The Myth of Perfect Competition

Perfect competition is a total lie that basically never happens in the real world.

Most of the time, we are stuck in the messy middle. You have got Monopolistic Competition,

like your local barber, where everyone is slightly different so they can charge

what they want. Then there are Oligopolies, like supermarkets, where a few giants run the show and

are terrified of starting price wars. Or straight-up Monopolies that own everything. But here is the

plot twist. Even the biggest giants stay in check because of contestability. They don't keep

prices low to be nice, they do it because they are terrified the next Uber is

waiting to destroy them.