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Module 4

Uploaded by

hatdoggame
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

EULOGIO “AMANG” RODRIGUEZ

INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION UNIT

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
& THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM
PUBADECS

By:
Mr. Erick P. Mante

Module 4
Competition and Market Structures
PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 1
 TARGET LEARNING OUTCOMES
This module emphasizes that inadequate competition,
inadequate information, immobile resources, public goods, and
externalities can lead to market failures. It also highlights the
economic functions of government in a market economy.
Students are expected to be able to:

1. Explain the characteristics of perfect competition;


2. Understand the nature of monopolistic competition;
3. Describe the behavior and characteristics of the oligopolist and monopolies;
4. Discuss the problems caused by inadequate competition;
5. Classify the nature of resource immobility;
6. Cite the nature of positive and negative externalities;
7. Understand the need for government regulation;
8. Explain the value of public disclosure; and
9. Identify the modifications to our free enterprise economy.

INTRODUCTION
hen Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth

W of Nations in 1776, the average factory was small, and businesses were
competitive. Laissez-faire, the French term that means “allow them to do,” was the
prevailing philosophy that limited government’s role to protecting property, enforcing
contracts, settling disputes, and protecting firms against foreign competition.

Conditions are much different today. An industry, or the supply side of the market, has
many firms of different sizes producing slightly different products. These conditions help
determine market structure, or the nature and degree of competition among firms doing
business in the same industry. Economists group firms into four different market
structures that reflect the competitive conditions in those markets.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 2
LESSON 1: Perfect Competition

An ideal market situation used to


evaluate other market structures.
Perfect competition is a market
structure characterized by a large
number of well-informed independent
buyers and sellers who exchange
identical products. It represents a
theoretically ideal situation that is
used to evaluate other market
structures. In order for a market to have perfect competition, it needs to meet five
necessary conditions that other market structures lack.

Necessary Conditions
The first condition is that there must be a large number of buyers and sellers. No single
buyer or seller is large enough or powerful enough to single-handedly affect the price.

The second condition is that buyers and sellers deal in identical products. With no
difference in the products, there is no need for brand names and no need to advertise,
which keeps prices low. With no differences between products, one seller’s merchandise
is just as good as another’s.

The third condition is that each buyer and seller act independently. This ensures that
sellers compete against one another for the consumer’s pesos, and that consumers
compete against one another to obtain the best price.

The fourth condition is that buyers and sellers are reasonably well-informed about
products and prices. Well-informed buyers shop at the stores that have the lowest prices.
Well-informed sellers match the lowest prices of their competitors to avoid losing
customers.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 3
The fifth condition is that buyers and sellers are free to enter into, conduct, or get out of
business. This freedom makes it difficult for producers in any industry to keep the market
to themselves. Producers have to keep prices competitive, or new firms can take away
some of their business. Collectively, these conditions help ensure the competition that is
necessary to keep prices low and quality high.

Profit Maximization
Under perfect competition, market supply
and demand set the equilibrium price for
the product. Because the price is
determined in the market, and because
each firm by itself is too small to influence
the market price, the perfect competitor is
often called a “price taker.” The firm then
must find the level of output it can produce
that will maximize its profits.

A Theoretical Situation
Few perfectly competitive markets exist because it is difficult to satisfy all five necessary
conditions. Local vegetable farming, sometimes called “truck” farming, comes close.

In these markets many sellers offer nearly identical products. Individual sellers are
generally unable to control prices, and both buyers and sellers have reasonable
knowledge of most products and prices. Finally, anyone who wants to enter the business
by growing tomatoes, corn, or other products can easily do so.

When markets are perfectly competitive, several things combine to keep prices low. For
example, when everyone is dealing with identical products, there is no need to advertise,
which keeps the cost down. Second, when the products that everyone sells are identical,

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 4
there is no reason for one seller to charge a price higher than anyone else. If the seller
does try to charge a higher price, buyers will simply go elsewhere.

Third, if there are a large number of independent buyers and sellers, then no single buyer
is big enough to push the price down and no single seller is big enough to force the price
up. As a result, buyers will always try to purchase from the seller with the lowest price.

Finally, if it is easy for sellers to enter or leave the market, then new sellers can always
come in if they think they can make a profit. Likewise, sellers who cannot match the new
competition are free to leave.

Imperfect Competition
Although perfect competition is rare, it is important because economists use it to evaluate
other, less competitive, market structures. Imperfect competition is the name given to
any of three market structures—monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly—that
lacks one or more of the conditions required for perfect competition. Most firms and
industries in the Philippines today fall into one of these categories. When you examine
imperfect competition, you will see that it results in less competition, higher prices for
consumers, and fewer products offered. This is why perfectly competitive markets are
theoretically ideal situations that can be used to evaluate other market structures.

LESSON 2: Monopolistic Competition

It shares all the conditions of perfect competition except the same goods or services.
Monopolistic competition is the market structure that has all the conditions of perfect
competition except for identical products. Under monopolistic competition, products are
generally similar and include things such as designer clothing, cosmetics, and shoes. The
monopolistic aspect is the seller’s ability to raise the price within a narrow range. The
competitive aspect is that if sellers raise or lower the price enough, customers will ignore
minor differences and change brands.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 5
Product Differentiation
Monopolistic competition is characterized by
product differentiation—real or perceived
differences between competing products in
the same industry. Most items produced
today—from the many brands of athletic
footwear to personal computers—are
differentiated.

Nonprice Competition
To make their products stand out, monopolistic competitors try to make consumers aware
of product differences. They do this with nonprice competition—the use of advertising,
giveaways, or other promotions designed to convince buyers that the product is somehow
unique or fundamentally better than a competitor’s.

In a monopolistically competitive industry, advertising is important. This explains why


producers of designer clothes spend so much on advertising and promotion. If a seller
can differentiate a product in the mind of the buyer, the firm may be able to raise the price
above its competitors’ prices. Because advertising is expensive, it raises the cost of doing
business for the monopolistic competitor, and hence the price the consumer pays.

Profit Maximization
The profit maximizing behavior of the monopolistic competitor is no different from that of
other firms. The firm will expand its production until its marginal cost is equal to its
marginal revenue, or where MC = MR. If the firm’s advertising convinces consumers that
its product is better, then it can charge a higher price. If not, the firm must charge less.

Finally, it is easy for firms to enter the monopolistically competitive industry. Each new
firm makes a product only a little different from others on the market. The result is a large
number of firms producing a variety of similar products.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 6
LESSON 3: Oligopoly

Describes a market in which a few sellers dominate an industry. Oligopoly is a market


structure in which a few very large sellers dominate the industry. The product of an
oligopolist may have distinct features, as do the many makes and models of cars in the
auto industry; or it may be standardized, as in the steel industry. As a result, oligopoly is
further from perfect competition than monopolistic competition.

In the Philippines, many markets are


already oligopolistic, and many more are
becoming so. For example, Smart
Communications-PLDT and Globe
Telecom dominate the commercial mobile
cellular industry. A few large corporations
control other industries, such as the
domestic airline, oil and automobile industries.

Interdependent Behavior
Because oligopolists are so large, whenever one firm acts, the other firms in the industry
usually follow—or they run the risk of losing customers. For example, when Chrysler
introduced the first minivan, other companies soon followed.

The tendency of oligopolists to act together often shows up in their pricing behavior, such
as copying a competitor’s price reduction in order to attract new customers. For example,
if Ford or General Motors announces zero-interest financing or thousands of dollars back
on each new car purchased, its competitors will match the promotion almost immediately.
In extreme cases this can lead to a price war, or a series of price cuts that result in
unusually low prices.

Because oligopolists usually act together when it comes to changing prices, many firms
prefer to compete on a nonprice basis by enhancing their products with new or different

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 7
features. Automobile companies do this every year when they introduce models. If an
oligopolist finds a way to enhance a product, its competitors are at a disadvantage for a
period of time. After all, it takes longer to develop a new physical attribute for a product
than it does to match a price cut.

Sometimes the interdependent behavior takes


the form of collusion, a formal agreement to set
specific prices or to otherwise behave in a
cooperative manner. One form of collusion is
price-fixing, or agreeing to charge the same or
similar prices for a product. In almost every case
these prices are higher than those determined
under competition. The firms also might agree to
divide the market so that each is guaranteed to sell a certain amount. Because collusion
usually restrains trade, it is against the law.

Profit Maximization
The oligopolist, like any other firm, maximizes its profits when it finds the quantity of output
where its marginal cost is equal to its marginal revenue, or where MC = MR. The
oligopolist will then charge the price consistent with this level of sales. Because of all the
nonprice competition, the product’s final price is likely to be higher than it would be under
monopolistic competition, and much higher than it would be under perfect competition.
Nonprice competition is always expensive for a firm, and these expenses usually come
back to the consumer in the form of higher prices.

LESSON 4: Monopoly

At the opposite end of the spectrum from perfect competition is monopoly. A monopoly
is a market structure with only one seller of a particular product. This situation—like that
of perfect competition—is an extreme case. In fact, the Philippine economy has very few,
if any, cases of pure monopoly—although the local cable TV operator or telephone

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 8
company may come close. But a good example are Energy (Meralco) and Water
(Manila/Maynilad) industry.

Even the telephone company, however, faces competition from other communication
companies, from the from Internet providers that supply e-mail and telephone services.
Local cable providers face competition from video rental stores, satellite cable systems,
and the Internet. Consequently, when people talk about monopolies, they usually mean
near-monopolies.

We have few monopolies today because Filipinos traditionally have disliked them and
have tried to outlaw them. Another reason is that new technologies often introduce
products that compete with existing monopolies. The development of the fax machine
before allowed businesses to send electronic letters that competed with the Postal
Service. Later, e-mail became even more popular than the fax. Today, telephone service
over the Internet is yet another technology challenging phone monopolies.

Types of Monopolies
Sometimes the nature of a good or service
dictates that society would be served best by a
monopoly. A natural monopoly—a market
situation where the costs of production are
minimized by having a single firm produce the
product—is one such case.

Natural monopolies often can provide services more cheaply than several competing
firms could. For example, two or more competing telephone companies serving the same
area would be inefficient if each company needed its own telephone poles and lines.

Public utility companies fall into this category because it would be wasteful to duplicate
the networks of pipes and wires that distribute water, gas, and electricity throughout a
city. To avoid these problems, the government often gives a public utility company a

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 9
franchise—the exclusive right to do business in a certain area without competition. By
accepting such franchises, the companies also accept a certain amount of government
regulation.

The justification for the natural monopoly is that a larger firm can often use its personnel,
equipment, and plant more efficiently. This results in economies of scale, a situation in
which the average cost of production falls as the firm gets larger. When this happens, it
makes sense for the firm to be as large as is necessary to lower its production costs.

Sometimes a monopoly exists because of a specific location. A drugstore operating in a


town too small to support two or more such businesses becomes a geographic
monopoly. This is a monopoly based on the absence of other sellers in a certain
geographic area. Similarly, the owner of the only gas station on a lonely interstate highway
exit also has a type of geographic monopoly.

A technological monopoly is a monopoly that is based on ownership or control of a


manufacturing method, process, or other scientific advance. The government may grant
a patent—an exclusive right to manufacture, use, or sell any new and useful invention for
a specific period—to the inventor. Inventions are covered for 20 years; however, a
product’s design can be patented for shorter periods, after which it becomes public
property available for the benefit of all. Art and literary works are protected through a
copyright—the exclusive right of authors or artists to publish, sell, or reproduce their work
for their lifetime plus 50 years.

Still another kind of monopoly is the government monopoly—a monopoly owned and
operated by the government. Government monopolies are found at all the levels of
government—national, state, and local. In most cases they involve products or services
that private industry cannot adequately supply.

Many towns and cities have monopolies that oversee water use. Some states control
alcoholic beverages by requiring that they be sold only through state stores. The national

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 10
government controls the processing of weapons-grade uranium for military and national
security purposes.

Profit Maximization
Monopolies maximize profits the same way other firms do: they equate marginal cost with
marginal revenue to find the profit-maximizing quantity of output. Even so, there are
differences between the monopolist and other profit-maximizing firms—especially the
perfect competitor.

First, the monopolist is much larger than the perfect competitor. This is because there is
only one firm—the monopolist—supplying the product, rather than thousands of smaller
ones. Second, both because of its large size and the lack of meaningful competition, the
monopolist is able to behave as a “price maker.” This differs from the perfect competitor,
who faces competition and is a price taker.

Because there are no competing firms in the industry, there is no equilibrium price facing
the monopolist. In order for the monopolist to maximize its profits, it will do exactly as all
the other firms have done: it will equate MC with MR because this method always shows
the level of output that produces the highest total profits. The result will be a very high
price—higher than would be charged under conditions of perfect competition,
monopolistic competition, or oligopoly.

LESSON 5: Market Failures

Estrada was linked to the biggest scandal that rocked the


Philippine stock market in 1999. At the heart of the
scandal was gambling firm Best World Resources, also
called BW Resources, which almost led to the collapse of
the local stock market. BW’s stock price zoomed from
P0.80 in October 1998 to P145 in October 1999. The
whopping 18,000% jump within a period of one year led

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 11
the PSE and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the listed
firm. They uncovered several stock manipulation strategies. The PSE’s findings showed
that BW owner Dante Tan and other brokers were manipulating BW stock through
fraudulent "wash sales," a situation when the seller and buyer are the same. The aim was
to create the illusion of an active market in a particular stock.

Tan was a friend of Estrada and was one of the biggest campaign contributors when
Estrada first ran for president in 1998. During the impeachment trial of Estrada, former
Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu testified that Estrada profited from selling them when
the share price ballooned. The scandal had caused investors to shy away from the stock
market, bringing trading volumes to record lows.

These news stories showed clearly that a competitive free enterprise economy works best
when several conditions, including adequate information, are met. If we want to avoid
problems like this in the future, we need to be able to identify and then deal with different
types of market failures.

Types of Market Failures


Unfortunately markets sometimes fail. A market failure occurs whenever one of the
conditions necessary for competitive markets does not exist. As you will learn, five main
causes of market failures exist.

Inadequate Competition
Over time, mergers and acquisitions result in larger and fewer firms dominating various
industries. The decrease in competition tends to reduce the efficient use of scarce
resources—resources that could be put to other, more productive uses if they were
available. For example, why would a firm with few or no competitors have the incentive
to use its resources carefully?

Inadequate competition can occur on both the demand and supply sides of the market. If
we consider the supply side of the market, there is no competition when a monopolist

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 12
dominates. In an oligopolistic market, the temptation to collude is strong. If we look at the
demand side of the market, there is little or no competition if the government is the only
buyer for space shuttles, hydroelectric dams, super computers, M-1 tanks, or high-
technology fighter jets.

A firm that does not face adequate


competition could easily spend its profits
on huge salaries and bonuses, executive
jets, country club memberships, and
generous retirement plans. This is one of
the reasons that public utilities such as
electricity are regulated by the
government—to make sure that the firms do not use their monopoly status to waste or
abuse resources. Inadequate competition also may enable a business to influence
politicians in order to get special treatment that enriches its managers and owners.

Inadequate Information
If resources are to be allocated efficiently, everyone—consumers, business people, and
government officials—must have adequate information about market conditions. A
secretary or an accountant may receive a competitive wage in the automobile industry,
but wages for the same skills might be higher in the insurance or banking industry.

Some information is easy to find in the classified ads in


the newspaper or on the Internet. Other information is
more difficult to find. If this knowledge is important to
buyers and sellers but is difficult to obtain, then it is an
example of a market failure.

The consequences of inadequate information may not always be immediately visible, but
in the long run it will put a slow drain on the economy, lowering the rate of growth and the
overall standard of living.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 13
Resource Immobility
A difficult problem in any economy is that of resource immobility. This means that land,
capital, labor, and entrepreneurs do not move to markets where returns are the highest.
Instead they tend to stay put and sometimes remain unemployed.

What happens, for example, when a large auto assembly plant, steel mill, or mine closes,
leaving hundreds of workers without employment? Certainly some workers can find jobs
in other industries, but not all can. Some of the newly unemployed may not be able to sell
their homes. Others may not want to move away from friends and relatives to find new
jobs in other cities.

Public Goods
Another form of market failure shows up in the form of public goods. Public goods are
products that are collectively consumed by everyone. Their use by one individual does
not diminish the satisfaction or value available to others. Examples of public goods are
uncrowded highways, floodcontrol measures, national defense, and police and fire
protection.

When left to itself, the market either


does not supply these items at all, or it
supplies them inadequately. This is
because a market economy produces
only those items that can be withheld if
people refuse to pay for them. It would
be difficult, for example, to deny one
person the benefits of national defense
while supplying it to others. Because it is so difficult to have all individuals pay for their
fair share of a public good, private markets produce too few of them.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it was evident that the floodwalls in New Orleans
could not sustain the onslaught of the hurricane. Floodwalls are public goods that are

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 14
normally funded out of government expenditures; they are not built by the private sector
because there is little profit to be gained by building them. A related problem is that
government does not always see the need to spend tax dollars on public goods. In the
case of the floodwalls, it was all too easy to postpone the necessary expenditures
because they would have resulted in higher taxes or in not building other public goods.

Externalities
Many activities generate some kind of externality, or unintended side effect that either
benefits or harms a third party not involved in the activity that caused it.

A negative externality is the harm, cost, or inconvenience suffered by a third party


because of actions by others. The classic case of a negative externality is the noise and
inconvenience some people suffer when an airport expands.

A positive externality is a benefit someone receives who was not involved in the activity
that generated the benefit. For example, people living on the other side of town may
benefit from the additional jobs generated by the airport expansion, or a nearby restaurant
may sell more meals and hire more workers. Both the restaurant owners and the new
workers gain from the airport expansion even though they had nothing to do with the
expansion in the first place.

Externalities are market failures because their


costs and benefits are not reflected in the
market prices that buyers and sellers pay. For
example, airlines do not compensate
homeowners for the diminished value of
properties located near a new runway
extension. Nor does a restaurant owner share
any additional profits with the airport. As a
result, the prices that travelers pay for air travel will not reflect the external costs and
benefits that an airport expansion generates.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 15
Dealing with Externalities
Externalities indicate a market failure and can be
corrected with government action. The problem with
externalities is that they distort the decisions made by
consumers and producers. Overall this makes the
economy less efficient.

Correcting Negative Externalities


A classic example of pollution sheds some light on the distortions caused by negative
externalities. Firms historically located near rivers because transportation was
convenient. However, the firms also used the rivers as a giant waste disposal system,
which helped keep their production cost low. This led to lower market prices for the final
product, and consumers were able to buy more.

The negative externality of pollution generated several problems. Firms had the incentive
to pollute because it was the most profitable way to produce. The low prices also
encouraged more sales, and hence more pollution. Finally, people living downstream
from the polluting firms were, in effect, paying for some of the production costs even if
they did not necessarily buy the products.

Suppose the government decided to force the firms to clean up their pollution by putting
a ₱50 “pollution tax” on every unit of output sold. The firms, of course, would try to pass
some of this expense on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. While higher prices
might at first seem to be a problem, they would force the people who bought the products
to pay for the increase in production costs.

The tax would help alleviate pollution problems. First, all firms would have less incentive
to pollute because the tax drives up the price of their products. Second, higher prices
would reduce the quantity demanded, so firms would produce less and therefore generate
less pollution. Third, the people living downstream of the affected rivers would face less
pollution.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 16
Correcting Positive Externalities
Externalities can be positive as well as negative. You have learned that negative
externalities lead to distortions. Yet even when externalities are positive, so that
uninvolved third parties experience beneficial side effects, distortions can occur.

A classic example is education. We know that people generally earn more when they
have more education. In addition, a community with a well-educated workforce will attract
more industry, have more economic development, and enjoy a higher standard of living.
For these and other reasons, it makes sense for the government to subsidize the cost of
public education.

This is exactly what happens when local governments pay for the cost of primary and
secondary public education. When it comes to the higher education offered by state
universities, however, state governments only pay for part of the cost, leaving students to
pick up the rest in the form of tuition payments.

Given education’s value to the community, many experts feel that the government
subsidies should be larger than they are. This is expensive, however, so government
tends to underfund higher education even though more subsidies are warranted.

LESSON 6: The Role of Government

We know that resources are scarce, and because of scarce resources we have to make
careful choices if we are to satisfy our many wants and needs. We also know that
competitive markets are one of the best ways to make this happen. At the same time,
markets can fail. When they do, the government can step in and fix the problem.

Maintain Competition
The government exercises its power to maintain competition within markets. There are
two ways that government can maintain competitive markets. One is by prohibiting market

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 17
structures that are not competitive. The other is by regulating markets where full
competition is not possible.

Government Regulation
Not all monopolies are bad, and for that reason not all should be broken up. In the case
of a natural monopoly, it makes sense to let the firm expand to take advantage of lower
production costs, and then regulate its activities so that it cannot take advantage of the
consumer.

National and local governments units regulate many monopolies, such as cable television
companies, and water and electric utilities. For example, if a public utility wants to raise
rates, it must argue its case before a public utility commission or other government
agency.

Improve Economic Efficiency


Providing public goods and promoting transparency can improve economic efficiency.
Fortunately, the government has the ability to correct two market failures that interfere
with competitive markets: inadequate information and public goods.

Promote Transparency
Efficient and competitive markets need
adequate information. Transparency is a term
used to indicate that information and actions
are not hidden and instead are easily available
for review.

Public disclosure, the requirement that businesses reveal certain information to the
public, is an important way to do this. For example, all corporations that sell stock to the
public must disclose financial and operating information on a regular basis to both their
shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This data is stored in
a free database that can be accessed by anyone on the Internet.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 18
Disclosure requirements also exist for consumer lending. If you obtain a credit card or
borrow money to buy a car, the lender will explain in writing the method for computing the
monthly interest, the length of the loan, the size of the payments, and other lending terms.
This is not an act of kindness on the lender’s part because federal law requires these
disclosures. Finally, “truth-in-advertising” laws prevent sellers from making false claims
about their products.

Most government documents, studies, and reports are available on the Internet. This
includes the annual budget of the National Government, the Statistical Abstract of the
Philippines, Census Bureau reports, and nearly every other publication that you can find
in the government documents section of your local public library.

Provide Public Goods


A free enterprise economy does not produce public goods in sufficient quantity because
such efforts usually do not result in direct financial gain. This means that many of the
things society values—good roads and highways, museums and libraries, and
education—must be provided by government.

Public goods are important because they make the economy more productive. For
example, businesses need reliable transportation so that they can move their raw
materials and final products. In addition, their employees need to be able to easily
commute to and from work. Firms also need an educated workforce that is both productive
and able to purchase the products that are produced.

Modified Free Enterprise


Because the government is involved in certain aspects of our economy, it is a modified
version of free enterprise. The Philippine economy has changed dramatically over the
years. One of the outcomes of this evolution is the rise of the modified free enterprise
economy.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 19
In the late 1800s, the freedom to pursue self-interests led some people to seek economic
gain at the expense of others. Under the label of competition, many larger firms used their
power to take advantage of smaller ones. In some markets, less competitive market
structures such as monopoly replaced competition, and the economy became less
efficient.

Because of these developments, Congress passed laws to


prevent “evil monopolies” and to protect the rights of workers.
It also passed food and drug laws to protect people from false
claims and harmful products. Even public utilities faced
significant government regulation to prevent the price gouging
of consumers. Collectively, these actions have resulted in a
modification of free enterprise.

More recently, concern has shifted to economic efficiency and the role of the government
in promoting it. Markets have become increasingly important, and we recognize that
markets can fail in several different ways. When this happens, the government can take
steps to remedy the situation.

In addition to occasional interventions to keep markets reasonably competitive, the


government can make the economy more efficient by supplying public goods and
promoting transparency. People will continue to debate the proper role of government,
but it turns out that markets alone cannot provide all of our wants and needs.

Over the years, government’s role in the economy has slowly evolved from concern over
consumer protection to the promotion of economic competition and efficiency. As a result
of this government intervention, we now have a modified private enterprise economy, or
an economy based on markets with varying degrees of government regulation.

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 20
TASK AND ACTIVITIES

ESSAY TEST
Directions: Read the question and explain carefully based on how or what you
understand about the lessons.

1. Why does perfect competition serve as a theoretical market structure?

2. How is profit maximization in a monopolistic firm different from that of a perfect


competitor?

3. Why do oligopolists frequently appear to act together?

4. Why do natural monopolies sometimes result in economies of scale?

5. What type of market failure do you think is most harmful to the economy?

6. If externalities are positive, why should they be corrected?

7. Why are some government regulations beneficial for consumers?

8. What negative things could happen in a market without disclosure?

9. Why do we use the term modified to describe the Philippine free enterprise
economy?

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 21
REFERENCES:

Clayton, G.E., Economics Principles and Practices, McGraw Hill Companies, Inc., 2008.

Sloman, J., [Link]., Economics Tenth Edition, Pearson Education Limited, 2018.

Thompson, M. and Batalla, E.V., Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines,


Routledge, 2018.

EXTENDED READINGS/ REFERENCES:

Balisacan, A. and Hill, H., Philippine Economy: Development, Policies, and Challenges,
Oxford University Press, 2003.

Basu, D., Economic Models: Methods, Theory and Applications, World Scientific
Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 2009.

Canlas, D., [Link]., Diagnosing the Philippine Economy Toward Inclusive Growth, Asian
Development Bank, 2011.

Economic and Development Strategy Handbook, International Business Publications,


2008.

Hofman, B., [Link]., Economic and Political Challenges in the Philippines. Retrieved from
[Link]
philippines-event-3645

Gregory-Mankiw, N., Principles of Economics Eighth Edition, Cengage Learning, 2016.

Piros, C.D. and Pinto, J.E., Economics for Investment Decision Makers: Micro, Macro,
and International Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., (2013).

Poverty in the Philippines, Asian Development Bank, 2009.

Siason, M.A., Public Administration and Economic Development in the Philippines:


Concepts, Issues, and Prospects. Retrieved from
[Link]

PUBADECS – Public Administration & the Economic System | Module 4 | Mr. ERICK P. MANTE 22

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