firm A s FOC implies that dxA  dx3  - 0.5
   
Working will be done through firm A s equation
) Max (xA)  200   XA   xA) xA   20xA
       
Now after differentiating the above equation
) 200   XA  2xA  20  0
) 180  X  xA
) 180  X  (XN), (Where N Number of firms in the industry and in this case N  2, Industry A and Industry 3)
) 180  X  (X2)
) 180  1.5X
) X  1801.5
) X  120

By putting X  120 in the equation
    ) 200  xA  120  20
    ) xA  60
   
As X  xA  x3
    ) 120  60  x3
    ) x3  60
   
    ) A  (200   XA) xA   20 xA
    ) A  (200   120)60   20(60)
    ) A  3600

Now we can clearly see the impact of the change of Costs in the merge has positively affected the profitability of the firm which has Now Increased from 2800 in (b) to 3600 in part (c) which is Greater than the pre merger profits that was 3200. Hence Proved

PART D
Though we can see that the merge in part (b) proved to be unprofitable and the output of Firm A was 53.33 as compared to the individual outputs before the merger took place between that was (40  40  80). Outputs are one of the important aspects of profits, the more output a firm produces the more profits a firm will earn considering the costs as well. But the quantity of output matters with the quality and not only that but all of it depends on the demand of that product which is a consumer want and accordingly producers have to respond with their output quantity to gain recognition in the market. Secondly the market price that was 80(200  120) in part (a) actually increased to 93.33(200  106.66) It might be due to NO changes in the costs of their firm and an aim to increase their profits in order to meet the point of profits that were being earned before the merge. Mergers usually take place to decrease the costs and increase the profitability to gain market share and play monopoly that is to kick the small other competitors out of the market but in this case i.e. part (b) it turned out to be adverse as Firm 3 took clear advantage of it and increased its profitability to 2844 (approx) from 1600 before any mergers. Firm 3 were able to produce more output after the firms 1  2 merged as a result they increased their profitability with the same number of costs incurred as before. Hence merge in567