Index
Introduction - 1
Defining A Market - 2
The Importance Of Competition - 3
The Result Of Competition - 4
Intervening In Markets - 5
The Allocative Role - 6
The Distributive Role - 7
The Regulative Role - 8
The Regulative Role (continued) - 9
The Role Of Government - 10
The Role of Government (continued) - 11
The Stabilizing Role - 12
Vertical and Horizontal Integration Defined - 13
Defining Market Structure - 14
How A Firm Can Grow - 15
Mergers and Takeovers - 16
Vertical And Horizonal Integration (Diagram) - 17
Why markets Vary in Structure - 18
Product Differentiation - 19
Product Differentiation (continued) - 20
Free Range ''Googs''- 21
Product Differentiation (continued) - 22
Non Price Competition - 23
Non Price Competition (continued) - 24
Defining The Types Of Market Structures - 25
Perfect Competition - 26
Perfect Competition (continued) - 27
The Market For Oranges - 28
The Market For Oranges (continued) - 29
Bitter Oranges - 30
Summary: Perfect Competition - 31
Monopolistic Competition - 32
True Blue Oranges - 33
Monopolistic Competition (continued) - 34
Oligopoly - 35
Oligopoly (continued) - 36
Oligopoly (continued) - 37
Kinked Demand Curves - 38
OPEC - 39
OPEC (continued) - 40
Monopoly - 41
Microsoft - 42
Why Monopolies Are Inefficient - 43
Revision Questions On Market Forms - 44

The Market For Oranges - 28
The market for oranges for orange juice is a good example of a near ''perfectly competitive'' market.

Orange growers are ''price takers''.
In the diagram to your left, the market price of one tonne of oranges in $250. The Supply and Demand curves are ''on top of one another''; if orange growers try to sell at $260 per tonne, they will make no sales at all.

The demand curve for oranges does not slope downwards. There is one price for oranges in the market, because consumers see no difference in the product from one supplier to the next.

No one is going to pay a price other than the market price, because there is no reason to do so.

When you want to buy orange juice, you will find a wide range of brands and no single firm dominates the market. There are many citrus growing regions in Australia; the largest can be found in irrigated land along the river Murray. Orange producers face the same climatic conditions as each other, and the same soil and water conditions. These growers also grow the same variety of oranges, best suited to the environmental conditions.

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