Introduction
When discussing microeconomics, there are several market structures that may have an impact the economy in the Village of Forest Park, Illinois. These market structures including perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly have many characteristics and have an impact on the market as a whole. There are many barriers to entry, competitive pressure and price elasticity that also impact the economic growth of the village. Other areas that affect the village’s economy include governmental roles and international trade.
Two Characteristics of the Four Market Structures
The major market structures that impact our current economy are perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.
…show more content…
A monopolistic competition describes a common market structure in which firms have many competitors or sellers, but each one sells a vaguely distinctive product or service. One of this market structure’s characteristics is that each individual firm makes independent decisions about price and output, based on its product, its market, and its costs of production (Economics Online, 2015). Another characteristic is there is freedom to enter or leave the market, since there are no major barriers to entry or exit. The opposite of this market structure is an oligopoly. Oligopoly means few sellers. Oligopoly is the market structure in which there are only a few firms or a few firms dominate the market (Amacher & Pate, 2013). In an oligopolistic market, each seller supplies a large portion of all the products sold in the marketplace. In addition, because the cost of starting a business in an oligopolistic industry is usually high, the number of firms entering it is low.
Local Market Example
In the Village of Forest Park, the local electric company, ComEd, has a monopoly over the energy market. While the village residents are able to chose what type of energy they use, whether its coal or wind, each of the energy providers sell their energy to ComEd who then sets the price for its consumers. There are no other energy companies or providers in the city, each person must use
The following case study is in regards of economic market structure. In the world of economics all businesses or companies rather, are categorized in certain market structures such as monopoly, oligopoly, or perfect competition, for instance, the market structure for restaurants. Most restaurants are considered monopolistic competition. Being that they all sell and serve food. They have to have instances that vary such as price, logos, servers, locations, décor, types of food, and hospitality.
There are a variety of different business structures that comprise the market in the world today. The most common ones found in the business world today are sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. From these you will also find monopolies and oligopolies. Economists assume there are a number of different buyers and sellers in the market which leads to competition which allows prices to change in response to changes in supply and demand.(1) In many industries you there are substitutes for products, so if one type of product becomes too expensive the consumer can choose an alternative product that is cheaper, or one of better quality.
Oligopolistic markets, such as supermarkets or car manufacturing, can be defined in terms of market structure or in terms of market conduct.
There are many models of market structure in the field of economics. They include perfect competition on one end, monopoly on the other end, and competitive monopoly and oligopoly somewhere in the middle. In this paper, we will focus on the oligopoly structure because it is one of the strongest influences in the United States market. Although oligopolies can also be global, we will focus strictly on the United States here. We will define oligopoly, give key characteristics important to the oligopoly structure, explain why oligopolies form, then give an example of an oligopoly in today’s economy. Finally, we will discuss the benefits and costs in this type of market structure.
A. perfect competition and monopolistic competition B. duopoly and imperfect competition C. duopoly and triopoly D. monopolistic competition and oligopoly
1. Describe each market structure discussed in the course (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly) and discuss two of the market characteristics of each market structure.
The structure of a market is defined by the number of firms in the market, the existence or otherwise of barriers to entry of new firms, and the interdependence among firms in determining pricing and output to maximize profits. Retail sales are indicators of microeconomic conditions presented in a given area at a particular place in time. Since Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store, Wal-Mart has been making ripples throughout the micro economies of America. Wal-Mart’s market structure is typical of most of our nation’s largest corporations in that they are an oligopoly (Brown, 2010). According to Colander (2010), “An oligopoly is a market structure in which there are only a few firms and
We will need to analyze each market separately to show the differences and the similarities so as to understand their effects on the community and whether they allow room for entry and exit of new firms in order to grow our city economically. There are four market structures that I will provide analysis on. Perfect competition is a market structure in which there any many sellers and many buyers where not one firm (business)
The first concept I am going to discuss is an oligopoly. There are several characteristics that make up an oligopoly. One characteristic is that there are many firms in the industry but only a few firms that make up the majority of the market share. In the United States soda market, three firms (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group) make up almost ninety percent of the market (Schiller, 246). Another characteristic is that in an oligopoly, the oligopolists have substantial influence over price (though one oligopolist is usually the price leader). This market power is determined by the number of producers in the industry, the
Market Structure: Meaning, Characteristics and Forms | Economics. (2014). YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. Retrieved 25 April 2016, from http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/economics/market/market-structure-meaning-characteristics-and-forms-economics/28736/
When a good or service has only a limited number of sellers and offers the product with little attention to the competition, this is known as an oligopoly. An oligopoly is different than a monopoly because there are multiple firms that are involved; however, the consumer can be affected in the same way. Competition can usually be seen as what’s best for the customer; however, that’s not always the case for the firm. If we observe two firms that have the leading sales in soda, Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola, we can see how they form a great example of oligopoly. As the information provides, we can see that these two drink companies share about half of the soft drink market.
To understand the economy of today one must understand the different market structures that make up the economy. There are four market structures that define the economic structure within the world’s economy; perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Team A will provide example of each market structure by completing a market structure table. The members of Team A will also compare and contrast the differences between public goods, private goods, common resources, and
There are four basic market structures, each determined by the number of firms in the market and the dynamics of competition. They are perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. (Flynn, n.d.)
In economics, there are four market structures that function in the worldwide market. Each of these market structures correlates with one another to create the demand and supply of the market. However, these market structures have some unique traits that no other theory can have alike. Therefore, a comparison and contrast is necessary to distinguish each of these theories from one another. These market structures of the economy are perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. These market structures will reveal the difference and similarities that each one has.