Read the following example, answer the two discussion questions?

Hakim has an orchard of apple trees. In the harvest season, he notices his abundant harvest, but he needs to calculate how many apples he must sell in order to maximize his profit. Hakeem agrees to sell the apples to a juice factory at 50 piasters per apple. Hakeem knows that the quantity that maximizes his profit. It is the quantity that makes marginal revenue = marginal cost.

Marginal revenue is always set at the price of the apple at 50 piasters. It was left to Sage to calculate the marginal cost of producing each apple.

The cost of wages for harvest workers varies according to the height of the trees, where the cost of picking apples from low branches is 30 piasters per apple, and this is because picking them is less difficult and does not require the use of a ladder. The taller branches will require a sage to hire ladders and this increases the marginal cost to 45 pt. Or the trees that are too high will require more effort and longer ladders, which increases the marginal cost of harvesting to 55 piasters.

Because Hakeem gets 50 piasters for every apple. He will refrain from picking any apples whose marginal cost exceeds the marginal revenue of 50 piasters. Thus, the profit from the apples of low branches is 20 piasters. Of the medium-height trees, 5 piasters. As for apples that grow on high branches, they will not be picked. "

Answer the following discussion questions

1- What is the evidence provided in the example that the market is perfectly competitive? How would a sage's decisions differ if he had a monopoly advantage? 2- Some support the decision to let the apples rot on the higher branches as the most economically efficient decision. But some criticize this and believe that the government should provide support to producers to prevent the spoilage of these crops. Discuss the two points of view and think about the arguments each makes about letting the apples rot at the top of the tree or the government subsidizing producers. List the pros and cons of each decision.