Revisiting the Market Equilibrium Do the equilibrium price and quantity maximize the total welfare of buyers and sellers? Market equilibrium reflects the way markets allocate scarce resources. Whether the market allocation is desirable is determined by welfare economics
Imperfect Competition Imperfect competition refers to those market structures that fall between perfect competition and pure monopoly. Imperfect competition includes industries in which firms have competitors but do not face so much competition that they are price takers
Monopoly While a competitive firm is a price taker, amonopoly firm is a price maker. A firm is considered a monopoly if . . . – it is the sole seller of its product. – its product does not have close substitutes
