Which of the following is not a characteristic of a perfectly competitive market?

In a perfectly competitive market, one of the defining features is that no single firm has the power to influence the market price. This is due to the presence of many sellers offering identical products, which means that if one firm attempts to raise its prices, consumers will simply switch to one of the other firms that offer the same product at a lower price. Therefore, the market price is determined by the overall supply and demand, and individual firms are considered price takers.

In contrast, the other characteristics of perfectly competitive markets—having a large number of buyers and sellers, offering homogeneous products, and allowing for free entry and exit—contribute to this nature of price-taking behavior. The presence of many firms ensures competition, the homogeneity of products means consumers have no preference for one seller over another based solely on product differences, and the ease of entry and exit ensures that firms can enter the market freely when there are profits to be made, and leave without significant barriers in response to losses.

Thus, the ability for an individual firm to influence the market price is not a characteristic of perfect competition, reinforcing the understanding of how prices in such a market are determined by the collective actions of all participants rather than by any single entity.