In
economics, a
government-granted monopoly (also called a "de jure monopoly") is a form of
coercive monopoly by which a government grants exclusive privilege to a private individual or firm to be the sole provider of a good or service; potential competitors are excluded from the market by
law,
regulation, or other mechanisms of government enforcement. As a form of
coercive monopoly, government-granted monopoly is contrasted with a
non-coercive monopoly or an
efficiency monopoly, where there is no competition but it is not forcibly excluded. Amongst forms of coercive monopoly it is distinguished from
government monopoly or
state monopoly (in which
government agencies hold the legally enforced monopoly rather than private individuals or firms) and from government-sponsored cartels (in which the government forces
several independent producers to partially coordinate their decisions through a centralized organization). Advocates for government-granted monopolies often claim that they ensure a degree of public control over essential industries, without having those industries actually run by the state. Opponents often criticize them as political favors to
corporations. Government-granted monopolies may be opposed by those who would prefer
free markets as well as by those who would prefer to replace private corporations with
public ownership.