Competition in these markets, therefore, is unlikely to be on the basis of product innovation. Service innovation is possible to some degree with the Internet, but there are only so many ways to deliver insurance -- it is a product centuries old and not subject to much innovation. In a market like this, service and price are two methods of gaining competitive advantage. Private insurance firms use proprietary actuarial

In this case, the average total cost will continue to decline as the scale of production increase, because fixed (or overhead) costs are being spread over higher and higher levels of output" (Natural monopoly, 2010, Tutor2U). According to economic theory, it is efficient to allow for a natural monopoly because competition would require too large of a diversion of available resources for a competitor. When natural monopolies exist, they

Instead, IBM began to falter after a series of product failures. As a result, many companies gained market share against IBM with some even over taking it; an efficient market took care of the issue. Yet, another example of why government should not interfere with market structures is the airline industry. After 1978, the airline industry was quickly transformed into an oligopoly market structure where only a half dozen or

Both of these moves broke the monopoly. The Canadian government broke Bayer's monopoly and the second company moved into the market, creating a temporary oligopoly. The influx of Cipro from Mexico represented a substitute product, thereby breaking Cipro's American monopoly. This lowered the price of the drug until demand subsided -- note that it was demand that subsided and not supply. This despite the fact that the monopoly-granting patent protection

The composite raw materials of dry cell batteries and the ingredients in vitamins are equally available to any entity wishing to enter those markets. Moreover, there is little to distinguish the products of different manufacturers in those areas besides packaging and branding because the products themselves are essentially identical. Many consumer services such as hair dressing and auto repairs also represent perfect competition scenarios because the barriers to entering the

CSR The economic system of the United States is based on the fundamental principle that the free market, with limited government intervention, is the most efficient economic system. Free markets do a better job of creating and distributing wealth than other economic systems. Yet, there still needs to be some government influence on the markets because only government can serve as a counterweight to business, to protect the interests of both