BharatNotes Oligopoly
noun (countable)Usage in a UPSC answer
Following the consolidation of India's telecom sector to effectively three viable operators by 2023, competition economists debated whether the resulting oligopoly had raised the average revenue per user (ARPU) floor at the expense of consumer welfare.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
oligopolist (noun), oligopolistic (adjective), oligopoly (noun), duopoly (related noun)
Root
Greek oligos = few + pōlein = to sell; parallel to mono-poly but with plural sellers
Etymology
Coined from Greek roots (oligos = few, pōlein = to sell) by analogy with monopoly, the term gained formal economic usage in the 19th century. Cournot's 1838 work on duopoly (two sellers) was the mathematical precursor; the broader 'oligopoly' term and game-theoretic analysis of interdependence were developed by 20th-century economists including Nash (Nash Equilibrium, 1950), Bertrand, and Stackelberg.
Memory Hook
OLIGO = few (as in oligarchy = few rulers); POLY = sellers. A few firms rule the market like an oligarchy rules a state — and just as oligarchs eye each other's moves, oligopolists watch rivals' prices obsessively.
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