An outlay schedule gives the expenditures required of consumers for the purchase of different quantities of a good or service. For any uniform price unequal to marginal cost, there is a nonlinear outlay schedule that is preferred by each consumer and that yields greater vendor profit. In fact,...

Contrary to conventional wisdom, a regulated natural monopoly may be vulnerable to entry by uninnovative competitors even if it is producing and pricing efficiently and earning zero economic profits. The causes and consequences of this unsustainability are theoretically examined in an idealized...