oligopoly
nounUK /ɒlɪˈɡɒpəli/ · US /ˌɑləˈɡɑpəli/
Etymology PIE word *h₃ligos From oligo- (prefix meaning ‘few; several’) + -poly (suffix meaning ‘pertaining to the number of sellers in a market’), by analogy with monopoly.
1
Economics, Sciences An economic condition in which a small number of sellers exert control over the market of a commodity.
- Because of the ease of collusion, particularly price fixing, duopolies and oligopolies easily produce outcomes as bad for the general public as outright monopolies.
- For the sheep are falling into few and powerful hands; and these, if they have not a monopoly, have at least an oligopoly, and can keep up the price.1866 October 1, Frederic Seebohm, “The Oxford Reformers of 1498. Chapter VII.”, in George Henry Lewes, editor, The Fortnightly Review, volume VI, number XXXIV, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, section 3 ([Thomas] More Drawn into Court. His Introduction to the “Utopia” (1516)), page 489:
4 more examples
- [Thomas] More makes an antithesis between monopolium and oligopolium. We have ‘monopoly,’ but not ‘oligopoly’ (the sale by a few), and so cannot preserve the point of the sentence.[1895, J[oseph] H[irst] Lupton, “The Fyrste Boke of the Communycacion of Raphaell Hythlodaye Concernynge the Best State of a Commenwealthe”, in Thomas More, translated by Ralph Robynson, The Utopia of Sir Thomas More: In Latin from the Edition of March 1518, and in English from the First Edition of Ralph Robynson’s Translation in 1551 […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, footnote 2, page 55, column 2:
- An embarrassing infelicity is the use of Russianised consonants, where for six of the consonants, an additional set is made by supersigns, representing the letter h. […] The specialist offices have it all to themselves; not a 'monopoly’, but an ‘oligopoly’, if we may coin the term.1907 April, G. Macloskie, “[General Literature.] The Gospel of Matthew in Esperanto.—La Evangelio Sankta Mateo lau Dro. Martin Luther Tradukita en la Lingvon Internacian Esperanto de W. B. Mielck kaj Fr. Stephan, kun Antauparolo de Lic. Dr. Alfred Jeremias Pastro de la Lutheran-preghejo kaj Docento de la Universitato en Leipzig. Leipzig, 1906. J. C. Hinrichs. pp. vii, 66. [book review]”, in The Princeton Theological Review, volume V, number 2, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 352:
- The major difference between pure and differentiated oligopoly cases is that in pure oligopolies less "shock" is needed to alter the organization of the market.1967, John C. Narver, “The Competitive Effects of Conglomerate Mergers”, in Conglomerate Mergers and Market Competition (Publications of the Institute of Business and Economic Research, University of California), Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, published 1969, →OCLC, page 126:
- Although the power source had shifted from the king's near monopoly into an elite oligopoly, the masses were still afflicted when they sought wood fuel. But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tile makers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. This only magnified the indispensable nature of the oligopolists.2006 September, Edwin Black, “Power Struggle”, in Internal Combustion: How Corporations and Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 16:
- Derived terms
- oligopolic, oligopolist, oligopolistic, oligopolistically, oligopolize
- Related terms
- oligarchy, market power, price gouging
- Coordinate terms
- duopoly, monopoly, oligopsony, polypoly, quadropoly, quintopoly, triopoly