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A seller who will sell more by setting a lower price for its product, and indeed, must lower price to increase the quantity it can sell is called a...
Price searcher
What does the demand curve faced by an individual seller who is a price searcher look like?


What do we call the additional revenue a seller gets when one more of an item is sold?
Marginal Revenue
For a price taker, the marginal revenue is the same as the price (since the seller has no effect on the price). However, for a price searcher, the effect that making and selling more output will have on the price is important. To sell any additional units, the price taker has to lower the price, and this will affect its marginal revenue.
Marginal Revenue = change in revenue/change in quantity
Here's a table showing how marginal revenue works for a price searcher:
| Price | Quantity | Revenue | Marginal Revenue |
| $10 | 0 | 0 | |
| $9 | 100 | 900 | 9 |
| $8 | 200 | 1600 | 7 |
| $7 | 300 | 2100 | 5 |
| $6 | 400 | 2400 | 3 |
| $5 | 500 | 2500 | 1 |
| $4 | 600 | 2400 | -1 |
| $3 | 700 | 2100 | -3 |
| $2 | 800 | 1600 | -5 |
| $1 | 900 | 900 | -7 |
| 0 | 1000 | 0 | -9 |






| For a price taker, 1. produce if P³AVC 2. produce an amount up to where P=MC A price taker produces every unit that someone values more than its cost, an efficient use of resources (resources get used to make each unit of the good if, and only if, it is valued more than other things that could be made instead with the same resources) 3. profit if P>ATC (profit is (P minus ATC) times output. |
For a price searcher, 1. produce if P³AVC (demand above AVC) 2. produce an amount up to where MR=MC; since P>MR, P>MR=MC; so P> MC A price searcher will refuse to make some of the output for which P>MC; it doesnt make an efficient amount. A price searcher produces too little output!! Resources that could be used to make this good will be used to make something less valuable to society. 2a. price comes from demand curve and is the price that will sell the amount produced 3. profit if P>ATC (profit is [P minus ATC] times output). |