What is artificial monopoly. Artificial monopolies examples in russia. Monetary regulation in a transition economy

Monopoly (from the Greek. monos - one, only + poled - sell) in the narrow sense - this is the market dominance of one seller. However, in a broad sense, it means any dominant position of one or a group of persons in any sphere of activity. In particular, in the economy there are four variants of the monopoly (dominant) position of enterprises (Fig.5.6): the monopoly itself, the oligopoly (from the Greek. oligos - few + poleo), monopsony (from the Greek. monos + opsonia - purchase of food) and oligopsony (from the Greek. oligos + opsonia).

Figure: 5.6.

So, for example, if in a small town the only "serious" enterprise is, say, a bakery, then it may turn out monopolist in the local bakery market and monopsony in the labor market (as the largest buyer work force). At the same time, it is possible that the same bakery is in power oligopolists - two or three nearby mills supplying him with flour.

The main signs of monopoly in production and on the market there are the following three (Fig. 5.7): a high concentration of economic activity in the hands of one or several merged firms (according to the law of Russia - usually over 35%); dominant, i.e. prevailing, the position of these firms in the market for certain goods and the establishment monopoly prices (overpriced when selling and / or underestimated when buying goods) and thanks to this, getting super profits for yourself. The essence of self-serving action monopoly

Figure: 5.7.

hundred boils down to the fact that by deliberately reducing the number of its sales and thereby creating an artificial shortage in the market, he is seeking to increase the chain. In contrast to this monopsony, on the contrary, it reduces purchases from its suppliers (say, grain from farmers), creates artificial difficulties for them to sell products, thereby forcing them to reduce prices.

Monopoly natural and artificial

By origin, there are two main types of monopoly: natural and artificial (Figure 5.8). Natural monopoly arises and exists naturally, according to objective conditions. For example, in industries (automotive, gas, aluminum), where large-scale production is economically justified, providing greater efficiency, lower costs, and hence the ability to buy products at lower prices. Or where it is more expedient to have single economic complex (city metro, water supply, communications), since the division of these complexes into separate competing enterprises would lead to unjustified duplication of capital structures and increased costs. Finally, monopoly is natural in mining rare fossils, production rare varieties of tea, grapes, in the field of original artistic crafts, etc.

Such a monopoly eg, has a historical area Champagne (France), in which, according to French law, only the famous wine called "champagne" can be produced.

Or take a factory " Northern rabble "in Veliky Ustyug ( Vologda Region) - an ancient, many-domed, cozy city, worthily chosen as the homeland of the Russian Father Frost. This factory is a natural monopolist in the original blackening of silver, which took shape in the 18th century, and is now known not only in our Fatherland, but also abroad.

Figure: 5.8.

It's a different matter - artificial monopoly. This is a "man-made" monopoly, specially created way concentration in someone's hands of a certain economic activity. At the same time, in order to obtain market power and super-profits, strong companies either suppress their competitors (with the help of, say, dumping); or carry out the so-called hostile takeover rivals (buying up their shares, sometimes anonymously); or voluntarily unite with each other (usually by mutual exchange of shares) in different unions, so as not to compete, but to have the market in an orderly and profitable way. Historically, there are three main shape monopolistic unions: cartels, syndicates and trusts (Table 5.1). The main differences between them - in the breadth of agreements between the participants and the "density" of their association. So, the simplest and to this day common form is cartel. Its participants (producing homogeneous products - oil, sugar, coffee, bananas, etc.) agree on the division of markets, trade quotas and the level of the chain (who sells where, how much and how much). However, they are completely retain their economic independence - both industrial and commercial (trade).

Bright cartel example international scale - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC (abbreviation of the English name: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) - the main oil-producing states of Asia, Africa and Latin America striving to pursue a unified policy in the field of oil production and export. Established in 1960, OPEC at the end of the 20th century had 11 member countries: Algeria, Venezuela, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia... IN last years Russia also takes part in the work of the Organization as an observer.

OPEC was especially successful (for itself) in the 1970s (and even later). By negotiating production quotas and prices, its participants profitably dominated the world oil market and accumulated significant sums " petrodollars " on their accounts in Western banks.

Table 5.1

The main forms of monopoly unions

Forms of alliances	origin of name	Main clauses of agreements	Participant independence
Cartel	from ital. centа - document	about the division of markets about sales quotas about the price level	and production, and a commercial
Syndicate	from the Greek. syndikos - acting together	on trade quotas and prices on joint sales of products and procurement of raw materials	only production
Trust	from English trust - confidence	complete business combination	lose any independence

However, the civilized world tends to limit cartel agreements. Under these conditions, monopolists can resort, for example, to conspiracy (tacit agreement with each other) or use the so-called chain leadership (the leading firm in the industry sets the required price level, and the rest "silently" follow it).

Here's an example hidden carteling. In the early 1990s, a number of chemical and pharmaceutical companies in Western Europe and Japan, including the famous German concern BASF (an abbreviation for . Badische Appilip & Soda Fabrik - Baden aniline and soda factory), secretly conspired to gradually increase the prices of artificial vitamins A, B, C and E. However, their enrichment was short-lived. The story did come out, and the companies had to fork out for millions in fines and compensations but numerous lawsuits from robbed citizens.

Other pricing tricks are also used to increase income. So, for conjugated, complementary goods (say, a printer and ink to it) is installed "linked price system": for the main product (printer), the price is relatively low (to stimulate its sales), and for the accompanying product (paint), the price is too high (to obtain compensating excess profit). Another example: monopolists first sell new goods at increased "skimming prices" (for the "elite", wealthy buyers), and then reduced "penetration prices "- to win the wallets of the general public.

The second, closer form of union is syndicate. In it, as in the cartel, manufacturers of similar products usually unite. But in addition to their cartel agreement (on quotas and prices), they organize joint sales of products and purchase of raw materials through general trading network (the commercial independence of the participants, therefore, is lost here).

For example, those who created syndicate yogurt makers can (and) weaken mutual competition, (b) bring down the price of milk purchased from farmers and at the same time (in) more expensive to sell their products. As a result, they redistribute the income of both suppliers and consumers in their favor.

Finally, the third and closest monopoly alliance is trust. Enterprises included in it unite completely under a single management. It was these gigantic supermonopolies that were typical of the economy of the former USSR. Suffice it to mention the famous Aeroflot, numerous city associations (consumer services, trade in bakery products, canteen trusts, etc.), line ministries and central administrations with their rigid centralized management. All of them were absolute monopolists in their fields and dominated consumers. Trusts are the most powerful and antisocial manifestation of monopoly, so today they are prohibited in most countries of the world.

Sometimes so-called concerns may also be among the monopolists. Concern (from English, concern - firm, enterprise) is the main and very effective form of modern economic associations. Usually it is a large diversified (diversified) economic complex, which may include industrial, trade, banking and other enterprises, sometimes scattered across many countries of the world.

Their association around themselves provides a special institution - the so-called holding (from English, hold - hold, own) - the parent (holding) company that owns the shares of the members of the concern and, thanks to this, affects their activities.

Many concerns rely on a dense network of small and medium-sized enterprises and achieve high efficiency primarily through flexible capital maneuvering and channeling them into the most profitable sectors of the economy. At the same time, monopoly may develop in certain areas of the concern.

In conclusion, it is important to mention such a special form of economic unions as consortium (from lat. consortium - complicity, community). This is a temporary association of industrial, banking and other companies for the implementation of joint large business projects (construction of a tunnel, railway, creation of a new airliner, space station, etc.).

Dominate (from Latin dominans - dominant) - to dominate, to prevail, to be the main one: to rise above everything around.
Dumping (from English, dumping - dropping) - a massive release of goods into the market or valuable papers to the exchange at discounted prices in order to ruin and displacement competitors and market conquest.
Anonymous (from Greek anonymos - nameless) - unknown, nameless, without a name; hid his name.
Quota (from lat.quot - how much) - share, part, permissible norm of something (for example, production quota - permissible volume of production).

Natural monopolies are types of activities, the effectiveness of which is determined by the scale of production, in which it is most economical and profitable for one firm to produce all the necessary product and sell it at a certain price.

Artificial monopolies - associations created in order to obtain monopolistic benefits and based on the concentration in the same hands of production and the sales market for a product. They had several forms - random, stable and universal.

Bilateral monopoly - when one seller and one buyer acts on the market for a certain product.

Profit maximization by a monopolist:

The volume of issue that maximizes profit is determined in two ways:

o Comparisons MR \u003d MC, with P\u003e MR

o Comparison of TR and TC

Profit is highest when MR \u003d MC and when the difference between TR and TC is highest

The volume of production under monopoly conditions is lower, and the price is higher than under perfect competition.

· In monopoly conditions, the pricing method is used - price discrimination, as a method of increasing monopoly profits.

Monopolist's profit:

Point E 1 corresponds to outlet Q 1. This is the best output for buyers. For a monopolist, the optimal volume is Q 2. In a monopolized environment competitive industry a part of the consumer surplus is improved and redistributed in favor of the monopoly.

In perfect competition, consumer surplus is measured. Under a monopoly, it is evidently only a sum equal to.

The so-called irrecoverable losses of society represent - Haberler - this is the amount of net losses of society from monopoly power.
In 1929. it was 0.1% of GNP.

Price discrimination - selling the same goods to different buyers at different prices, provided that the price differences are not caused individual differences in the costs of production and sale of goods. Price discrimination is only possible in imperfectly competitive markets.

Discrimination:

The market should exclude or significantly limit the possibility of resale of goods (arbitration)

The seller must distinguish between buyers with different willingness to pay or with different elasticities of demand

A market in which customers are divided into groups is a segmented market.
Market segment - a group of buyers with the same curves.

Consequences of imperfect competition:

Severe underproduction of goods compared to the competitive level

Significant overpricing in comparison with the value that would have developed in perfect competition

A tendency to consistently make more than normal profits

Inappropriate use of resources

Pluses of monopoly:

Economies of scale contribute to lower unit costs

On the one hand, the ability of the monopolist to have economic profit gives him the opportunity to finance R&D

State policy in relation to monopoly:

Increased competition in monopolized industries

Antitrust policy

Regulation of monopoly behavior

Creation of state enterprises

System of National Accounts (SNA). Key macroeconomic indicators.

Economic indicators Are values \u200b\u200bor characteristics that show the state of the economy:

Indicators of the state and results of the functioning of the economy as a whole, which are often called aggregates

The number of employees, which is estimated monthly

Number of unemployed

Consumer price index (inflation)

A set of statistical macroeconomic indicators characterizing the state of the country's economy

SNA is a system of interrelated statistical indicators, built in the form of a certain set of accounts and tables that characterize the results economic activity country. Each SNS consists of 2 sides:

Resources and their use (the sum of resource records equals the sum of records in use)

The essence of the SNA is reduced to the formation of generalized indicators of the functioning of the economy at various stages of the reproduction process and the interconnection of these indicators.

The main indicators of the SNA are:

Gross national income (GNI)

Net Domestic Product (NPP)

Net national income (NPI)

National income (ND)

The main indicator of the SNA of Russia is GDP, which measures the cost of final products manufactured by residents of a given country for certain period time (usually a year).

Residents are all economic units (enterprises and households), regardless of their nationality, that have a center of economic interest in the economic territory of a given country.

Three ways to measure GDP:

· By value added (production method) - the value added at each stage of production of the final product is summed up. Value added is calculated as the difference between the value of goods and services produced (gross output) and the value of an intermediate product. Allows to take into account the contribution of various firms to the creation of GDP.

By cost (end-use method)

By income (distribution method)

GDP distortion problem:

GDP deflator (price index) - estimates the degree of inflation of all aggregates of goods.

GDP \u003d \u003d (nominal GDP / real GDP) * 100%,
- GDP of the analyzed period.
Nominal GDP - GDP measured at current prices.
Real GDP - GDP measured taking into account the price index (in constant prices)

Method of calculating GDP by expenditure:

All expenses for the acquisition of the final product are summed up: GDP \u003d C + I + G - x n.
C - consumer spending population
I - gross private investment in the national economy
G - state procurements goods and services
x n - private export (difference between export and import of a given country)

Method of calculating GDP by income:

· Salary

· Percent

Profit

· Indirect taxes

Depreciation

Other indicators in the SNA:

GNI takes into account the primary income received by residents of a given country in connection with their participation in production as the GDP of a given country.
GNI \u003d GDP + balance of primary income from abroad (export - import)
Balance of primary income from abroad \u003d income of residents of a given country

Nominal income \u003d wage + interest payments + corporate profits)

Many elements are connected in the SNA:

GDP, PVP

Personal income

Disposable income

NWP \u003d GDP - Consumption of Fixed Capital (Depreciation)
NPI \u003d GNI - consumption of fixed capital (depreciation)
ND \u003d PND - indirect taxes

Personal income \u003d ND - social security contributions - retained earnings from corporations + transfers - interest income + personal interest income (including interest on government debt).

Available LD \u003d LD - income tax from citizens.

GDP does not include:

· Important indicators (informal sector, household activities for own end use)

Shadow sector of the economy

· Impact of production on environment

Secrecy and closedness of information

Lack of information on external relations

The indicator of the net economic well-being of society:

CEB \u003d GDP - negative factors affecting welfare + non-market activity (in monetary terms) + monetary value of free time

PPP (purchasing power parity):

The number of monetary units of a given country required to purchase the same amount of goods and services in the market of a given country, which can be purchased for $ 1 in the US market

Consumer price index:

Reflects the dynamics of the cost of a basket of consumer goods and services, the main indicator of the inflation rate

It is the ratio of the value of a certain set of goods or services in a given period to the value of the same set in a certain base period, multiplied by 100%

Index - relative rate, which characterizes the change in prices over time.
ip \u003d p 1 / p 2 - individual price index.

Human Development Index:

Health and longevity

· Access to education

Decent standard of living

The ideal condition economic development farms - balance, coordination, balanced development, balance between resources and needs, social production and consumption, aggregate demand and assumption, savings and investment.

There is a cyclical nature in macroeconomic processes.

The economic cycle is the movement of the economy from one macroeconomic equilibrium to another on the scale of the national economy.
According to Marx, this is the movement of the economy from one crisis to another, a way of self-government of the economy.

Economic fluctuations:

Fluctuations in the actual volume of production around its potential value, which is achieved under the condition of full employment in the economy

Real GDP may deviate from normal, and these fluctuations are fixed by the GDP deflator

Fluctuations in the actual volume of output around potential GDP are characterized by an indicator called GDP (gap GDP):
gap GDP \u003d (Y - Y *) / Y *, where Y is the actual volume of production, Y *, the potential volume of production.

Potential GDP is the volume of production that is achieved when resources are fully employed.

An economic cycle is a period of time between two identical states of the economy.
Phases:

Recession, crisis

Depression

Revitalization

Economic cycle:

Rise (expansion):

Increase in production and employment to full employment

· High level business activity

High level of prices, wages and interest

Recession (crisis, recession):

The volume of production decreases, business activity decreases, unemployment rises

Low rate of trial percentage

Supply exceeds demand

High inflation

Depression:

· Production and employment reach their lowest level - the "bottom of the economy"

Stagnation in production

Low price level

Mass unemployment

Availability of free capital

Revitalization:

Gradual increase in the level of the judgment percentage

Increasing investment activity

Increased demand for capital, renewal of fixed capital

Increasing the level of production and employment

Reasons for hesitation:
External:

Changes in sun activity

Wars, revolutions

Discovery of new deposits of gold, uranium

Development of new territories, population migration

· Scientific discoveries

Internal:

Periodic depletion of offline investments

Reduced animation effect

Fluctuations in money supply

Fixed capital renewal

Personal consumption

Government policy (impact on production)

All-Russian State Tax Academy

Ministry of Finance Russian Federation

Department of "Economic Theory"

Course work

"Economic theory"

"Monopoly in the Russian Economy"

Completed:

Full-time student

Financial and Economic

faculty of VGNA

group NO-102 Alesin V.S

Supervisor:

Soloviev E.N

Introduction …………………………………………………………… ... 2

1) Natural and artificial Monopolies ……………………… 4

2) Equilibrium of the monopolist ………………………………………… .7

3) Natural monopolies - theoretical aspect ………………… 4

4) The role of natural monopoly in the economy ... ... ............................. 12

5) Monopoly in Russia: history of creation and development prospects ... 14

6) Antimonopoly regulation ………………………………… ... 22

Conclusion ………………………………………………………… .... 24

Appendix …………………………………………………………… ... 26

References ……………………………………………………… 27

Introduction

Regardless of whether an enterprise is a natural or artificial monopoly, each of these enterprises has monopoly power, that is, the ability to regulate the price of the goods produced by restricting supply. Monopolists often abuse this power in an attempt to restrict competition and thereby harm consumers. This phenomenon is called monopolistic activity, and this activity manifests itself in the form of price abuse. Monopoly enterprises abuse their special positions by setting either monopoly high or monopoly low prices

A special place in the problem of demonopolization of the economy belongs to the issue of reforming the natural monopoly of national importance: RAO UES, Gazprom and Ministry of Railways. The general concept of reforms is the separation of monopoly activities from potentially competitive ones, changes in the price and tariff policy of monopolist enterprises.

1) A monopoly is a situation in an industry in which the industry

there is only one firm

2) the good that she produces has no close substitutes,

3) there is no possibility of other firms appearing in the industry.

Such a firm, which has no "neighbors" in the industry, is the complete master of the position in the market for its goods. The output of this firm is the output of the entire industry, and the offer of this firm is the supply of the entire industry.

Thus, a monopolist (as a firm that has no competitors is called) has a unique opportunity to choose how much the entire industry will produce.

Moreover, the only firm in the market can choose the price of the good. A monopolist does not have to make decisions at a given price (unlike a firm operating in a competitive environment). For him, a market demand curve for his products is given, the position of which is determined by circumstances beyond his control (preferences and incomes of consumers).

Thus, the monopolist chooses both the price of his product and the volume of his supply.

1 natural and artificial monopolies in Russia

There are several possible reasons for the emergence of a monopoly (industries with a single firm), depending on which monopolies are conventionally divided into natural and artificial.

A natural monopoly is a situation where one large firm in an industry produces a good at a lower average cost than several small firms.

The reason for this situation may be economies of scale of production (the larger the output of a product, the lower the average cost of its production). A large firm can provide much lower average costs than a small firm. Consequently, the price of its product may be lower than that of a small firm.

These economies of scale can be attributed to the specific technological conditions of production.

One of best examples transport is such a natural monopoly. Some of the modes of transport require the existence of certain "lines" (a set of rails, wires, tunnels, or something else) along which cars with passengers or cargo move. For example, metro, trams or trolleybuses. For these industries, having two firms competing for the same customers turns out to be highly inefficient. Imagine that there are two trolleybus fleets in a city competing on the same route! Or three subways with intertwining tunnels serve the same routes at once!

The very possibility of the existence of such an "expensive" company as the metro is explained by the large flow of passengers, each of whom pays a low fee, but with a large number of passengers, this fee is enough to cover the costs. What will happen if two subways appear and this flow of passengers is divided into two parts? To cover the costs of "their" metro, each passenger will have to pay almost twice as much.

The same can be said for urban utilities (plumbing, sewerage, electricity, telephone, radio, etc.) economies of scale make it profitable for all these systems to exist in a single copy.

But a natural monopoly can be caused not only by technical conditions, but also by a relatively small volume of market demand. Imagine a boatman on a ferry between two small towns, carrying a dozen passengers a day with barely enough money to cover his expenses. Why are there two boatmen on this crossing? Or the production of nuclear icebreakers: if they only need to be produced 2 or 3 per year, how many firms can there be in this industry?

Since the reasons for such a monopoly do not depend on the actions of people, such a monopoly is called natural. But monopoly can also arise exclusively through the efforts of individual actors in the economy.

An artificial monopoly is a situation in which there is no reason for a natural monopoly, but there is only one firm in the industry, since one entrepreneur somehow gains control over the entire industry.

The reasons for this may be financial if one wealthy entrepreneur can (honestly or cunningly) buy up all the other firms in the industry and become the only manufacturer of this product.

The reason could be the possession of a unique resource or technology. For example, if one firm owns the only source of mineral water on the farm, it becomes the only seller of this good. Or if only one firm possesses the knowledge of the technological secret necessary for the production of some good, and others do not. The reasons for possessing such a secret may be different, the company may open this technology itself or may buy an exclusive right from its inventor.

In any case, under natural or artificial monopoly, other firms in the industry cannot emerge, and the only firm in the industry is the complete master of the situation.

2. Equilibrium of the monopolist

In essence, the choice of a monopolist is reduced to the choice of a point on the demand curve for its product. Suppose that in Fig. 1 shows the demand curve for the product of the monopolist. The monopolist can choose points A, B, C or any other point on the demand curve. Points lying above the demand curve are inaccessible to him. Why doesn't he pick a point that lies under the demand curve? Of course, he can choose such a point \u003d for example, point G \u003d produce the quantity Q 1 and sell it at the price P 1. But this will contradict his desire to get the maximum profit \u003d after all, he can easily raise the price to the value of P2 and increase his revenue by the area of \u200b\u200bthe shaded rectangle. Whatever quantity of the product the monopolist decides to put on the market, he will try to set the highest possible price on it.

Therefore, if the monopolist wants to get the maximum profit, then he must choose one of the points on the demand curve.

What point?

The answer to this question depends on the shape of the demand curve and the shape of the monopolist's average cost curve.

Suppose for simplicity that the demand curve for the monopolist's products is a straight line (see Figure 2). Let us also assume that we are dealing with an artificial monopoly, which was formed as follows. In the match industry, there was competition from several dozen roughly the same firms that had the same average cost of producing a box of matches. There was a long-term equilibrium in the industry in which all factories produced 1 million boxes, sold at a price equal to the average cost, and the economic profit of all firms was zero. Suddenly, an entrepreneur bought up all the firms in the industry and became a monopolist. What will he do?

In this case, the average production costs of the monopolist's matches can be considered the same for any output, since in order to change the output, it will simply close individual factories, leaving others to work in a "normal" mode.

To determine the price and volume of output that will bring him the greatest profit, the monopolist must enumerate all points on the demand curve, calculate the profit in each of them, and select the point at which the profit is maximum.

If the monopolist begins to gradually reduce output, he will find that this increases profits. For example, the release of 800 thousand boxes per week, he will be able to sell at a higher price of 15 rubles per box (point D on the chart). His revenue will thus amount to 12 million, the average cost is 8 million, and the profit will grow from zero to 4 million rubles!

If the monopolist decides to reduce the output a little more \u003d up to 600 \u003d thousand boxes per week, he will be able to raise the price to 20 rubles per box (going to point D) and his profit will already be 6 \u003d million rubles.

But if he reduces his output by another 200 thousand boxes and moves to point B, he will find that his profit has not changed, even though the price of a box has increased to 25 \u003d\u003d rubles. And if he further reduces the output and moves to point B, he will find that his profit has decreased to 4 million rubles.

3. Natural monopolies - theoretical aspect

The modern theory of natural monopoly has developed over the past few decades in the West, and is of great practical importance for the reform of domestic natural monopolies. In a sense, the theory of natural monopoly can be viewed as part of a more general theory of production organization and analysis of the structure of industries.

When using foreign experience, of course, one should take into account the additional difficulties associated with the transition processes in the Russian economy, which imply special requirements for the flexibility and adaptability of the reform strategies being formed, the stability of the results obtained to the dynamics of the economic situation. It should also be borne in mind the special genesis of Russian monopolies, which did not develop in a competitive environment, but were formed administratively in a centrally controlled system, the merging of the functions of state administration and management within a single entity, etc.

The concept of natural monopolies, which came from classical Western textbooks, is associated with the presence of economies of scale, understood as a decrease in long-term average costs as output increases. This seemed enough to illustrate the distinctive properties of natural monopolies when analyzing the main types of market structures. Moreover, this provision has not been questioned for many decades: it prevailed in countries with developed market economies, with extensive experience in regulation and deregulation in the field of natural monopolies. The paradox is that in countries with developed market relations for quite a long time, even the reform measures regulated by legislative acts (merger or splitting, the establishment of regulated or free prices, etc.) were carried out in industries that were classified as a natural monopoly, based on this beyond understanding, but which, according to modern concepts, are not.

It is quite understandable that for the domestic economic theory and practice, the problem of natural monopolies as an element of the market until relatively recently was not relevant. And it is not surprising that the Russian law on natural monopolies also indicates a significant decrease in production costs per unit of goods as the volume of production increases as a defining feature of this product market.

Within the framework of modern theory, the definition of natural monopoly is constructed as follows. Let all firms operating in the sectoral market have access to the same technologies and, accordingly, the same type of dependences of total production costs on output volumes under optimal modes of use of all resources (optimal technologies). At the same time, it is essential that there can be several types of products (services), i.e. there is an opportunity to consider firms not only as single-product, but also as multi-product (just such a level of aggregation of the industry representation, when the calculations can take into account the real diversification of output, opens up an additional opportunity to optimize the production structure). Output volumes are assumed to be driven by industry-known demand curves.

According to the theory, the state of the sectoral market can be attributed to the sphere of natural monopoly if and only if, for any admissible volumes of outputs for which there is demand, the value of total costs calculated under optimal modes of resource use is minimal with an sectoral structure consisting of a single firms.

4. The role of natural monopoly in the economy

Due to their enormous importance for the economy as a whole, the three main natural monopolies - Gazprom, UES of Russia and the Ministry of Railways - are attracting constant attention.

In fact, they are not completely natural monopolies, since they were born from Soviet departments, and the Ministry of Railways is still such, and therefore include a lot of businesses (enterprises) that could normally operate on the market in a competitive environment. In addition, there are also a number of closely related national monopolies, such as Transneft, Minatom, and Sberbank, but they do not often attract interest. And also local monopolies are an important part public sector and the entire Russian economy. Although formally Gazprom - joint-stock company, in which the state's share is only 38%, nevertheless, it should really be included in the public sector. The role of these organizations in the economy is evidenced by the data in Table 1.

Occupying only 4% of workers and employees, these three monopolies give 13.5% of GDP, 20.6% of investments, 16.2% of profits, 18.6% of tax revenues of the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation. The role of Gazprom is especially great due to its export potential: it gives more added value than RAO UES and the Ministry of Railways combined, employing only 300 thousand employees, and profits and taxes are twice as much. Obviously, this is a consequence of the extraction of significant natural rent, which is still underestimated here due to low gas prices. If these prices increased by 3 times - then they would still be half the export price on the main European market - the gross value added of Gazprom in 2000 would amount to approximately 1 trillion rubles. rubles, i.e. twice as high as the reported figure, and the profit is about 300 - 350 billion rubles, incl. rent - about 70%.

At present, part of the rent is redistributed through lowered prices to other sectors, primarily to the electric power industry, allowing to maintain low tariffs for energy and heat, as well as to the population, through lowered utility services. At the same time, low wages of state employees and pensions are maintained, increasing the differentiation of the population in terms of monetary income. The role of Gazprom in the modern Russian economy is thus unique, especially in the distortion of relative prices that give the wrong signals to market agents.

Meanwhile, there is also a widespread opinion that natural monopolies inflate prices, taking advantage of their monopoly position and opacity. Their costs are high and consumers have to pay for them. As for the opacity and costs, this is absolutely true, although prices were actually overstated only in certain periods, for example, in the energy sector until 1995, and in the Ministry of Railways - for the transportation of certain types of goods, for example, for export goods.

Considering the huge role of natural monopolies in the economy and the public sector, it seems quite justified to consider and approve their investment programs in parliament together with the federal budget, and current costs in the government with the issuance of appropriate directives to state representatives in these companies.

At the same time, consideration of their situation should be impartial, free from lobbying interests of other companies interested in low prices for gas, energy, and railroad transportation. This means the existence of a significant non-market sector in the Russian economy, distortion of relative prices, and the absence of real incentives for energy conservation and technological progress in this area. The manufacturing industries, contrary to illusions, practically do not benefit from this, since cheap resources are simply wasted. It is also better for the population to raise wages and pensions, so that they, in turn, pay for services at full cost and can choose to spend more energy or save better in order to purchase other goods and services.

In order to lower prices and tariffs, or at least stabilize them, great hopes are pinned on the reform of natural monopolies.

5. Monopoly in Russia: history of creation and development prospects

Power engineering. In the Russian power industry, a natural monopoly has developed historically. The formation of RAO "UES of Russia" in the form of a joint stock company dates back to November 1992, when the capacities of 700 power plants (HPP, GRES, CHPP) and the unified energy system were combined. The main goal of RAO's formation was to form a wholesale electricity market. When RAO was created, about 50 state-of-the-art power plants - more than half of the total capacity - were removed from territorial AO-energos and transferred to federal ownership of RAO UES of Russia. The state owns 52.6% of the shares in the capital structure of RAO UES of Russia, and foreign investors account for 30.7%. RAO "UES of Russia" controls 77.7% of the total capacity of the country's power plants. The company consists of 72 regional AO-energos. In the capital of 53 of them, RAO holds 50 and more percent of shares, in the rest - less than 50%. The company's fixed assets are estimated at $ 400 billion, the holding's market capitalization is about $ 13 billion. Owning most of the energy facilities, RAO "UES of Russia" owns the entire power transmission network of the country. Among the plants that are not included in the RAO, a significant share is made up of nuclear power plants, which account for 13% total production electricity in the Russian Federation.

Most of the problems of this most "advanced" natural monopoly in terms of what is commonly called liberal reforms are generated by two reasons: first, the ill-conceived concepts of the so-called Federal Wholesale Electricity and Power Market (FOREM), designed to introduce elements of competition, both between producers and between consumers of electricity; secondly, the fragmentation of the unified energy system in the process of corporatization of regional AO-energos, the transformation of the latter into local monopolists, who ultimately found themselves in complete subordination to local authorities.

For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the impetus for regionalization, the fragmentation of the single electricity market was the introduction in 1991 of Differentiated tariffs for paying for electricity by consumers of certain regions, depending on the real costs of each energy system. This decision led to irrational loading of less efficient small stations belonging to regional power systems.

Tensions remain in the relationship between RAO UES of Russia and independent power plants trying to enter the wholesale market with their often cheaper electricity. In the conditions of “competition” the owner of the networks - RAO “UES of Russia” - is interested not only in selling, first of all, “own”, often more expensive, electricity, but also in making a profit from the resale of “foreign” electricity purchased at a low price. Producers of cheap energy are deprived of the opportunity to sell it directly to solvent consumers, bypassing regional and federal intermediaries.

The main problem of the Russian power industry is non-payments. Due to the specifics of the products manufactured, the application of sanctions against defaulters is extremely difficult. The situation caused by non-payments can be significantly improved by realizing the significant export potential of RAO. At present, about 1/3 of the installed capacity of power plants (200 billion kWh) turned out to be excessive due to a sharp decline in production. According to some estimates, the export of electricity generated at excess capacity would generate up to $ 16 billion annually. However, the transmission of large volumes of electricity over long distances while maintaining its parameters requires the modernization of power lines and auxiliary facilities. So far, about billion kWh of electricity has been exported to non-CIS countries.

Gas industry. RAO Gazprom was established in February 1993. Through the transformation of the State Gas Concern, in 1999 it was transformed into OAO Gazprom in accordance with the requirements of the legislation on joint stock companies. It accounts for about 25% of all revenues to the federal budget.

Gazprom is the largest creditor to the Russian economy. According to Gazprom's reporting, its monthly foreign exchange earnings are $ 600 million, RUB 800 million. receives from internal consumers "Mezhregiongaz". OAO Gazprom owns about 30% of the European gas market (21% of supplies to Western Europe and 56% to Eastern Europe). It possesses huge assets abroad, mainly in the form of stakes in companies that own gas transmission and gas distribution systems. Gazprom includes 8 gas production associations and 13 regional gas transmission companies, as well as the foreign economic enterprise Gazexport; they carry out about 95% of gas production and 100% of gas transportation.

Among the factors that determine the stability of Gazprom's positions on the world market are the uniqueness of the resource base and the presence of a developed gas pipeline system. In creating a unified gas supply system, Russia has identified the countries of Western Europe, where such a system is just beginning to take shape. For example, in Germany, Gazprom has a powerful gas pipeline system that allows it to go directly to the consumer and thereby significantly increase its gas sales revenue. Gazprom has created a number of alliances with major Western corporations, which have made it possible to combine the technological, financial, scientific and technical potential of the companies. Thus, the merger with the Wintershal group (a subsidiary of the BASF concern) gives Gazprom the opportunity to control up to 10% of the German market with the prospect of increasing this share.

The economic and financial successes of Gazprom are largely explained, first, by the start of the gas industry reform in 1989, which gave the concern two additional years to adapt to the new business environment. Second, by the beginning of the reforms, Gazprom had experience in working on foreign markets. He managed to successfully implement his own, "Gazprom" model of economic reforms. Both large and less significant enterprises that are part of the Gazprom system, in fact, remain its production divisions. Being legal entities, they do not own either their assets, including subsoil use rights, or their income. Their statutory status is “an OJSC enterprise”. From the right point of view, these are unitary enterprises established by JSC and based on the right of operational management.

The rigid vertical organizational structure of Gazprom allows it to develop and implement a long-term development program. Along with active external expansion, it provides for large investments in the domestic manufacturing industry, according to some estimates, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. The strategy of competition in foreign markets requires independence from the supply of imported equipment.

The development model chosen by Gazprom determines the nature and directions of the corporation's interaction with the state. Only as a large company - a natural monopoly - Gazprom is capable of becoming a powerful "locomotive" of the Russian economy in the foreseeable future. Demonopolizing Gazprom would mean creating favorable conditions for external competitors with the most negative consequences not only for it, but for the country as a whole.

The inexpediency of restructuring Gazprom, in particular, spinning off Gazexport from it, is confirmed by domestic experience. So, in the Soviet period, when production, transportation and export operations were organizationally separated, Soviet Union acted as a "supplier to the border". As soon as Gazprom became a vertically integrated structure, its position in the fight against foreign competitors was sharply strengthened.

Railway transport. The share of railways in the total freight turnover of all types of public transport in the country is about 80%. The share of railway transport in passenger traffic reaches 41%, which is comparable in volume to road transport. The most important feature of the industry is that its main product - transportation - is created, as a rule, by several enterprises - railways, that is, at the level of the entire industry. Hence the need for a centralized formation and distribution of income from transportation, the accumulation of financial resources for the development of the railway network, the acquisition and repair of railway stock, the introduction of scientific and technological progress.

Comparison of the performance indicators of Russian railways, estimated by the number of ton-kilometers per person employed in transportation, with foreign data indicates that in Russia it is 2.5-3 times higher than in England, France, Germany and China. At the same time, the turnaround time of wagons in our country is 2-3 times less than in the USA, despite the long transportation distances.

IN Western Europe railways unprofitable: losses reach 50% and are compensated by state subsidies. In Russia, railways generally operate at a profit (despite the fact that the average railway tariff in Russia is 8-10 times lower than in Western countries). Losses of passenger transport are covered by the work of freight.

It should be noted that only a part of the types of economic activities carried out in such industries as the gas industry, electric power, railway transport and communications, in fact, belong to a natural monopoly and should be subject to government regulation. Other types of economic activity can potentially function effectively in a competitive environment, but the creation of a competitive environment implies the need for adequate structural changes. For example, production in both the electric power industry and the gas industry, unlike transportation and resource allocation, is objectively not a natural monopoly. Communication industries such as long-distance and international telephone communication should not be considered as natural monopolies either, but so far in many cases local telephone networks with their current technological level in Russia should be classified as natural monopolies and subject to regulation. In railway transport, competition with other modes of transport either already exists, or its appearance is possible if a number of conditions are met. Theoretically, it is possible to consider options for the emergence of internal competition between individual railway transport enterprises. Ideally, structural changes in these industries to maximize market competitiveness would limit the scope of government regulation. However, the correct implementation of the reconstruction will not only limit the scope of regulation, but also increase its effectiveness through a clear separation of regulated and unregulated economic activities. If these activities are not segregated and are carried out within the same enterprise, the task of setting the permitted price level for regulators is complicated by the inability to accurately calculate the costs to be attributed to regulated activities. There are often cases of transferring costs from unregulated to regulated activities, which, on the one hand, enables enterprises to “reasonably” overcharge prices in unregulated markets, allowing them to eliminate competitors or unjustifiably increase their market share.

In the electricity, gas, communications and railway transport sectors, a number of transformations need to be implemented that will contribute to solving the above problems: regulated and unregulated activities should be separated from each other as much as possible in the current economic, social and political conditions ... Separating accounts and balances is a minimum requirement, but the best solution the problem may be the creation of independent enterprises for each type of activity, which would operate on the basis of an open contract system. First of all, it is necessary to separate production functions from transport and dividing ones. It is necessary to highlight auxiliary activities (repair, construction, mechanical engineering, etc.), which, although usually have a specialized focus, can be carried out on competitive principles. Similarly, social infrastructure enterprises need to be transformed.

Regulated activities should be characterized by openness of information to regulators, which will allow setting prices (tariffs) at a level high enough to ensure normal profitability and, accordingly, attract new investment.

Potentially competitive industry segments should be singled out and reorganized in order to create a real competitive environment. Thus, in the electric power industry, independent diversified companies should be formed that could directly compete in the wholesale market. In the field of international telephony, such positive shifts are already being observed. In the future, a competitive environment can be formulated in the gas industry as well.

Competition can develop in the above areas only if the regulatory authorities create the appropriate conditions. Thus, producers of electricity and natural gas need open, non-discriminatory access to transport systems, and international and intercity operators - open and equal access to public networks. The task of the regulators is to ensure such free access for all potential market participants. Licensing procedures that define barriers to entry into relevant markets should also be open and non-discriminatory.

The mechanism of corporate-share management of companies operating in the spheres of natural monopoly should be reconstructed. Currently, the federal government owns a controlling stake, but often its role as an owner is nominal, and the administration manages enterprises without considering the interests of the owner. In market economies, shareholders or their representatives, the board of directors have a decisive influence on the formulation of enterprise development strategies. Such a mechanism allows regulators to participate in the rate of return on investment process. The low level of corporate governance reduces the ability of regulators to influence the behavior of enterprises. Effective corporate-shareholder decision-making through the determination of the permitted price level or management assumes that the owners of enterprises have a strong interest in orienting the company's management towards maximizing the profitability and the amount of share capital under the existing regulatory conditions. Of course, privatization has a certain impact on corporate governance. However, after full privatization, and before its behavior, corporate governance can become more effective only if strategic investors are attracted through the sale or transfer to management of large blocks of shares to those individuals or organizations. Who will be interested in tight control over the work of managers.

The use of borrowed capital can also lead to an increase in the efficiency of corporate and shareholder management, so lenders will be interested in the financial recovery of the enterprise.

The investment process must be brought in line with the requirements of a market economy. In almost all branches of natural monopolies, investments are financed primarily through tariff increases. At present, sectoral investment and stabilization funds are not an effective means of financing investments and are often used irrationally. Tariff financing of investments should be drastically reduced and companies should be encouraged or even forced to use debt and equity capital.

6.Antimonopoly regulation in Russia
The strategic objectives of the antimonopoly policy and the development of competition in the regions were formulated by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin 08.02.2008 in a speech at an expanded meeting of the State Council "On Russia's development strategy until 2020":
1. ... while solving the problem of radically increasing the efficiency of our economy, we must create incentives and conditions for promoting a number of areas ...
2. ... the development of market institutions and a competitive environment that will motivate businesses to reduce costs, update products and flexibly take into account consumer needs ...
The same opinion is shared by Russian entrepreneurs, for whom “maintaining a favorable competitive environment” in the regions of the Russian Federation is the second most important task of the state in the economy, second only in importance to such a fundamental duty of the authorities as “forming the legal conditions for business activities, ensuring their unconditional and fair applications ".
Antimonopoly regulation is a complex of administrative and economic measures taken to ensure conditions for the formation of a competitive environment and protection of competition.
In accordance with the Federal Law "On Natural Monopolies" "natural monopoly is a state of the commodity market in which the satisfaction of demand in this market is more efficient in the absence of competition due to the technological features of production (due to a significant decrease in production costs per unit of goods as the volume of production increases). ), and the goods produced by the subjects of natural monopoly cannot be replaced in consumption by other goods, in connection with which the demand in a given commodity market for goods produced by the subjects of natural monopolies is less dependent on changes in the price of this product than the demand for other types of goods "
At present, the powers of the state in relation to regulation of the activities of natural monopolies are distributed between two federal executive bodies - the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Federal Tariff Service.

Conclusion

The concepts of Russian infrastructure reforms were initially developed on the basis of foreign experience; therefore, their adaptation to real domestic conditions was almost inevitable. And although Western models differ significantly from each other, the main principle of the reform - one or another organizational form of separating the infrastructural component of monopolies - is preserved in all variants. Of particular interest to Russia could be those that do not provide for a sharp change in the ownership structure and are based on the use of management principles adequate to the goals of the reforms, primarily concession mechanisms.

In the electric power industry of Russia, a technically more complicated path was chosen - crushing the monopoly on the basis of division of property. Such an approach should logically be linked to the rapid liberalization of the electricity market, sharp reductions in the state presence in the industry (as an owner and regulator), wider involvement of the private sector not only in the generating segment, but also in the management of the infrastructure component. The major power outage in May 2005 was the result of not only man-made reasons, but also obvious miscalculations in management. In the future, a rise in prices in the liberalized market is quite likely. With regard to other state monopolies, the possibility of preventing discrimination in access to infrastructure networks is questionable. The relations of healthy competition to the Russian economy are still underdeveloped, and they are unlikely to become an effective factor in increasing production efficiency in the near future.

Public-private partnership has not received sufficient development in Russia: there is neither contractual law nor a special legislative framework. It is not yet very clear how the new law on concession agreements will operate. There is still much work to be done: in addition to the adoption of legislative acts, it is necessary to create a full-fledged institutional environment, to form an appropriate block in the system of executive authorities in charge of supervision and control in the sphere of concession relations.

In Russia, such work is largely replaced by the strengthening of the direct regulatory role of the state and the preservation of a significant part of the assets of natural monopolies in state property. At the same time, the concepts of their reforming are developed by the management of state corporations themselves and often predominantly meet its interests to the detriment of the interests of the main owner - the state (which is especially noticeable in the reform of RAO UES and Gazprom). As a result, an internal conflict arises within the framework of monopolies: their management is interested in liberalization of tariffs, and the state is forced to carry out a tough tariff policy in order to both curb inflation and maintain the solvency of the population.

In the course of the reform, Russian monopolies retain the form of large vertically integrated companies. There is still no clarity in the issues of separating from them a stable and viable natural monopoly nucleus and the development of appropriate methods for regulating its activities, substantiating the degree of state intervention and the possibilities of free competition. So far, most of the tasks, unfortunately, are being solved "pointwise", as specific problems, conflicts of interest and social tension arise.

application

Table # 1. The largest natural monopolies in the Russian economy in 2009

		Gazprom	RAO "UES" of Russia	Only three monopolies	Total economy;	Share in econ. %	Share in econ. %
Number of employed
Gross output	Bln. rub.
Gross value added	Bln. rub.
Fixed assets	Bln. rub.
Capital investment	Bln. rub.
Profit (financial result for the Russian Federation balanced)	Bln. rub.
	Bln. rub.
	Bln. rub.

List of references

1. Economic Issues No. 1 2004. A. Gorodnitsky, Yu. Povlenko Reforming natural monopolies.

2. “ECO”, No. 4 1999, NI Belousova, Ye.M. Vasilieva, V.N. Livshits "Reforming natural monopoly in Russia - theoretical aspect"

3. “ECO” No. 4 2001 N.I. Belousova, E.M. Vasilieva, V.N. Livshits "Reforming Natural Monopoly in Russia - Legislative Aspects"

4. “Voprosy ekonomiki”, No. 4, 2008 R. Martusevich “Competitions for concessions in the branches of natural monopoly”

5. "Questions of Economics" No. 1 2006 by M. Deryabina "Reforming natural monopoly: theory and practice"

The monopolies were asked to suspend the liberalization of the energy market, to give ...

Monetary regulation in conditions transitional the economy

Abstract \u003e\u003e Economic theory

The market is acquiring new content. IN conditions state monopolies on public property all calculations ... monetary regulation. These measures in conditions russian the economy do not work, and therefore it is ineffective itself ...

Banks in conditions transitional the economy

Examination \u003e\u003e Economics

In transition the economy examine banks in transition the economy... 1. Transitional elements the economy Currently before russian the economy costs ... almost the same barriers as in conditions monopolies... Among the most important is the amount of capital required ...

Monopoly and competition in russian the economy

Abstract \u003e\u003e Economics

Her role in russian the economy... 2.Consider the concept monopolies and establish its role in russian the economy, investigate antitrust regulation ... more than conditions monopolies , but much less than in conditions perfect competition. How...

Hello dear readers of the blog site. Monopoly is an economic situation in the market when the entire industry controls the only manufacturer (or seller).

The production and trade of goods or the provision of services belongs to one firm, which is also called a monopoly or monopolist... The subject has no competitors, as a result of which the company has a certain power and can dictate conditions to buyers.

Examples of monopolies

The word "monopoly" originated in ancient Greece and in translation means "one sell".

The definition of monopoly implies the existence of a business niche where one producer dominates, which regulates the quantity of goods and their prices.

Pure monopoly companies are very rare. This is due to the fact that a substitute can be found for almost any product or service.

For instance, the natural monopoly is the metro... If the subway infrastructure is divided between two or three competing firms, chaos ensues. But when the metro services cease to suit the population, people will be able to get to their destination by buses, trams, cars, electric trains.

That is, the metro is a monopolist among underground, high-speed transport, but in the field of passenger transportation, it is not.

The state of the economy in which dominated by one subject, typical for housing and communal services, public sector, production of products requiring careful control.

Considering what a monopoly is, one cannot ignore another closely related concept - "oligopoly". This condition is much more common in the economy. Oligopoly market are shared by several companies. With the collusion of the main players, the market in terms of its characteristics approaches the monopoly (for example, cellular operators).

Classic - aircraft and shipbuilding, weapons production. It happens here between two, three suppliers.

Types and forms of monopolies

The following forms of monopolies are distinguished:

Natural - arises when a business in the long term only serves the entire market. An example is rail transportation. Usually economic activity requires high costs at the initial stage.
Artificial - usually created when several companies merge. Collusion of businesses allows you to quickly eliminate competitors. The educated structure resorts to such methods as prices, economic boycott, price maneuvering, industrial espionage, speculation in securities.
Closed - protected from competitors by law. Restrictions may relate to copyright, certification, taxation, transfer of unique rights to own and use resources, etc.
Open — sole supplierthat has no legal barriers to competition. It is typical for companies offering new, innovative products that have no analogues at the moment.
Double-sided — trading floor with one seller and one buyer. Both parties have power over the market. As a consequence, the outcome of the transaction depends on the negotiating ability of each participant.

There are other classification options, for example, they are divided into two types by ownership:

private
state

Or by territorial principle for 4 types:

local
regional
national
extraterritorial (global)

If we consider an artificial monopoly, when a number of enterprises (companies) are combined, then they say about the various forms of such mergers:

Monopoly in the history of the development of society

People noticed the benefits of monopoly almost immediately with the emergence of exchange and the emergence of market relations. In the absence of competition, prices for products can be raised.

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle considered the establishment of a monopoly and economic management. In one of his works, as an example, the sage tells about a subject who received money “in growth”. To make a profit, an enterprising man bought all the iron in the workshops, and then resold it at a premium to merchants who arrived from other places.

The Thinker also mentions attempts to regulate monopoly by the state. The cunning seller was expelled by the government from Sicily.

In European countries in the Middle Ages, monopoly developed in two directions - as a result of the creation of workshops and through the issuance of royal privileges:

Shop Is an association of artisans. He supervised the production of products of the participants. The main task of the organization was to create conditions for the existence of artisans. The workshops did not allow competitors to enter their markets and set market prices for the goods produced.
Royal privileges gave the exclusive right to sell or produce certain types of products (services). Merchants and industrialists were happy to get such a privilege in order to get rid of competitors, and the king received money for the treasury. However, many royal decrees were absurd and stupid, which resulted in some countries.

In the 19th century, as a result of the rapid development of production, competitive fight between manufacturers. Reducing costs led to the enlargement of factories and plants. Remaining players united in various communities (, pools) that acted as monopolists.

Monopolies in the history of Russia are a repetition of global trends. But most of the processes in our country occurred late and were often brought from outside. So, in tsarist Russia, the production of alcoholic beverages was an exclusively state function.

And the first industrial syndicate originated in St. Petersburg in 1886 with the participation of German partners. It has united 6 firms producing nails and wire. Later, a sugar syndicate was born, then Prodamet, Produgol, Roof, Copper, Prodvagon, etc.

Reasons for monopoly

The desire to monopolize the market is normal for any business. It is inherent in nature itself business activities, the main goal of which is to maximize profit. Monopolies are created both naturally and artificially.

Additional factorscontributing to the development of monopoly, can be:

large expenses for creating a business that do not pay off in a competitive environment;
the establishment by the government of legal barriers to business - certification, licensing,;
a policy that protects domestic producers from foreign competitors;
consolidation of firms as a result of acquisitions and mergers.

Antimonopoly legislation

Lack of competition leads to negative consequences in society:

inefficient use of resources;
shortage of products;
unfair distribution of income;
lack of incentive to develop new technologies.

Therefore, national governments are trying limit the emergence of monopolies... Special state bodies monitor the level of competition in the market, control prices, prevent the dependence of small firms on large players.

Antitrust laws exist in most countries around the world. It protects consumer interests and promotes economic prosperity.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog site pages