If a perfectly competitive firm’s price is less than its average total cost but greater than
its average variable cost, the firm
A) is earning a profit.
B) should shut down.
C) is incurring a loss.
D) is breaking even.
Since 1972, the world price of oil has been largely determined by OPEC, which
controls about 75 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves. Since 1972 the price of oil
has
A) fluctuated. OPEC’s situation is an example of a prisoner’s dilemma.
B) risen slowly, but steadily. Members of OPEC fear that if they raise the price of oil
too quickly this will lead oil-buying nations to accuse OPEC of price gouging, which is
illegal under international law.
C) steadily fallen through the 1970s, then risen continually in the years since then.
OPEC’s actions are an example of implicit collusion.
D) been tied by OPEC to the rate of inflation in the United States. If, for example, the
rate of inflation is 5 percent in one year, OPEC will raise the price of oil by 5 percent
the next year.