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By definition, oligopoly means 'a few firms'. The prefix olig- means 'few' in Greek (e.g.) oligarchy - 'rule of the few') and the suffix -poly is the description of a market.

Three reasons an oligopoly may persist even without artificial controls include: 1) the market has high entry costs, which serve as a barrier to entry to new firms because high capital costs provide strict economies of scale to larger firms; 2) the oligopolistic firms collude to control the market and prevent competitors entering; 3) leading firms out-compete new firms by artificially lowering prices, initiating a price war which the smaller firms can't afford as larger firms with more financial capital can.

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Q: Why is the number of firms small in oligopoly market.explain?
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Is Disney an oligopoly?

Disney is not an oligopoly. An oligopoly is a small number of firms who work together to sell a homogeneous or differentiated product. It is instead an industry that has many outputs of different products.


What kind of market structure is gm?

The market structure is called oligopoly. Oligopoly is a market structure characterized by a small number of relatively large firms that dominate an industry.


What are the characteristics of an oligopoly?

There are three main characteristics of oligopoly. They are industry dominated by a small number of large firms, the firms sell identical or similar products, and the industry has significant barriers to enter.


What are some example of opligopoly?

http://www.answers.com/library/Investment%20Dictionary-cid-57121 Oligopoly A situation in which a particular market is controlled by a small group of firms.An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market. In an oligopoly, there are at least two firms controlling the market.Investopedia Says:The retail gas market is a good example of an oligopoly because a small number of firms control a large majority of the market.


Can you use oligopoly in a sentence?

Oligopoly is a market with small number of buyers and sellers.


How do economist determine whether a market is an oligopoly?

A market is an oligopoly when a small number of sellers dominate a market or industry. Economists use a set of criteria to determine whether a market form is an oligopoly. These criteria include profit maximization conditions, ability to set price, high barriers to market entry, a small number of firms, long-run abnormal profits, product differentiation, perfect knowledge of cost and demand functions, interdependence on other firms' marketing strategies, and non-price competition.


What is the difference between cartel and oligopoly?

Monoply is a situation in which a single person or individual or a business dictates the whole system and people are dependent only on that single individual or business.While cartel is a situation where a group of businesses or companies work hand in hand instead of competing with each other to benefit themselves and not the consumer.In both conditions the consumer is the looser.


Is the diamond industry an oligopoly or monopolistic cometition?

The diamond industry is an oligopoly, or an industry dominated by a small number of large businesses.


Is public sector an oligopoly?

control of an industry by a small number of compaines


Is BP an oligopoly?

No, because of two reasons. An oligopoly is a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). BP is not a market form, but a global oil company. And BP is certainly not small.


What s the difference between monopoly and oligony?

The definition of monopoly is one firm in the marketplace selling a particular good. An oligopoly is when a small group of firms comprise the market for a particular good. In the real world, there may be several, or even many, smaller competitors to a monopoly or an oligopoly, but the monopolist or the oligopoly still controls the vast share of the market. For example, Standard Oil repeatedly drove new entrants out of the market before its breakup.


The market structure that is characterized by a small number of large firms that have some market power is called?

The market structure that is characterized by a small number of large firms that have some market power is called