Two Firms in a Local Market Compete in the Manufacture

question 45

Essay

Two firms in a local market compete in the manufacture of cyberwidgets. Each firm must decide if they will engage in product research to innovate their version of the cyberwidget. The payoffs of each firm's strategy are a function of the strategy of their competitor as well. The payoff matrix is presented below. Does either player have a dominant strategy? Does the game have any Nash equilibria? What is the maximin strategy of each player in the game?

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Definitions:

Efficiently Allocated

A situation where resources are distributed in a manner that maximizes the overall benefit to society or an economy, with no way to improve anyone's condition without worsening someone else's.

Marginal Cost

The amount spent on producing one more unit of a good or service.

Average Total Cost

The per unit cost of production, calculated by dividing the total cost by the quantity of output produced.

Economic Profits

Economic profits consist of the total revenue generated by a business minus both its explicit and implicit costs, reflecting the actual profitability including opportunity costs.