Because perfectly competitive firms are price takers, the marginal revenue is equal to the market:

• A. price
• B. quantity
• C. total revenue
• D. average cost

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the concept of a perfectly competitive firm: such firms are price takers, meaning they accept the market price as given and cannot influence it by their own output decisions.
2. Recall the definition of marginal revenue (MR): it is the additional revenue a firm earns by selling one more unit of output.
3. In perfect competition, since the firm sells each additional unit at the same market price, the marginal revenue equals the price of the product.
4. Express this relationship mathematically: \(MR = P\), where \(MR\) is marginal revenue and \(P\) is the market price.
5. Recognize that marginal revenue is not equal to quantity, total revenue, or average cost in this context, because those represent different economic concepts.