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Glite Dictionary
monopsony

monopsony

1 9.9
A market where only one buyer buys from many sellers
  • noun
  • /məˈnɑːpsəni/
  • Specialized
: monopsonio
  • If the other country also has monopsony power, the retaliation lessens the impact of the initial tariff.
  • monopsony power

Or in some cases, yeah, what's called a monopsony, which is a if they're the sole buyer.

Examples

  • Still, Bernstein's description of the cotton industry suggests that the industry is far from being either a monopoly or a monopsony.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Tobacco growers depended on a virtual monopsony for the marketing of leaf.

    Academic text (2002)

  • One possibility is that the owner of the benefit payments could exercise monopsony power in some input markets.

    Academic text (2005)

  • OK, yet MIT has monopsony power over me.

  • We went so far as to formulate a scheme to sell our gas for power generation to bypass what would otherwise have been the monopsony power of the nationalized gas industry.

    Academic text (2000)

  • In the case of labor markets with a disproportionate military presence, monopsony in the market for women's jobs may represent an unanticipated consequence of the demographic characteristics and social organization of the military.

    Academic text (2003)

  • However, any system that enables a large purchaser, such as a national health insurance fund or public health sector, to use monopsony (only one buyer) power (through competitive bidding and price negotiations) exerts downward pressure on prices.

    Academic text (2016)

  • In a monopsony, a single company has control over purchasing goods from many suppliers, influencing prices significantly.

  • The local farmers faced challenges because a monopsony buyer dictated the terms of their sales contracts.

  • When there is a monopsony, the sole buyer has significant bargaining power over the sellers in the market.

How Concentrated

monopsony
  • Specialized
1 9.9
oligopsony
  • Specialized
1 9.9

Surface Forms

monopsony singular
monopsonies plural

Morphology

monopsony = mono + opsony

Although 'mono-' clearly means 'one', the base 'opsony' is not a transparent standalone English word for most learners, so the overall meaning is not easily recoverable from parts.

Etymology

Monopsony comes from Greek parts mono- 'one' and -psony (a root meaning 'to buy'), so it literally means 'one buyer'. Like a monopoly is one seller, a monopsony describes a market where only one buyer has most of the control, which explains why sellers or workers may have little choice.