> If you local cinema only stocks one hotdog brand, consumers don't get a lot of choice. Sure they do; they can choose to visit a different cinema, or to stop

> If you local cinema only stocks one hotdog brand, consumers don't get a lot of choice. Sure they do; they can choose to visit a different cinema, or to stop visiting the cinema entirely. They probably won't, but that's not because they don't have a choice, but because "this cinema doesn't stock the type of hot dogs I want" is a rather trivial concern when it comes to choosing what cinema to visit. > "patent trolling" is a classic example of how the market is not always consumer friendly I think it's rather unfair to use government intervention (the patent system) as an example of a market failure. In general, anytime there's a large centralized authority controlling what the market is allowed to do (whether that authority be a government or a corporate monopoly) there will be inefficiencies.