
Market Structures, by book definition, is
the nature and degree of competition
among firms operating in the same
industry. More simply put, market
structures are the ways in which the
market places for specific products are
grouped together. Economists have
divided this into three groups: perfect
competition, monopolistic competition
and oligopoly, and monopoly.

Each of the four specific market
structures have characteristics that are
the reason why these product markets
are grouped together. Each of you will
be asked to examine one of the market
structures in great detail. We will do an
activity which will allow all students to
become familiar with all 4 structures.
Perfect Competition
 Monopoly
 Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly


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
Now that each person has examined their own
section and has notes over it, you will join with
other individuals to create a poster of
information which will be shared with another
couple of groups upon completion.
I am looking for the poster to have a way that
neatly and accurately places all the
information in a manner which can be
understood by other students in the class.
I would also like to see 5 pictures which
represent examples of your type of market
structures.
Each group will take turns explaining and
presenting their information to the other
groups. As the information is being
presented, the students listening will be
taking notes on the provided hand outs.
 I will be collecting your individual notes
and the hand outs you are taking from
the other groups presentations

Monopolists and Oligopolists typically
have market power, or the ability to
control prices and output. Typically,
setting prices high and output low.
 With market power, we also see
predatory pricing, the process of using
power in the market place to set price
below that of cost to drive competitors
out of business.

A trust is when two or more businesses
join together in order to create a
structure that looks like a monopoly.
 Our government created antitrust
legislation in order to stop these
practices.
 Example is in 1890, the Sherman Antitrust
Act was established, outlawing mergers
and monopolies that limit trade between
states.

Over the years, government has
continued to bring new legislation into
the markets for proper regulation.
 Even though, many practices have been
outlawed over the years many
businesses have found ways to still
control the markets;


Read on page 157 and 158 in your text
read about Microsoft, Rockefeller/The
American Tobacco Company, and AT&T
and the reasoning for why our
government felt the need to regulate on
each of them. Write a 5 to 7 sentence
paragraph explaining it in your own
terms what happened in each situation.
Occurs when a company joins with
another company or companies to form
a single firm;
 Sometimes our government will also
regulate/not allow mergers for fear of
them gaining market power. They will
always ask themselves what will be the
effect on the market due to the merger.

Government is now willing to no longer
decide what role each company can
play in a market and how much it can
charge its customers.
 Both deregulation and antitrust laws
have the same purpose: to promote
competition.


On page 160, read about Airline
Deregulation and explain all of the
results from this deregulation.