Henry Miller Shreve (October 21, 1785 – March 6, 1851) was an American inventor and steamboat captain who removed obstructions to navigation of the Mississippi , Ohio and Red rivers. Shreveport, Louisiana , was named in his honor.
116-757: Shreve was also instrumental in breaking the Fulton-Livingston monopoly on steamboat traffic on the lower Mississippi. He was the first riverboat captain to travel the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans and back, as well as the first to bring a keelboat from the Ohio River up the Mississippi to the Fever River in Illinois . Shreve also made significant improvements to the steamboat and
232-501: A shot , contains explosives or other fillings, in use since the 19th century. Artillery shells are ammunition that is designed to be fired from artillery which has an effect over long distances, usually indirectly (i.e., out of sight of the target). There are many different types of artillery ammunition, but they are usually high-explosive and designed to shatter into fragments on impact to maximize damage. The fuze used on an artillery shell can alter how it explodes or behaves so it has
348-405: A " de jure monopoly") is a form of coercive monopoly , in which a government grants exclusive privilege to a private individual or company to be the sole provider of a commodity. Monopoly may be granted explicitly, as when potential competitors are excluded from the market by a specific law , or implicitly, such as when the requirements of an administrative regulation can only be fulfilled by
464-509: A PC market are price takers. The price is set by the interaction of demand and supply at the market or aggregate level. Individual companies simply take the price determined by the market and produce that quantity of output that maximizes the company's profits. If a PC company attempted to increase prices above the market level all its customers would abandon the company and purchase at the market price from other companies. A monopoly has considerable although not unlimited market power. A monopoly has
580-739: A boarding pass before boarding an airplane. Most travelers assume that this practice is strictly a matter of security. However, a primary purpose in requesting photographic identification is to confirm that the ticket purchaser is the person about to board the airplane and not someone who has repurchased the ticket from a discount buyer. The inability to prevent resale is the largest obstacle to successful price discrimination. Companies have, however, developed numerous methods to prevent resale. For example, universities require that students show identification before entering sporting events. Governments may make it illegal to resell tickets or products. In Boston, Red Sox baseball tickets can only be resold legally to
696-598: A company cannot charge more than the market price. Any market structure characterized by a downward sloping demand curve has market power – monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly. The only market structure that has no market power is perfect competition. A company wishing to practice price discrimination must be able to prevent middlemen or brokers from acquiring the consumer surplus for themselves. The company accomplishes this by preventing or limiting resale. Many methods are used to prevent resale. For instance, persons are required to show photographic identification and
812-426: A consumer's tax return has information that can be used to charge customers based on an estimate of their ability to pay. In second degree price discrimination or quantity discrimination customers are charged different prices based on how much they buy. There is a single price schedule for all consumers but the prices vary depending on the quantity of the good bought. The theory of second degree price discrimination
928-438: A consumer's willingness to pay is rarely available. Sellers tend to rely on secondary information such as where a person lives (postal codes); for example, catalog retailers can use mail high-priced catalogs to high-income postal codes. First degree price discrimination most frequently occurs in regard to professional services or in transactions involving direct buyer-seller negotiations. For example, an accountant who has prepared
1044-404: A corresponding modification has occurred in the method of supplying ammunition in the quantity required. As soon as projectiles were required (such as javelins and arrows), there needed to be a method of replenishment. When non-specialized, interchangeable or recoverable ammunition was used (e.g., arrows), it was possible to pick up spent arrows (both friendly and enemy) and reuse them. However, with
1160-549: A customer's willingness to buy a good is difficult. Asking consumers directly is fruitless: consumers do not know, and to the extent they do they are reluctant to share that information with marketers. The two main methods for determining willingness to buy are observation of personal characteristics and consumer actions. As noted information about where a person lives (postal codes), how the person dresses, what kind of car he or she drives, occupation, and income and spending patterns can be helpful in classifying. The price of monopoly
1276-492: A different price. Third degree price discrimination is the most prevalent type. There are three conditions that must be present for a company to engage in successful price discrimination. First, the company must have market power. Second, the company must be able to sort customers according to their willingness to pay for the good. Third, the firm must be able to prevent resell. A company must have some degree of market power to practice price discrimination. Without market power
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#17327651603301392-537: A dominant position or a monopoly in a market is often not illegal in itself; however, certain categories of behavior can be considered abusive and therefore incur legal sanctions when business is dominant. A government-granted monopoly or legal monopoly , by contrast, is sanctioned by the state, often to provide an incentive to invest in a risky venture or enrich a domestic interest group . Patents , copyrights , and trademarks are sometimes used as examples of government-granted monopolies. The government may also reserve
1508-400: A few entities have market power and therefore interact with their customers (monopoly or oligopoly), or suppliers (monopsony) in ways that distort the market. Monopolies can be formed by mergers and integrations, form naturally , or be established by a government. In many jurisdictions, competition laws restrict monopolies due to government concerns over potential adverse effects. Holding
1624-424: A given product or service. If there is a single seller in a certain market and there are no close substitutes for the product, then the market structure is that of a "pure monopoly". Sometimes, there are many sellers in an industry or there exist many close substitutes for the goods being produced, but nevertheless, companies retain some market power. This is termed "monopolistic competition", whereas in an oligopoly ,
1740-409: A high rate of return or monopoly prices and might represent risk premiums . Monopolies derive their market power from barriers to entry – circumstances that prevent or greatly impede a potential competitor's ability to compete in a market. There are three major types of barriers to entry: economic, legal, and deliberate. In addition to barriers to entry and competition, barriers to exit may be
1856-433: A higher price than P ∗ {\displaystyle P^{*}} and those who will not pay P ∗ {\displaystyle P^{*}} but would buy at a lower price. A price discrimination strategy is to charge less price sensitive buyers a higher price and the more price sensitive buyers a lower price. Thus additional revenue is generated from two sources. The basic problem
1972-495: A lawsuit was brought by the heirs of Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston against Shreve and the owners of the Enterprise for violating the formers' monopoly against any unauthorized navigation of Louisiana waters by steamboat. In May 1815, soon after being released from jail, Shreve commanded the Enterprise from New Orleans to Louisville, the first time a northbound steamboat was able to reach that city. Then he navigated
2088-515: A market and what does not are relevant distinctions to make in economic analysis. In a general equilibrium context, a good is a specific concept including geographical and time-related characteristics. Most studies of market structure relax a little their definition of a good, allowing for more flexibility in the identification of substitute goods. A monopoly has at least one of these five characteristics: Market power can be estimated with Lerner index . High profit margins might not correspond to
2204-416: A maximum value then continuously decreases until total revenue is again zero. Total revenue has its maximum value when the slope of the total revenue function is zero. The slope of the total revenue function is marginal revenue. So the revenue maximizing quantity and price occur when MR = 0 {\displaystyle {\text{MR}}=0} . For example, assume that the monopoly's demand function
2320-409: A modern soldier is an assault rifle , which, like other small arms, uses cartridge ammunition in a size specific to the weapon. Ammunition is carried on the person in box magazines specific to the weapon, ammunition boxes, pouches or bandoliers. The amount of ammunition carried is dependent on the strength of the soldier, the expected action required, and the ability of ammunition to move forward through
2436-473: A monopolist to increase its profit by charging higher prices for identical goods to those who are willing or able to pay more. For example, most economic textbooks cost more in the United States than in developing countries like Ethiopia . In this case, the publisher is using its government-granted copyright monopoly to price discriminate between the generally wealthier American economics students and
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#17327651603302552-454: A monopoly is that the monopoly has a downward-sloping demand curve rather than the "perceived" perfectly elastic curve of the PC company. Practically all the variations mentioned above relate to this fact. If there is a downward-sloping demand curve then by necessity there is a distinct marginal revenue curve. The implications of this fact are best made manifest with a linear demand curve. Assume that
2668-509: A monopoly. Often, a natural monopoly is the outcome of an initial rivalry between several competitors. An early market entrant that takes advantage of the cost structure and can expand rapidly can exclude smaller companies from entering and can drive or buy out other companies. A natural monopoly suffers from the same inefficiencies as any other monopoly. Left to its own devices, a profit-seeking natural monopoly will produce where marginal revenue equals marginal costs. Regulation of natural monopolies
2784-447: A more elastic demand for movies than do young adults because they generally have more free time. Thus theaters will offer discount tickets to seniors. Assume that by a uniform pricing system the monopolist would sell five units at a price of $ 10 per unit. Assume that his marginal cost is $ 5 per unit. Total revenue would be $ 50, total costs would be $ 25 and profits would be $ 25. If the monopolist practiced price discrimination he would sell
2900-496: A more price inelastic demand and a relatively lesser price to the group with a more elastic demand. Examples of third degree price discrimination abound. Airlines charge higher prices to business travelers than to vacation travelers. The reasoning is that the demand curve for a vacation traveler is relatively elastic while the demand curve for a business traveler is relatively inelastic. Any determinant of price elasticity of demand can be used to segment markets. For example, seniors have
3016-422: A more specialized effect. Common types of artillery ammunition include high explosive, smoke, illumination, and practice rounds. Some artillery rounds are designed as cluster munitions . Artillery ammunition will almost always include a projectile (the only exception being demonstration or blank rounds), fuze and propellant of some form. When a cartridge case is not used, there will be some other method of containing
3132-473: A new barge of 35 tons manned by 12 men and made the trip from St. Louis to where Galena, Illinois , was later built, in 14 days. He remained until July 1 busily employed in traffic with the natives, buying 60 tons of lead. He was therefore compelled to build a flat boat, and buy a Mackinaw boat, to transport his return cargo. His flotilla reached St Louis in 12 days, the beginning of the American lead trade on
3248-421: A perfectly elastic demand curve meaning that total revenue is proportional to output. Thus the total revenue curve for a competitive company is a ray with a slope equal to the market price. A competitive company can sell all the output it desires at the market price. For a monopoly to increase sales it must reduce price. Thus the total revenue curve for a monopoly is a parabola that begins at the origin and reaches
3364-477: A price increase, price elasticity tends to increase, and in the optimum case above it will be greater than one for most customers. A company maximizes profit by selling where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. A company that does not engage in price discrimination will charge the profit maximizing price, P ∗ {\displaystyle P^{*}} , to all its customers. In such circumstances there are customers who would be willing to pay
3480-519: A significant impact on anti-tank ammunition design, now common in both tank-fired ammunition and in anti-tank missiles, including anti-tank guided missiles . Naval weapons were originally the same as many land-based weapons, but the ammunition was designed for specific use, such as a solid shot designed to hole an enemy ship and chain-shot to cut rigging and sails. Modern naval engagements have occurred over far longer distances than historic battles, so as ship armor has increased in strength and thickness,
3596-424: A single agent or entrepreneur, the optimal decision is to equate the marginal cost and marginal revenue of production. Nonetheless, a pure monopoly can – unlike a competitive company – alter the market price for its own convenience: a decrease of production results in a higher price. In the economics' jargon, it is said that pure monopolies have "a downward-sloping demand". An important consequence of such behaviour
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3712-485: A single market player, or through some other legal or procedural mechanism, such as patents , trademarks , and copyright . These monopolies can also be the result of "rent-seeking" behavior, where firms will try to get the prize of having a monopoly, and the increase of profits in acquiring one from a competitive market in their sector. Munitions Ammunition is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition
3828-482: A source of market power. Barriers to exit are market conditions that make it difficult or expensive for a company to end its involvement with a market. High liquidation costs are a primary barrier to exiting. Market exit and shutdown are sometimes separate events. The decision of whether to shut down or operate is not affected by exit barriers. A company will shut down if the price falls below minimum average variable costs. While monopoly and perfect competition represent
3944-401: A specialized effect on a target, such as armor-piercing shells and tracer ammunition , used only in certain circumstances. Ammunition is commonly labeled or colored in a specific manner to assist in its identification and to prevent the wrong ammunition types from being used accidentally or inappropriately. The term ammunition can be traced back to the mid-17th century. The word comes from
4060-599: A stock company, the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company , to conduct steamboat commerce on the Western rivers. To this end, the company commissioned a new steamboat to be constructed at Brownsville. During the winter and spring of 1814, while Shreve was on the voyage to New Orleans, the Enterprise , with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French , was constructed. Between June and December 1814,
4176-402: A substitute. Contrary to common misconception , monopolists do not try to sell items for the highest possible price, nor do they try to maximize profit per unit, but rather they try to maximize total profit. A natural monopoly is an organization that experiences increasing returns to scale over the relevant range of output and relatively high fixed costs. A natural monopoly occurs where
4292-425: A warship is referred to as the "ship's magazine". On a smaller scale, magazine is also the name given to the ammunition storage and feeding device of a repeating firearm. Gunpowder must be stored in a dry place (stable room temperature) to keep it usable, as long as for 10 years. It is also recommended to avoid hot places, because friction or heat might ignite a spark and cause an explosion. The standard weapon of
4408-406: Is P = 50 − 2 Q {\displaystyle P=50-2Q} . The total revenue function would be TR = 50 Q − 2 Q 2 {\displaystyle {\text{TR}}=50Q-2Q^{2}} and marginal revenue would be 50 − 4 Q {\displaystyle 50-4Q} . Setting marginal revenue equal to zero we have So
4524-502: Is a consumer is willing to buy only a certain quantity of a good at a given price. Companies know that consumer's willingness to buy decreases as more units are purchased. The task for the seller is to identify these price points and to reduce the price once one is reached in the hope that a reduced price will trigger additional purchases from the consumer. For example, sell in unit blocks rather than individual units. In third degree price discrimination or multi-market price discrimination
4640-404: Is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce a particular thing, a lack of viable substitute goods , and the possibility of a high monopoly price well above the seller's marginal cost that leads to a high monopoly profit . The verb monopolise or monopolize refers to
4756-400: Is a theoretical construct, advances in information technology and micromarketing may bring it closer to the realm of possibility. Partial price discrimination can cause some customers who are inappropriately pooled with high price customers to be excluded from the market. For example, a poor student in the U.S. might be excluded from purchasing an economics textbook at the U.S. price, which
Henry Miller Shreve - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-408: Is activated by the fuze, which causes the ammunition effect (e.g., the exploding of an artillery round). The cartridge is the container that holds the projectile and propellant. Not all ammunition types have a cartridge case. In its place, a wide range of materials can be used to contain the explosives and parts. With some large weapons, the ammunition components are stored separately until loaded into
4988-424: Is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs , missiles , grenades , land mines ) and the component parts of other weapons that create the effect on a target (e.g., bullets and warheads ). The purpose of ammunition is to project a force against a selected target to have an effect (usually, but not always, lethal). An example of ammunition is the firearm cartridge , which includes all components required to deliver
5104-681: Is defined by the total gains from trade, the monopoly setting is less efficient than perfect competition. It is often argued that monopolies tend to become less efficient and less innovative over time, becoming "complacent", because they do not have to be efficient or innovative to compete in the marketplace. Sometimes this very loss of psychological efficiency can increase a potential competitor's value enough to overcome market entry barriers, or provide incentive for research and investment into new alternatives. The theory of contestable markets argues that in some circumstances (private) monopolies are forced to behave as if there were competition because of
5220-417: Is important information for one to remember when considering the monopoly model diagram (and its associated conclusions) displayed here. The result that monopoly prices are higher, and production output lesser, than a competitive company follow from a requirement that the monopoly not charge different prices for different customers. That is, the monopoly is restricted from engaging in price discrimination (this
5336-401: Is known as the "revolution in monopoly theory". A monopolist can extract only one premium, and getting into complementary markets does not pay. That is, the total profits a monopolist could earn if it sought to leverage its monopoly in one market by monopolizing a complementary market are equal to the extra profits it could earn anyway by charging more for the monopoly product itself. However,
5452-400: Is not perfect. Regulators must estimate average costs. Companies have a reduced incentive to lower costs. Regulation of this type has not been limited to natural monopolies. Average-cost pricing does also have some disadvantages. By setting price equal to the intersection of the demand curve and the average total cost curve, the firm's output is allocatively inefficient as the price is less than
5568-413: Is packaged with each round of ammunition. In recent years, compressed gas, magnetic energy and electrical energy have been used as propellants. Until the 20th-century, gunpowder was the most common propellant in ammunition. However, it has since been replaced by a wide range of fast-burning compounds that are more reliable and efficient. The propellant charge is distinct from the projectile charge which
5684-400: Is problematic. Fragmenting such monopolies is by definition inefficient. The most frequently used methods dealing with natural monopolies are government regulations and public ownership. Government regulation generally consists of regulatory commissions charged with the principal duty of setting prices. Natural monopolies are synonymous with what is called "single-unit enterprise", a term which
5800-448: Is termed first degree price discrimination , such that all customers are charged the same amount). If the monopoly were permitted to charge individualised prices (this is termed third degree price discrimination ), the quantity produced, and the price charged to the marginal customer, would be identical to that of a competitive company, thus eliminating the deadweight loss ; however, all gains from trade (social welfare) would accrue to
5916-621: Is that typically a monopoly selects a higher price and lesser quantity of output than a price-taking company; again, less is available at a higher price. A monopoly chooses that price that maximizes the difference between total revenue and total cost. The basic markup rule (as measured by the Lerner index ) can be expressed as P − M C P = − 1 E d {\displaystyle {\frac {P-MC}{P}}={\frac {-1}{E_{d}}}} , where E d {\displaystyle E_{d}}
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#17327651603306032-560: Is the only market form in which price discrimination would be impossible (a perfectly competitive company has a perfectly elastic demand curve and has no market power). There are three forms of price discrimination. First degree price discrimination charges each consumer the maximum price the consumer is willing to pay. Second degree price discrimination involves quantity discounts. Third degree price discrimination involves grouping consumers according to willingness to pay as measured by their price elasticities of demand and charging each group
6148-535: Is the price elasticity of demand the firm faces. The markup rules indicate that the ratio between profit margin and the price is inversely proportional to the price elasticity of demand. The implication of the rule is that the more elastic the demand for the product the less pricing power the monopoly has. Market power is the ability to increase the product's price above marginal cost without losing all customers. Perfectly competitive (PC) companies have zero market power when it comes to setting prices. All companies of
6264-456: Is the second-largest annual use of lead in the US, accounting for over 60,000 metric tons consumed in 2012. Lead bullets that miss their target or remain in a carcass or body that was never retrieved can enter environmental systems and become toxic to wildlife. The US military has experimented with replacing lead with copper as a slug in their green bullets which reduces the dangers posed by lead in
6380-517: Is to identify customers by their willingness to pay. The purpose of price discrimination is to transfer consumer surplus to the producer. Consumer surplus is the difference between the value of a good to a consumer and the price the consumer must pay in the market to purchase it. Price discrimination is not limited to monopolies. Market power is a company's ability to increase prices without losing all its customers. Any company that has market power can engage in price discrimination. Perfect competition
6496-441: Is upon every occasion the highest which can be got. The natural price, or the price of free competition, on the contrary, is the lowest which can be taken, not upon every occasion indeed, but for any considerable time together. The one is upon every occasion the highest which can be squeezed out of the buyers, or which it is supposed they will consent to give; the other is the lowest which the sellers can commonly afford to take, and at
6612-774: The Atchafalaya , Red , and Ouachita rivers. Shreve was twice married. There were three children from his first marriage to the former Mary M. Blair on February 28, 1811, and two children from his union with the former Lydia Rogers of Boston . Shreve spent his final years with his daughter Rebecca's family in St. Louis. He died in the home of his son-in-law, Walker Randolph Carter, and is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek μόνος , mónos , 'single, alone' and πωλεῖν , pōleîn , 'to sell')
6728-534: The Enterprise to Pittsburgh and finally to her homeport of Brownsville. This long and difficult voyage by the Enterprise , more than 2,200 miles (3,500 km) against the currents of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, demonstrated the ability of steamboats to navigate the western rivers. Shreve and four partners commissioned George White to build a new steamboat, named the Washington , at Wheeling, Virginia (later West Virginia ). The engine and drive train of
6844-405: The Enterprise , under the command of Israel Gregg , made two successful voyages transporting passengers and cargo to ports between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky . By December, the company had decided to send the Enterprise to New Orleans with a cargo of munitions for General Andrew Jackson's troops to defend the city against an invasion by British forces. Command of the Enterprise
6960-575: The Great Raft , 150 miles (240 km) of dead wood on the Red River. Shreve successfully removed the Raft by 1839. The area of the Red River where the Raft was most concentrated is today his namesake city of Shreveport . The subject was responsible for shortening the course of rivers by cutting channels through the river bends which had the unfortunate result of creating shallows at the entrances of
7076-546: The Monongahela River . He manned with a crew of ten men for a voyage to St. Louis, which he reached in December of that year. After purchasing a cargo of furs, he returned to Pittsburgh and forwarded them to Philadelphia . He continued this trade for three years with considerable profit, as each voyage was on his own account. In 1810, Shreve decided to open a new line of business, lead trade. On 2 May, he left in
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#17327651603307192-567: The Washington from New Orleans to Louisville and returned to the Crescent City on March 12, 1817. Shreve and several counterparts were subjected to lawsuits initiated by the monopolists. On March 25, 1817, Shreve departed New Orleans and piloted the Washington upriver. He reached Louisville in twenty-five days, equal to the record set by the Enterprise nearly two years earlier. On April 21, 1817 Judge Dominic C. Hall declared that
7308-434: The Washington were built by Daniel French at Brownsville. and it was first launched in 1816. It was the first steamboat with two decks, the predecessor of the showboats of later years. The main deck was used for the boiler, and the upper deck was reserved for passengers.. Shreve, for the second time, piloted a steamboat to New Orleans where he once again was sued by the heirs of the Fulton-Livingston monopoly . Shreve took
7424-495: The detonator of an explosive round or shell. The spelling is different in British English and American English (fuse/fuze respectively) and they are unrelated to a fuse (electrical) . A fuse was earlier used to ignite the propellant (e.g., such as on a firework) until the advent of more reliable systems such as the primer or igniter that is used in most modern ammunition. The fuze of a weapon can be used to alter how
7540-427: The process by which a company gains the ability to raise prices or exclude competitors. In economics, a monopoly is a single seller. In law, a monopoly is a business entity that has significant market power, that is, the power to charge overly high prices, which is associated with unfair price raises . Although monopolies may be big businesses, size is not a characteristic of a monopoly. A small business may still have
7656-583: The propellant bags, usually a breech-loading weapon; see Breechloader . Tank ammunition was developed in WWI as tanks first appeared on the battlefield. However, as tank-on-tank warfare developed (including the development of anti-tank warfare artillery), more specialized forms of ammunition were developed such as high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads and armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS), including armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds. The development of shaped charges has had
7772-649: The steam engine , such as separate boilers to power side paddlewheels independently, horizontal cylinders , and multiple decks to allow for passengers and entertainment. Shreve was born October 21, 1785, to Israel Shreve , a Quaker farmer who had served as a colonel in the American Revolution , and the former Mary Cokely at Mount Pleasant (Burlington County, New Jersey) , the family homestead near Columbus, New Jersey , in Mansfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey . On July 7, 1788,
7888-644: The French la munition , for the material used for war. Ammunition and munition are often used interchangeably, although munition now usually refers to the actual weapons system with the ammunition required to operate it. In some languages other than English ammunition is still referred to as munition, such as: Dutch (" munitie "), French (" munitions "), German (" Munition "), Italian (" munizione ") and Portuguese (" munição "). Ammunition design has evolved throughout history as different weapons have been developed and different effects required. Historically, ammunition
8004-616: The Shreves left New Jersey for their new home on property owned by George Washington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania . Young Henry's new home was close to the Youghiogheny River near the present day borough of Perryopolis . After his father's death in 1802, Shreve served on several riverboats to help support his family. In 1807, Shreve was a captain and built a barge of 35 tons, at Brownsville, Pennsylvania , on
8120-488: The Upper Mississippi. He took his cargo to New Orleans and then shipped it to Philadelphia, earning upwards of $ 11,000. In 1847 that trade equalled in value about $ 3,000,000 annually, estimating only the shipments from Fever River . In 1810, there were less than 10 small settlements between Louisville and the mouth of the Ohio River and about the same number between the latter and Vicksburg. Shreve never repeated
8236-630: The advent of explosive or non-recoverable ammunition, this was no longer possible and new supplies of ammunition would be needed. The weight of ammunition required, particularly for artillery shells, can be considerable, causing a need for extra time to replenish supplies. In modern times, there has been an increase in the standardization of many ammunition types between allies (e.g., the NATO Standardization Agreement ) that has allowed for shared ammunition types (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO). As of 2013, lead-based ammunition production
8352-500: The ammunition has cleared the weapon. The propellant is the component of ammunition that is activated inside the weapon and provides the kinetic energy required to move the projectile from the weapon to the target. Before the use of gunpowder, this energy would have been produced mechanically by the weapons system (e.g., a catapult or crossbow); in modern times, it is usually a form of chemical energy that rapidly burns to create kinetic force, and an appropriate amount of chemical propellant
8468-405: The ammunition to defeat it has also changed. Naval ammunition is now designed to reach very high velocities (to improve its armor-piercing abilities) and may have specialized fuzes to defeat specific types of vessels. However, due to the extended ranges at which modern naval combat may occur, guided missiles have largely supplanted guns and shells. With every successive improvement in military arms,
8584-436: The ammunition works. For example, a common artillery shell fuze can be set to "point detonation" (detonation when it hits a target), delay (detonate after it has hit and penetrated a target), time-delay (explode a specified time after firing or impact) and proximity (explode above or next to a target without hitting it, such as for airburst effects or anti-aircraft shells). These allow a single ammunition type to be altered to suit
8700-403: The average cost of production "declines throughout the relevant range of product demand". The relevant range of product demand is where the average cost curve is below the demand curve. When this situation occurs, it is always more efficient for one large company to supply the market than multiple smaller companies; in fact, absent government intervention in such markets, will naturally evolve into
8816-467: The case that at the profit-maximizing quantity MR and MC are less than price, which further implies that a monopoly produces less quantity at a higher price than if the market were perfectly competitive. The fact that a monopoly has a downward-sloping demand curve means that the relationship between total revenue and output for a monopoly is much different from that of competitive companies. Total revenue equals price times quantity. A competitive company has
8932-558: The companies interact strategically. In general, the main results from this theory compare the price-fixing methods across market structures, analyze the effect of a certain structure on welfare, and vary technological or demand assumptions in order to assess the consequences for an abstract model of society. Most economic textbooks follow the practice of carefully explaining the "perfect competition" model, mainly because this helps to understand departures from it (the so-called "imperfect competition" models). The boundaries of what constitutes
9048-618: The court did not have jurisdiction and hence dismissed all of the suits. This decision eliminated any enforcement of the Livingston-Fulton monopoly in Louisiana courts. Hall's decision and the Washington' s recent voyage from New Orleans to Louisville heralded the forthcoming steamboat era on the western rivers.. The American rivers were still difficult to navigate, however, because of the presence of dead wood called snags , sawyers , or log jams . On December 1, 1826, Shreve
9164-616: The damage inflicted by one round. Anti-personnel shells are designed to fragment into many pieces and can affect a large area. Armor-piercing rounds are specially hardened to penetrate armor, while smoke ammunition covers an area with a fog that screens people from view. More generic ammunition (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO ) can often be altered slightly to give it a more specific effect (e.g., tracer, incendiary), whilst larger explosive rounds can be altered by using different fuzes. The components of ammunition intended for rifles and munitions may be divided into these categories: The term fuze refers to
9280-411: The delivery of explosives. An ammunition dump is a military facility for the storage of live ammunition and explosives that will be distributed and used at a later date. Such a storage facility is extremely hazardous, with the potential for accidents when unloading, packing, and transferring the ammunition. In the event of a fire or explosion, the site and its surrounding area is immediately evacuated and
9396-414: The extremes of market structures there is some similarity. The cost functions are the same. Both monopolies and perfectly competitive (PC) companies minimize cost and maximize profit. The shutdown decisions are the same. Both are assumed to have perfectly competitive factors markets. There are distinctions; some of the most important are as follows: The most significant distinction between a PC company and
9512-407: The first unit for $ 17 the second unit for $ 14 and so on which is listed in the table below. Total revenue would be $ 55, his total cost would be $ 25 and his profit would be $ 30. Several things are worth noting. The monopolist acquires all the consumer surplus and eliminates practically all the deadweight loss because he is willing to sell to anyone who is willing to pay at least the marginal cost. Thus
9628-400: The form of price control is necessary as it helped efficient market. To reduce prices and increase output, regulators often use average cost pricing. By average cost pricing, the price and quantity are determined by the intersection of the average cost curve and the demand curve. This pricing scheme eliminates any positive economic profits since price equals average cost. Average-cost pricing
9744-429: The generally poorer Ethiopian economics students. Similarly, most patented medications cost more in the U.S. than in other countries with a (presumed) poorer customer base. Typically, a high general price is listed, and various market segments get varying discounts. This is an example of framing to make the process of charging some people higher prices more socially acceptable. Perfect price discrimination would allow
9860-468: The inverse demand curve is of the form x = a − b y {\displaystyle x=a-by} . Then the total revenue curve is TR = a y − b y 2 {\displaystyle {\text{TR}}=ay-by^{2}} and the marginal revenue curve is thus MR = a − 2 b y {\displaystyle {\text{MR}}=a-2by} . From this several things are evident. First,
9976-424: The logistical chain to replenish the supply. A soldier may also carry a smaller amount of specialized ammunition for heavier weapons such as machine guns and mortars, spreading the burden for squad weapons over many people. Too little ammunition poses a threat to the mission, while too much limits the soldier's mobility also being a threat to the mission. A shell is a payload-carrying projectile which, as opposed to
10092-466: The marginal cost (which is the output quantity for a perfectly competitive and allocatively efficient market). In 1848, J.S. Mill was the first individual to describe monopolies with the adjective "natural". He used it interchangeably with "practical". At the time, Mill gave the following examples of natural or practical monopolies: gas supply, water supply, roads, canals, and railways. In his Social Economics , Friedrich von Wieser demonstrated his view of
10208-587: The marginal revenue curve has the same x {\displaystyle x} -intercept as the inverse demand curve. Second, the slope of the marginal revenue curve is twice that of the inverse demand curve. What is not quite so evident is that the marginal revenue curve is below the inverse demand curve at all points ( y ≥ 0 {\displaystyle y\geq 0} ). Since all companies maximise profits by equating MR {\displaystyle {\text{MR}}} and MC {\displaystyle {\text{MC}}} it must be
10324-401: The monopolist and none to the consumer. In essence, every consumer would be indifferent between going completely without the product or service and being able to purchase it from the monopolist. As long as the price elasticity of demand for most customers is less than one in absolute value , it is advantageous for a company to increase its prices: it receives more money for fewer goods. With
10440-445: The monopolist to charge each customer the exact maximum amount they would be willing to pay. This would allow the monopolist to extract all the consumer surplus of the market. A domestic example would be the cost of airplane flights in relation to their takeoff time; the closer they are to flight, the higher the plane tickets will cost, discriminating against late planners and often business flyers. While such perfect price discrimination
10556-402: The one monopoly profit theorem is not true if customers in the monopoly good are stranded or poorly informed, or if the tied good has high fixed costs. A pure monopoly has the same economic rationality of perfectly competitive companies, i.e. to optimise a profit function given some constraints. By the assumptions of increasing marginal costs, exogenous inputs' prices, and control concentrated on
10672-508: The postal service as a natural monopoly: "In the face of [such] single-unit administration, the principle of competition becomes utterly abortive. The parallel network of another postal organization, beside the one already functioning, would be economically absurd; enormous amounts of money for plant and management would have to be expended for no purpose whatever." Overall, most monopolies are man-made monopolies, or unnatural monopolies, not natural ones. A government-granted monopoly (also called
10788-435: The potential threat from enemy forces. A magazine is a place where a quantity of ammunition or other explosive material is stored temporarily prior to being used. The term may be used for a facility where large quantities of ammunition are stored, although this would normally be referred to as an ammunition dump. Magazines are typically located in the field for quick access when engaging the enemy. The ammunition storage area on
10904-445: The power to raise prices in a small industry (or market). A monopoly may also have monopsony control of a sector of a market. A monopsony is a market situation in which there is only one buyer. Likewise, a monopoly should be distinguished from a cartel (a form of oligopoly), in which several providers act together to coordinate services, prices or sale of goods. Monopolies, monopsonies and oligopolies are all situations in which one or
11020-426: The power to set prices or quantities although not both. A monopoly is a price maker. The monopoly is the market and prices are set by the monopolist based on their circumstances and not the interaction of demand and supply. The two primary factors determining monopoly market power are the company's demand curve and its cost structure. Market power is the ability to affect the terms and conditions of exchange so that
11136-455: The price discrimination promotes efficiency. Secondly, by the pricing scheme price = average revenue and equals marginal revenue. That is the monopolist behaving like a perfectly competitive company. Thirdly, the discriminating monopolist produces a larger quantity than the monopolist operating by a uniform pricing scheme. Successful price discrimination requires that companies separate consumers according to their willingness to buy. Determining
11252-403: The price of a product is set by a single company (price is not imposed by the market as in perfect competition). Although a monopoly's market power is great it is still limited by the demand side of the market. A monopoly has a negatively sloped demand curve, not a perfectly inelastic curve. Consequently, any price increase will result in the loss of some customers. Price discrimination allows
11368-453: The product or service less than its price, monopoly pricing creates a deadweight loss referring to potential gains that went neither to the monopolist nor to consumers. Deadweight loss is the cost to society because it is inefficient. Given the presence of this deadweight loss, the combined surplus (or wealth) for the monopolist and consumers is necessarily less than the total surplus obtained by consumers by perfect competition. Where efficiency
11484-490: The revenue maximizing quantity for the monopoly is 12.5 units and the revenue-maximizing price is 25. A company with a monopoly does not experience price pressure from competitors, although it may experience pricing pressure from potential competition. If a company increases prices too much, then others may enter the market if they are able to provide the same good, or a substitute, at a lesser price. The idea that monopolies in markets with easy entry need not be regulated against
11600-412: The risk of losing their monopoly to new entrants. This is likely to happen when a market's barriers to entry are low. It might also be because of the availability in the longer term of substitutes in other markets. For example, a canal monopoly, while worth a great deal during the late 18th century United Kingdom, was worth much less during the late 19th century because of the introduction of railways as
11716-445: The same time continue their business. ...Monopoly, besides, is a great enemy to good management. – Adam Smith (1776), The Wealth of Nations According to the standard model, in which a monopolist sets a single price for all consumers, the monopolist will sell a lesser quantity of goods at a higher price than would companies by perfect competition . Because the monopolist ultimately forgoes transactions with consumers who value
11832-406: The seller divides the consumers into different groups according to their willingness to pay as measured by their price elasticity of demand. Each group of consumers effectively becomes a separate market with its own demand curve and marginal revenue curve. The firm then attempts to maximize profits in each segment by equating MR and MC, Generally the company charges a higher price to the group with
11948-425: The situation it is required for. There are many designs of a fuze, ranging from simple mechanical to complex radar and barometric systems. Fuzes are usually armed by the acceleration force of firing the projectile, and usually arm several meters after clearing the bore of the weapon. This helps to ensure the ammunition is safer to handle when loading into the weapon and reduces the chance of the detonator firing before
12064-477: The stored ammunition is left to detonate itself completely with limited attempts at firefighting from a safe distance. In large facilities, there may be a flooding system to automatically extinguish a fire or prevent an explosion. Typically, an ammunition dump will have a large buffer zone surrounding it, to avoid casualties in the event of an accident. There will also be perimeter security measures in place to prevent access by unauthorized personnel and to guard against
12180-648: The student may have been able to purchase at the Ethiopian price. Similarly, a wealthy student in Ethiopia may be able to or willing to buy at the U.S. price, though naturally would hide such a fact from the monopolist so as to pay the reduced third world price. These are deadweight losses and decrease a monopolist's profits. Deadweight loss is considered detrimental to society and market participation. As such, monopolists have substantial economic interest in improving their market information and market segmenting . There
12296-430: The study of management structures, which directly concerns normative aspects of economic competition, and provides the basis for topics such as industrial organization and economics of regulation . There are four basic types of market structures in traditional economic analysis: perfect competition , monopolistic competition , oligopoly and monopoly. A monopoly is a structure in which a single supplier produces and sells
12412-442: The team. The three basic forms of price discrimination are first, second and third degree price discrimination. In first degree price discrimination the company charges the maximum price each customer is willing to pay. The maximum price a consumer is willing to pay for a unit of the good is the reservation price. Thus for each unit the seller tries to set the price equal to the consumer's reservation price. Direct information about
12528-554: The trip to Galena, as his success induced others to send 6 barges to Galena. Upon his return to Brownsville that year he built a barge of 95 ton capacity, and began regular voyages between Pittsburgh and New Orleans for the next 4 years. For example, on February 11, 1814, Shreve's barge was registered at New Orleans . After loading his boat with cargo, Shreve and crew hauled and poled the vessel 2,200 miles (3,500 km) against strong river currents, probably reaching Brownsville before July 1814. A group of Brownsville investors had formed
12644-407: The venture for itself, thus forming a government monopoly , for example with a state-owned company . Monopolies may be naturally occurring due to limited competition because the industry is resource intensive and requires substantial costs to operate (e.g., certain railroad systems). Market structure is determined by following factors: In economics, the idea of monopolies is important in
12760-616: The water. On the 25th August, 1829, Captain Shreve reported to the Engineer Department that he had made experiments in removing snags "at Plum Point (the most dangerous place on the Mississippi River)...with the steam snag-boat Heliopolis , and that he had succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations." As a result of the success of his design, Shreve was ordered in 1832 by Secretary of War Lewis Cass to clear
12876-548: The weapon effect in a single package. Until the 20th century, black powder was the most common propellant used but has now been replaced in nearly all cases by modern compounds. Ammunition comes in a great range of sizes and types and is often designed to work only in specific weapons systems. However, there are internationally recognized standards for certain ammunition types (e.g., 5.56×45mm NATO ) that enable their use across different weapons and by different users. There are also specific types of ammunition that are designed to have
12992-414: The weapon system for firing. With small arms, caseless ammunition can reduce the weight and cost of ammunition, and simplify the firing process for increased firing rate, but the maturing technology has functionality issues. The projectile is the part of the ammunition that leaves the weapon and has the effect on the target. This effect is usually either kinetic (e.g., as with a standard bullet) or through
13108-585: Was appointed "Superintendent of Western River Improvements" and charged with finding a solution to this problem. He had been working on a design for a " snagboat " since 1821, "and the first twin steam snag-boat, the Heliopolis , was commenced...and completed in August, 1829, upon the plans and specifications and under the supervision and direction of Captain Shreve." The Heliopolis had a steam-powered windlass used to pull large concentrations of dead wood from
13224-414: Was of relatively simple design and build (e.g., sling-shot, stones hurled by catapults), but as weapon designs developed (e.g., rifling ) and became more refined, the need for more specialized ammunition increased. Modern ammunition can vary significantly in quality but is usually manufactured to very high standards. For example, ammunition for hunting can be designed to expand inside a target, maximizing
13340-590: Was transferred to Henry Shreve because of his firsthand knowledge of the hazards to navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. On December 21, 1814, the Enterprise departed Pittsburgh with the munitions, passed the Falls at Louisville on December 28, 1814 and arrived at New Orleans on January 9, 1815, one day after the Battle of New Orleans . After the American victory on the January 8, 1815, Battle of New Orleans,
13456-591: Was used in the 1914 book Social Economics written by Friedrich von Wieser. As mentioned, government regulations are frequently used with natural monopolies to help control prices. An example that can illustrate this can be found when looking at the United States Postal Service, which has a monopoly over types of mail. According to Wieser, the idea of a competitive market within the postal industry would lead to extreme prices and unnecessary spending, and this highlighted why government regulation in
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