oligopsony

Oligopsony

A Market characterized by a small number of large buyers who control all purchases and therefore the market price of a good or service.

Oligopsony

A market in which there are only a few, very large buyers. Sellers in an oligopsony may have difficulty remaining in business as the buyers have a great deal of power to dictate prices. This may affect both the profit margin and other factors, such as labor conditions or wages. It is the opposite of an oligopoly.

oligopsony

A market in which a limited number of buyers follow the leadership of a single large firm. For example, in a town or region, a large bank may set rates on certificates of deposit that are then adopted by smaller banks and savings and loan associations on their own certificates of deposit. Compare oligopoly.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

oligopsony

a form of BUYER CONCENTRATION, that is, a MARKET situation in which a few large buyers confront many small suppliers. Powerful buyers are often able to secure advantageous terms from suppliers in the form of BULK-BUYING price discounts and extended credit terms. See also OLIGOPOLY, BILATERAL OLIGOPOLY, COUNTERVAILING POWER.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

(7) They correctly note that B2B buyers can profit from oligopsony agreements--agreements to buy an anticompetitively low level of inputs.

B2Bs, e-commerce & the all-or-nothing deal

From the perspective of a buyer, creative government regulation leads to or protects a position of monopsony or oligopsony for a particular good or service.

The Impact of Regulation on Buyer and Supplier Power

"Meat-Packer Conduct in Fed Cattle Pricing: Multiple-Market Oligopsony Power," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, no.

The New U.S. Meat Industry

"Ag producers, however, face oligopsony power which involves the exercise of market power to reduce prices paid to sellers, such as meat packers colluding to keep prices low.

IS MARITAL BLISS LEADING TO PUBLIC DISCORD?

A recent analysis confirms that while agricultural growth reduces rural poverty, a measure of oligopsony exacerbates poverty.(17)

Is Growth Central to Poverty Alleviation in India?

Only here's the catch: The predator exploiting its oligopsony (that's the demand-side version of "oligopoly") power is the government.

A health-care plan most of us could buy: it's right under Congress' nose

Some markets are characterized by monopoly or oligopoly or monopsony or oligopsony on one side and a high level of competition on the other.

Equity effects of microeconomic reforms: competition policy in Australia

While this itself is not prima facie evidence that pulpwood markets are imperfectly competitive, the case for oligopsony or some form of monopsonistic power in pulpwood and other timber markets has been studied for years in the U.S.

Oligopsony, vertical integration, and output substitution: welfare effects in U.S. pulpwood markets

But for training programmes such as [v.sub.t1] and [v.sub.t2] which are transferable but not general, we should consider the possibility that the labour market is imperfectly competitive: [v.sub.t1] corresponds to oligopsony; [v.sub.t2] models a situation in which firms have differentiated skill requirements.

A theoretical model of on-the-job training with imperfect competition

Models of industrial organization - oligopoly and oligopsony - appear to fit the large economic units in world trade, according to the HHI results.

A changing world trade market structure and its influence on Eastern Europe

The Sherman Act eventually was passed in 1890, after considerable lobbying by midwestern farmers, who claimed the Beef Trust exercised oligopsony power, and after a major congressional investigation (one of but three concerning trusts) into the Chicago packers.

The development of the American economy

The long-run implications are less evident and may largely depend on the degree of oligopsony power--the acquisition of goods by a few buying firms from many sellers--that may arise from changes in grain acquisition structures.