In: Economics
Market power can be defined as the ability of a firm (or group
of firms) to manipulate the price of a product with the
manipulations in the level of demand, supply, or both. The Lerner
Index (=(p-MC)/MC) refers to the measure of market power: the
ability of a firm to increase the price above marginal cost. Lerner
Index equal to zero (L = 0) for the perfectly competitive firm
because the price is equal to marginal cost (P = MC). Cournot
firm’s Lerner Index would be depending on the elasticity that the
firm experiences. There is an inverse relationship between
elasticity of demand and Lerner Index i.e. -1/Ed. The
perfectly-competitive firm will not set its price higher than its
marginal cost because it has a horizontal demand curve thus
indicating that if the firm charge a price exceeding its marginal
cost, it will experience a zero revenue because the customers will
switch to its competitors