To the right we show a monopolist suffering losses equal to the shaded area. Again the area can be computed as the difference between total revenue, P* x Q*, and total cost, ATC* x Q*, in this case a negative number.

    Such a firm would almost certainly shut down in the long run. There are no plausible market forces such as exit by other firms which would lead it to believe that recovery is simply a matter of time.

Copyright © 1995-2004 OnLineTexts.com, Inc. - All Rights Reserved