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Natural monopolies to do not exist in a free market without government intervention - I'd be happy to see a counter example.
by samdoidge 10y ago
Natural monopolies to do not exist in a free market without government intervention - I'd be happy to see a counter example.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoPrivate property sitting on valuable resources hard to find elsewhere. This plus economic games resulted in Standard Oil with it's owner one of the richest and most powerful men in history.
- samdoidge 10y agoI understand your point, but I do not think the resource would become so valuable if only one company controlled this resource. > Although Standard had 90 percent of American refining capacity in 1880, by 1911 that had shrunk to between 60 and 65 percent, due to the expansion in capacity by competitors [1] Standard Oil did become hugely rich and powerful. It did reach massive marketshare as a result of cutting prices, but I wouldn't call it a natural monopoly. I see a monopoly as having no competitors. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil#cite_note-47 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil#cite_note-47)
- drieddust 10y agoOk so you are happy to 30 wait for competition to emerge against a monopoly? That's one full career.
- nickpsecurity 10y agoThat's one definition but in practice it's too weak. One company can get so dominant, esp if it fosters dependence, that it effectively has no competition. They also buy out competitors or bankrupt them by selling below cost. The dominant firm can do that longer. The biggest players pre-Antitrust used to love that technique.
- Daishiman 10y agoActually spend more than 5 minutes checking out the issue and you'll be surprised. Literally all public services that rely on urban networks like water, electricity, and natural gas are the definition of a natural monopoly. Unless you think it's competitive to have 20 unrelated urban gas pipelines or water services.