Editing Ramsey problem (section)

== Description ==

In a first-best world, without the need to earn enough revenue to cover fixed costs, the optimal solution would be to set the price for each product equal to its marginal cost. If the average cost curve is declining where the demand curve crosses it however, as happens when the fixed cost is large, this would result in a price less than average cost, and the firm could not survive without subsidy. The Ramsey problem is to decide exactly how much to raise each product's price above its marginal cost so the firm's revenue equals its total cost.  If there is just one product, the problem is simple: raise the price to where it equals average cost.  If there are two products, there is leeway to raise one product's price more and the other's less, so long as the firm can break even overall. 

The principle is applicable to pricing of goods that the government is the sole supplier of (public utilities) or regulation of natural monopolies, such as [[telecommunication]]s firms, where it is efficient for only one firm to operate but the government regulates its prices so it does not earn above-market profits.

In practice, government regulators are concerned with more than maximizing the sum of producer and consumer surplus. They may wish to put more weight on the surplus of politically powerful consumers, or they may wish to help the poor by putting more weight on their surplus. Moreover, many people will see Ramsey pricing as unfair, especially if they do not understand why it maximizes total surplus. In some contexts, Ramsey pricing is a form of [[price discrimination]] because the two products with different elasticities of demand are one physically identical product sold to two different groups of customers, e.g., electricity to residential customers and to commercial customers. Ramsey pricing says to charge whichever group has less elastic demand a higher price in order to maximize overall social welfare. Customers sometimes object to it on that basis, since they care about their own individual welfare, not social welfare.  Customers who are charged more may consider unfair, especially they, with less elastic demand, would say they "need" the good more. In such situations regulators may further limit an operator’s ability to adopt Ramsey prices.<ref name="bok">[http://www.regulationbodyofknowledge.org/tariff-design/economics-of-tariff-design/ramsey-pricing/ Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation] “Tariff Design: Economics of Tariff Design – Deviations from Marginal Cost Pricing: Ramsey Pricing”</ref>