Lawn mowing is a perfectly competitive industry.Alex's Lawn-Mowing Service should close if Alex expects his long-run economic profits to equal zero.

Economic Profits

The difference between total revenue and total costs, including both explicit and implicit costs, indicating profitability beyond normal returns.

Long-run

A period of time in which all factors of production and costs are variable, allowing companies to adjust to market changes completely.

Perfectly Competitive

Describes a market structure where many firms offer identical products, there are no barriers to entry or exit, and all firms are price takers, meaning they accept the market price as given.