Characteristics of Market Structures

L I S T E N I N G

I. a) Before you listen, discuss the following with you partner:

Perfect competition is really only an idea. It almost never happens in the real world. Why do you think this is? Can you think of any market that has perfect competition?

B) Now complete each sentence with words from the box. Then listen and check your answers.

1. Any market structure apart from perfect competition is called ___.

2. ___ is when there is only one seller of a good or service.

3. ___ is when only a small number of sellers control the market.

4. ___ is when there is only one buyer in the market for a product or service.

II. a) Before you listen, discuss this question with your partner.

What dangers might monopolies face?

B) Now listen to someone talking about the threats which face monopolies. Tick the things in the list that are mentioned.

1. rising variable costs

2. a fall in demand

3. a change in fixed costs

4. innovation by another company

5. takeover from a foreign company.

R E A D I N G

I. Read the following text. For each gap choose the best word A, B, or C. Make up a plan of the text. Before reading study the following economic terms:

monopsony – a buyers’ monopoly, a situation in which there is only one seller.

oligopsony – the situation in a market where there are only a limited number of buyers.

cartel – a group of producers or sellers who combine to avoid competition and increase profits by fixing prices and quantities.

conglomerate – a large corporation, or a group of companies, marketing a large number of different goods or services.

The rare situation in which all producers are too small to affect the price is called (1) ___. Where even one producer can affect the price of a good by increasing or withholding output there is (2) ___. A market with only one producer who can fix an artificial price is called a (3) ___. The opposite situation, where there is only one buyer – e.g. for defense systems – is described as (4) ___.

The situation where there are only a few sellers is called (5) ___. This frequently arises in manufacturing industry because of economies of scale – continuously declining unit costs as production increases – and the costs barriers of entering an industry. A (6) ___ is where companies in the same industry collaborate by coordinating prices, sharing out markets, etc. In many countries, including the USA, this is illegal, under (7) ___. The situation in which there are only a small number of relatively large buyers in a market is (8) ___.

Some monopolies are legal. For example, inventors are granted (9) ___ that give them monopolistic privileges for a certain length of time. There are also natural monopolies, such as water, gas, electricity and telephones where it may not be economic to have a large number of competing companies laying cables or pipes to the same consumers. Consequently, (10) ___ companies such as these are frequently granted monopolies, but with prices regulated by the government.

1. A communism B oligopoly C perfect competition

2. A capitalism B monopoly C imperfect competition

3. A competitive advantage B monopoly C monopsony

4. A nationalization B monopoly C monopsony

5. A an oligopoly B an oligopsony C a recession

6. A cartel B conglomerate C conspiracy

7. A anti-trust laws B honesty laws C trust laws

8. A a concentration B an oligopoly C an oligopsony

9. A licenses B patents C trademarks

10.A useful B utility C utilitarian

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: