The following are excerpts from the article: Stirring the Pot. $80 Coffee Beans – Yikes! Bangor Times. May 22nd, 2016. “ The Third Wave in coffee refers to the growth of small, independent coffee roasters who developed as an alternative to Starbucks when that company grew and disaffected coffee drinkers looked for alternative sources for their caffeinated drinks." "...companies of this type provide a relatively small clientele with great tasting coffees and verified attributes in the sourcing of coffee beans- organic, shade- grown, bird friendly, direct trade (it's better than fair trade), single-farm sourced, etc". "For a Third Wave coffee company, the goal is to satisfy existing consumer interest or create new consumer interest in attributes that its customers believe only that company can offer." "...firms are always trying to create new and better differentiation to set themselves apart from those who have been successfully earning monopoly profits. This very phenomenon is seen as Third Wave coffee companies differentiated their brands from Starbucks as it grew beyond its original ethos as a brand." a. Which market structure can be best used to describe a Third wave coffee industry? b. Describe three characteristics of the market structure you identified in part a. c. Illustrate (graphically) and explain the short-run and long-run equilibrium positions of a Third Wave Coffee company. d. Discuss two methods of price discrimination that a third wave coffee company may use.

The accompanying graph depicts average total cost (ATC) marginal cost (MC), marginal revenue (M), and demand (D) 50 facing a monopolistically competitive firm MC 45 Place point A at the firm's profit maximizing price and quantity 40 35 What is the firm's total cost? ATC 30 25 total cost: 20 15 What is the firm's total revenue? 10 5 total revenue: $ MR 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95100 Quantity What is the firm's total profit? profit: $ Price and Cost ($)

3. Discuss the long debate of economists whether there is a significant loss of well-being to society in markets that are monopolistically competitive rather than perfectly competitive

The following are excerpts from the article: Stirring the Pot . $80 Coffee Beans – Yikes! Bangor Times. May 22nd, 2016. “ The Third Wave in coffee refers to the growth of small, independent coffee roasters who developed as an alternative to Starbucks when that company grew and disaffected coffee drinkers looked for alternative sources for their caffeinated drinks." "..companies of this type provide a relatively small clientele with great tasting coffees and verified attributes in the sourcing of coffee beans- organic, shade-grown, bird friendly, direct trade (it's better than fair trade), single-farm sourced, etc". "For a Third Wave coffee company, the goal is to satisfy existing consumer interest or create new consumer interest in attributes that its customers believe only that company can offer." ...firms are always trying to create new and better differentiation to set themselves apart from those who have been successfully earning monopoly profits. This very phenomenon is seen as…