In: Economics
Compare the three types of market structure: perfect competition, monopoly and monopolistic competition.
POINTS OF COMPARISON | PERFECT COMPETITION | MONOPOLISTIC COMPETITION | MONOPOLY |
Meaning | It a market situation which consists of a large number of buyers and sellers each of whom is well informed about the market conditions,and so none of the buyers or sellers have control over price. | Monopolistic competition is a market structure where the producers sell differentiated products which are close substitutes to each other. | Monopoly is a market situation where a single producer supplies a product which is highly unique,also there are strict barriers to entry in the monopoly. |
Number of sellers | There are a many small sellers | There are several small sellers | There exists only one big seller. |
Type of product |
Usually in a perfect competition same or very similar homogeneous products are sold. For example agricultural produce. |
In a monopolistic competition differentiated products are sold.They may seem same but are differentiated For example.Eateries. |
There is a single unique product sold in monopoly which has no substitutes For example elactricity. |
Size of the firm | Small firms operate in the perfectly competitive market. | Small as well as medium sized firms operate in a monopolistic competition. | Very large firms operate in a monopoly. |
Entry and exit into the market | It is a free market structure in case of perfect competition and there is no barrier to entry or exit from the market | These markets contain a few barriers to entry and exist due to competition among the firms | Entry or exit in monopoly is very restricted.There is a strong control over the entry of a new firm. |
Consumer Demand | Demand for the product remains constant in perfect competition. | There is low demand for product in a monopolistic competition. | There is extremely high demand for the product in a monopoly. |
Government Interference | In a perfect competition firms face very little intervention from the government and operate freely | In case of a monopoly there is strict government intervention,as government imposes taxes on these firms,failure to pay which would result in the closure of the firms. | The government intervention in monopolistic competition is very limited and it depends on the kind of the firms,like for example a firm might have to obtain food permits etc. |
Pricing power of the seller | In perfect competition the seller has very little pricing power,he is usually the price taker. | In case of monopolistic competition the seller has relatively higher pricing power as compared to the perfect competition. | Here the seller enjoys a significant pricing power as he is the only seller in the market and can dictate the price of the product,thus he is the price maker. |