In: Economics
1.A perfectly competitive firm is known as a price taker because the pressure of competing firms forces them to accept the prevailing equilibrium price in the market. If a firm in a perfectly competitive market raises the price of its product by so much as a penny, it will lose all of its sales to competitors. When a wheat grower wants to know what the going price of wheat is, they have to go to the computer or listen to the radio to check. The market price is determined solely by supply and demand in the entire market and not by the individual farmer. Also, a perfectly competitive firm must be a very small player in the overall market so that it can increase or decrease output without noticeably affecting the overall quantity supplied and price in the market.