Imperfect competition

Start with the main market structures

Begin with General Notes for Imperfect Competition. The notes cover monopoly, monopolistic competition and oligopoly, including game theory. They describe how firms in an oligopoly take actions based on what they expect rivals to do. Use the notes to make a short list of features to look for as you study the other resources.

For a visual overview, open the mind map on market equilibrium with an imperfect competitor. It includes monopoly and polypoly alongside an imperfect market with few players on one side. Compare its terms with those in the notes.

Compare competition and oligopoly

The notes on monopolistic competition and oligopoly describe features of monopolistic competition, including small firms, differentiated products and some ability to set prices. The flashcard deck comparing monopolistic competition with oligopoly asks about the number of firms and barriers to entry. Study the notes first, then use the cards to check which features you can recall for each market structure.

There are also several mind maps titled Monopolistic Competition and Oligopoly. Their shared topic makes them useful options to explore alongside the notes and flashcards.

Check your understanding

The quiz on the economic problem, monopolistic competition and oligopoly asks how a monopolistically competitive firm resembles firms in other market structures. Try it after studying the comparison resources. When a question is difficult, return to a mind map or the notes and look for the feature involved before trying again.

Place the topic in Market Structures

Imperfect competition is one section of the Market Structures unit in Economics. The resources offer different ways into that section: for example, Monopoly, monopsony and monopolistic competition includes a definition of monopsony, while Type of Market introduces market power. Choose a map and a quiz to use together as you study the unit.