Ohio Prison Market Structure

The interview with my dad who works as a guidance counselor for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations and corrections was conducted over the phone. I began the interview by restating the prompt as it appeared on the assignment sheet, then proceeded to delve into each element of market structure one at a time. The size of the market in which the organization operates is mid-sized, with a total of 27 prisons in the state of Ohio, and 3 in the south-eastern Ohio region (the region in which my dad works). There are also private prisons, that handle the overflow of prisoners. The market is also not heavily concentrated as inmates or “clients” are assigned to a prison by the court and don’t have much say as to where they are placed, because of this …show more content…
Although the market does have significant barriers to entry (monopoly) and prisoners are not concentrated in a few large prisons (perfect competition, the market does not meet any of the other elements of structure for these market types. Therefore, the market lies somewhere within the vast margins of oligopoly and monopolistic completion. Of the two, oligopoly is the most fitting, as the market is mid-sized, there are substantial barriers to entry, and there is differentiation in the market. The only element of structure that doesn’t align with an oligopoly is concentration. This is where monopolistic completion fills the gap. The market fits two elements of the structure of monopolistic competition, being that sales are not concentrated in a few sellers and that there is a lot of differentiation. I finally came to the conclusion that this market is a little bit of an oligopoly and a little bit of a monopolistic …show more content…
Although the market does have significant barriers to entry (monopoly) and prisoners are not concentrated in a few large prisons (perfect competition, the market does not meet any of the other elements of structure for these market types. Therefore, the market lies somewhere within the vast margins of oligopoly and monopolistic completion. Of the two, oligopoly is the most fitting, as the market is mid-sized, there are substantial barriers to entry, and there is differentiation in the market. The only element of structure that doesn’t align with an oligopoly is concentration. This is where monopolistic completion fills the gap. The market fits two elements of the structure of monopolistic competition, being that sales are not concentrated in a few sellers and that there is a lot of differentiation. I finally came to the conclusion that this market is a little bit of an oligopoly and a little bit of a monopolistic