VIPSolutions logo ✨ VIPSolutions

Exercise 1 A movie theater shows films for a community of 1 0 0 0 0 people shows films during weekends. Right now, the price per ticket is $ 1 7 . 5 0 . In the past, when they increased or decreased the price per ticket, they discovered that for every dollar ( or fraction ) that the price was increased or decreased, the attendance decreased or increased proportionally by 2 0 0 people. The theater owner pays the Film Distribution Company $ 1 0 ( incremental cost ) in royalties per person who views the film. Find a . The willingness - to - pay distribution of the movie goers. b . The average price they would be willing to pay. c . The price per ticket that maximizes revenue. d . Should the theater owner increase or decrease the price per ticket if she wants to maximize contribution? e . Find the consumer surplus if the tickets are priced at the price that maximizes contribution.

Question:

Exercise 1 A movie theater shows films for a community of 1 0 0 0 0 people shows films during weekends. Right now, the price per ticket is $ 1 7 . 5 0 . In the past, when they increased or decreased the price per ticket, they discovered that for every dollar ( or fraction ) that the price was increased or decreased, the attendance decreased or increased proportionally by 2 0 0 people. The theater owner pays the Film Distribution Company $ 1 0 ( incremental cost ) in royalties per person who views the film. Find a . The willingness - to - pay distribution of the movie goers. b . The average price they would be willing to pay. c . The price per ticket that maximizes revenue. d . Should the theater owner increase or decrease the price per ticket if she wants to maximize contribution? e . Find the consumer surplus if the tickets are priced at the price that maximizes contribution.

This is AI generated Response.
Asked by: Vikram Kumar
Created at: 2025-10-09 01:11:06

Thought Process:

Rendered Raw Text
**Parsing demand scenario** I need to break down this demand function problem. So, there’s a community of 10,000 people and a current ticket price of $17.50 for weekend shows. When they adjust prices, they found attendance changes by about 200 people for every dollar increase or decrease in price. This gives me a price elasticity slope of -200, suggesting a linear demand curve. The maximum attendance at a price of $0 would be 10,000, leading to a maximum ticket price of $50.**Analyzing demand function** I’ve determined the inverse demand function is P = 50 - Q/200, which seems to align with the willingness-to-pay distribution from $0 to $50 among 10,000 moviegoers. However, I need to ensure I’m interpreting their observation correctly: attendance changes by 200 for every dollar in price. The setup implies a maximum attendance of 10,000 at a $0 price. So, I figure the linear demand function should be Q(P) = 10,000 - 200P for prices between $0 and $50. Now, for part a, I'm looking at the CDF of willingness to pay among these 10,000 people.**Evaluating willingness-to-pay distribution** So, if demand is represented as Q(P) = number of people with willingness to pay (WTP) greater than or equal to P, it translates to Q(P) = 10,000 - 200P. This results in the probability that W is greater than or equal to P being Pr(W ≥ P) = (10,000 - 200P)/10,000 for P between $0 and $50. The PDF is constant at 0.02 per dollar, indicating a uniform distribution of WTP across that range. For part b, the average price would typically be the mean of the distribution, which is $25, although there may be ambiguity in the phrasing.**Calculating optimal prices** For part c, I need to find the ticket price that maximizes revenue. The revenue function is R(P) = P * Q(P) = P * (10,000 - 200P), which simplifies to 10,000P - 200P². When I take the derivative and set it to zero, I find the revenue-maximizing price is $25. Moving to part d, for contribution, which is revenue minus the variable cost of $10, I establish the contribution function as C(P) = (P - 10) * Q(P). After maximizing it and finding the derivative, I determine that the price that maximizes contribution is $30.**Summarizing theater pricing analysis** Given the current ticket price of $17.50, raising it to $30 makes sense because the revenue-maximizing price is $25, while the contribution-maximizing price is $30. For part e, if tickets are priced at $30, the demand would be 4,000, leading to a consumer surplus of $40,000. The willingness-to-pay distribution is uniform between $0 and $50, with an average WTP of $25. Summary points: - WTP distribution: f(w)=1/50 for w∈[0,50]; F(w)=w/50. - Average WTP: $25. - Revenue-maximizing price: $25. - Contribution-maximizing price: $30, suggesting an increase. - Consumer surplus at $30: $40,000.

Final Answer:

Rendered Raw Text
Did you like this answer?
Let Q(P) be weekend attendance when the ticket price is P, with at most 10,000 potential moviegoers. Given: for each $1 increase in price, attendance falls by 200 people (and vice versa), so demand is linear with slope −200 people per dollar. With a market size of 10,000, we get: Q(P) = 10,000 − 200 P, for 0 ≤ P ≤ 50 Inverse demand (willingness-to-pay of the marginal attendee at quantity q): P(q) = 50 − q/200, for 0 ≤ q ≤ 10,000 The choke price (where Q = 0) is P = 50. a) Willingness-to-pay (WTP) distribution - Interpretation: Q(P) is the number of people whose WTP ≥ P. So Pr(WTP ≥ P) = Q(P)/10,000 = 1 − (200/10,000) P = 1 − P/50 for 0 ≤ P ≤ 50. - Thus WTP is Uniform on [0, 50]. - PDF: f(w) = 1/50 for 0 ≤ w ≤ 50; CDF: F(w) = w/50 for 0 ≤ w ≤ 50. - Equivalently, inverse demand: P(q) = 50 − q/200. b) Average price they would be willing to pay - The mean of Uniform[0, 50] is 25. - So the average WTP is $25. c) Price per ticket that maximizes revenue - Revenue: R(P) = P · Q(P) = P(10,000 − 200P = 10,000P − 200P^2. - dR/dP = 10,000 − 400P = 0 ⇒ P = 25. - Revenue-maximizing price: $25, with attendance Q = 10,000 − 200·25 = 5,000. d) Should the owner increase or decrease price to maximize contribution? - Contribution = Revenue − Variable cost, with incremental royalty cost of $10 per attendee ⇒ marginal cost per attendee = $10. - Contribution as a function of price: C(P) = (P − 10) Q(P) = (P − 10)(10,000 − 200P). - dC/dP = (10,000 − 200P) + (P − 10)(−200) = 12,000 − 400P; set to zero ⇒ P = 30. - Current price is $17.50; contribution-maximizing price is $30. Therefore, to maximize contribution, the owner should increase the price. Additional numbers at P = 30: - Attendance: Q = 10,000 − 200·30 = 4,000. - Contribution: (30 − 10)·4,000 = $80,000. e) Consumer surplus at the contribution-maximizing price - At P = 30, the highest WTP (intercept) is 50, and the marginal WTP at Q = 4,000 equals 30. CS is the triangle between 50 and 30 over 4,000 attendees: - CS = (1/2) × base × height = 0.5 × 4,000 × (50 − 30) = 0.5 × 4,000 × 20 = $40,000. Summary - Demand: Q(P) = 10,000 − 200P; inverse demand P(q) = 50 − q/200. - WTP distribution: Uniform[0, 50]; average WTP = $25. - Revenue-maximizing price: $25. - Contribution-maximizing price (with $10 per-attendee royalty): $30; increase price from $17.50 to $30. - Consumer surplus at P = $30: $40,000.

Question:

Consumer surplus at the contribution-maximizing price means

This is AI generated Response.
Asked by: Vikram Kumar
Created at: 2025-10-09 01:40:40

Final Answer:

Rendered Raw Text
Did you like this answer?
# Consumer Surplus at the Contribution-Maximizing Price ## Definition of Consumer Surplus Consumer surplus (CS) is the difference between what consumers are willing to pay for a good or service versus what they actually pay. It represents the benefit to consumers from participating in the market. ## Calculation of Consumer Surplus At the contribution-maximizing price of $30, the consumer surplus can be calculated as follows: 1. **Identify the Highest Willingness to Pay**: The highest willingness to pay (intercept) from the inverse demand function is $50. 2. **Identify the Marginal Willingness to Pay**: For the quantity of 4,000 attendees, the marginal willingness to pay corresponds to the price of $30. 3. **Calculate the Consumer Surplus**: - The consumer surplus is represented by the area of the triangle formed between the maximum willingness to pay ($50), the price ($30), and the quantity (4,000). - Formula for the area of a triangle: \[ CS = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{base} \times \text{height} \] - Here, the base is the quantity (4,000) and the height is the difference in willingness to pay ($50 - $30 = $20). Plugging in the values: \[ CS = \frac{1}{2} \times 4,000 \times (50 - 30) = \frac{1}{2} \times 4,000 \times 20 = 40,000 \] ## Conclusion The consumer surplus at the contribution-maximizing price of $30 is **$40,000**. This amount represents the total benefit that consumers receive over what they pay for the tickets.

📢 Instructions:

  • Ask anything relatd to above question only.
  • For new Question goto :

Study Help, Fast Answers

VIPSolutions focuses on clear, step‑by‑step explanations so you can learn quickly. Whether you need an AI‑generated walkthrough or a short hint to get unstuck, each solution is organized for fast reading and easy review later.

Search similar questions, compare approaches, and bookmark the best answers for revision. Our goal is simple: quick, reliable study help that feels natural—not noisy.