Table 17-1 Imagine a Small Town in Which Only Two Residents, Rochelle

question 275

Multiple Choice

Table 17-1
Imagine a small town in which only two residents, Rochelle and Alec, own wells that produce safe drinking water. Each week Rochelle and Alec work together to decide how many gallons of water to pump. They bring the water to town and sell it at whatever price the market will bear. To keep things simple, suppose that Rochelle and Alec can pump as much water as they want without cost so that the marginal cost of water equals zero. The town's weekly demand schedule and total revenue schedule for water is shown in the table below:
-Refer to Table 17-1. If Rochelle and Alec operate as a profit-maximizing monopoly in the market for water, how much profit will each of them earn, assuming that the two producers split the market equally?

• A)$8,750
• B)$9,000
• C)$12,000
• D)$18,000

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Definitions:

Depreciation Expense

The allocated portion of the cost of a fixed asset, written off each year over the asset's useful life for accounting and tax purposes.

Scarcity

Occurs when the amount people desire exceeds the amount available at a zero price.

Choice

The act of selecting between two or more possibilities, often present in decision-making processes.

Economics

The study of how people use their scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited wants