Are both firms in the accompanying diagrams selling their products in purely competitive markets?
Final answer: True
Understanding Purely Competitive Markets
True. In a purely competitive market, many firms sell identical products, with the market marked by free entry and exit and transparent information. This differs from monopolies and oligopolies. Whether the two firms are in a purely competitive market depends on these factors and the specific diagrams referred to in the question.
Explanation
True. With reference to the question about whether both firms are selling in purely competitive markets, the answer depends on the specific diagrams, which are not provided. However, to understand what this means, let's clarify the concept of a purely competitive market, which is often also referred to as perfect competition.
In perfect competition, there are many firms producing identical products. Buyers and sellers have all the relevant information to make rational decisions about the product they are buying and selling. Importantly, there are no barriers to entry or exit - firms can freely participate in the market. This contrasts with monopolies, where a single firm controls the market, or oligopolies, where a small number of firms dominate.
Therefore, if both firms depicted in the diagrams are selling identical products, with the market displaying high freedom of entry and exit and transparency in information, then they would indeed be in a perfectly competitive market situation. Otherwise, they might be operating under different forms of competition such as monopolistic competition or oligopoly.