An oligopsony is a market form in which the number of buyers are small while the number of sellers in theory could be large. This typically happens in market for inputs where a small number of firms are competing to obtain factors of production. It resembles an Oligopoly, where there are many buyers but just a few sellers. An oligopsony is a form of Imperfect competition. The terms monopoly (one seller), monopsony (one buyer), and bilateral monopoly have a similar relationship.

An example of an oligopsony in our economy might be fast food chains, of which there are a relatively small number. They buy food from a large number of small farms.

References

• Bhaskar, V., A. Manning and T. To (2002) 'Oligopsony and Monopsonistic Competition in Labor Markets,' Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16, 155–174.
• Bhaskar, V. and T. To (2003) 'Oligopsony and the Distribution of Wages,' European Economic Review, 47, 371-399.

See also

• Monopsony
• Oligopoly

Oligopsonija | Олигопсония