1. Shaughnessy Consulting, LLC currently enjoys a patent on software that estimates economic damages for clients involved in personal injury lawsuits. Demand for my software is
QD = 60.3 - 0.1P. Creating the software cost me about $2,000 in development and coding. I can produce a copy of the software for $3.00 per unit (constant cost).
a. How many copies of the software should I attempt to sell? At what price should I sell it? How much profit would I make?
b. My patent expires in a year, and I know other economic consultants will produce competing software. What quantity and price will result once competing software emerges? How much consumer surplus will my clients (lawyers) gain once the competitors enter? (For measuring consumer surplus, recall that area of a triangle = ½ * base * height.)
c. How much deadweight loss is created by my patent and monopoly in this software?
2. After considering the situation of market power for my software and how it changed after the introduction of competitors, consider situations of natural disasters and how governments respond to shortages resulting from them.
a. Read this article and comment on why anti-gouging laws can increase social welfare.
b. In contrast, read this blog post and comment on why anti-gouging laws may not increase social welfare, or at least why they may lead to consequences which are unintended by the government.
c. Which argument do you find more persuasive, and why? I.e., should governments continue to use anti-gouging laws to correct supposed market failures occurring after natural disasters?