What is the word when a "monopoly" is more than one company (i.e. Gas Companies)?
Answer:
duopoly is when there are only two sellers, or two groups that share the market. A person said Cartel, which is a correct synonym for an Oligopoly. Oligopoly is when a market is controlled by a small group of firms.
Cartel
Oligopoly, sugar-knees
CORPORATION..CONGLOMERATION..
conglomerate? hope this helps!!
conglomerate
a monopoly cant be more than 1 company. a corperation can be more than 1 tho.
http://www.answers.com/monopoly&r=67.
Do you mean several companies acting like a monopoly? That is a cartel (and forbidden in many countries). Or do you mean a market where there are only few companies? That is an oligopoly.
A duopoly is when two companies control the marketplace for a particular good or service, like Coka and Pepsi. An oligopoly is when just a few firms produce all or most of the market supply of a particular good or service.
I believe that would be a "cartel."
If it's a group of craftsman, it's a "guild."
If it's a group of laborers, then the monopoly is call a "union."
Groups of companies in the US are restricted in their abilities to form cartels and monopolies because of the Sherman Anti-Trust act. They are not allowed to conspire to set prices, and must set their own based on costs and market demand. If they do conspire with each other, they can be fined or imprisoned. The exception to this is that the US Government can set subsidies, or minimum prices, on certain industries.
Some companies, like municipal utilities, will hold a monopoly over a certain area, but they are usually controlled by a form of Pubic Utilities Commission.
Unions are exempt from the Sherman Anti-Trust act. They set their prices according to contracts, and can work together to raise their income and benefits. Of course, if they get too greedy, then the company usually moves it's production elsewhere and doesn't contract with the unions any longer.
Guilds were very important social and political forces in Europe in the middle ages, and have pretty much been relegated to the level of associations. They have no rights to keep non-Guild members out of the business, so their coercive force is now pretty weak. They share information and political lobbies and that's about it.
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a boon for free-enterprise capitalism. Its text can be found by Yahhoing "Sherman Anti-Trust Act" and picking the site for www.stolaf.edu/
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