Final answer:
Perfect competition is characterized by the production of identical products by many firms, a large number of buyers and sellers, full access to relevant information, and no barriers to entry or exit, resulting in firms having no price control.
Step-by-step explanation:
Markets with perfect competition feature several distinct characteristics. Firstly, many firms produce identical products. This homogeneity means that consumers do not differentiate between goods produced by one firm versus another. In addition, there are many buyers and sellers, so no single firm can control the market price, leading to the characteristic where firms have no price control.
Another defining trait of perfect competition is the presence of all relevant information available to both buyers and sellers, allowing for rational decision-making. Lastly, no significant barriers to entry or exit exist; firms can freely enter or leave the industry, which is not typically the case in monopolistic or oligopolistic markets. In contrast, markets that are not perfectly competitive, such as monopolistic competition or oligopoly, involve differentiated products, barriers to entry and exit, and scenarios where firms have some control over price.