Question: Under patent protection, a firm has a monopoly in the production of a high-tech component. Market demand is estimated to be: P = 100 - 0.2Q. The firm's economic costs are given by: AC = MC = $60 per component.
a) Determine the firm's output and price.
b) After the firm's patent expires, predict the new market output and price. (Assume that competing suppliers have the same economic costs as the original producer.) Compute the resulting change in consumer surplus.