In economic theory, perfect competition (sometimes called pure competition) describes markets such that no participants are large enough to have the market power to set the price of a homogeneous product. Because the conditions for perfect competition are strict, there are few if any perfectly competitive markets. Still, buyers and sellers in some auction-type markets, say for commodities or some financial assets, may approximate the concept. As a Pareto efficient allocation of economic resources, perfect competition serves as a natural benchmark against which to contrast other market structures.