Oligopoly is a market situation in which there are few suppliers with similar products but not really the same and this is called differentiated product. An example of differentiated product is Tesla and how they advertise their cars to be more innovative and luxurious than other cars- this is how they differentiate their product from others. Macroeconomics is a very large topic and I will not be covering all of it but the description for it is the study of how the economy works as a whole rather than how each business contributes to the economy individually (which is microeconomics).
Pros of learning the #topic
- Learning both Macroeconomics and oligopoly will give people a better understanding of how the economy works as a whole which will make it easier for them to figure out how each sector in the economy works and why. If studied in greater detail it can even give people the ability to see the signs of a failing economy or market or a near recession based on their knowledge on how the economy works and why that failure is happening.
- We live in a capitalist society and though a lot of people don't like that they can't change that and so why not try and learn why capitalism is our form of trade and how it works?
- Students should try to learn this topic even to a basic extend so that they are not ignorant on how our economy works and how it impacts them.
Cons of learning the #topic
- Economics can be tedious- It is a huge topic and even if you like learning one part of economics like market situations then you are not guaranteed to like the rest of economics and this makes it hard to find motivation to study it (trust me on that- as a 1st year university student motivation to study is difficult to come by).
- There aren't really a lot of downs to learning economics but like all topics it can be hard to grasp- there are a lot of terms and phrases and graphs that you have to remember for economics and even for just oligopoly and Macroeconomics but it is worth it once you get the hand of it.
Economics is hard to grasp but once you get the hang of all the terms and graphs then it becomes a lot easier to learn so all you got to do is find the motivation to study and if you struggle to find motivation like me then keep to a disciplined study schedule and rely on discipline to help you study rather than motivation.
Applications of Oligopoly
- Oligopoly is one of the 4 market situations- monopolistic, oligopolistic, duopolistic and perfect competition (the ideal situation).
- Oligopoly ties into both macro and micro economics but I will be talking about it as a separate thing from both.
Cartels: A pretty illegal market situation that the government and economists don't like.
The oligopolist dilemma: A form of cheating that kind of relates to cartels (economic cartels).
Market and buyer power.