萨缪尔森经济学Economics第十八版 18th 课后概念、习题答案17

CHAPTER OVERVIEW AND TEACHING TIPS Chapter 17 presents historical and theoretical portraits of regulatory and antitrust activities in the United States. Both are evolving, and your students need to understand that. It may be helpful to review both the competitive benchmark of efficiency and the various ways that markets can fall short of this ideal. Evolution can then be cast in terms of judging the social welfare implications of various types and degrees of market failure.

This chapter concentrates on one of government’s primary challenges in exercising its efficiency role: performing a watchdog function to prevent excessive abuse of market power. Also, the chapter focuses your attention on the two major tools employed by the U.S. government to put some “teeth” into its careful monitoring of business activity:regulation and antitrust activity.

Regulation is often employed when economies of scale are so significant in a production process that a monopoly is the only efficient solution. Government agencies are organized to monitor the behavior of the monopolist and to protect the interests of consumers. Antitrust legislation is designed to prevent monopolies from forming and to attack anticom-petitive abuses. The Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Act form the backbone of antitrust policies; the Federal Trade Commission Act established the FTC as the agency in charge of monitoring and enforcing the legislation. Of course, as with any laws, the courts ultimately interpret their meaning, and a century of legal precedent defines the meaning of these statutes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1.

Distinguish between two brands of regulation: economic and social . Explain why government would use either of these types of regulation to alleviate market failure.2.

Review the three major public-interest justifications of regulation.3.

Provide an overview of the alternative strategies that can be used to regulate natural monopolies .Illustrate these alternatives, and use your illustration to discuss the costs of regulation.4.

Explain the significance of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act ,and the Federal Trade Commission Act .5.

Understand the differences between conduct and structure as used in the application of antitrust laws.6.Trace the evolution of antitrust activity to its modern formulation, which has focused on improving efficiency and not just on preventing bigness itself.

SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN THE TEXT 1.

Consider economic regulation and antitrust policies. Some components of each are more direct and allow less flexibility. Others are more indirect and allow correspondingly more flexibility. As you consider strengths and weaknesses, state the objectives of “restraint” explicitly.2.Consult Figure 17-1; it duplicates Figure 17-2 in the text. Note P M P R P I and

Q M Q R Q I .Deadweight loss falls as P M converges to

P I , but profits turn negative after P R . Beyond P R , therefore, tax revenue from elsewhere is required and brings with it the effects of its own distortions. If P M is not very much different from

P I , this tax distortion might cause a larger welfare reduction. Also, different people lose and gain, so different people prefer different approaches.

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P r o m o t i n g M o r e

E f f i c i e n t M a r k e t s

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