Government monopoly - Definition and Overview

A government monopoly is a monopoly of a particular good or service run by the government. It is usually distinguished from a government-granted monopoly, where the government grants a monopoly to a private individual or company. Advocates of free markets include this type of monopoly under the rubric of coercive monopoly.

A government monopoly may be run by any level of government - national, regional, local; for levels below the national, it is a local monopoly. The term state monopoly usually means a government monopoly run by the national government, although it may also refer to monopolies run by regional entities called "states" (notably the US states).

See also

• government-granted monopoly
• coercive monopoly
• natural monopoly
• monopoly