In: Economics
1. Explain why perfectly competitive firms have to shut down in both short and long run.
If a market has many firms then this is perfectly competitive. In this market, firms deal with homogeneous product and are price taker. Therefore, they can’t set price of the product but bound to accept the market price.
Short-run: In the short-run there are two kinds of cost – variable cost and fixed cost. Average variable cost is the total variable cost by a division of quantity. If the price is below the average variable cost (AVC) of a firm, the firm has to shut-down immediately; such scenario indicates that the production of each unit incurs a loss. Therefore, in order to stay in the market the firm has to cover the AVC in the short-run.
Long-run: In the long-run all factors of production become variable. Therefore, there would be no existence of fixed cost. Total cost of a firm is all variable; average total cost (ATC) is the division of total cost by a division of quantity. Market price of the product if lower than ATC the firm must shut-down. The situation indicates a loss, since the price doesn’t cover the ATC.