> you need so much upfront research money, that you in fact always get a anti-competitive monopoly or oligopoly Industries with high R&D costs may be more pron

> you need so much upfront research money, that you in fact always get a anti-competitive monopoly or oligopoly Industries with high R&D costs may be more prone to the formation of natural monopolies, but in most cases that's a better scenario than the coercive monopolies created as a byproduct of government regulation. It could be argued that the tech industry, as one example, has similarly high R&D costs (at least in certain fields), and Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. have all been blamed for monopolistic practices, but even then, the tech world operates in a much healthier market environment than the healthcare or pharmaceutical industries. Personally, I'd feel more confident being treated in a theoretical Apple hospital (heck, I'd even go for the cheaper Android version) than any of our real-world hospitals with shiny government seals of approval (and more inefficiencies than one can imagine) - as long as I can rely on a decent level of transparency in safety/quality/pricing of those options.