This is a mock advertisement on a Pawnee television station for a merger between Verizon, Exxon, and Chipotle, which would make it one of the 8 remaining companies in America in their fictional year 2017.
See more: horizontal mergers, market power, mergers, monopoly, oligopoly
Ben and Tom aren’t happy with the high tent prices and add-ons at one tent rental shop, so they try to go to a competitor only to find that all of the tent rental places have the same owner who is happy to exploit his market power. While the owner tries to differentiate their product through branding, they have essentially monopolized central Indiana’s tent rental industry.
See more: branding, horizontal mergers, market power, market structures, marketing, monopolistic competition, monopoly, product differentiation
While Leslie Knope is running for city council, the Parks Department needs to get a lot of vans to help people get to the polls. A local van rental company realizes they have a monopoly over the market for these white vans and this recent surge in demand has given them the opportunity to capitalize.
See more: bargaining power, bidding war, demand, demand shifts, imperfect competition, market power, monopoly, rent seeking, supply
Economics of Parks & Recreation 