2. Deviating from the collusive outcome Stargell and Schmidt are brewing companies that operate in a duopoly (two-firm oligopoly). The daily marginal cost (MC) of producing a can of is constant and equals
$0.80
per can. Assume that neither firm had any startup costs, so marginal cost equals average total cost (ATC) for each firm. Suppose that Stargell and Schmidt form a cartel, and the firms divide the output evenly. (Note: This is only for convenience; nothing in this model requires that the two companies must equally share the output.) Place the black point (plus symbol) on the following graph to indicate the profit-maximizing price and combined quantity of output if Stargell and Schmidt choose to work together. When they act as a profit-maximizing cartel, each company will produce
cans and charge information, each firm earns a daily profit of , so the daily total industry profit in the beer market is Oligopolists often behave noncooperatively and act in their own self-interest even though this decreases total profit in the market. Again, assume the the collusive agreement. Stargell's deviation from the collusive agreement causes the price of a can of beer to to per can. Stargell's profit is now , while Schmidt's profit is now . Therefore, you can conclude that total industry profit when Stargell increases its output beyond the collusive quantity.