Compare any three characteristics of a monopolistic competitive market and monopoly market

Answer) Before comparing two markets on 3 characterstics let us understand about these 2 market types.Monopolistic competitive market does not have similar products which gives it some form of monopoly,however with some firms and lower barriers to entry and exit,it has aspects of competition as well while in monopoly there is only one seller or supplier of a particular good.

Now coming to 3 characterstics to compare 2 markets

• Players-As mentioned,in monopoly there is 1 player while in monopolistic competition there are comparitively some players.
• Product types-In monopoly,you will find similar product as their is only one seller,while in monopolistic competition,you will have different type of products,in fact these different type of products is what gives monopolistic competition its monopoly part.
• Exit and entry barriers-In monopolistic competition there are many barriers to both entry and exit,some formed by incumbent,some by government regulations,some by nature,in monopolistic competition,there are very less barriers to entry and exit.

Having compared 3 characterstics of 2 types of markets,let us look at the examples of both as follows

• Monopolistic competition-Restaurants,especially high end ones where price is not the differentiator but it is food types and quality which is the differentiator,luxury salon services,again different services along with particular stylists is what makes it a good example of monopolistic competition.
• Monopoly-A lot of countries has designated pipelined gas and company providing it enjoys monopoly,another example could be of softwares only which can be used or something like microsoft windows.