Question: Hello. Can someone help explain and answer this for me? You are a producer of semi-trucks. Because it takes a long time to build a

Hello. Can someone help explain and answer this for me?

  1. You are a producer of semi-trucks. Because it takes a long time to build a semi-truck, you make your output decisions before the demand information is actually revealed. The best prediction of what the demand for semi- trucks will be next year is a demand curve where:

P = 4000 - 2 Q,

Where P is the market price and Q is the total output in the market from all suppliers.

a. Say you are the only producer in the industry and you face a constant marginal cost of 400 to produce semi-trucks. What quantity will you choose and what will be the price you receive for semi-trucks? What will be your economic profits?

b. Say you are faced with a Cournot setting where you face a competitor named SEMI. Your marginal cost is still 400 and SEMI's marginal cost is 400 per semi-truck. Describe the conditions of a Cournot setting. What quantity of semi-trucks will you produce? What quantity will SEMI produce? What will be the market price of semi-trucks? How much will each of you earn in profits?

c. Now take the situation in b and add a third firm, S-TRUCK. S-TRUCK also has a marginal cost of $400 per semitruck. Describe the quantities that each firm will produce, the market price that will arise, and each firm's profits. (Hint: You can save yourself some pain in doing the math by noting that all of the firms you, SEMI, and STRUCKface exactly the same cost conditions. Do you expect each firm to produce thesame amount or the various firms to produce different amounts? The answer to this question should help you simplify the analysis).

d. Consider an alternative situation where only you and SEMI are in the market and instead of choosing quantity and allowing the auctioneer to set the price, you and SEMI compete by choosing price in a Bertrand setting. Your marginal cost is 400 and SEMI's is 600. What will be the market price in this setting? What will be your output choice, SEMI's output, and each of your profits? (3 points) e. What lessons do you draw from comparisons of the situations in a, b, c, and d? Explain with sentences.

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