For all types of firms (including monopoly), firms make their profits biggest at the output level in which the marginal revenue and marginal cost curves meet, known as the profit maximizing output. But when a firm is a monopoly, the price that the firm sets is the price level of the demand curve for that amount of output. However, it is better for society if the output level is when the marginal cost and the demand curve meet, which is of a higher output and a lower price than what the monopoly produces. Hence, since society could be better if more of the good is produced, a deadweight loss is created. A monopoly is hence not allocatively efficient.
Depending on the total cost that the monopoly has, a monopoly may be able to earn supernormal profits in the long run. This thus allows the monopoly to have money to do costly innovation or become more cost efficient in producing the products or services. However, there are people who believe that a monopoly may become complacent and not do innovation at all as there is no competition in the market.
A natural monopoly can happen when there is very high barriers to entry that it is not profitable for more firms to enter the market for the level of demand that is present in the market. A natural monopoly keeps getting increasing economies of scale for the level of demand in the market, and relatively high fixed costs. The average cost of production would then keep decreasing for the whole demand of the product or service. It is thus cheaper for a single firm to produce the product or service, as it would not be profitable for two or more firms to be in the market.
A natural monopoly is similar to a normal monopoly and can be inefficient. Hence, governments tend to make laws that controls what the natural monopoly does, mainly to set prices at an affordable level.
Pluto (Disney)
Pluto is a fictional dog that belongs to Mickey Mouse. He is a golden-yellow mutt with a green collar. He was introduced in the 1930s and got his name from the planet Pluto which had recently been discovered.
Pluto taught many kids lessons such as sharing, not to have jealousy, and many others. Pluto was very energetic. Pluto was created by Walt Disney.
Even number
An even number is an integer that can be divided by two and remain an integer or has no remainder.
An integer that is not an even number is an odd number. If an even number is divided by two, the result is another integer. On the other hand, an odd number, when divided by two, will result in a non-integer.
Since even numbers are integers, negative numbers can be even.
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is a festival held the day before Ash Wednesday (shrove Tuesday) which signifies the end of the Carnival season and the start of Lent. Many cities (especially those with large Catholic populations) like New Orleans are famous for their Mardi Gras.
During Mardi Gras, almost everyone takes part in celebrating with lavish parades and parties. Many different people celebrate Mardi Gras in their own way, some people have small parties and eat many of the tasty pastries and some people have huge parties and celebrate in a big way. Some of the pastries they eat are called king's cake, hot cross buns, punchskis, tricolor scrolls and thick sugar cookies. There are many more things that other people eat but these are the usual American celebration food for mardi gras. There are so many different parades and kinds of celebrations.
In some countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, the day is called Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day.
Mardi Gras is also celebrated in French speaking countries.
Røldalsvatnet
Røldalsvatnet is a lake in Odda, Hordaland, Norway. The length around it is 20.64 km, its area is 6.99 km² and it is 380 meters above sea level.
Technorati
Technorati was a search engine for weblogs. As of August 2006, Technorati indexed over 55 million sites.
Technorati was founded by Dave Sifry and its headquarters was in San Francisco, California, USA.
Stuart, Florida
Stuart is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Martin County, part of the Treasure Coast.
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is a city in the American state of Oregon. It is named after John Jacob Astor, who started a fur trading post, there in 1811. Many movies have been filmed there like "The Goonies", "Kindergarten Cop", and "Free Willy".
The Goonies
The Goonies is a 1985 American movie about of a group of children living in part of Astoria, Oregon called The "Goon Docks", who go on a search for a pirate's treasure, to save their neighborhood from being bought and destroyed. The movie was produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Richard Donner.
Press Your Luck
Press Your Luck was an American game show that aired from 1983 to 1986 and later in reruns, and was hosted by Peter Tomarken. The three contestants on each show would earn spins by answering questions that they could later use on The Big Board. On the board, they could earn thousands of dollars in cash and prizes, but had to beware of the Whammy, a cartoon demon who stole players' money and prizes. If a Whammy was hit, the contestant lost all earnings up to that point. Four Whammies took a player out of the game. The winner returned on the next show.
The show came back on the air in 2002 on Game Show Network as "Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck". It featured a new "Big Bank" feature, which gave the player a chance to earn all the money and prizes lost to the Whammy. It was hosted by Todd Newton and ran until 2003.
The original version of "Press Your Luck" was called "Second Chance", which aired on television in 1977. Instead of the Whammy, players had to face a cartoon "Devil." It was hosted by Jim Peck, but did not last very long.
Newar language
Nepal Bhasa is a language spoken by indigenous Newa people of Nepal. It is a Himalayan language of Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages group.
Newah Bhaaye is the term used for Nepal Bhasa by its native speakers. The term 'Newari' has been used in derogatory form to replace the original name of the language.
Nepal Bhasa shares the feature of Kirant and Tibetan dialects of Northern Himalayas. It consists of five major dialects and several sub-dialects spoken by Newa people living throughout the country.
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder. It happens when the nervous system does not work properly. People with narcolepsy tend to fall asleep during the daytime, even if they do not want to. Very often, they do not sleep well at night, and during the day they fall asleep uncontrollably. There are two different forms. The classical (more common) form is the one with muscle failure (called cataplexy). There is also a less common form without cataplexy.
Narcolepsy affects the way the nerves work. It is not a mental illness, or caused by psychological problems. It is estimated that between 25 and 50 people, per 100,000 suffer from narcolepsy. Very few cases are reported.
The first description was given in 1877. Jean-Baptiste Gélineau, a military doctor, first used the name narcolepsy in 1880.
In certain countries, people diagnosed with narcolepsy may not drive a car.
Things that people with narcolepsy may experience:
Hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and automatic behaviour can also occur in people who are not narcoleptics. This usually happens when people are very tired, and have not slept for a long time.
Some scientists think that narcolepsy is caused by a lack of hypocretin. Hypocretin is a chemical in the brain which wakes people up and regulates sleep. However, It is not yet known for sure what causes it. Quite a few sufferers also have another family member with the disease. This may point to the fact that some of the things that cause the disease may be passed from the parents to the children through genes.