Globalization and Competitive Markets in Third World Countries
             Nowadays, globalization is playing an important role in the world's economy. There are many viewpoints involving the concept of globalization but a common one is that "globalization is the integration of national markets through international trade and finance" (Manzella 1). Market structure describes the competitive environment in the market for any good or service. It is typically characterized on the basis of four important industry characteristics: the number and size distribution of active buyers and sellers and potential entrants, the degree of product differentiation, the amount and cost of information about product price and quality, and conditions of entry and exit. Generally speaking, the greater the number of market participants, the more vigorous is price and product quality competition. The more even the balance of power between sellers and buyers, the more likely it is that the competitive process will yield maximum benefits. Market prices in competitive industries are determined by aggregate supply and demand. The perfect balance between demand and supply is called market equilibrium. The intersection of industry demand and supply curves will determine the market price, and profit maximization is reached with the activity level that generates the highest profits. However, a close link between the number of market participants and the vigor of price does not always hold true. Today, the income of the two hundred richest people in the world exceeds the total earnings of 40 percent of the people who live on the globe (approximately 2.4 billion people). And although wages have been rising in rich countries, 80 impoverished nations have in fact suffered a decline in normal income over the past ten years (Nwigwe 1). Globalization is undoubtedly the most notorious economic development in this age. It has joined countries together to form an interna...