Student #1
A purely competitive market in New York State is the apple industry. The apple market is regulated by the FDA because of the health and safety concerns from apples. The prices of apples vary from business to business because they are priced per pound. Although, there are a few businesses that have extremely high prices because they know many people will continue going there because it’s a tradition and a family owned orchard. Every time apple season rolls around, it’s hard to know how much production there is going to be because it all depends on the weather. In the past few years, production has remained steady because the weather has been cooperating and the apples bountiful. Because production has remained steady, prices have also remained close to the same resulting in achieving their average total costs, Price= AC. Also, a lot of family owned orchards are maximizing their profits by having an impeccably maintained appearance, additional activities such as hayrides, games, and food, and most of all keeping the family within the business and reaching out to families who enjoy that experience.
Student #2
Satellite radio is considered to be a monopoly. After two of the largest companies Sirius and XM combined years ago it has dominated the satellite radio market. With the high costs of buying, launching and maintaining satellites in space there is just no competition that was able to enter this market. The satellite radio business is also regulated by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). When these two giants combined they agreed to lock in prices. Unfortunately, this time frame is coming to its end and ready for a renewal. The pricing of music from this future business remains to be seen. With the new competition now coming from Internet radio such as Pandora and iHeart radio it may affect the monopoly’s pricing drastically and eliminate its monopoly status. Although as for right now, it is still considered to be a monopoly in the satellite market. Unfortunately, many people are already cancelling their subscriptions to satellite radio and switching to free internet radio. It could begin to struggle with its productive efficiency if it is not competitive with this new internet radio market. As for the allocative efficiency of this business, internet radio will have an effect on this issue. This monopoly could be becoming a dying breed but many investors are still holding out. The most rational business decision Sirius XM satellite radio can do at this point is convert their satellite radio to an IP address to compete in this new market of future internet radio. It would eliminate it as a monopoly if it did abandon their satellites. Whether or not satellite radio will remain is in the hand of consumers and the regulations that the FCC places upon this evolving business.