<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><bold>Background:</bold> Duality in the microeconomic theory enables us to represent consumers’ preferences and production technology with various dual functions satisfying certain regularity conditions.<bold>Objectives:</bold> Since the basis for the application of duality in the microeconomic theory is the price taking behaviour, this paper takes the challenge of applying principles of duality to a monopolistic case where a single producer has an influence on the price which it charges for its product.<bold>Methods/Approach:</bold> The standard approach of deriving the profit function for the monopolist from the production function and the defined pseudoproduction function is accompanied by an alternative approach in which the starting point is the pseudocost function. Starting from the derived profit function, the pseudoproduction function and the pseudocost functions are recovered and a version of Hotelling’s lemma is given.<bold>Results:</bold> The structure of the profit maximization problem in a monopolistic case was made similar to the structure of the profit maximization problem in the perfectly competitive case and it is shown that all starting functions can be recovered back from derived functions. A version of Hotelling’s lemma is illustrated, which brings us indirectly from the profit function to the supply function.<bold>Conclusions:</bold> By introducing the pseudoproduction function in the profit maximization model of a monopolist, the structure of the problem becomes similar to the perfectly competitive case and duality results can be applied. The profit function is derived from the pseudoproduction and the pseudocost function, and all starting functions are recovered back from the derived profit function.</abstract>

Background: Duality in the microeconomic theory enables us to represent consumers’ preferences and production technology with various dual functions satisfying certain regularity conditions.Objectives: Since the basis for the application of duality in the microeconomic theory is the price taking behaviour, this paper takes the challenge of applying principles of duality to a monopolistic case where a single producer has an influence on the price which it charges for its product.Methods/Approach: The standard approach of deriving the profit function for the monopolist from the production function and the defined pseudoproduction function is accompanied by an alternative approach in which the starting point is the pseudocost function. Starting from the derived profit function, the pseudoproduction function and the pseudocost functions are recovered and a version of Hotelling’s lemma is given.Results: The structure of the profit maximization problem in a monopolistic case was made similar to the structure of the profit maximization problem in the perfectly competitive case and it is shown that all starting functions can be recovered back from derived functions. A version of Hotelling’s lemma is illustrated, which brings us indirectly from the profit function to the supply function.Conclusions: By introducing the pseudoproduction function in the profit maximization model of a monopolist, the structure of the problem becomes similar to the perfectly competitive case and duality results can be applied. The profit function is derived from the pseudoproduction and the pseudocost function, and all starting functions are recovered back from the derived profit function.

Pseudoproduction, Pseudocost and Profit Functions in Monopoly from the Dual Perspective

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb,

Business Systems Research Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Background: Duality in the microeconomic theory enables us to represent consumers’ preferences and production technology with various dual functions satisfying...

Pseudoproduction, Pseudocost and Profit Functions in Monopoly from the Dual Perspective

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 49 - 64

Received: Feb 22, 2016

Accepted: Jul 28, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bsrj-2016-0012

Keywords
duality, pseudoproduction function, pseudocost function, profit function, Hotelling’s lemma

© 2016 Ilko Vrankić et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Pseudoproduction, Pseudocost and Profit Functions in Monopoly from the Dual Perspective

Published Online: Oct 17, 2016

Page range: 49 - 64

Received: Feb 22, 2016

Accepted: Jul 28, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bsrj-2016-0012

Keywordsduality, pseudoproduction function, pseudocost function, profit function, Hotelling’s lemma

© 2016 Ilko Vrankić et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
duality, pseudoproduction function, pseudocost function, profit function, Hotelling’s lemma