Market Structures Economics Unit 4, Lesson 2 Amount and Degree of Competition among Firms Competing in the same Industry ©2012, TESCCC
Industry All the sellers of the same or similar product Example: Automobile industry ©2012, TESCCC
Market The buyers The sellers The product The price ©2012, TESCCC
Market Structure Identifies the amount of competition in an industry If we can identify the amount of competition in an industry, we’ll be able to say something about. Pricing Price competition ©2012, TESCCC
Perfect Competition Model does not exist Infinite number of sellers Consumers have access to all information. Sellers have no control over prices. Identical products Buyer does not prefer one item over the other. Most competitive ©2012, TESCCC
Imperfect Competition Three types of imperfect competition ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolistic Competition All conditions of perfect competition with product differentiation Non-price competition Most competitive of imperfect competition Most companies operate here ©2012, TESCCC
Oligopoly Few, large firms dominate the market (70-80% of the market concentration). Not as much competition- Firms have some control over prices. Price leadership Collusion Price fixing ©2012, TESCCC
Monopoly One seller No competition Legal types Natural Technological- Patent or copyright Governmental ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolies Natural It would be inefficient for more than one seller to operate. ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolies Technology Patent, copyright ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolies Governmental Government owned and controlled Example: US Postal Service ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolies Franchises or licenses Industrial organizations Cable companies Radio, TV, cell phones, broadband Industrial organizations NFL, NBA, etc. ©2012, TESCCC
Monopolistic Perfect Competition Competition Oligopoly Monopoly Most Least Continuum of Market Structures – Shows degrees of competition from most competition to least competition. ©2012, TESCCC
Price Discrimination Divide consumers into groups. Charge different prices to different sections of consumers. Examples? Movie theatre Senior citizen discounts Cleaners Airline tickets ©2012, TESCCC