What is the difference between product markets and factor markets?
Article Summary. According to Edmunds.com, incentives for the purchase of
automobiles rose to an average of $2,500 per vehicle in the United States in May
2013, or about 8 percent of market value. The incentives offered by the big 3 U.S.
auto companies were higher than the average, with Chrysler at 10.3 percent of
market value, General Motors at 10 percent, and Ford at 9 percent. Despite the
increase in incentives, there was little change in sales volume for the first half of
2013.
Source: Kyle Stock, “Lauderdale CVB ramps up LGBT summer marketing,”
Bloomberg Businessweek, June 11, 2013.
What happens to the profit a car company makes on each car sold if it offers incentives
such as cash rebates to customers? What happens to the company’s profit per car if it
offers zero percent financing as an incentive? How might a car company decide which
of these strategies to use?