In
economics and particularly in
industrial organization,
market power is the ability of a
firm to profitably raise the
market price of a good or service over
marginal cost. In
perfectly competitive markets, market participants have no market power. A firm with total market power can raise prices without losing any customers to competitors. Market participants that have market power are therefore sometimes referred to as "price makers" or "price setters", while those without are sometimes called "price takers". Significant market power occurs when prices exceed marginal cost and
long run average cost, so the firm makes
economic profits.