The Impact Of Monopoly

The game of Monopoly is one that many people know and one that may bring an end to many relationships. However, what many people do not realize is that the game is based on an issue that greatly affects consumers (often negatively)- monopolistic markets. As quoted in the article “How Monopolies Impact the Economy”, a monopoly “is a business that's the only provider of a good or service that gives it a tremendous competitive advantage over any other company that tries to provide a similar product” (Amadeo, 2017). The article gives reasons as to why monopolies are good for producers, yet terrible for consumers. Due to these reasons, the United States has created two major antitrust laws- laws aimed at eliminating collusion and promoting competition among firms- to try and eliminate the

The Sherman Antitrust Act “outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate and foreign trade. This includes agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers, which are punishable as criminal felonies” (“Antitrust Laws”, 2017). To put it simply, this act outlawed collusion and price fixing amongst firms selling the same products. “An unlawful monopoly exists when one firm controls the market for a product or service, and it has obtained that market power, not because its product or service is superior to others, but by suppressing competition with anticompetitive conduct” (“Antitrust Laws”, 2017). If you violate this Act, you are taking a huge risk- the maximum penalty for a Sherman Act violation is not only a one million dollar fine, but it can also carry a ten-year prison sentence (“Second Foreign”, 2017). While there have been many cases brought into the Supreme Court that dealt with Sherman Act violations, most have not been punished that harshly, but as one foreign exchange currency dealer, Citicorp, found out, it is not unheard of for that type of punishment to be handed