In economics, market structure is the number of firms producing identical products.

The types of market structures include the following:

Monopolistic competition, also called competitive market, where there is a large number of firms, each having a small proportion of the market share and slightly differentiated products. Oligopoly, in which a market is dominated by a small number of firms that together control the majority of the market share. o Duopoly, a special case of an oligopoly with two firms. Monopsony, when there is only one buyer in a market. Oligopsony, a market where many sellers can be present but meet only a few buyers. Monopoly, where there is only one provider of a product or service. o Natural monopoly, a monopoly in which economies of scale cause efficiency to increase continuously with the size of the firm. A firm is a natural monopoly if it is able to serve the entire market demand at a lower cost than any combination of two or more smaller, more specialized firms. Perfect competition, a theoretical market structure that features no barriers to entry, an unlimited number of producers and consumers, and a perfectly elastic demand curve.

The imperfectly competitive structure is quite identical to the realistic market conditions where some monopolistic competitors, monopolists, oligopolists, and duopolists exist and dominate the market conditions. The elements of Market Structure include the number and size distribution of firms, entry conditions, and the extent of differentiation. These somewhat abstract concerns tend to determine some but not all details of a specific concrete market system where buyers and sellers actually meet and commit to trade. Competition is useful because it reveals actual customer demand and induces the seller (operator) to provide service quality levels and price levels that buyers (customers) want, typically subject to the sellers financial need to cover its costs. In other words, competition can align the sellers interests with the buyers interests and can cause the seller to reveal his true costs and other private information. In the absence of perfect competition, three basic approaches can be adopted to deal with problems related to the control of market power and an asymmetry between the government and the operator with respect to objectives and information: (a) subjecting the operator to competitive pressures, (b) gathering information on the operator and the market, and (c) applying incentive regulation.[1] Quick Reference to Basic Market Structures Market Seller Entry Seller Buyer Entry Structure Barriers Number Barriers Perfect No Many No Competition Monopolistic No Many No competition Oligopoly Yes Few No Oligopsony No Many Yes

Buyer Number Many Many Many Few

Quick Reference to Basic Market Structures Market Seller Entry Seller Buyer Entry Buyer Structure Barriers Number Barriers Number Monopoly Yes One No Many Monopsony No Many Yes One The correct sequence of the market structure from most to least competitive is perfect competition, imperfect competition, oligopoly, and pure monopoly. The main criteria by which one can distinguish between different market structures are: the number and size of producers and consumers in the market, the type of goods and services being traded, and the degree to which information can flow freely.

http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/gnp.html Country USA Japan Germany Britain France China Italy Canada Brazil Spain Mexico GNP Per Capita

$10,533 $38 $4,852 $2,242 $1,544 $1,543 $1,329 $1,260 $760 $715 $651 $578 $38 $27 $26 $26 $1 $22 $24 $4 $16 $6 $11 $0.5 $24 $27

South Korea $515 India Australia Netherlands $510 $444 $429

Taiwan Argentina Switzerland Sweden Belgium Russia Austria Turkey Poland Indonesia Thailand

$363 $300 $286 $275 $264 $252 $226 $212 $188 $174 $132

$16 $8 $39 $31 $26 $2 $27 $3 $5 $0.8 $2

Country % of Global GDP % of World Population USA Japan Germany Britain France China Italy Canada Mexico Spain 32.9% 13.4% 6.0% 4.6% 4.2% 3.7% 3.5% 2.3% 2.0% 1.9% 4.65% 2.09% 1.36% 0.99% 0.97% 20.84% 0.95% 0.51% 1.62% 0.65%

Purchasing-power parity (2003)

Rank PPP total PPP/capita Population ($ billions) ($) (million) European Union 10,840 28,600 379 USA 10,400 37,600 290 Country

1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23 . 24.

China (mainland) Japan India Germany France Britain Italy Russia Brazil South Korea Canada Mexico Spain Indonesia Australia Turkey Iran Netherlands South Africa Thailand Taiwan Argentina Poland

5,700 3,550 2,660 2,180 1,540 1,520 1,440 1,350 1,340 931 923 900 828 663 528 468 456 434 432 429 406 391 368

4,400 28,000 2,540 26,600 25,700 25,300 25,000 9,300 7,600 19,400 29,400 9,000 20,700 3,100 27,000 7,000 7,000 26,900 10,000 6,900 18,000 10,200 9,500

1,287 127 1,049 82 60 60 57 144 182 48 32 104 40 234 19 68 68 16 42 70 22 38 38