Question: (a) What assumptions must you make about the demand curve facing a monopolist in order to interpret the area under it as measuring the total gross benefit accruing to consumers from consuming its output?

(b) What assumptions must you make in order to interpret the area under the long-run marginal cost curve as measuring the total cost to society of having the monopolist's output produced?

(c) If the area under a monopolist's demand curve did measure the total benefit to society of consuming its output and the area under the long-run marginal cost curve did measure the total cost to society of producing the output, would the profit-maximising price and output decision result in the net benefit to society of the monopolist's activities being maximised? Would your answer change if the monopolist were able to indulge in perfect price discrimination?