What you’ll learn to do: describe and analyze oligopolies

Most of the firms that get talked about as “monopolies” today or that regulatory authorities pursue antitrust activities against are actually oligopolies, firms that have only a limited number of competitors. There are quite a few industries in the U.S. that are oligopolistic. Think about rental cars, or car manufacturers, or newspapers, or internet service providers.

In this section, you will learn what oligopolies are and why they exist. You’ll read about how some oligopolies are motivated to work together and collude to ensure higher profits, while others compete and act more like perfect competitors.