GAME THEORY: An analysis that illustrates how choices between two plays affect the outcome of a "game." Game theory is commonly used in economics to illustrate interdependent decision-making among oligopoly firms. It illustrates that one firm makes a decision based on the decision expected from the other firm. One key conclusion from the game theory analysis is that firms often make decisions that are "second best" or the "lesser of two evils." The classic example of such a decision is the prisoners' dilemma, in which two prisoners both confess to a crime to avoid harsher punishment when not confessing would avoid any punishment.

     See also | oligopoly | interdependence | prisoners' dilemma | competition among the few | collusion | advertising |

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An ideal market structure characterized by a large number of small firms, identical products sold by all firms, freedom of entry into and exit out of the industry, and perfect knowledge of prices and technology. This is one of four basic market structures. The other three are monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. Perfect competition is an idealized market structure that is not observed in the real world. While unrealistic, it does provide an excellent benchmark that can be used to analyze real world market structures. In particular, perfect competition efficiently allocates resources.

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