What is a monopoly? by The Linux Information Project (LINFO) LINFO Monopoly: A Brief Introduction Monopoly is a term used by economists to refer to the situation in which there is a single seller of a product (i.e., a good or service) for which there are no close substitutes. The word is derived from the Greek words monos (meaning one) and polein (meaning to sell). Governmental policy with regard to monopolies (e.g., permitting, prohibiting or regulating them) can have major effects not only on specific businesses and industries but also on the economy and society as a whole. Two Extreme Cases It can be useful when thinking about monopoly to look at two extreme cases. One is a pure monopoly, in which one company has complete control over the supply or sales of a product for which there are no good substitutes. The other is pure competition or perfect competition, a situation in which there are many sellers of identical, or virtually identical, products. There are various degrees of monopoly, and rarely does anything approaching pure monopoly exist. Thus, the term is generally used in a relative sense rather than an absolute one.

For example, a company can still be considered a monopoly even if it faces competition from (1) a few relatively small scale suppliers of the same or similar product(s) or (2) somewhat different goods or services that can to some limited extent be substituted for the product(s) supplied by the monopolist. A business that produces multiple products can be considered a monopoly even if it has a monopoly with regard to only one of the products. A company with a product that is just slightly different from other companies' products (e.g., a unique brand of food or clothing) could be considered to have a monopoly for that narrow range of product (assuming that it could not be copied due to protection by a patent, copyright, trademark, etc.). However, it might have very little monopoly power within the broader product category that includes both its and its competitors' products (e.g., food or clothing as a whole). In contrast, a company with exclusive rights to sell a product for which there are few if any good substitutes (e.g., steel or table salt1) would have tremendous monopoly power. For a product characterized by perfect competition (or nearly perfect competition), each supplier or seller must set its price equal to (or very close to) those of its competitors.

This equilibrium price tends to be close to the cost of producing the product due to price competition among its many sellers. It is difficult for any seller to charge a higher price than its competitors because it would be easy for buyers to purchase from other sellers instead. It is likewise difficult for a seller to charge a lower price, because profit margins (i.e., revenue minus cost) are already thin2. Naturally, all businesses, regardless of their degree of monopoly power, generally want to be as successful as possible, and thus they attempt to maximize their profits. However, it is much easier for a monopolist to make large profits through profit maximizing behavior than it is for a firm in a highly competitive industry. The reason is that the former has much greater flexibility in setting prices than does the latter, which has little if any control over prices. The monopolist has this flexibility because there is little or no direct competition to force the price down close to the cost of production. Of course, the monopolist will be acutely aware of the fact that the higher the price it charges, the smaller will be the number of units sold (what economists refer to as the law of demand 3).

This is because at higher prices some purchasers will just decide to buy fewer units or no units at all. A reduction in the number of units sold will eventually occur when the price rises to a sufficiently high level, regardless of how much buyers think they want the product, because buyers are ultimately limited by their incomes and savings. Assuming (unrealistically, but for the sake of simplification) that a monopolist could only charge a single price for a product, it would find the unique price that maximizes its profits. Raising the price above that level would reduce profits because the negative effect of the reduction in the number of units sold due to the higher price would more than offset the positive effect from the higher price. This profit maximizing price would generally be substantially higher than the product's cost of production, and it would thus also be substantially higher than the equilibrium price that would exist for the product if it were instead supplied by a number of competitive firms. Likewise, the volume of output and sales would be substantially lower than in a competitive situation. The monopoly power of a company for a product is commonly thought of in terms of its market share for that product. However, it can also be measured by the ability that a company has to set the price for the product.

In fact, this is the measure of monopoly used by some government agencies when studying competition in various industries. Price Discrimination A seller of a product in a competitive industry (i.e., one characterized by many competing sellers of a good or service) generally can only charge a single price (i.e., the price that its competitors are charging) to all of its customers. However, monopolists not only have the ability to charge a higher price than would competitive firms supplying the same product, but they also have the ability to charge significantly different prices to different customers for the same product. Monopolists are invariably well aware both of this ability and of the fact that by taking advantage of it they can often gain much greater profits than they could by just charging a single price to all customers. That is, a monopolist can maximize its profits by charging a separate profit-maximizing price for each type or group of customers (e.g., different income levels, professions, education levels, geographic locations or ethnicities) rather than by charging one profit maximizing price to all customers taken as a whole, because of the differences that generally exist among the different types or groups of customers with respect to their ability and willingness4 to pay. This behavior is termed price discrimination.

The ability to engage successfully in price discrimination depends on the degree of separation of markets, that is, how difficult or costly it is for buyers to transfer the product among themselves. For example, small, easily transportable items (e.g., those that come in a small box or that can be delivered via the Internet) are generally easier to transfer among buyers than are large, heavy products (e.g., hydroelectric generators and steel beams), customized products (e.g., consulting services or dental work) or products that make extensive use of a local language (e.g., books and some computer software ). If a product is easy for buyers to resell, then businesses or individuals who can buy it at lower prices would have a profit incentive to resell it to others who would be charged a higher price by the monopolist. Monopolists generally are strongly opposed to such transferring of their products among buyers, and they tend to devote considerable effort to attempting to stop or minimize it. Among the many tactics used by monopolists to attempt to separate their markets are the use of warranties that are only valid in the country of purchase and labeling a product and manuals for it only in the local language for each country or region.

For example, a software developer could charge a relatively low price for its product in Thailand (a relatively low income country) and discourage its transfer to Singapore or Japan (relatively high income countries) for resale there in competition with the higher prices it charges in those countries by having the software operate only in the Thai language, which is generally not understood by people outside of Thailand, rather than having it be adjustable by the user to operate in any of a number of languages. Region codes for computer games and DVDs (digital versatile disks) are also an attempt at price discrimination. These are codes that incorporated into the games and disks as well as into the players for them. They are designed to allow any game or disk to play only in the region in which it was sold, thereby allowing the sellers to control release dates and charge the profit maximizing price for each region. However, this is not always effective because some countries have outlawed the practice and required that players sold in their country be able to play games or disks from any region. Also, some users have been able to circumvent such regional lockout by modifying their players so that they can play games or disks from any region.

Another common example is student discounts, which are often available for some products, such as computer software, because suppliers of such products are well aware that the profit maximizing price for this class of customers is lower than that for people who work full time. Sale of the products at the special student prices is restricted through the requirement of student identification at the time of purchase, and subsequent resale is discouraged through such means as identification checks in order to use warranties and obtain upgrades. Lower prices on some products are likewise often available for senior citizens, because, as is the case with students, the profit maximizing price is lower for them as a group due to their lower average income. Such recipients of lower prices will, of course, feel happy and feel as if they are receiving something special. This will help make a monopolist seem benevolent and can create goodwill for it. However, what is often being overlooked is the fact that this is not necessarily just benevolence (although it might be in some cases), but it is definitely profit maximizing behavior. In any event, the recipients of the lower prices will still likely be paying much more than the actual cost of providing the product. Airlines are very efficient at separating their markets.

This can be seen by the fact that tickets to any given destination are typically sold for a wide range of prices (generally with little relationship to the cost of providing the trip), even for adjacent seats on the same airplane. For example, a number of techniques are used to charge higher fares for business travelers (who are typically more concerned about convenience and time saving than about fares) than for leisure travelers (who are usually on tighter budgets), including by charging higher fares for people not making reservations far in advance or not willing to stay at a destination through a weekend (both of which business travelers often prefer not to do). The airlines are able to prevent the reselling of their tickets (and thereby maintain their separation of markets) through the use of identification checks at check-in and boarding times5. Types of Monopoly Monopolies can be classified in various ways, including according to the degree of monopoly power, the cause of the monopoly, the structure of the monopoly and whether the monopoly is with regard to selling or buying. Frequently, instead of a single company, a monopoly consists of a group of companies that collude to control prices and quantities.

In particular, an oligopoly is a situation in which sales of a product are dominated by a small number of relatively large sellers who are able to collectively exert control over its supply and prices. A cartel is a type of oligopoly in which a centralized institution exists for the purpose of coordinating the actions of several independent suppliers of a product. Probably the best known example today is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). A problem with cartels and other oligopolies, at least from the participants' point of view, is the fact that they are inherently unstable. This is because there is a strong incentive for each individual supplier to cheat and supply more than its allotted quota; this instability tends to be greater the larger the number of participants. In the latter half of the nineteenth century trusts became a popular way to form monopolies in the U.S. A trust was an arrangement by which stockholders in several companies transferred their shares to a single set of trustees. In exchange, the stockholders received a certificate entitling them to a specified share of the consolidated earnings of the jointly managed companies. The trusts came to dominate a number of major industries.

The largest and most infamous of these was Standard Oil , but trusts were also formed in numerous other industries including railroads, coal, steel, sugar, tobacco and meatpacking. Although monopoly is most often thought of as referring to sellers, it can also apply to buyers. A monopsony is the opposite of a conventional monopoly in the sense that there is only a single buyer (or only one dominant buyer) for a product for which there are multiple sellers. Some companies are both monopolies and monopsonies. By being also a monopsonist, a monopoly can increase its profits even further (i.e., as compared with being a competitive purchaser) by putting pressure on the companies that supply inputs for its product(s) to reduce their prices. It is relatively easy for a monopolist to also become a monopsonist in some cases because, by definition, a monopolist has one or more unique products, and thus it is possible that it would also need some unique inputs to produce those unique products. Even if a monopolist does not require unique inputs, however, it can still wield considerable monopsony power if it is a large company. Causes of Monopoly Monopolies have existed throughout much of human history.

This is because powerful forces exist both for the creation and maintenance of monopolies6. At the root of these forces is the natural human desire for wealth and power together with the fact that monopolies can be immensely profitable and provide their owners with tremendous financial, political and social power. Monopolistic power existed even in primitive societies because limited technical knowledge, poor transportation and small, scattered populations left little room for the emergence of numerous, competitive suppliers for some goods and services. In medieval Europe, guilds arose as transportation improved, economies grew and competition increased. Guilds were cartels formed by artisans and merchants for the purpose of controlling output, setting prices and establishing restrictions on new producers and sellers. When nation-states began to emerge in the late Renaissance, monopolies proved to be a useful device for their leaders to acquire the resources to maintain large armies and extravagant life styles. Major European nations also granted monopoly powers to private trading companies in order to stimulate the exploration and exploitation of new lands in the Americas, Asia, Africa, etc. Monopolies can arise in some circumstances as the result of normal business practices that are characteristic of firms in a highly competitive industry.

Or they can arise as a consequence of what economists term anti-competitive practices, that is, behavior that is intended to destroy competition through means other than competing on the basis on price and quality (including the quality of services associated with the product). More specifically, monopolies can arise in any of the following, non-mutually exclusive, ways: (1) By developing or acquiring control over a unique product that is difficult or costly for other companies to copy. This can occur as a result of a purchase, merger or research and development. An example is pharmaceuticals, which can be extremely expensive and risky to develop (and which are also protected by patents), thereby locking out all but a few large, well funded companies with ample talent. Closely related to this is control over a unique input for a product, such as a unique natural resource. (2) By having a lower production cost than competitors. This can result from having a more efficient (i.e., more output per unit of input) production technique or from having access to a unique source of low cost inputs (e.g., a mine containing exceptionally high grade ore).

In some cases, a greater efficiency is the result of economies of scale , which means that the production cost per unit of product declines as the volume of output increases due to the ability to use some resource more intensively (e.g., a steel mill or railroad with lots of excess capacity). This category includes natural monopolies . A natural monopoly exists for a product for which there are sufficient economies of scale such that the product can be produced or supplied by a single company at lower cost than by multiple, competing companies. Examples include utilities such as railroads, pipelines, electric power transmission systems and wired telephone systems. It is often wasteful (for consumers and the economy) to have more than one such supplier in a region because of the high costs of duplicating the infrastructure (e.g., parallel railroad networks in a region or two sets of telephone wires to every house).

(3) By using various legal and/or illegal tactics, often referred to as predatory tactics , aimed specifically at eliminating existing or potential competition, such as (a) buying out or merging with competitors, (b) temporarily charging prices below cost to drive competitors out of business (often referred to as predatory pricing or dumping), (c) using a monopoly in one product to create a monopoly with regard to another product (sometimes referred to as the bundling or tying of products), (d) taking control of suppliers of inputs required by competitors or conspiring with them to raise their prices (or lower their quality of service, etc.) to competitors (e) taking control of, or conspiring with, suppliers of other products used by competitors' customers, (f) threatening costly litigation (e.g., regarding allegations of patent or copyright infringements regardless of the legal merits of such claims), which large companies can easily afford but small companies often cannot and (g) using blackmail or threats of violence. Horizontal integration is the gaining of control by one company over other producers or sellers of the same product. The acquired companies can appear to be quite diverse. Often the acquisition of control is not publicized, and sometimes different branding is used to create the illusion of competition.

For example, a broadcasting company might acquire various radio and/or television channels each with a different focus in order to gain control of most of the entire listener or viewer market in a region and thereby prevent the emergence of competitors. Such seeming diversity can also offer offer other benefits to a monopolist. In particular, it can be valuable in separating markets, thereby allowing the monopolist to charge separate, profit maximizing prices in each. It can also make the existence of a monopoly less conspicuous and less of a target for public criticism, government intervention and the emergence of new competitors. (4) By controlling a platform and using vendor lock-in . A platform is a standardized specification for a product that allows its providers and users and their products to interoperate without special arrangement. This reduces the overall costs of conducting transactions by removing some of the costs of matching up products with buyers. Lock-in is the practice of designing a product that cannot interoperate with products made by other companies in order to make it difficult and/or costly for users to switch to competing systems. Lock-in is also used so that replacement parts or add-on enhancements must be purchased from the same manufacturer. Examples would include a computer operating system or a portable music storage/replay device that is controlled by a single company.

(5) By receiving a government grant of monopoly status, i.e., becoming a government-granted monopoly. Today this is usually accomplished through the acquisition of a license, patent, copyright, trademark or franchise. Common examples include a franchise for cable television for a certain city or region, a trademark for a popular brand, copyrights on certain cartoon characters or a patent for a unique product or production technique. As governments usually have the final authority regarding the creation, maintenance and extension of monopolies, public relations, particularly lobbying and advertising, are important tools for monopolists for convincing politicians to ignore, approve or even bless anti-competitive acquisitions, mergers, etc. Among the arguments typically made by monopolists are that such acquisition or merger is in the public interest because it would allow them to (1) spend more money on research and development in order to develop new and improved products, (2) standardize what would otherwise be a chaotic market (i.e., vigorous competition) and (3) reduce costs, and thus prices, through (a) the reduction of redundant production facilities and employees, (b) concentrating production at the most efficient production facilities and (c) obtaining greater economies of scale.

Monopolists also frequently support such requests with the claim that they are model corporate citizens and that they are great contributors to charitable and educational causes. The term barriers to entry is used by economists to refer to obstacles to businesses or to individuals wanting to enter a given field. Some of these barriers occur naturally, whereas others are erected or strengthened by monopolies in order to maintain or enhance their monopoly positions. Examples include the extremely high cost of developing new drugs, limited sources for a low cost input, a dominant platform for software or other products, patent protection of a low cost production technique, the difficulty of trying to compete with famous brands and air transport agreements that make it difficult for new airlines to obtain landing slots at popular airports. Why Monopolies Can Be Beneficial Despite their reputation for evil, monopolies can actually generate a net benefit for society under certain circumstances. These are usually situations in which the power and duration of the monopoly are carefully limited. Natural monopolies can be particularly beneficial. This is because of their ability to attain lower costs of production, often far lower, than would be possible with competitive firms producing the same product in the same region.

However, it is almost always necessary for such monopolies to be regulated by a relatively uncorrupted government in order for society to obtain the potential benefits. This is because such monopolies by themselves, as is the case with all monopolies, have little incentive to charge prices close to cost and, rather, tend to charge profit-maximizing prices and restrict output. Likewise, there is often little incentive to pay much attention to quality. It has long been recognized that government-granted monopolies (i.e., patents, copyrights, trademarks and franchises) can benefit society as a whole by providing financial incentives to inventors, artists, composers, writers, entrepreneurs and others to innovate and produce creative works. In fact, the importance of establishing monopolies of limited duration for this purpose is even mentioned in the U.S. Constitution7. In addition to being for limited periods of time, such monopolies are also generally restricted in other ways, including that there are often fairly good substitutes for their products8. Why Monopolies Can Be Harmful Large monopolies have considerable potential to damage both economies and democratic governments (although they can be very beneficial for other types of governments9).

Unfortunately, the full extent of the damage is usually not as obvious, at least to the general public, as are the seemingly beneficial effects. And monopolists often go to extreme lengths to disguise or hide such harmful effects. Among the ways in which unregulated monopolies can harm an economy are by causing: (1) Substantially higher prices and lower levels of output than would exist if the product were produced by competitive companies. (2) A lower level of quality than would otherwise exist. This includes not only the quality of the goods and services themselves, but also the quality of the services associated with such goods and services. (3) A slower advance in the development and application of new technology. Advances in technology can improve the quality (e.g., ease of use, durability, environmental friendliness) of products, and they can also reduce their costs of production. Innovation is not as necessary for a monopolist as it is for a highly competitive firm, and, in fact, it can be a bad business strategy. Research and development by monopolists is often largely focused on ways of suppressing new, potentially competitive technologies (and includes such techniques as stockpiling patents) rather than true innovation 10.

This can be a serious disadvantage, because economists have long recognized that innovation is a key factor (and possibly the single most important factor) in the growth of an economy as a whole11. The adverse effects of monopolies can be much more noticeable on an individual level than in the aggregate. These effects include the destruction of businesses that would have survived had competition been based solely on quality and price (with a consequent loss of assets of the owners and jobs of the employees) and prices for products so high as to cause hardship or be unaffordable for some people. It is often said, even by those who have negative opinions about monopolies, that "monopoly itself is not necessarily bad, but rather it is the abuse of monopoly power that is harmful." This statement is an excessive simplification, and it can be indicative of a lack of understanding of the full extent of harm that can be caused by monopolies. The abuse of monopoly power clearly can be harmful to an economy. The term abuse in this context refers to such tactics as predatory pricing, colluding with suppliers and the leveraging of a monopoly in one product to gain a monopoly for another product.

But what is often overlooked, even by legislation whose supposed purpose is to restrain or regulate monopolies, is the fact that monopolies can be harmful even if they do not engage in such practices. If a monopolist engages in behavior that produces results similar to that by firms in an industry that is characterized by intensive competition (i.e., charges prices close to cost and does not engage in price discrimination), then there might not be a problem. Unfortunately, however, this is rare even for a seemingly benevolent monopolist. The reason is that the very strong incentives to maximize profits that exist for virtually any business, whether pure monopolist, perfect competitor or somewhere in between, produce very different results for a monopolist than they would for a firm in a highly competitive industry. And monopolists (as is the case with competitive firms) usually do not rank benevolence as a top corporate priority. Thus, the management and employees in a monopoly might not at all be aware that they are harming the economy, especially if their behavior is similar to that by a non-monopoly. In fact, they may even genuinely believe that they are benefiting the economy because of their conviction that they are more efficient and productive than a number of firms competing with each other would be.

Another reason that the positive effects of even a benevolent monopolist would not be as great as for a competitive company is that innovations that improve quality and reduce production costs are often the result of desperation. (This is something that is easy for many owners of struggling businesses to understand, but is often difficult for others to fully grasp without experiencing it firsthand.) Monopolists generally consider themselves successful, and thus, although they often are innovators to some extent (typically mainly in their earlier years), they usually just do not have that extra motivation to produce truly breakthrough innovations that smaller companies desperate to gain market share (or to just survive) have. Monopolies and Political Corruption An additional reason that monopolies can be harmful is that they are often linked to corruption of the political system. That monopolies have both the ability and the desire to use the government for their own ends has been demonstrated repeatedly throughout history. A free market (i.e., large numbers of competing producers and purchasers, each acting in its own self interest) economy is usually very efficient at making the best decisions for the economy and society as a whole.

However, there are some situations, termed by economists as market failure, in which free markets do not work for the best interests of the economy or society as a whole and in which it is thus beneficial to have government intervention (e.g., setting and enforcing rules) for such purposes as (1) protecting public health and the environment, (2) protecting businesses and the public from illegal or abusive behavior by other businesses and (3) regulating natural monopolies. Businesses naturally have an incentive to try to influence the political process in order to obtain favorable legislation, such as easing costly environmental or safety regulations. It is also natural for them to want legislation that restricts competition in their industry in order to give them some extent of monopoly power. However, in a competitive industry such lobbying can be difficult because there will be many competitors fighting to prevent each other from getting special favors from the government. In the case of a monopoly, however, the situation is very different.

A large monopolist is in a much stronger position to influence the political process because (1) it has much greater financial resources than individual competitors due to the inherent profitability of monopolies, (2) it often can exert considerable pressure on its customers and/or its suppliers to influence politicians on its behalf and (3) there is less opposition because competitors, if they exist at all, are relatively weak. Reasons that a monopolist would want to influence the political process include (1) to ensure that anti-monopoly measures are not undertaken or that, if they are undertaken, they are just superficial, (2) to strengthen and extend its monopoly position, including to additional products, (3) to prevent or weaken legislation regarding health, environmental, safety and labor relations (i.e., the rights of workers) and (4) to promote the philosophical views of its owner(s) (e.g., with regard to politics or religion). There are several ways in which a monopolist can influence public policy. Some are legal, others might be illegal or, at least, unethical.

They include (1) campaign contributions, (2) gifts, (3) lobbying, (4) putting pressure on suppliers and customers to influence the political process and (5) expenditures (e.g., for advertisements) to influence the public to persuade politicians. The Philanthropy Argument The argument is sometimes made that, regardless of whatever other faults that monopolies might have, they should be valued for their great contributions to philanthropic causes. However, there are several problems with this view. One is that not all monopolies engage in substantial philanthropic activities. Moreover, even for those that do so, such expenditures generally involve only a small part of their total monopoly profits. It can also be argued that monopoly profits are merely taking away funds from other businesses and individuals who might have otherwise spent as much or more (but less conspicuously) on philanthropy. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that the costs to society from the existence of a monopoly are often much higher than just a transfer of wealth from buyers to the monopolist in the form of higher prices (i.e., they also include the inferior quality, the stifling of innovation and the corruption of democratic political processes), and thus such costs tend to be far greater than any possible benefits from philanthropy.

Philanthropy is far from being an exclusive behavioral trait of monopolists, and it is, in fact, engaged in to some extent by the entire spectrum of organizations and individuals. (This even includes suppliers of illegal narcotics and terrorist organizations, who are well aware that charitable activities can be a very effective and relatively inexpensive means to consolidate and maintain local power.) In addition, many economists contend that if philanthropic spending is to occur, there are are almost certainly more efficient ways to generate resources for it than by monopoly behavior. Long-run Instability of Monopolies Monopolies tend to eventually lose their monopoly power, often in a surprisingly short time, despite their usually vigorous efforts to resist such loss. The companies themselves, however, tend to survive much longer, largely as a result of the great market share, large production capacity and vast wealth and power that they accumulated during their period as a monopolist. The causes of this loss can be grouped into two broad categories: market forces and government intervention. Just as there are very strong incentives to create and maintain monopolies, strong forces also exist to weaken and destroy monopolies. They can be intentional or unintentional.

They likewise revolve around the eternal quest for wealth and power, and they are often at least partially the result of other businesses trying to weaken or destroy monopolies for their own competitive advantage. Probably the most important such force is innovation or technological advance. This often leads to the development of lower cost production techniques for existing products or the development of completely new products that make it possible for other companies to successfully challenge monopolies. The causes of technological advance are complex, but clearly the hope of challenging an existing monopoly or even starting a new monopoly provides very strong incentives for potential competitors to push research and development aimed at creating new or improved products or production techniques. Telephones are an often cited example. Wired telephone systems have many characteristics of natural monopolies and thus have been monopolies in most countries. However, technological advance has made it possible for cellular phones to emerge in recent years as a very strong competitor. Cellular phone companies have been able to offer substantially reduced calling charges as compared with wired phones in countries where wired phone charges have remained high and still be very profitable. This competition has greatly weakened the monopolies of wired telephone systems and has forced them to reduce their charges and improve service.

Likewise, another new communications technology, VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), is increasingly threatening the oligopolistic nature of conventional long distance telecommunications companies. Thus, monopolies often make strenuous efforts to stifle the development of new technology and to prevent its application. This includes influencing governments to ban or strictly regulate new technologies, engaging in research and development efforts to patent new technologies before potential competitors can, buying up patents from other companies, and using litigation to claim rights to patents that they might not actually own. The destruction of monopolies is hastened by their generally higher prices and inferior products. The higher the prices and the more shoddy the products, the easier (and more profitable) it is for new competitors to emerge. Another possible weakness of monopolies can be their large size and the increasingly bureaucratic and rigid nature of their organizations as they grow in size and years. This can make it difficult for them to respond quickly or skillfully to changes in market conditions and to the emergence of new technologies. In fact, there are natural incentives for individual employees and groups of employees within a monopoly to become very conservative and do as little as possible to promote or facilitate any changes in the monopoly (as there are in most large organizations).

Specious Arguments for Tolerating Monopolies The argument is often heard that "the government should leave monopolies alone, because their success is a result of market competition." This argument is very misleading for several reasons. One is that, in many cases, monopolies that have arisen largely as a result of illegitimate or illegal tactics (rather than through competition based on lower prices and superior quality) and they have made great efforts to hide that fact from the general public and politicians. A second reason is that, even if a monopoly arises by fully legitimate means, there are strong temptations for it to engage (even unknowingly) in practices that are bad for the economy as a whole (e.g., higher prices, lower output and less innovation than in a highly competitive situation), although such behavior and its consequences are usually not readily apparent to laymen or to political decision makers. It has also been argued that governments need not intervene because monopolies always tend to break down in the long run anyway due to market forces. A major problem with this view is that the long run can be many years12, and the economy and society can suffer substantial damage in the the meantime.

Another problem is that this approach does not provide a deterrent to the creation and abusive behavior of new monopolies. Optimal Public Policy Public policy with regard to monopolies should ideally be based on what is most efficient for the economy and society as a whole. For natural monopolies, it is generally most efficient to maintain the monopoly, but subject it to government regulation with regard to prices, quality of service, etc. In the case of monopolies that are not natural monopolies (i.e., products for which there is no great advantage in terms of economic efficiency to having a monopoly), public policy decisions should depend in large part on the behavior of the monopolist. If the monopolist is regarded as charging reasonable prices, providing high quality products, being innovative and not engaging in abusive practices, then there might be good reason to leave it alone. One reason to leave a monopoly alone in such circumstances is to avoid what can be the very substantial costs involved in regulating it or breaking it up. But if it is determined that a monopolist is charging prices substantially higher than, providing quality lower than, or being less innovative than would occur under competitive conditions or engaging in abusive practices, then there is good cause to take aggressive action.

The ways in which governments can intervene to reduce the adverse effects of monopolies can be classified into three broad categories: (1) strengthening of existing competition or promoting the emergence of new competition by such means as encouraging innovation, providing government contracts to competitors and providing favorable financing to competitors, (2) regulating the monopoly to limit prices, eliminate price discrimination, set quality standards, restrict political activities, etc. and (3) breaking up the monopoly. When monopolies are permitted to exist, there are several types of policies that should be implemented in order to assure maximum benefit to the economy. They include (1) outlawing price discrimination, (2) outlawing the use of monopoly power with regard to one product for the purpose of gaining a monopoly with regard to other products, (3) setting standards for quality and (4) restricting the direct or indirect political activities of the monopolist. Because of the strong consensus among economists that large monopolies, and particularly those that abuse their monopoly powers, can be harmful to an economy, most industrial countries have enacted laws aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices and have regulators to aid in the enforcement of such laws. There has, in fact, been a long history of governments attempting to deal with the abusive practices of monopolists.

For example, in 1624 the English Parliament passed the Statute of Monopolies, which greatly restricted the king's right to create private monopolies in the domestic economy. However, this legislation did not apply to the monopoly powers granted to companies formed for overseas exploration and colonization. The U.S. first attempted to curb monopolies at a national level was through the enactment of the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 in response to the widespread revulsion to the highly abusive practices of Standard Oil. Despite the subsequent passage of a variety of additional antitrust (i.e., anti-monopoly) measures, the Sherman act remains in many respects the most important piece of legislation in the U.S. with regard to monopolies. Unfortunately, the degree of enforcement of antitrust legislation has varied wildly, even within individual countries (or with regard to individual companies), and it has frequently been based more on political considerations than on economic merit. This is, of course, due to the great difficulty for governments to take effective action against even the most abusive of monopolies because of the exceptional political influence that monopolists tend to acquire and the fact that the adverse effects of monopolies are often less obvious to the public and to politicians than are the supposed beneficial effects.

________ 1 Salt has a long history of being a monopoly in much of the world because it is naturally scarce in many regions and because of the strong demand for it (particularly for use as a food preservative and as a flavor enhancer). Salt monopolies have been a very convenient way for governments and large companies to raise vast amounts of money. For example, the rise of Venice to greatness is attributed in large part to its salt monopoly. 2 The exception would be if some company had a lower cost of production than the others, in which case it could become a monopoly if it could expand its output sufficiently. 3 The law of demand states that the quantity purchased is a negative function of the price. That is, the higher the price, the less will be purchased. Interestingly, there are virtually no exceptions to this principle. In terms of the demand curve that is studied in economics classes, this law means that the curve always slopes downward to the right, although some sections may be horizontal or vertical. 4 This is what economists refer to as the price elasticity of demand. A product which buyers urgently want and for which they are relatively insensitive to its price, such as drinking water or table salt, is said to have a low elasticity of demand.

A product for which buyers are relatively sensitive to its price has a high elasticity of demand. Monopolists will be aware (even if they are not familiar with this terminology) that different types or groups of buyers may have different elasticities of demand, and they will take such differences into consideration in their profit maximizing calculations. 5 Airlines are not generally considered to be monopolies because there is usually a choice of airlines as well as other modes of transportation from which to choose. However, individual airlines often have substantial monopoly power on certain routes and/or for certain times because they might be the only choice for high speed travel or shipping for a particular route or for that route at a certain time. 6 The argument could be made that this implies that monopolies are the natural state of an economy and thus government intervention should not be used if one believes in a free market economy. However, kings or other dictatorships have also existed throughout most of history, and thus it could likewise be argued that dictatorship is the natural form of government and its citizens should not strive to break it up in order to attain or restore democracy. 7Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states: The Congress shall have Power . . .

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. 8 For example, the fair use doctrine allows people to make copies of copyrighted materials in some situations, trademarks can become invalid if they are not actively protected and patents can be ignored by the government if it wants to use an invention for its own purposes. 9 Large monopolies can be an efficient means of both raising revenue and consolidating power for governments whose primary goals are other than the prosperity of their citizenry (e.g., the accumulation of wealth and power for their leaders). As economic competition and political competition tend to go hand in hand, restricting economic competition through the tolerance for or encouragement of monopolies can be an effective way of restricting political competition (and thus restricting political freedom). In fact, monopolies have commonly been used throughout history for these purposes. 10 There have been a few major exceptions to this. Most notable was Bell Labs , the research and development arm of AT&T. AT&T was one of the largest and most pervasive monopolies in recent U.S. history, although a highly regulated and generally benevolent one.

Bell Labs was perhaps the most prolific source of innovation that has ever existed, and it was responsible for such revolutionary inventions as the transistor, the single-chip 32-bit microprocessor , the UNIX computer operating system and the C and C++ programming languages. 11 For a more detailed look at how monopolies affect technological advance, see Why and How Monopolies Impede Technological Advance , The Linux Information Project, June 12, 2006. 12 As John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century stated so eloquently in what is possibly his most famous quote: "In the long run we are all dead." (No wonder economics is often referred to as the dismal science!) Keynes was referring to the Great Depression of the 1930s and to those economists who advocated letting the market mechanism eventually restore the economy to prosperity instead of calling for immediate government intervention. Created January 20, 2005. Updated December 1, 2006. Copyright © 2005 - 2006 The Linux Information Project. All Rights Reserved.

Monopoly Indian Examples Free Essays Monopoly Indian Examples MONOPOLY A monopoly is an enterprise that is the only seller of a good or service. In the absence of government... intervention, a monopoly is free to set any price it chooses and will usually set the price that yields the largest possible profit. Just being a monopoly need not make an enterprise more profitable than other enterprises that face competiton the market may be so small that it barely supports one enterprise. But if the monopoly is in fact more profitable than competitive enterprises... Competition, Economics, Monopoly 841 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly characteristics of monopoly are: (1) a single firm selling all output in a market, (2) a unique product, (3) restrictions on entry into and... exit out of the industry, and more often than not (4) specialized information about production techniques unavailable to other potential producers. These four characteristics mean that a monopoly has extensive (boarding on complete) market control. Monopoly controls the selling side of the market. If anyone seeks to acquire the production sold by the monopoly, then they...

Anti-competitive practices, Barriers to entry, Economics 722 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly 1 Monopoly Why Monopolies Arise? Monopoly is a rm that is the sole seller of a product without close... substitutes. The fundamental cause of monopoly is barriers to entry: A monopoly remains the only seller in its market because other rms cannot enter the market and compete with it. Barriers to entry have three main sources: 1. Monopoly Resources. A key resource is owned by a single rm. Example: The DeBeers Diamond Monopoly|this rm controls about 80 percent of the diamonds in the world. 2. Government-Created... Economics, Marginal cost, Microeconomics 1199 Words | 4 Pages Monopoly monopolist by the antitrust department in US and Europe for almost over ten years. “Microsoft possesses (and for several years has possessed)... monopoly power in the market for personal computer operating systems” the Justice Department declared blatantly in 1988.This paper will examine and analysis the reason why Microsoft is a monopoly, welfare implications as a monopoly and whether the government regulations is successful. Microsoft Corporation products a wide range of products relate to computing...

Competition, Economics, Microeconomics 1227 Words | 4 Pages Monopoly - Micro Economics Monopoly: Monopoly is a market structure in which there is a single seller, there are no close substitutes for the commodity... it produces and there are barriers to entry in same industry. Characteristics of Monopoly • Single Seller: There is only one seller; he can control either price or supply of his product. But he cannot control demand for the product, as there are many buyers. • No close Substitutes: there are any close substitutes for the product. The buyers have no alternatives or choice... Competition, Economics, Government-granted monopoly 644 Words | 3 Pages indians When judging the advancements of Native Americans to others one might look into the perspective of the surrounding environment of certain tribes. For... example, many woodland Indians such as the ones on the Eastern Coast were more advanced as to making tools and trading with other local tribes. While other Native American groups stayed in a routine of making the same crops, and using the same weapons, others experimented with what they were given and used different techniques to aid in their success...

By the Way, Christopher Columbus, Cleveland Indians 1589 Words | 4 Pages The Monopoly The Monopoly Ahmed El-Zeini, chairman of the division of building materials in the Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, says: "Some analysts believe... that the cement industry has suffered too much from the monopoly of certain local manufacturers, not to mention the manipulation of prices. The Egyptian Authority for the protection of competition and prevention of monopolistic practices has begun to study the cost of cement production in the local plants, to make sure no monopolistic practices are being carried... Cement, Competition, Marketing 1006 Words | 3 Pages INDIAN RAILWAYS ﻿CASE STUDY ON INDIAN RAILWAYS (MONOPOLY) In economics, a monopoly (from the Latin word monopolium – Greek... language monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a product or service. Monopolies are characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods. Monopoly should be distinguished from monopsony, in which there is only one buyer of the product or service;...

Economics, Elasticity, Marginal cost 866 Words | 3 Pages Complete Monopoly CASE STUDY ON MONOPOLY Submitted By: Submitted On: 16th April 2012 INTRODUCTION Today, many firms are enjoying... a monopoly of their products/services in the market. Monopoly may be defined as the complete control over a commodity enjoyed by a particular company in the market. There will be only a solo manufacturer or provider of the commodity and customers have to depend on them whenever there is a demand since there are no substitutes available. As a result, such... Competition, Economics, Government-granted monopoly 1006 Words | 4 Pages INDIAN retarded fag!" at Arnold. The language is offensive. It’s hurtful, ignorant, and crude, but it’s not uncommon to hear young boys talk that way. Why does... Rowdy use that language? In Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, Arnold’s best friend Rowdy calls him a “retarded fag” for transferring at the start of their freshman year of high school.

Due to his background as a child, Rowdy uses cruel language and hurtful gestures anytime Arnold and Rowdy came face to face... Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Beautiful Life 1007 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly Monopoly Monopoly means a market where there is only one seller of a particular good or service.In economics, a... monopoly (from the Latin word monopolium – Greek language monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a product or service. Monopolies are characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods. Monopoly should be distinguished from monopsony, in which... Competition, Economics, Marketing 472 Words | 2 Pages Natural Monopoly | Natural Monopoly | Telecommunications Law and Regulation Week 2 | | | | | I believe that times change and as... they, change rules and regulations must adapt to the times. Therefore, the treatment of the different industries must represent the different industries as they grow.

I do not think the Telephone and Broadcast should never have or ever be considered a “Natural Monopoly”. The concept of natural monopoly presents a challenging public policy dilemma. On the one... American Telephone & Telegraph, Competition, Economics 1081 Words | 4 Pages Is Microsoft a Monopoly? Microsoft Monopoly Corporation Samantha F. Grinvalds DeVry University The Microsoft Corporation has lead people believe that they were... attempting to gain monopoly power in the computer operating systems market. A monopoly market structure consists of having one firm that has control of the resources and market by selling a unique good that has no available substitutes, in which; make it very difficult for others to enter into this market. In America, we enjoy a free market rather than... Competition, Economics, Marginal cost 1174 Words | 4 Pages Monopoly & Monopolistic Monopoly & Monopolistic ECO 204 January 14, 2013 There are plenty of companies in America today that are controlled by a monopolistic... market.

Although there may be a few that are controlled as a monopoly market, while there are a few that are out there such as the Gas and Electric Company, SDG&amp;E and the USPS. It can be difficult when you are going from a monopolistic firm to a monopoly only because the market is completely different from one another. When it comes to Wonks, there... Competition, Economics, Marketing 1051 Words | 3 Pages Indian Americans determine if this theory relates to the Indian American ethnic group. The flourishing geopolitical relationship between the United States and... India, combined with an atmosphere of increasing competitiveness among the international community in regards to technological advancement and innovation led to the mass distribution of H-1B visas to Indians (Pew 2012, 27). This paper will ascertain whether or not the mass distribution of work and student visas to Indians directly affected the strikingly rapid... Asian American, Chicago, Ethnic group 2083 Words | 6 Pages Indian Politics India by Vijay Jaiswal On August 29, 2013. No comments In a modern democratic political system of India, with governments based on Parliamentary model,... political parties are central to the working of the political system.

Political parties in Indian Democracy grow up the as spokesman of organized interests. Thus a Political party system in India is an organization of like minded people based together either to preserve and promote group interests or to promote a particular ideology. Usually every... Bharatiya Janata Party, Communist state, Conservatism 629 Words | 3 Pages Example ethnomusicological works are created not necessarily by 'ethnomusicologists' proper, but instead by anthropologists examining music as an aspect of a... culture. A well-known example of such work is Colin Turnbull's study of the Mbuti pygmies. Another example is Jaime de Angulo, a linguist who ended up learning much about the music of the Indians of Northern California [2]. Yet another is Anthony Seeger, professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studied the music and society of the Suya people... Anthropology, Community building, Ethnomusicology 1424 Words | 5 Pages Is Terrorism a Muslim Monopoly Terrorism is not a Muslim Monopoly Kamlesh Kumar Singh Research Scholar Deptt. of Sociology Banaras Hindu University Varanasi-221005... Email-kamleshsingh206@gmail.com M.N.

- 09369240262, 09026399178 Abstract “All Muslims may not be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims”. This comment, frequently heard after the Mumbai bomb blasts implies that terrorism is a Muslim specialty, if not a monopoly. The facts are very different. First there is nothing new about terrorism. The term... Hamas, Irregular military, Islam 862 Words | 3 Pages Playing monopoly original way is better. Wait long enough for a technique or idea to be forgotten by the majority of people or just long enough that the majority of your... followers are naive newbies. Bring out the old idea and present it as a new invention. For example, many things in Visual Studio .Net are presented as new ideas even though they have existed in RAD tools like Delphi for over a decade. Why this works? because the majority of new software geeks have no idea what Delphi is and didn't know that you... Competition, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows 1385 Words | 4 Pages Examples Examples of Essay Questions for Exam1 Chapter 1: 1).

Describe the four steps taken in solving a business problem.(A process, not an event)... * Problem identification (is to understand what kind of problem exists). * Solution design (is to design solutions to the problems you have identified) * Solution evaluation and choice (choosing the “best” solution for your business firm) * Implementation (the best solution is one that can be implemented, including building the solution and introducing... Application software, Computer software, Customer relationship management 1395 Words | 5 Pages French and Indian War and Indians Nathalia Sosa 3961518 Sept. 20/2012 In the 1991 film Black robe, Jesuit missionaries are sent to the city of Quebec in hopes of changing the native... Indians from savages to Christians. Both the French and the Natives have formed strong perceptions of each other characterized by unusual similarities, undeniable differences, and evident physical traits. The mission the Jesuits have embarked on introduces both societies to experience a never before seen culture, serves to transform an internally confused...

Canada, First Nations, French and Indian War 1380 Words | 4 Pages French and Indian War ﻿The French and Indian war also known as the Seven Years War or The War That Made America, was a battle for colonial domination. The battles... between the two colonies began when the Royal Charters had encouraged the British to expand their territory westward, but the colonists faced two opponents in their drive the French and Indians. The French did not want the English intruding on their monopoly, so the battle for land began. The first battle between the French and British was the Ohio River... Fort Duquesne, French and Indian War, Great Britain in the Seven Years War 1544 Words | 4 Pages example the Laws of Supply and Demand The simulation in the text is about a small city by the name of Atlantis. Atlantis is a well-maintained city with many... positive aspects for the community. All of the aspects make it a pleasant living environment. For example, the city has maintained streets, maintained sidewalks, large parks and jogging paths. To rent an apartment in the community of Atlantis an individual would have to go through Good life Management. The current vacancy rate is at 28 percent of availability...

Economics, Elasticity, Income elasticity of demand 1569 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly Questions and Answers QUESTIONS RELATED TO MONOPOLY: 1- What is the characteristic of the monopoly? 1 - The existence of a single product of... the commodity 2 - characterized by prices, rising prices prevailing 3 - the relative stability of prices 4 - There are barriers to enter the industry monopolist 5 - not necessary to advertise Another Monopoly properties. Price control. In a monopoly, and at the expense of supply in the market one entity to control and demand, and the degree of the price offered... Competition, Cost, Economics 801 Words | 4 Pages The Economy: Monopolies Assignment 2: The Economy, Monetary Policyband Monopolies ECO100: Principles of Economics When evaluating today’s economic status we must... take a look at many different factors. Such as interest rates, inflation and unemployment. When we look at these factors and compare them to the factors of the recession of 2008 we will see that the economy has gotten better in some aspect and some aspect have gotten worse.

To compare now and 2008 we must first take a look at the interest rates. Global-rates... Economics, Inflation, Microsoft 1092 Words | 3 Pages Microsoft's Monopoly ﻿ The global market economy includes several market structures. One of these structures is the monopoly. Monopoly happens when... only one firm provides a specific good or service to the consumers and generally dominates the whole industry by controlling the market. In this case, the dominant firm has the ability to set the price while there are no other rivals to force competitiveness. In order to keep their domination, firms are likely to grow a behaviour that prevents other potential companies... Competition, Economics, Market structure 1113 Words | 3 Pages Indian Railways Analysis | Indian Railways | Prepared By | | Mahesh G | | | Contents Scope: 2 Indian Railways - Background: 2... Market Structure: 6 Conclusion: 9 Bibliography: 10 Scope: This brief study aims at analyzing the market structure of Indian Railways. It starts with the history of railways and explores the various characteristics of railways. It also provides a brief comparison of Indian railways vis-à-vis World Railway system.

Indian Railways - Background: Indian railways... Commuter rail, Indian Railways, Locomotive 2187 Words | 7 Pages Example 2: Allowing free trade between countries can be beneficial, but it also imposes costs. Use the ITT Tech Virtual Library to research the costs and benefits... of allowing free trade. Discuss aspects of free trade that some may consider unfair. For example: a. Distribution of costs and benefits of free trade. In other words, does everyone share in the gains and the costs equally? b. Competing with different labor restrictions (or lack thereof), such as slave or child labor. c. Differences in environmental... Economic surplus, Economics, International trade 1169 Words | 2 Pages Effects of Monopolies in the Usa Economy The effects of monopolies on the U.S. Economy What is a monopoly? The concept of a monopoly is largely... misunderstood and the mere mention of the term evokes lots of emotions that make clear judgment almost impossible. The standard economic and social case for or against monopolistic businesses is no longer straightforward.

According to Mankiw (2009) a monopoly is defined as a market structure characterized by a single seller of a unique product with no close substitutes[1]. When... Competition, Economics, Market power 2226 Words | 7 Pages Monopoly vs. Oligopoly Term Paper Monopoly vs. Oligopoly ECON101: Microeconomics... Monopolies and Oligopolies are both marketing situations that are present in today’s economic system. Many people are aware of what a monopoly is and the federal government has even taken steps to make monopolies in the United States illegal. However many are unaware of the many oligopolies operating in the US economic system today. Monopolies and Oligopolies are similar but not... Competition, Duopoly, Economics 804 Words | 3 Pages Oligopoly and Monopoly Oligopoly An oligopoly is an intermediate market structure between the extremes of perfect competition and monopoly. Oligopoly firms might... compete (noncooperative oligopoly) or cooperate (cooperative oligopoly) in the marketplace. Whereas firms in an oligopoly are price makers, their control over the price is determined by the level of coordination among them.

The distinguishing characteristic of an oligopoly is that there are a few mutually interdependent firms that produce either identical products... Competition, Cournot competition, Economics 1115 Words | 3 Pages Economics and Monopoly Introduction Unit 2.3.3 Pure Monopoly Unit 2.3.3 Monopoly Unit Overview 2.3.3 - Monopoly • Assumptions of the model •... Sources of monopoly power/barriers to entry • Natural monopoly • Demand curve facing the monopolist • Profit-maximizing level of output • Advantages and disadvantages of monopoly in comparison with perfect competition • Efficiency in monopoly • Price discrimination >>Definition >>Reasons for price discrimination >>Necessary conditions for the practice of price discrimination >>Possible... Competition, Economics, Microeconomics 589 Words | 6 Pages Fdi in Indian Retail Stores Controversy over Indian retail reforms A horticultural produce retail market in Kolkata, India; produce loss in these retail formats is very... high for perishables Critics of the Indian retail reforms announcement are making one or more of the following points:,[50][51] Independent stores will close, leading to massive job losses. Walmart employs very few people in the United States.

If allowed to expand in India as much as Walmart has expanded in the United States, few thousand jobs may be created... Department store, Retailing, Shopping mall 1480 Words | 5 Pages Monopoly 10/23/2012 CHAPTER 15 Monopoly In this chapter, look for the answers to these questions:  Why do monopolies arise? ... Why is MR < P for a monopolist?  How do monopolies choose their P and Q?  How do monopolies affect society’s well-being?  What can the government do about monopolies?  What is price discrimination? Economics PRINCIPLES OF N. Gregory Mankiw Premium PowerPoint Slides by Ron Cronovich © 2009 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning, all rights reserved 1 ... Competition, Economics, Microeconomics 1698 Words | 13 Pages Oligopoly Examples Google 在线额外收入 绝佳的机会 执手可得，立即开始 Monopoly to Capitalism Oligopoly is the middle ground between monopoly and... capitalism.

An oligopoly is a small group of businesses, two or more, that control the market for a certain product or service. This gives these businesses huge influence over price and other aspects of the market. Since it is the middle ground, oligopoly examples are abundant in our economic system today. Monopoly A monopoly is exclusive control of the market by one business... Capitalism, Competition, Competition law 748 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly Market competition 2. Monopolistic Competition 3. Oligopoly 4. Monopoly What is the market Structure for Electricity industry in Sri Lanka?... One large player in the market dominates the electricity industry in Sri Lanka. After future analyzing the industry and its characteristics it is said to be best fitted as a monopoly. The segment below would justify why it belongs and holds its position as an monopoly. What is a Monopoly? “A Monopoly is a market structure in which there is only one producer/seller... Economic equilibrium, Economics, Market clearing 1401 Words | 5 Pages The Ecological Indian edition and you are responsible for the material as it appears in the 9th Edition. Raymond Krech. The Ecological Indian. The Ecological...

Indian Book Review: For this assignment you will be required to answer five questions (20 points each) and integrate concepts, theories and ideas from your textbook (chapters 1-4) that help explain the issues you encounter in this book. Provide examples from the book in support of each of your answers and do not use quotations at length (maximum 4 lines). Please... Allyn & Bacon, Amerigo Vespucci, Answer 805 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly Market Structure A monopoly is a market structure where there is merely one manufacturer/supplier for a product. The lone business is the industry. Entrance... into such a market is controlled based on elevated costs or additional obstacles, which may be, political social or economic. In an oligopoly, there are simply a limited number of firms that create an industry. This top quality assemblage of firms has control over the price in addition to a, monopoly; an oligopoly also has extraordinary obstacles to admittance... Competition, Economics, Marketing 751 Words | 3 Pages What are the sources of Monopoly and wh ﻿What are the sources of Monopoly? A monopoly is defined as a market structure where one firm supplies all output in the industry...

without facing competition. Monopolies arise from barriers to entry, which make it difficult or even impossible for new firms to enter the market. These economic barriers include: - Control of natural resources that are critical to the production of a final product, including the uneven distribution of natural resources. For example, the fact that oil is concentrated... Innovation, Invention, Monopoly 1132 Words | 3 Pages Guarani Indians & Jesuit Relations ﻿Guaraní Indians and Jesuit Relations Beginning in 1609, the Jesuit Priests founded a widespread chain of missions, also known as... reducciones, in the borderlands of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Contrary to popular belief, as a result of the media from movies such as the Mission, these missions experienced an extremely tumultuous history. In fact, most Guaraní’s rejected Catholicism for decades and they did not willingly convert because they believed that Catholic principles greatly contradicted... Basque people, Church of the Jesuits, Ignatius of Loyola 1539 Words | 4 Pages Indian Suffrage Indian Suffrage Before the English arrived in the New world and began creating colonies, the American Indians lived in harmony...

and peace with natures. The American Indians were skilled hunters, farmers and used everything in their environment for survival or for essential necessities. They shared the land together and moved about freely in search of food. The American Indians never considered the lands their property because it's belong to God and no one have the right to buy, sell, nor own... Dawes Act, Genocide, Indian 1474 Words | 4 Pages Perfect Competition and Monopoly Question 3 Perfect Competition and Monopoly (a) I. Explain perfect competition and monopoly market structures, and... identify the key factors that distinguish them. Perfect Competition Market In economic theory, the perfect competition is a market form in which no producer or consumer has the power to influence prices in the market. According to the website wordIQ.com, in order to classify the market is a perfect competition market, the market must match below criteria: 1. There... Competition, Economics, Externality 1734 Words | 6 Pages Mickey Mouse Monopoly 1. Describe three specific example of how Disney movie can unintentional create roles certain groups of people through socialization. Disney... creates gender roles, racial roles, and white supremacy through socialization within their motion pictures.

For example, Walt Disney’s “Snow White”, “Fantasia”, and even “The Little Mermaid” all show females as obscenely beautiful, male dependent and flirtatious creatures who couldn’t save themselves from a Chinese finger trap. Males are the perfectly sculpted... Abuse, Bullying, Love 996 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly: Economics and Monopolistic Competition Monopoly was mentioned in The Code of Hammurabi for the first time (The earliest law in the world, 1792 to 1750 B.C). In Marxian Economics,... monopoly means someone who controls the price, commodity circulation and funds to cash with strong financial resources. American economists’ E. H. Chamberlain (The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Harvard University Press, 1969) said： “The causes of the monopoly are the government’s special permission, technology and key resource monopoly and natural monopoly... Competition, Economics, Marginal cost 978 Words | 4 Pages Mlb Monopoly Market Structure Title page Major League Baseball (“MLB”) Monopoly Structure Andrew C. Brniak andrewbrniak@yahoo.com Content...

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...page 1 Subtitle 1 ……………………………….………………….………………………… page 1 Subtitle 2 ……………………………….………………….………………………… page 1, 2 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....... page 3 References………………………………………………………………………....... page 3 Major League Baseball (“MLB”) Monopoly Structure Introduction Major League Baseball (“MLB”) is the only American... Cartel, Chicago White Sox, Competition law 553 Words | 3 Pages Monopolies A monopoly exists when it has total control over a particular market and controls the supply and demand for that particular good or service.... An oligopoly is a structure of a market in which only a few companies own or control the industry There are natural monopolies in the economy as well which are necessary to keep the economy progressing. Oligopolies exist because of the control over the supply of a good or service is in the hands of only a select few. They can influence the prices as well... Competition, Economics, Microsoft 487 Words | 2 Pages Monopoly Monopoly In our life, electricity is very importance and this is one of necessary things we use in everyday. In Vietnam, there is big...

corporation supply electricity for whole country which is EVN and the market of electricity in Vietnam is the monopoly. First of all, while perfect competitive market has many buyer and seller, monopoly is the market which has only one firm supplying the whole market. As the results, monopoly creates the unique product which dose not has close substitutes. Of... Barriers to entry, Copyright, Market power 510 Words | 2 Pages Eco204 Potato Chip Monopoly Potato Chip Monopoly ECO204: Principles of Microeconomics Instructor: A monopoly is an industry composed of only one... firm that produces a product for which there are no close substitutions and in which significant barriers exist to prevent new firms from entering into the industry (Case, 2009). In a different definition, it can be distinguished by a lack of financially viable competition to produce the goods or services as well as to substitute goods. Monopolies often refer to a procedure... Competition, Economics, Marketing 1755 Words | 5 Pages A Monopoly from Start to Finish to maneuver in the business market and I would like to refresh your mind by offering a clear definition. A Monopoly is a situation in which an...

entity, either an individual or an industry or organization, is the sole supplier of a particular good or service. As such, this supplier has no competition from other suppliers and is able to control the market value of the commodity. Some monopolies are government-enforced or controlled, while others form naturally or through company merger. According to... Competition, Economics, Market structure 1175 Words | 3 Pages INDIAN LITERATURE ﻿I. INTRODUCTION Indian Literature, literature in the languages of India, as well as those of Pakistan. For information on the literature... written in the classicial language,Sanskrit,.The Indian literary tradition is primarily one of verse and is also essentially oral. The earliest works were composed to be sung or recited and were so transmitted for many generations before being written down. As a result, the earliest records of a text may be later by several centuries than the conjectured date... Hindi, India, Kannada language 2069 Words | 5 Pages Indian Givers Indian Givers How the Indians of the Americas transformed the world By J. McIver Weatherford This paper tries to explain...

Jack Weatherford's Indian Givers by examining the history of the Native American connection to many agricultural products would not have been produced without the knowledge that Indians gave. Weatherford further stipulates that it is through these advances in agriculture that the United States has remained a strong contender in the global market, that without the influences... Americas, Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Americas 983 Words | 3 Pages Indian Psychology The term Indian Psychology refers to the Psychologically relevant materials in ancient Indian thought. Usually this term does not... cover modern developments in Psychology in India. Modern Psychology at the beginning of the century emphasized sensation, perception and psychologists in India took out Indian theories of sensation and perception from the classics and created an Indian Psychology. For example Indian theories emphasise the notion that in perception the mind goes out through the senses... Bhagavad Gita, Brahman, Buddhism 843 Words | 3 Pages Indian Rupee INTRODUCTION The Indian rupee (sign: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is...

controlled by the Reserve Bank of India.[1] The modern rupee is subdivided into 100 paise (singular paisa), though as of 2011 only 50-paise coins are legal tender.[2][3] Banknotes in circulation come in denominations of ₹5, ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹500 and ₹1000. Rupee coins are available in denominations of ₹1, ₹2, ₹5, ₹10, ₹50, ₹100, ₹150 and ₹1000; of these, the... Crore, Devanagari, India 534 Words | 3 Pages Monopolies, Oligopolies and the Economy Monopolies, Oligopolies and the Economy Monopoly is a term to describe an industry where a seller of a product or service does... not have a competitor offering a close substitute. The word is derived from the Greek words monos (meaning one) and polein (meaning to sell). Rarely does a pure monopoly exist.

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Introduction Facts and figures 2. Indian Market I. Major Segments II. Buying Pattern of consumers 3. Scope of the Sector 4. Growth Factors 5. FMCG Analysis I. II. III. PEST SWOT Porter’s Five Force Model ... Colgate-Palmolive, Fast moving consumer goods, Good 1446 Words | 7 Pages Monopoly and American Dream Monopoly: Reinforcement of the American Dream Many board games are used to bring in family, friends, and even strangers to come together... and socialize. What many people do not know is that sometimes these games teaches our society the values, skills, and social statuses in each individual’s life. Video games such as Medal of Honor or Call of Duty teach young teens (even children), the American pride of being a soldier. Board games such as Life teaches individuals about life in general or what... Board game, Free Parking, Game 1033 Words | 3 Pages Monopoly Topic: Monopoly and Monopolistic competition Macedonian telecommunication Monopoly and monopolistic competitions, basic... concepts monopoly means a market situation in which there is only a single seller and large no. of buyers.

whereas monopolistic competition is a market situation in which there is large no. of sellers and large no. of buyers. in monopolistic competition, close substitutes are there in the sense that products are different in terms of size, colour,packaging,brand,price... Competition, Deutsche Telekom, Economics 12719 Words | 38 Pages Competition vs. Monopoly price of products sold. For example, when Wendy's introduced its $.99 value menu, several other companies implemented the same type of changes... to their menu. The demand for items on Wendy's value menu was so high because they were offering the same products as always, but at a discounted price. This change in market demand basically forced Wendy's competition to lower prices of items on their menu, in order to maintain their share of the market. The previous example illustrates the elasticity... Competition, Economics, Market power 968 Words | 3 Pages De Beers Monopoly Microeconomics July 29, 2013 Research Paper on Monopoly De Beers Monopoly A monopoly is a market... structure in which the number of sellers is so small that each seller is able to influence the total supply and the piece of the good or service.

A monopoly can be both legal and illegal depending on the market structure. Monopolies and free enterprise companies will abuse consumers by monopolizing a specific sector of business. The question of a monopoly is if they don’t exist is it in all fairness... Blood diamond, Cecil Rhodes, De Beers 1309 Words | 4 Pages

Question: A monopoly is where there is only one seller of a goods or service, what word is used for only one buyer?
Answer: Monopsony