Abstract
Imperfect competitors are individuals or firms who face downward-sloping demand curves or upward-sloping supply curves for some product(s). This is to be contrasted with perfect competitors who, by definition, face perfectly elastic demand and supply curves for all products. Notice we define perfect competitors not just as price-takers, but as rational price-takers: perfect competitors cannot influence the levels of market clearing prices. By contrast imperfect competitors, by their presence, can influence some equilibrium prices. As simple as these definitions sound, they hold within themselves a world of meaning that we will explore a little in this entry.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Chamberlin, E.H. 1933. The theory of monopolistic competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Demsetz, H. 1959. The nature of equilibrium in monopolistic competition. Journal of Political Economy 67: 21–30.
Hart, O.D. 1985. Monopolistic competition in the spirit of Chamberlin. Review of Economic Studies 52: 529–546.
Head, J.G. 1962. Public goods and public policy. Public Finance/Finances Publiques 17(3), 197–219.
Kaldor, N. 1972. The irrelevance of equilibrium economics. Economic Journal 82(December): 1237–1255.
Makowski, L., and J.M. Ostroy. 1987. Vickrey–Clarke-Groves mechanisms and perfect competition. June: Journal of Economic Theory.
Robinson, J. 1933. Economics of imperfect competition. London: Macmillan.
Samuelson, P.A. 1954. The pure theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics 36(November): 387–389.
Samuelson, P.A. 1955. Diagrammatic exposition of a theory of public expenditure. Review of Economics and Statistics 37(November): 350–356.
Samuelson, P.A. 1958. Aspects of public expenditure theories. Review of Economics and Statistics 40(November): 332–338.
Samuelson, P.A. 1967. The monopolistic competition revolution. In Monopolistic competition theory: Studies in impact. Essays in Honor of Edward H. Chamberlin, ed. R.E. Kuenne, New York: Wiley.
Young, A. 1928. Increasing returns and economic progress. Economic Journal 38(December): 527–542.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Makowski, L. (2018). Imperfect Competition. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_944
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_944
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences