monopsony

Etymology

Modelled after monopoly, from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos) and ὀψωνέω (opsōnéō).

Coined by classics scholar Bertrand Hallward of Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and popularized by economist Joan Robinson in her 1933 book The Economics of Imperfect Competition.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈnɒpsəni/

Noun

monopsony (plural monopsonies)

1. A market situation in which there is only one buyer for a product; such a buyer.
   • 1933, Joan Robinson, The Economics of Imperfect Competition, page 219:

     This may be described as the comparison between competitive and monopsony buying, just as the corresponding comparison for selling was called the comparison between competitive and monopoly output.

2. A buyer with disproportionate power.
   • 2014 March 15, “Turn it off”, in The Economist, volume 410, number 8878:

     If the takeover is approved, Comcast would control 20 of the top 25 cable markets, […]. Antitrust officials will need to consider Comcast’s status as a monopsony (a buyer with disproportionate power), when it comes to negotiations with programmers, whose channels it pays to carry.

See also

• monopsonist, monopsonistic, monopsonistically