Oligopoly: How It Works, Why It Exists, and Its Characteristics, Advantages, and Disadvantages

Introduction
The four primary market structures include perfect competition, monopolistic competition, monopoly, and oligopoly. All of them describe different variations of competitive environments with varying levels of control in a market; however, among them, oligopoly is denoted as the most unique and complex type of market structure. It is defined as a small number of firms dominate the market as opposed to perfect competition where many firms are quite free to compete and monopoly where only one firm holds the whole market. These companies have almost total power over the market and have very strong control over setting prices, production, demands, and consumer choice preference. What is oligopoly, its working, and reasons behind its existence, as well as its basic features, will be examined. The benefits and drawbacks of this market structure, along with