In: Economics
Suppose the market for toilet paper is perfectly competitive. The long run equilibrium is characterized by the price being $2 per roll with 20 firms making toilet paper, each selling 5 million rolls per week for a total of 100 million rolls being sold each week. A pandemic then breaks out, where people are afraid that the world will run out of toilet paper.
a) what happens in the short run to:
-1) The price of a roll of toilet paper?
-2) The number of firms making toilet paper?
-3) The amount of toilet paper made each week by each firm?
-4) weekly firms profits?
b) What happens in the long run in terms of (1-4) above, and what is the mechanism that brings about that change, assuming demand remains permanently elevated as people in the future are constantly worried that another pandemic will occur?
c) Graph the original long run equilibrium, the short run equilibrium, and the return to a long run equilibrium on two graphs, one for the market and one for the individual firm.