the.com/duopoly
Competition's corpse, propped up by two companies pretending to fight.
means A market controlled by just two sellers, who may technically compete but often prosper by quietly not trying too hard to undercut each other.
from Built in the 1800s from Greek 'duo' (two) plus '-poly', the ending borrowed from 'monopoly' (itself from 'monos', single, and 'polein', to sell). So where a monopoly is one seller lording over the market, a duopoly is that same throne with two chairs squeezed onto it.
- classic example
- Coke and Pepsi, Visa and Mastercard
- illusion sold
- choice, while prices move together anyway
- economic term
- oligopoly with exactly two dominant players
- consumer effect
- innovation slows once rivalry turns comfortable