Writing Assignment #4: Product Differentiation in “You’ve Got Mail”

Instructions:

This assignment is to illustrate a couple of points we learned in the three different market structures, i.e., perfect competition, monopoly and monopolistic competition.  

You are to watch two video clips from the movie “You’ve Got Mail” which is about bookselling industry, where product differentiation matters.  This movie is quite old and the bookselling industry has changed over time but the main ideas on market structure still prevail throughout these video clips. 

You’ve Got Mail — Joe and Kathleen meet again (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。

Baby Gap (链接到外部网站。)链接到外部网站。

While watching the video clips, please keep in mind that you are to discuss the following points:

1. What are the differences among the monopolistic competition, competitive markets, and monopoly?
2. Is the bookselling is a perfectly competitive industry? Briefly explain
3. Can you identify barriers to entry in this video (before and after Fox opens a new bookstore)?
4. How the sellers differentiate their product from their competitors in this bookselling industry?

Write up your answers to the above questions and submit your answers by uploading your document onto Canvas.

 Formatting: 12 point font, double spaced.  I don’t have any minimum requirements in terms of the word count or the length of the writing. However, you need to make sure that you answer all the questions and discuss the points asked for full credit.