Definition of "monopsony"

Our next task is to consider the change in the amount of a commodity purchased when the market changes from an indefinitely large number of competing buyers to a single buying agency. 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.

1933, Joan Robinson, “Monopsony”, in The Economics of Imperfect Competition, London: Macmillan and Co., Limited […], section 2, page 219

It appears to follow that employment, far from falling, may be raised by an adroitly contrived legal minimum wage or collective agreement. Indeed, this proposition is an important one in the theory of both wage regulation and trade unionism. Its applicability is sometimes limited, however, even when monopsony is significant, by the danger that the employer may be driven out of business completely, as when, because of his own irremediable inefficiency or other objective disadvantages, monopsony profit achieved at his workers' expense is the differential between hanging on and outright failure.

1971, Martin Bronfenbrenner, “Imperfect Competition and Exploitation”, in Income Distribution Theory (Aldine Treatises in Modern Economics), Chicago, Ill.: Aldine-Atherton; republished Piscataway, N.J.: AldineTransaction, Transaction Publishers, 2007 (2009 (2nd paperback) printing), pages 193–194

Examples of monopsonies are few. One limited monopsony is the U.S. federal government, which orders certain defense and security systems often with the condition that it be the sole client to be delivered the product, thus a monopsony. […] Indeed, any government is a natural monopsony, at least in some areas. Absolutist, state-run economies, like [Joseph] Stalin's Soviet Union or North Korea, are dominated by monopolies and monopsonies, which often are granted to cronies by those in power. […] In today's commercial markets, there are next to no true large monopsonies.

2007, Stephen G. Hannaford, “Oligopolies and Oligopsonies”, in Market Domination!: The Impact of Industry Consolidation on Competition, Innovation, and Consumer Choice, Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Publishing Group, page 15

For purposes of evaluating monopsony cases from the standpoint of economic efficiency, it makes sense to adopt a "purpose"-oriented classification system. After all, all monopsony cases can be reduced to either a unilateral or collusive use of buying power in order to promote the interests of the buyer.

2010, Roger D. Blair, Jeffrey L. Harrison, “The Antitrust Laws and Monopsonistic Forms of Conduct”, in Monopsony in Law and Economics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, section 2.4 (A Taxonomy of Monopsony Cases), page 29

The result is different when the resource buyer is a monopsony. The monopsony firm is a single buyer, and therefore it faces the market supply curve.

1978, Roger K. Chisholm, Marilu Hurt McCarty, Principles of Microeconomics, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, page 344

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.

2014 March 15, “Turn it off: American regulators should block Comcast’s proposed deal with Time Warner Cable”, in The Economist‎, volume 410, number 8878, archived from the original on 14 March 2014

Network Rail is a monopsony (the sole buyer in a particular market) and must be careful not to exploit that position.

2020 November 4, Christian Wolmar, “Hubble trouble: we need co-operation on innovation...”, in Rail, page 49