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The firm at perfect competition faces more than one competitor. All the firms are price taker and they take the market price as given. If one firm wants to sell its output at a pricehigher than the market price, it will sell nothing as buyers will go to the firm offering lower market price. If one firm wants to sell its output at a lower price, it will take the whole market demand for it. At the market price, determined by interactions between sellers, the firms will sell whatever output it wants. So, the firms determine the price and each firm determines its output. So the demand curve will be horizontal.

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Q: Why the demand curve faced by a perfectly competitive firm is horizontal?
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