Final answer:
Perfectly competitive firms have the least market power, followed by small local businesses, oligopolies, and monopolies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct ranking from least market power to most market power is as follows:
- Perfectly competitive firms: In a perfectly competitive market, there are many firms selling identical products. These firms are price takers and have no market power.
- Small local businesses: Small local businesses have some market power as they have local customer bases, but their power is less than that of monopolies and oligopolies.
- Oligopolies: Oligopolies are markets dominated by a small number of firms. These firms have significant market power and often strategically choose output, pricing, and other decisions based on the actions of other firms in the market.
- Monopolies: Monopolies have the highest market power as they are the sole provider of a product or service in a market with no close substitutes.