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EC120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Laffer Curve, Deadweight Loss, Market Distortion

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School
WLU
Department
Economics
Course
EC120
Professor
Jerzy Konieczny

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Document Summary

Buyers and sellers share the burden of tax. The benefit received by buyers is measured in consumer surplus. The benefit received by sellers in a market is measured by producer surplus. Total tax revenue = t x q = size of tax x quantity of goods sold. Is the total amount within the left side of the supply and demand graph. With tax: price received by sellers falls, producer surplus falls, quantity sold falls, tax revenue increases. Therefore the loss of buyers and sellers exceed the government. Deadweight loss: the fall in total surplus that results from a market distortion, such as tax. With taxes the size of the market shrinks below its optimum. Taxes causes deadweight losses because they prevent buyers and sellers from realizing some of the gains from trade. The deadweight loss is the surplus lost because the tax discourages these mutually advantageous trades.

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Related Questions

Under a binding price ceiling, what does the change in consumer surplus represent?
A) The gain in surplus for those buyers who can still purchase the product at the lower price.
B) The loss in surplus for those buyers who previously purchased some units of the good at the higher price, but these units are no longer produced at the lower price.
C) The loss in surplus for those buyers who would like the purchase the excess demand created by the price ceiling policy.
D) Both A and B are correct.
E) Both A and C are correct.

When the market price is held above the competitive level, the deadweight loss is composed of:

A) producer surplus losses associated with units that used to be traded on the market but are no longer exchanged.

B) consumer surplus losses associated with units that used to be traded on the market but are no longer exchanged.
C) producer and consumer surplus losses associated with units that used to be traded on the market but are no longer exchanged.
D) There is no deadweight loss if the government uses a price floor policy to increase the price.

Compared to a tariff, an import quota, which restricts imports to the same amount as the tariff, will leave the country as a whole
A) worse off than a comparable tariff.
B) not as bad off as a comparable tariff.

C) about the same as a comparable tariff.

D) Any of the above can be true.

What is the welfare impact of a subsidy policy?
A) Producer surplus increases, consumer surplus declines, and total welfare declines.
B) Producer and consumer surplus increase, and these gains are larger than the government cost.

C) Producer and consumer surplus increase, and these gains are smaller than the government cost.

D) Producer surplus increases, consumer surplus declines, and total welfare increases due to the subsidy program.

Why is there a deadweight loss associated with subsidy payments?
A) There is no deadweight loss from a subsidy.
B) Quantity supplied is less than the equilibrium amount, so consumers and producers lose surplus value on those units that are no longer produced.
C) Quantity supplied exceeds the equilibrium amount, and consumer willingness to pay for these additional units is smaller than the marginal cost of producing them.
D) The subsidy payment does not distort quantities in the market, but the government cost exceeds consumer willingness to pay for the quantity demanded.

1) Taxing a monopoly (20 Points) Suppose that a monopolist sells a product to consumers with an aggregate demand that is downward sloping in quantity, D(Q) = 200 − 2Q. The total cost of producing Q units is C(Q) = 20Q + 2Q2 .

a) Identify the unregulated equilibrium (P ∗ , Q∗ )

b) What are the consumer and producer surpluses (CS and PS) and total welfare (W) at this equilibrium?

c) Suppose that a specific tax of τ = 20 is imposed on each unit. i. What price-quantity pair (P 1 , Q1 ) would we expect? ii. What are CS, PS, tax revenue (T), and W? iii. What is deadweight loss?

d) Instead of a specific tax, an ad valorem tax, α = 16 is imposed i. What price-quantity pair (P 2 , Q2 ) would we expect? ii. What are CS, PS, T, and W? iii. What is deadweight loss?

e) Welfare distribution i. Which scenario results in the highest producer surplus? ii. Which scenario results in the greatest gains for consumers, assuming that all tax revenues are perfectly redistributed to consumers only.

Suppose that a market is described by the following supply and demand equations:

QS= 2P

QD = 300P

a. Solve for the equilibrium price and the equilibrium quantity.

b. Suppose that a tax of T is placed on buyers so the new demand equation is QD = 300 (PT). Solve for the new equilibrium. What happens to the price received by sellers, the price paid by buyers, and the quantity sold?

c. Tax revenue is T×Q. Use your answer to part (b) to solve for tax revenue as a function of T. 
d. The deadweight loss of a tax is the area of the triangle between the supply and demand curves. Recalling that the area of a triangle is , solve for deadweight loss as a function of T. 

(Hint: Looking sideways, the base of the deadweight loss triangle is T, and the height is the difference between the quantity sold with the tax and the quantity sold without the tax.)