Perfect competition

Neo-classical

Key characteristics

1. There is perfect knowledge, with no information failure or time lags in the flow of information.  Knowledge is freely available to all participants, which means that risk-taking is minimal and the role of the entrepreneur is limited.
2. Given that producers and consumers have perfect knowledge, it is assumed that they make rational decisions to maximise their self interest - consumers look to maximise their utility, and producers look to maximise their profits.
3. There are no barriers to entry into or exit out of the market.
4. Firms produce homogeneous, identical, units of output that are not branded.
5. Each unit of input, such as units of labour, are also homogeneous.
6. No single firm can influence the market price, or market conditions. The single firm is said to be a price taker, taking its price from the whole industry. The single firm will not increase its price independently given that it will not sell any goods at all. Neither will the rational producer lower price below the market price given that it can sell all it produces at the market price.
7. There are very many firms in the market - too many to measure. This is a result of having no barreirs to entry.
8. There is no need for government regulation, except to make markets more competitive.
9. There are assumed to be no externalities, that is no external costs or benefits to third parties not invlolved in the transaction.
10. Firms can only make normal profits in the long run, although they can make abnormal (super-normal) profits in the short run.

The firm as price taker

price taker

Equilibrium in perfect competition

In the short run

super-normal profits

In the long run

Evaluation

The benefits

1. Because there is perfect knowledge, there is no information failure and knowledge is shared evenly between all participants.
2. There are no barriers to entry, so existing firms cannot derive any monopoly power.
3. Only normal profits made, so producers just cover their opportunity cost.
4. There is no need to spend money on advertising, because there is perfect knowledge and firms can sell all they can produce. In addition, selling unbranded goods makes it hard to construct an effective advertising campaign.
5. There is maximum possible: Consumer surplus Economic welfare
6. There is maximum allocative and productive efficiency: Equilibrium will occur where P = MC, hence allocative efficiency. In the long run equilibrium will occur at output where MC = ATC, which is productive efficiency.
7. There is also maximum choice for consumers.

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How realistic is the model?

behavioural economists

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