A corporation is a form of business organization that is collectively owned by a number of individuals called stockholders, and that has the legal status of a single fictitious individual. 8 Corporations raise money by selling stocks and bonds. Common stock may yield higher income than preferred stock in the long run. In addition to individual proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations nonprofit organizations and cooperatives also provide goods and services. There are few actual examples of either pure competition or monopoly in the American economy.
Most firms operate under market structures of either oligopoly or monopolistic competition.
The promotion and maintenance of competition have long been important goals of government in the United States. During the period 1890 to 1950 five major anti-trust laws were enacted by the federal government in order to eliminate business practices developed to limit competition.