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Key feature that distinguishes oligopoly from monopoly
The disadvantages of oligopoly
The disadvantages of oligopoly
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Oligopoly is a market structure in which only a few sellers offer similar or identical products. It is an intermediate form of imperfect competition. OPEC is an epitome of Oligopoly.
Features of Oligopoly:
• Non Price Competition
• Interdependent decision making
• Entry Barriers
If organizations behave in cooperative mode to mitigate the competitions amongst themselves it is called Collusion. When two or more organizations agree to set their outputs or prices to maintain monopoly it is called as collusive oligopoly.
OPEC acts as a cartel. If OPEC and other oil exporters did not compete, they could ensure much higher prices for prices for everyone.
Output quotas of its members produced staggering price increases (from $1.10 to $11.50 per barrel in the early 1970's, and up to $34.00
in the late 1970's: an increase of 3400% in ten years).
The relative success of OPEC can be attributed to the following advantages it has enjoyed relative to other cartels:
1. The low price elasticity of oil demand implies that moderate output restrictions increases price in short run - a favorable environment for a cartel. In 1973 OPEC output
contributed two-thirds of the total world oil production.
2. In 1975 OPEC countries had a substantial market power of 70 %.
3. The effectiveness of OPEC is further enhanced since just four countries
(Saudi, Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Venezuela) regulate 75% of OPEC’s oil
reserves,.
4. Exploration, production and building new supplies is time consuming and this mitigates the threat of any challenge to OPEC from increased production by non members.
5. Policies of oil importing nations like US have benefitted
OPEC e.g. low prices discouraging production and exploration ;environment ...
... middle of paper ...
...llocation of resources closer to the social optimum, policymakers try to induce firms in an oligopoly to compete rather than cooperate through instrument of antitrust laws. Regulatory bring legal suits to enforce the antitrust laws for example to prevent mergers leading to excessive market power prevent.
Conclusion:
• Collusive oligopolies is more like a monopoly. However it is very fragile since self interest to earn maximum profit of member can tip off the balance and can lead to price war.
• The success of collusive oligopoly is quite dependent on the number of firms involved and their level of cooperation.
• It can be observed that it is difficult to maintain cartels in the long run with an exception of OPEC.
• Policymakers regulate the behavior of oligopolists through the antitrust laws. The proper scope of these laws is the subject of ongoing controversy.
“Processor Editorial Article - Antitrust Laws: Not Just For The Big Boys.” Editorial.Processor 19 Nov. 2004: 27+. Processor.com. Web. 29 Nov. 2011 .
Both the CEO of Exxon, Lee Raymond, and the CEO of Mobil, Lucio Noto, announced that it is because of this reduction in prices and downsizing within the oil industry that the merger is taking place, the very nature of the oil industry was becoming increasingly competitive. The oil industry as whole was becoming more efficient, causing oil prices to fallr. Firms can only maintain their prices equal to or above marginal cost, and if prices are lower than marginal...
OPEC is an unstable cartel representing the same interest of the major players in the oil exporting nations. It had its time when it has been effective in raising up the price of oil allowing the member nations to obtain a significant amount of premium collected on behalf of their sovereigns for the cartel and to their loyalty. The essay summarizes a cause and effect that focuses on 2 sets of connection; the first is focused of OPEC’s lack of efficiency or formal mechanism of scoping the conflicts along with its members which result in consequences that affect the oil depended industry as the transportation industry, or the aviation companies making them highly vulnerable. Second set focuses on the results of the OPEC’s mismanagements and concerns for their finite oil reserves, which in the other hand triggers new market for new developments in discovering alternatives to oil.
Oligopolists are drawn in two different directions, either to compete with each other or to collude with each other. If they collude, they end up acting as monopoly and thereby maximising the industry's profits. However they are often tempted to compete with each other inorder to gain a bigger share of the profit of the industry.
The essential factor of an oligopolistic firm is interdependence. Oligopoly involves few producers, which means more than one producer as it is in pure monopoly but not so many as in monopolistic competition or pure competition where it is difficult to follow rival firms’ actions. Therefore, due to small number of producers on oligopoly market, the price and output solutions are interdependent. As a result, firms can cooperate or come to an agreement profitable for everyone. Therefore, they can increase, as it is possible, their joint profits (Pleeter & Way, 1990, p.129). Further, oligopoly is divided on pure, which is producing homogeneous products, and differentiated, producing heterogeneous products (Gallaway, 2000). Economists Farris and Happel insist that the more the product is differentiated, the more firms become independent, and the more the product differentiation, “the less likely joint profit maximization exists for the entire group” (1987, p. 263). Consequently, it is worth to be interdependent.
Such as the case of two major players in the entertainment community of Sirius and XM who both have a majority of the marketplace in the satellite radio business and their talks of consolidating both businesses into one. This article on Ars Technica (Lasar, 2008) expands on the idea that these corporate entities should not be allowed to merge into one corporation, but above that should also be fined for even considering the idea in back rooms and locked boardrooms. Using the model case of the Sherman Anti-Trust act in Standard Oil, the corporation floated around having anywhere between eighty five percent and ninety five percent. With those numbers, XM and Sirius would fall into the numerical category of filling that condition of a monopoly.
AntiTrust Laws Introduction Competition in economics is rivalry in supplying or acquiring an economic service or good. Sellers compete with other sellers, and buyers with other buyers. In its perfect form, there is competition among many small buyers and sellers, none of whom is too large to affect the market as a whole; in practice, competition is often reduced by a great variety of limitations, including monopolies. The monopoly, a limit on competition, is an example of market failure. Competition among merchants in foreign trade was common in ancient times, and it has been a characteristic of mercantile and industrial expansion since the Middle Ages.
In 1970 oil reserves became more scarce, leading to a decrease in production, while consumption continued to grow rapidly (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In order to fill the gap between rising demand and falling supply of oil, the United States became more and more dependent on imported oil, primarily from Arab countries in the Middle East. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). As the U.S and many other countries became highly industrialized nations, they became even more dependent on oil imports. With demand being higher than the actual amount of supply, prices kept rising reaching a peak of $140 a barrel in 2008. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011).
Monopoly is when a business or a single company owns nearly all its market for a given type of product and services. There is no competition in monopoly and the price of a specific product is set by the monopoly itself. Therefore, a monopoly's price is the market price and demand are market demand; the firm and the industry are the same. It can charge higher prices at any output consequently, consumers will not be able to substitute the good or service with a more affordable alternative. Monopoly’s soul goal is to make profit at any price and quantity. Still to this day, monopolies do exist but at a smaller scale.
In the short run, oligopolies are. able to earn abnormal profits, but in the long run as well they are. able to sustain abnormal profits due to the barriers to entry and exit. Then the s The barriers act as a strong deterrent to firms that want to come in. the industry and " eat into" the abnormal profits and then exit the market.
Another key cause to the price inflation issue is the extended period of bitterly cold weather that loomed in the northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. throughout the winter months. This led to an “increased demand in home heating oil, which is widely used in the region and is virtually identical to diesel fuel” (Lang1). This increased demand for fuel coupled with the restrictions on exported oil allowed OPEC to jack up their prices an exorbitant amount in a relatively short period of time.
...ur; in such cases, competition authorities must act to fight unlawful practices that are detrimental for the economic welfare.
Crude oil is a strategic product, in the sense that it is a most necessary fuel for all industries of nations in the world. While crude oil is a most strategy input for productions, transportations, and national defends, whoever have control over this source of energy will dominate over other countries, so in addition to supply and demand factors that affect the price, consumers must pay attention to the producers and export countries that can use this product as a weapon. Such as during and after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the oil giant Saudi Arab, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo against the United States and other Western European countries, which including the Netherlands, Portugal,
In the long run OPEC has caused many problems between the oil industry and its consumers, as well as the international relations between the Middle East and the rest of the world. Its effects on the oil industry has left them simply bureaucracies instead of separate entities with their own power. Unfortunately it has also left the Middle East a highly volatile region. It has suffered manipulation, assault, and reckless abandon due to its abundance of oil. Modernly the Middle East continues to suffer because of their oil curse and will continue to be a problem in international relations because it is of such interest.
Dermot Gately, “What Oil Export Levels Should We Expect From OPEC?,” The Energy Journal 28, 2 (2007): 151-173