Principles of Economics/Perfect Competition

Perfect competition

There are generally four types of markets that economists analyze:

Perfect competition
Monopoly
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly.

The first one is the simplest and thus best suited to an introductory economics course; however, it is incredibly unrealistic; practically no industry operates under that system. However, it provides a variety of insights, and some industries, such as agriculture, come relatively close.

In perfect competition, the following are true:

All producers contribute insignificantly to the market. Their own singular production levels do not change the supply curve.
All producers are price takers. They cannot influence the market.
Producers may enter and exit the market freely -- in other words, no barriers to entry exist in the market.
Producers alter their quantity produced, and may enter or leave the market, to bring the market equilibrium point to the intersection between the demand and supply curve (you will learn why in the Microeconomics section).
The goods sold by producers are standardized, meaning that the goods sold cannot be distinguished from other goods.
There are a large amount of buyers and sellers within that market.
Each buyer and seller is well-informed about the market prices of a given good or service.