Monopolistinen

Monopolistinen is a Finnish adjective meaning monopolistic, typically used to describe economic conditions or market structures that involve some degree of market power by firms. The most common usage is in the noun phrase monopolistinen kilpailu, or monopolistic competition, a market structure in microeconomics.

Core features include many sellers, product differentiation, and relatively free entry and exit. Each firm sells a differentiated product and faces a downward-sloping demand curve, giving it some ability to set prices above marginal cost. Non-price competition, especially advertising and branding, is common, while price competition occurs but is not the sole driver of profits.

In the long run, entry erodes abnormal profits, leading to zero economic profit, though prices remain above marginal cost and firms operate with excess capacity. This contrasts with a monopoly, where a single seller has substantial market power, and with perfect competition, where many firms sell identical products and price equals marginal cost.

Monopolistinen competition is common in consumer goods and service sectors, such as retail, restaurants, and professional services, where product differentiation reduces direct substitutability. The concept helps explain how efficiency and choices arise in markets that are neither perfectly competitive nor monopolistic.

The term is used in Finnish economic literature and is translated as monopolistic or monopolistic competition in English. Etymologically, it derives from monopoly plus the Finnish suffix -inen indicating a characteristic.