1. Many large corporations, such as General Motors and Apple, operate in markets that are not even close to perfectly competitive. But unlike the products these companies sell, shares of these firms' common stock are bought and sold in what could be described as a perfectly competitive market. Based on the three conditions that make a market perfectly competitive, what characteristics of the purchase and sale of shares of stock of a large company like GM or Apple, are consistent with perfect competition?
2. Your textbook states that, in the long run, representative firms in monopolistically competitive markets will just break even --- that is, earn zero economic profits. Yet some firms in highly competitive markets manage to continue to earn economic profits indefinitely. For example, perfumes, cosmetics, and hair care firm L'Oreal, in business since 1907, remains highly profitable today, despite competing in fiercely competitive product categories. How has L'Oreal managed to stay profitable for so long (clue: they have a research and development staff of over 1000 people).