🌿 MowTown Landscaping

Dynamics of Monopolistic Competition — Short-Run Profits, Long-Run Equilibrium, and Market Inefficiency

🎛️ Market Parameters

5

More firms → lower demand intercept (a = 200 − 5n). Demand: P = a − 2q.

Fixed Costs (per month):

Fixed costs = barriers to entry. Higher FC → fewer long-run competitors.

Firm: MowTown Landscaping
Market: Suburban lawn-care services
Product: Differentiated (quality, reputation, reliability)
Marginal Cost: $30 per lawn (constant)
📍 Long-run equilibrium (zero profit) occurs near:
FC = $400 → ~23 firms  |  FC = $800 → ~18 firms
FC = $1,200 → ~14 firms  |  FC = $2,000 → ~9 firms

📊 Firm Outcomes

Quantity (Q*)
—
lawns/month
Price (P*)
—
Economic Profit
—
Deadweight Loss
—

🔍 Market Analysis

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Current Equilibrium Data Table showing key economic values for MowTown Landscaping at the current market conditions.
Variable Monopolistic Competition Perfect Competition Benchmark
Price — —
Quantity — —
Revenue — —
Total Cost — —
Economic Profit — —
Deadweight Loss —
Markup (P − MC) —
Demand Curve —

📚 Key Concept: Monopolistic Competition

In short-run equilibrium, MR = MC determines quantity. Price is read off the demand curve. Profit = (P − ATC) × Q.

In long-run equilibrium, free entry/exit drives economic profit to zero. The demand curve shifts until it is tangent to ATC — the "tangency condition." This creates excess capacity and a markup over marginal cost, causing deadweight loss.

Unlike perfect competition, long-run equilibrium does not occur at minimum ATC. The gap is the cost of product variety.