Venezuela - an economic crisis in 7 charts

Click here to access a link that explains the economic crisis in Venezuela. It is easy to blame the newly elected leader, but the issues are more complicated than that. Have a read of the article, do your own research and decide for yourself who (or what) is actually to blame.

Do you have any solutions?

Useful when discussing globalisation and economic policy.

Model Answer - Oligopoly 15 mark question

“Explain how interdependence and uncertainty affect the behaviour of firms in oligopolistic markets” (15 marks)

Start with a brief definition of an oligopoly 
An oligopoly is a market dominated by a few producers where there is a high level of market concentration. Examples of markets that can be described as oligopolies include the markets for petrol in the UK, soft drinks producers and the major high street retail banks. Another example is the global market for sports footwear – 60% of which is held by Nike and Adidas.

Develop the explanation
Oligopoly is best defined by the conduct (or behaviour) of firms within a market and this behaviour is often complex - there are many different models of oligopolistic decision-making.

There is no single theory of price and output under conditions of oligopoly. If a price war breaks out, oligopolists may choose produce and price much as a highly competitive industry would; whereas at other times they act like a pure monopoly.

Focus on inter-dependent decision-making and uncertainty
Inter-dependence means that firms must take into account the likely reactions of their rivals to any change in price, output or forms of non-price competition. Game theory can help to understand some of the pay-offs from different decisions made by “players” in a market dominated by a small number of competing businesses.

Because of the uncertainty in the market informal and formal collusive behaviour can common feature of many oligopolistic markets.

For example - tacit collusion such as price leadership where prices and price changes established by a dominant firm, or a firm are usually accepted by others and which other firms in the industry adopt and follow. When price leadership is adopted to facilitate tacit (or silent) collusion, the price leader will generally tend to set a price high enough that the least cost-efficient firm in the market may earn some return above the competitive level.

We see examples of this with the major mortgage lenders and petrol retailers where many suppliers follow the pricing strategies of leading firms. Tacit collusion occurs where firms undertake actions that are likely to minimise a competitive response, e.g. avoiding price cutting or not attacking each other’s market

Some businesses in an oligopoly may choose to enter into price-fixing  or market-sharing cartels. This behaviour is deemed illegal by UK and European competition law. But it is hard to prove that a group of firms have deliberately joined together to raise prices. The EU has recently fined businesses involved in price fixing in the soap powder industry who agreed to raise prices even though they had all made their products smaller for the consumer.

Collusion is often explained by a desire to achieve joint-profit maximisation within a market or prevent price and revenue instability in an industry. Price fixing represents an attempt by suppliers to control supply and fix price at a level close to the level we would expect from a monopoly.  To collude on price, producers must be able to exert some control over market supply.

The explanation for this question can be supported by an analysis diagram for example the kinked-demand curve diagram that supports the idea of sticky prices and a focus on non-price competition within an oligopoly

Competition Policy 2019

Why does the government intervene in markets to maintain competition?

Students should be able to:

• Explain and evaluate measures aimed at enhancing competition between firms and their impact on prices, output and market structure.
• Compare and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of methods of regulation for example price capping, monitoring of prices and performance targets.

Competition Policy In Action from tutor2u


Paper 3 - June 15 (old spec, but essays require same process)

09        Explain how the determination of prices & output by oligopolists is affected not only by the reactions of their customers, but also by their interdependence with other producers.

(15 Marks)

10        The European commission prevents mobile phone networks from colluding on ‘roaming charges’ when consumers travel around Europe. Meanwhile, the EU has forced mobile phone manufacturers to cooperate in making a single design of a phone charger.

Evaluate the view that governments should never intervene to influence how oligopolists collude or cooperate on such issues as fixing prices, varying output, conducting research, developing products, or carrying out any other aspect of their business.

(25 Marks)

Fish worth 70kg of gold: Sushi king shells out $3.1 million for ‘tasty’ tuna

Welcome back everyone. Here is an interesting news story about a big fish! Click here to access. Lots of economics here. Questions for discussion:

1. Why was the fish so expensive?

2. What does article suggest about price elasticity of supply of tuna?


3. How will the purchaser make his money back from his investment
& why will it work?