Concentration, Barrier to Entry and Economies of Scale in the Water Airconditioner Industry in Iran and Evaluation of Social Welfare Cost

In this paper has been used concentration index, cost disadvantage ratio(CDR(, minimum efficient scale (MES) and social cost indices in order to evaluate the water cooler market structure and performance. The survey results indicate that there are low degree of competition between firms in this industry and barriers to entry is high. Also, most firms have not benefited from economies of scale. Harberger and Posner indice show that welfar cost of monopoly in this industry is high.