An article from the New York Times

  Optional Bonus Assignment Due (hard copy, in person) at the beginning of class May 8, 2018 10 (bonus) points possible Complete an optional assignment for a possible 10 bonus points on another market structure topic. If you choose to complete the Optional Bonus Assignment, please read: “Southwest Airlines Settles Suit but Denies Colluding to Keep Ticket Prices High,” by Matt Stevens, The New York Times, January 6, 2018, available on-line: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/business/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-prices.html Instructions While this article discusses a particular lawsuit and potential antitrust cases, our primary interest here is the discussion of oligopolistic firms and how they behave to try to maximize profits.  Please begin with a microeconomic discussion of the definition of oligopoly and the types of behaviors we may see in oligopolistic markets – such as (attempted) collusion (what does “collusion” mean and why would oligopolistic firms benefit from trying to achieve it?)  Follow this with a discussion of how oligopoly and oligopolistic behaviors are illustrated in this article. To be eligible for bonus credit, your discussion should be a minimum of one full page, and no more than two pages. You may illustrate your argument with a graph, but it should be in addition to at least one page of writing.