In a perfectly competitive market, firms are considered to be price ____, meaning they accept the market price as given and cannot influence it by their individual output levels.

In a perfectly competitive market, firms are considered to be price takers. This means they have to accept the market price for their goods because there are many other firms selling the same product, and consumers can easily switch to another seller. Since no single firm can control the price, they simply adjust their production to match the market price to maximize their profits. For example, if the market price of apples is $1 per pound, each apple seller must sell at that price; they cannot charge more because buyers would go to a different seller. Therefore, in a perfectly competitive market, the actions of one firm do not affect the overall market price.