Monopoly and Recycling

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Economics - Case Scenarios, grade: First Class, University of Exeter (School of Business and Economics, University of Exeter), course: Industrial Organisation, language: English, abstract: This essay addresses the question of how the behaviour of a monopolist who produces a good which can be recycled differs from a conventional monopolist. While a conventional monopoly is characterised by market control of a single firm and the absence of competition, the existence of firms that recycle the monopolist's products can exert certain influence on his market power. Section two deals with some of the most well-known theoretical approaches in this area, whereas, in section three I will illustrate and compare the theory with the example of Aluminium Company of America (Alcoa), who had a monopoly in the virgin production of aluminium.