Monopoly- the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or

service.

Characteristics

Profit Maximizer: Maximizes profits.

Price Maker: Decides the price of the good or product to be sold, but does so by determining the
quantity in order to demand the price desired by the firm.

High Barriers: Other sellers are unable to enter the market of the monopoly.
Single seller: In a monopoly, there is one seller of the good that produces all the output. Therefore, the
whole market is being served by a single company, and for practical purposes, the company is the same
as the industry.

oligopoly - is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of

sellers (oligopolists). Oligopolies can result from various forms of collusion which reduce
competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.
Profit maximization conditions
An oligopoly maximizes profits .
Ability to set price
Oligopolies are price setters rather than price takers.[2]
Entry and exit
Barriers to entry are high.[3] The most important barriers are government licenses, economies of
scale, patents, access to expensive and complex technology, and strategic actions by incumbent
firms designed to discourage or destroy nascent firms. Additional sources of barriers to entry
often result from government regulation favoring existing firms making it difficult for new firms to
enter the market.[4]
Number of firms
"Few" a "handful" of sellers.[3] There are so few firms that the actions of one firm can influence
the actions of the other firms.[5]
Long run profits
Oligopolies can retain long run abnormal profits. High barriers of entry prevent sideline firms from
entering market to capture excess profits.
Product differentiation
Product may be homogeneous (steel) or differentiated (automobiles). [4]

Monopolistic competition is a type of imperfect competition such that many producers sell
products that are differentiated from one another (e.g. by branding or quality) and hence are not
perfect substitutes.
Duopoly - a

situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or

service.
Monopsony is a market form in which only one buyer interfaces with would-be sellers of a particular product.