What is a monopoly and how to deal with it?

The concept of monopoly was known to people back in antiquity. Today, in an era ruled by market relations, it is useful to know what a monopoly is. It is understood as the situation on the market, when a single firm produces certain products or provides a service that has no analogues, and the appearance of competitors in the industry is impossible.
At the same time, buyers have no choice, they are forced to purchase products only from a monopoly firm. As a rule, absolute monopoly is an abstract concept, since in the absence of competitors, their presence in other countries is not excluded.

Having understood what a monopoly is, let us look at the diversity of its types:

- closed, protected from competition by legal restrictions;
- Natural monopoly is a big company, producing products with lower costs than several small companies;
- an open monopoly is deprived of protection from competition, the firm in this case is a temporary unique supplier of any product. This classification is quite arbitrary, because Some companies may simultaneously treat different types of monopoly. Examples of this are gas companies or telephone companies.

Let us now consider what a monopoly is, taking into account the time horizon. Monopoly planning can be short-term, medium-term and long-term. For example, with the help of a patent certificate, a firm receives a closed monopoly for a short time. This happens not only because of the limited period of the patent's validity, but also because of the possibility of the invention of new products by competitors.

There is also a two-way monopoly in the labor market. This is a situation where there is only one seller on the supply side, and the only buyer on the demand side. In such circumstances, the volume of goods and prices are determined by the parties in the course of negotiations. An example of such a monopoly can serve as a bread-baking plant, the only one in the city, the flour for which is produced by a single melkombinat.

Monopoly in the labor market can be represented by a situation in which the hired worker is talented and has unique abilities. In this case, the monopoly is a manifestation of market power from the supply of labor. For example, a musician or writer, possessing copyright, acts as a temporary monopolist. The longer copyright acts, the more significant is the income from the product of his mental efforts.
What is the monopoly in Russia and what are its features? The first monopolies in our country arose at the end of the XIX century, among which was the Union of Railroad Manufacturers, which carried out the construction of railways. After the October Revolution of 1917 , the monopolies were liquidated. Now in Russia there is a new form of this phenomenon - formally corporate. It is characterized by a large number of shareholders, and the main role in the fate of the company, as a rule, is played by managers.